Pentecost 12, August 7 2016
Wis 18:6-9; Heb 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12: 32-48
Longview
The subject of this week’s readings is faith. In the first reading, faith gives the Israelites assurance that God will rescue them in the Passover. The second reading talks about the faith of Abraham, and the Gospel reading calls on us to put our faith in God rather than wealth.
What is faith? We all know what it is—at least until we try to define it. We tend to think of faith as assent to a creed, for example belief in the existence of God or the resurrection of Christ. But there is a fuller meaning of faith, which has to do with our relationship to God. In ancient times, if you needed help, you couldn’t go to the police or a bank or the red cross. You relied on your family and friends. If they couldn’t help you—for example to obtain justice or to start a new business—your only hope was to find a patron. The patron would do you a favor—called a grace—and you would become his client. As a client, you could count on his favors or graces, and in return you owed him faith. The early Christians found this type of arrangement was an excellent symbol for our relationship with God. Thus the words “grace” and “faith” entered the Christian vocabulary.
Today’s second reading says this about faith: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
At first glance, this is not very helpful. Let’s look at the word “faith” outside of its “churchy” context, to better understand what we as clients owe God, our patron.
In the ancient world as well as today, faith has three components. The first component is belief. I believe that my doctor has the knowledge and power to help me get well. If we have faith in God, we believe that he exists and can help us, even though we can’t see God or visualize just how he can help.
The second component is trust, as in the statement, “I have faith in you; you can do it,” or “I have complete faith in my son.” The concept “faith” in the scriptures always includes a strong element of trust; we trust that God will help us. Today’s first reading tells us that the Israelites in Egypt had both belief and trust in God. They believed that God created the earth, and they trusted that he would save them in the Passover. In modern times, Mohandas Gandhi believed and trusted in God when he went up against the greatest empire on earth at the time to demand independence for India. Later Martin Luther King believed that God could end segregation and trusted that he would do it. Sure enough, the British left India, and segregation was abolished. These are modern examples of the “evidence of things not seen” that today’s second reading speaks about. The end of segregation reinforced our trust in the power of God in our world.
The third component of faith, in addition to belief and trust in what we can’t see, is faithfulness, or fidelity. We “keep faith” with somebody when we keep our commitment to them, or uphold a relationship under pressure. The second reading talks about Abraham as an example. In response to God’s command, Abraham moved from Haran in the fertile crescent to the land of Canaan. That’s about a thousand miles, which he walked, with his wife and his nephew and their servants and their sheep, because he had faith. If that’s what God asked him to do, he would do it, trusting that someday God would keep the promise to give descendants to Abraham and give the land to those descendants.
In the gospel reading, Jesus calls on us to have faith like Abraham’s. “Your father is pleased to give you the kingdom,” as God was pleased to give Abraham a son and give his descendants the land of Canaan. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid any longer.” I’m not going to get into all the things Jesus says here about money. In all honesty, I don’t think Jesus wants us to be poor in old age, and I confess that I’m not about to sell all my savings and give the money to the poor. But faith—that is, belief and trust and fidelity—inspires me not to obsess over money. Prudent money management is okay, but if I have faith, I will temper prudence with generosity and a firm trust in God’s management of our lives.
“Faith is the realization of things hoped for, and evidence of things not seen.” We can’t see God, but we hope for the coming of his reign, we have faith that God will make it happen, and we commit ourselves to faithfully work for it.