8th SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
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Readings: Genesis 15: 1-6 and Hebrews 11: 1-3 and 8-16.
Last week’s gospel was the parable Jesus gave about the rich man who stored-up everything he had, safely, in his barns, thinking that would guarantee him security and prosperity. But the Lord warned him that his life would be required that very night, and what would become of all his wealth then? So, the general message was a reminder that ‘you can’t take it with you.’ In this week’s gospel Jesus takes this thinking a stage further, and urges his listeners to prepare for that judgement day when the master comes and knocks. “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
The reading from Hebrews today links this talk of judgement to faith. It begins- “Faith is the assurance of things hoped-for; the conviction of things not seen.” How are we to live out our lives in the light of all this? I remember a humorous religion slogan – ‘Jesus is coming – look busy!’
Would any of us live differently if we thought it would influence what might happen after death? Do these concerns gain greater importance as we get older? I don’t actually believe Christians do think like that but take a wider view. We are set in this world to live in love of God, to seek his will and endeavour to take a part in bringing God’s kingdom and reign to come fully. Perhaps you recognise these lines from a hymn:
My God, I love thee; not because I hope for heaven thereby; nor yet because those who love thee not are lost eternally. Then why, O blessed Jesu Christ, should I not love thee well? Not for the sake of winning heaven, or of escaping hell; not for the hope of gaining aught, nor seeking a reward; but as thyself has loved me, O ever-loving Lord.”
To return to those opening words of Hebrews today, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped-for; the conviction of things unseen.” In that chapter 11, the writer reminds us of many figures from the Old Testament who lived by faith. Abraham, for instance, ‘set out [by faith], not knowing where he was going.’ Those people lived from day to day, trusting in God’s presence and direction; but there is also a sense in which they lived in the light of the future. God made a promise to Abraham; his reward was to be very great and his descendants to be as many as the sands on the seashore. Genesis says that Abraham believed the Lord, and that the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
As we catch up with Abraham in today’s readings, things have turned out quite well for him. He had left the place he knew at God’s direction, with the promise that his descendants would be as countless as the sands on the seashore. But so far, he has no blood-heir. A son is what Abram is really interested in, and believes that is vital to God’s purposes, too. His faith is a complex mixture of what has already gone before and what he longs for.
Now very often, people assume that faith is faith because there isn’t any real evidence. After all, if you could prove God’s existence then faith wouldn’t be necessary. But I think it is helpful to point out that Christian philosophers see two meanings in that word ‘faith’. Firstly, there is ‘faith in’ – such as “I believe in God the Father Almighty.” That’s really all about believing – a proposition we agree to. Then there is faith as trust; faith that the divine purpose towards us is wholly good and loving.
The bible pretty much assumes faith ‘in’ – and apart from a few verses, the reality of God is rarely questioned, unlike the world of today. So, faith in the bible is faith as trust in God; that God is good; that God loves. This is the faith that spurred on all those great figures of the Old Testament we heard about in Hebrews. Abram’s faith was certainly faith ‘in’: he had gone along with God who had revealed himself to him, believing that further good would come.
It’s inspiring to read all about those figures from the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Sarah, and those mentioned later in Hebrews, and to understand that we are part of that ongoing and unfolding story – the story of God’s loving purposes for his people. This building helps us to understand that. We think of the faith that the early monks brought to this spot when they settled here, and that led to the building of the church. We remember the numerous witnesses to faith who have worshipped here. What they did had consequences for us. What we do with our faith will have consequences for those who come after us. We take encouragement from the examples of those who have gone before us in faith.
The writer of Hebrews seems clear that those figures from the Old Testament did not see the completion of God’s plan, but they desired to. So Abraham “looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Now, faithful Jews focussed their hopes and dreams on Jerusalem – the earthly Jerusalem where ‘God had caused his name to dwell’ as a verse in Deuteronomy puts it. Hebrews was written to a people bemoaning the loss of the Temple after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The earthly Jerusalem had failed, as all our worldly Jerusalems will. Jesus and the New Testament writers looked forward to a heavenly city in a better country.
John Pridmore says, “The vision of the city of God is not some private fantasy peculiar to Christians who find the present world uncongenial. It is a longing for somewhere where justice is done, where joy lasts, where beauty does not wither, and where peace reigns. This”, he says, “is a hunger of the human heart, not only of the Christian heart. The quest of that city makes inexorable moral demands.”
One of the lessons seems to be that whatever anybody thinks they know about God and his ways in this life is always incomplete. So I think all this helps us build up a picture of faith. It is based on ‘faith in’ God, but is lived with a longing to know God better; longing to know what more God has in store for us.
And that will involve risks, as we take what the world might see as chances in testing our faith; by acting sometimes in a counter-cultural way; by extravagant acts of generosity; by loving; by caring; by putting others first; by service to the Church, because we think the Church matters as do the people we journey alongside here. I believe we’re meant to live in the expectation that God can and will reveal himself at any moment, in unexpected ways. So our Christian glass is always half-full – in fact, more than half-full – never half-empty, as we look with longing for that heavenly city.
A mature faith will help one through the little deaths we all have in life, in hope of resurrections to come. Jesus invites a spirit of readiness and expectation in the gospel for today. “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Was Jesus just talking about his return? Or was he encouraging his disciples as those who expect good things to happen now when they let him into their lives? Maybe both. So we live from day to day in this world, but with our hearts looking for a heavenly city and kingdom, because ultimately we don’t belong here. Hebrews talks about those great Old Testament figures seeing themselves as strangers and foreigners on earth, seeking a homeland not here, but in the city God has prepared for them.
And that takes us back to where we started – Jesus’ warning not to get obsessed with what we have in this world, because you can’t take it with you. No. Put your trust in him, where true riches and eternal fulfilment are.