Do you remember that scene near the end of the movie, Pulp Fiction, when Jules and Vincent – the two hit men at the center of Quentin Tarantino's Academy Award-winning screenplay – argue over how to explain what happened when a drug dealer unloaded his handgun at them at close range but missed them entirely? Vincent – played by John Travolta – believes it's a freak occurrence. Jules – played by Samuel L. Jackson – considers it a miracle. Jules' defense of his judgment is intriguing. In response to Vincent's assertion that what happened didn't qualify as physically “impossible,” Jules says, “You're judging this the wrong way. It's not about what. It could be God stopped the bullets, he changed Coke into Pepsi, he found my...car keys. You don't judge [stuff] like this based on merit. Whether or not what we experienced was an according-to-Hoyle miracle is insignificant. What is significant is that I felt God's touch. God got involved.”
Ordinarily, I would not turn to Quentin Tarantino as a source for theological wisdom, but this little dialogue does open up, I believe, a way of understanding the discussion on faith that is the lesson from Hebrews this morning. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. (Hebrews 11: 1-3). That is how the 11th Chapter of Hebrews begins. Faith…the conviction of things unseen – it is the assurance, the complete trust in a reality that cannot be video-taped – cannot be proved by science or any other set of calculations.
You need not have seen Pulp Fiction to get the point….Where Jules and Vincent, two characters in Tarantino’s movie, differ is on what counts as evidence, on what can be trusted, on what is real. Vincent wants “reality” to be discerned by science, by reason, by the verifiable expertise that characterizes our “according-to-Hoyle” world. “Jules, however, makes room for faith, the ability to perceive God at work in, through, and around the various activities and components of our daily, physical life. And based on his assessment, Jules has decided to give up the life of a hit man and look elsewhere for what God has in store for him.”
Neither of these guys is a role model…but certainly the many people named in the lesson from Hebrews are just that. As the author notes, none of them is perfect either, in fact there are some pretty horrible incidents related about them in the Old Testament -Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword… They are, as you will recall when you think of the stories of say, King David, people with all the appetites and failings of any of us. That, to me, is what makes the stories of the Old Testament so intriguing and meaningful. They are not perfect and they have not yet, according to the author, received what was promised – even Abraham who is the subject of the first part of the chapter.
Faith is the understanding that “God gets involved” in our lives at moments that are unpredictable and without our control. Faith is a way of living that can cope with the silences from God and with the terrors, which sometimes come to all of us, and yet be distinctly hope filled. Faith as Hebrews writer says, is like running a race – the finish line not yet in view. Faith is manifest in a kind of perseverance that stands up to the more commonly cynical expectations of the world around us.
“God gets involved…” That doesn’t mean that God is going to procure you a parking space or save your cousin’s marriage that is on the rocks. God may not even bring to pass the kind of healing for which you may be praying for yourself or for a loved one. Faith is what allows us to live positively and go on in spite of these kinds of palpable uncertainties. “The promise of things hoped for…the conviction of things unseen.”
Having spent a few minutes on what faith is, let me now talk about what I think faith is not:
· Faith is not a creed – although we continue to call creeds statements of faith. Faith is often mixed up with issues of orthodoxy – such as the idea that Mary the mother of Jesus was a virgin or that Moses made the Red Sea (or the Reed Sea) roll up and part so that the Israelites could walk across or for that matter, that Jesus walked on water. These are issues of conviction but our relationship with our God in Christ will not be altered if we do not believe any one of hundreds of these issues raised by the Biblical stories or the tradition that has carried them along to us many thousands of years later.
· Look how many churches nationally are right now split over issues of scriptural interpretation or the role of various church authorities in different denominations. Do these issues really have anything to do with the faith that sustains a person through the hills and valleys of life?
The trouble with the heroes of faith discussed in Hebrews 11, and the events in which they were involved, is that we tend to take the trappings of their journey with Jesus and add them to the trappings of our society or culture and then add them to our own personal baggage and before long we have a church that is more burdened than enlightened by the past. A Lutheran Pastor raises this issue in his blog on line. It is one thing to learn from those who have gone on before us and equate the lessons learned to help us in our journey, it is quite another to take parts of their journey, mix it with our culture and personal garbage and hang it around the necks of our children. How much good, but basically useless stuff is in your pocket? Isn’t there a baggage limit?
Old Testament Scholar Walter Brueggemann, who is one of those often shown in the videos we used during our Lenten Study when we were “Living the Questions,” speaks of the “intergenerational mystery” of the church: “How [the lives of the saints and characters who ran the race before us] count depends on our lives.” How well they did is determined by how well we do. The story of amazing deeds from the past, the story of immovable resolve and faithful following of God's will, inspires us today to be faithful where we are, to keep on keeping on, no matter what is happening around us, no matter how things appear. Things are still unfolding, and just as the passage before this one in Hebrews speaks of things unseen, there is still much more of the story to be told. How are we going to participate in the unfolding? Are we telling the story, giving testimony about what God is doing right here, right now?
The baggage, if it is creedal statements and assertions of truth about this and that event or verse in the Bible or this or that event in the history of the early church, is of limited value if we understand that faith is more than passive belief, more than a number of bullet points on a statement of orthodoxy; it is active living. Living with the idea that doing – relating to neighbor, building community, connecting even with those who disagree with us and yes, attempting to love our enemies is the faithful way to follow in the footsteps of the saints.
There are all kinds of other voices in our lives today – just as there were in the days of our faith ancestors. They were charged to show their love to Rome and the Emperor – we are charged to be faithful consumers of goods, to run ourselves ragged “getting ahead.” Even if we don’t have funds to throw around on consumables, we expend our energies worrying that we won’t have enough money when we need it….that we don’t have as much as our neighbors have.
Do you remember the little parable Jesus told at one point about a prosperous farmer? “The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself, Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’
“Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?’ (Luke 12: 16-20).
The farmer put his trust in another kind of baggage, the stuff in his barn, and yet found himself totally unprepared in the things that matter when suddenly his life was at its end. Walter Brueggemann describes faith as “the willingness to trust our lives and our future to God even when God does not appear to be as reliable as other, more immediate supports. Faith is readiness to risk life on the promises of God without holding back.”
“As we prepare to take our turn at running the race, we're told to ‘lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.’ What sort of things might represent burdensome ‘weights’ that we need to put aside? Are we carrying guilt, illusions, addictions, selfishness and greed? Are we carrying ambition and self-centeredness? Are we carrying heartaches and grudges that we could put down, and in so doing, lighten our load?”
Our baggage will not save us – whether it is the typical baggage of stuff or the figurative baggage of creeds and doctrine. What will bring us to the finish line will be stepping out into the midst of the race with our eyes fixed on Jesus who sets the pace and leads us forward without expecting us to take on any trial that he was not willing to undergo himself.
So, let’s lay aside the baggage we don’t need, the baggage which isolates us from one another, and honor the strength we bring to one another as a community of faith. Let’s pursue the plan and move to the future with hope built on nothing less than our faith. God gets involved … through Jesus Christ our Lord, God gets involved and that makes all the difference. That is the essence of our faith. Amen.
