2022.08.14 | A Cast of Characters
“A Cast of Characters”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ, Hayward, California
August 14, 2022
Heb. 11:29-12:2 (NRSV)
The New Testament letter to the Hebrews was written during the later half of the first century AD. The author was an early apostle, who was writing to a fledgling Christian community living under Roman persecution. We don’t know the author’s name, and we’re not sure of where the recipients were living, though some say that they resided in Italy.
Some of the recipients of this epistle had their property confiscated and they had been thrown in jail and tortured on account of their affiliation with this fledgling Christian congregation. As a consequence, the faith of this congregation’s members had been profoundly shaken.
The apostle wrote to offer the members encouragement and support. Specifically, he encouraged them to draw strength from the example of the saints (i.e., their ancestors in the faith) and to embrace the vision of the New Jerusalem and to bring it into fruition through just and righteous actions.
Easy-peasy, right?
Wrong.
For starters, the members of this fledgling congregation did not see themselves as ontologically fit for sainthood or existentially capable of it. When they heard the names of the patriarchs and matriarchs of their Hebrew tradition, they imagined their forebears as possessing faith that never waivered, and behavior that was always above board.
The truth, however, is that when you conduct a thorough reference check on the people whom the apostle refers to as “a great cloud of witnesses,” you learn that they were quite a cast of characters.
Listen again to the names of those who were listed among the great cloud of witnesses. They included: the Hebrew slaves, a madam named Rahab, some minor military leaders, including Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, and a few prominent national figures, including Samuel, a Judge, and King David. Mention was also made of witnesses to the resurrection, the apostles, and the martyrs, but no specific names are listed.
On first blush, we might all be wooed into thinking that this great cloud of witnesses was “holier-than-thou,” but in truth, most of them would have had trouble passing a reference check for employment in a 21st century pre-employment process.
Consider the Hebrew slaves who fled Egypt for starters. They followed Moses across the Red Sea with the Egyptian soldiers hot on their heels, but it wasn’t long before they were winning in the wilderness when the rations were running short, and they were crying for the fleshpots of Egypt and melting down their jewelry and fashioning a gold calf so they would have a physical symbol of the divine in their midst.
Consider, too, the person and character Rahab. She was the Canaanite madam who helped Joshua and his men win the battle of Jericho. Rahab did this by hiding Joshua and his men in her brothel during their spying mission in Jericho, so that they weren’t detected by the Canaanite military police who were searching for them.
In return for their protection, Joshua promised Rahab and her staff that their lives would be spared when he and his spies returned to Jericho with an army of men to take over the city and nation.
The list of “greats” in the cloud of witnesses continues with two minor military leaders known as Gideon and Barak. Gideon was faithful and successful in battle. That was until, he fashioned an “ephod” out of the gold he collected in a series of battles, and wore it in a religious ceremony that involved worship of other gods. (An ephod was an apron that a high priest wore when worshiping an idol.) This act of religious infidelity caused the whole nation to turn against Yahweh, the God of Israel.
Honestly, with “saints” like this, one has to wonder how the apostle (and God) would define a “sinner.”
Consider the other named “saints” in Hebrews: there was Samson, Jephthah, King David, Samuel, and Barak.
Samson was the guy who had a weakness for foreign women, who weakened him by cutting his hair.
Jephthah was a military leader who sacrificed his first born child and only daughter to fulfill a vow. He had promised that if he were victorious in battle, he would sacrifice his daughter as an offering to God, even though this practice wasn’t normative in Ancient Israel.
Then there was King David, who is often remembered as the most devout king in Ancient Israel, but he was far from perfect. He had an affair with the wife of his general and then sent his general into the front lines of battle to die in order to hide David’s sins.
Samuel was a better example of faithfulness than David because he was known for his good moral character. But Samuel did not have the right pedigree to serve as king. His parents dedicated him to the Temple, and Eli anointed him as the High Priest’s successor because his own sons were so corrupt.
There was also a lesser military leader, Barak, who was mentioned among the saints. Barak was the commander of the prophet Deborah’s army, who helped her defeat the Canaanites.
Mention is also made of the prophets, witnesses to the resurrection, and the apostles and martyrs--all of whom led nobler lives, according to the apostle, but no other specific names are listed.
III
There is no small irony to be found in the apostle’s use of the phrase “so great a cloud of witnesses,” and the fact that those listed as exemplary don’t seem to fit the bill. What are we to conclude?
Here’s what I think:
I think that the apostle is showing his first-century audience that God has accomplished God's purposes in spite of the foibles and infidelities of these ancient witnesses listed in Hebrews 11.
I think that the apostle believed that God would accomplish God’s purposes in and through that fledgling first-century congregation in Italy.
And, furthermore, I think that what God has done in and through the great cloud of witnesses, God can and God will do in and through you and me.
So we can stop sweating our doubts, fretting about our imperfections, hiding our seedy pasts, and apologizing for our humble pedigrees, and we can start embracing the Good News that God has and God will accomplish God’s purposes in and through us--even in spite of us--because this is how God rolls. Amen.