English Standard Version (ESV)
What's so extraordinary about the promises of Scripture is that no matter how good this life is, no matter how beautiful and captivating and striking life is, there is something better waiting for us.
We spend so much time longing for better things in this life -- some of these are material longings, while others are often relational longings. We long to be closer with parents and friends and spouses and children. We long for courage to live our faith and wisdom to discern the next best thing. We see images of ideal lives that some people seem to live, often heavily filtered on social media or in magazines, and we long for the lives that other people live. But no matter how good we have it here, no matter how much humility or peace we gain, there is something better that awaits.
If I could snap my fingers and change one thing about myself, I'd wish for greater understanding of how wondrous the world that awaits truly is. I'd want to catch a glimpse of God's Kingdom, that the allure of it might draw me forward, might transform the way I see this life and my time here. The saints of the church that the writer of Hebrews is referencing -- these individuals had their faith fixed on the promise that was to come, and because of that, they were able to endure the destitution and affliction and mockery -- they knew that what was to come would contain such glory that the sufferings of this world would be so trivial, so minuscule, in comparison so as not even to be considered. As it was said by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” The saints of the church had this yearning for what God had in store, and so their ship, their faith, carried them forward, into whatever the seas of life held.
Some of my favorite passages from Scripture are found in the pages of Revelation. In Chapter 4, John is given a vision of the heavenly throne, but it is clearly greater than the words we have been given to describe things. John's language is failing him, so he uses metaphors: And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald (Rev. 4:3, ESV). It's like a rainbow that's like an emerald, but it's not -- it's so much greater! It's beyond what we can grasp, and John is searching for words but falling short, so he leaves us with a glimpse of how much greater that world is.
The saints of the church did the same, albeit in their own flawed way. They weren't perfect, but they demonstrated selfless love and a peace in the midst of adversity that is possible only in the confidence that the greatest sufferings in the world cannot take your greatest treasure from you. How else could someone allow themselves to be sawn in two? I remember in church history class when we read some of the accounts of the early church martyrs -- they were joyfully going to their deaths, because their hearts were beating for one purpose, for the glory of God, and the world's fiercest soldiers and the sharpest swords could never put a stop to what was coursing through their veins. Eternal life grabbed hold of them, and they pursued it with everything they had, with a single-minded purpose that transformed the way they acted in this world. Their lives were demonstrations of God's grace, snapshots of what the Kingdom of God looks like. Like the illustrations in a children's Bible, they didn't tell the whole story, but they showed us a part of it through their faith.
That's the faith I long for. We're all striving for it, growing towards it, praying for the Holy Spirit to give us the direction, the passion, the wisdom to live a live of faith that joins with the saints from every time and place. A faith that knows that what is to come is worth sacrificing for, because the treasure that awaits is so much greater than any treasure on earth that it's an easy decision about where to invest your time and talent.
And what's great is that this faith doesn't focus so much on heaven that it loses it's usefulness on earth. Jesus uses this type of faith to encourage believers and proclaim the truth to non-believers. Just as there's a place for all of us around the table in the Kingdom of God, there's a place for all of us in the church, sharing our stories while pointing to the greatest story of them all. We can share our vulnerabilities and weaknesses, because as the writer of Hebrews says, we are made strong through our weakness.
Life beyond death. Peace beyond affliction. Freely given. For all.
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