Hebrews 11 -
Stories of great people with tremendous faith whom God rescued, right?
Right; except that the author appends the following verses, which take a dramatic turn in the middle of verse 35 with the words "Others were tortured."

"32 And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect."

Adherents of the health and wealth gospel pulled out their scissors when they came to this passage (hope there wasn't anything useful on the back of that page).

Hmmm, where to start? How about with "sawn in two"? No, what would I have to say about that? How about with "of whom the world was not worthy"? No, how could one of whom the world is certainly worthy even approach such a weighty statement?

The most confusing statements for me are the last two verses. "Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect." Apart from us?!? How was the author and those to whom he wrote - How am I ! - implicated in their persecutions? The only answer I can find is that we all have a very screwed up sense of what justice is, a rather non-biblical view, a very non-communal view.

It seems that for Hebrews' author their suffering for his benefit made sense. Perhaps he did not fully understand how or why, but he understood that God used those who willingly sacrificed themselves for the furtherance of God's kingdom. We recoil at the use of the word "used," when describing persons - and rightly so. The liberal affects of the Enlightenment helped us see the torturous inhumanity of one human using another human, such as the now abolished use of black people as slaves.

However, the same liberal affects of the Enlightenment that championed the rights of every individual has run roughshod over our souls, over our spiritual sensitivities, and over our understanding of the connectedness of all humanity. The marvelous freedoms liberal ideas have instilled in our country and the world know only of protection against others' use of them, which of course is good, except for the "only" part.

We must fight against people's "use of" other people. But God's mystery, the mystery of love, is somehow tied up in "use of," in sacrifice. Redemption only occurs through sacrifice, which inevitably uses someone. Love lives in a constant state of redemption and thereby a constant state of sacrifice, which is why Paul says to married couples "Submit unto one another." As we love eachother and sacrifice for eachother, we become more and more indebted to eachother. This is not the mystery of how love and sacrifice work, but it is perhaps some small portion of the mystery, a foundation, perhaps, upon which love begins to build.

I think that the question of justice concerning those "sawn in two" in the first century is not the one we are most apt to ask - "How could a loving God allow that to happen to them when their faith was 'commended'?" Rather the question of justice concerns how I will respond to their sacrifice; for I am the result of their sacrifice. Because of first-century martyrs, the gospel spread when rulers were attempting to smother it out of existence. I am, therefore, the "something better" that "God had provided," and apart from my response they cannot "be made perfect."

The next chapter in Hebrews begins, "Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnessess," which we have usually understood as those stately heroes of faith standing around in heaven, next to God, righteously watching our every move - so we better act good or we will be shamed when we one day come into their presence. I think this understanding, however, skips over the end of chapter 11. It is an understanding born of our individualistic, triumphal view of God's ways and word. It seems to me that the theme is more in line with OT sacrifice, such as where God came to visit Abraham and told him to saw an animal in two. God then walked between the two pieces to create a covenant with Abraham.

I believe that God was there in the first century when those people were sawn in two, walking amongst them, making a covenant with those down through the centuries who would hear of their stories. And I believe that those people had some inkling of this. They felt called to lay down their lives, not as a matter of dogma that they must be willing to die for their faith, but because they understood something of the mystery of sacrifice, of love, because they understood something of the mystery of the cross. It is Jesus's sacrifice, after all, that the author of Hebrews goes on to site in the next verses.

Hebrews 12
"1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. "

God has called us to sacrifice, and not so that it may be better with us, but for the furtherance of God's kingdom. If we are willing, God wants to "use" us as well, use us to accomplish things we cannot imagine on our own. But if we are ever to be used, we will have to overcome our individualistic understanding of the gospel. The gospel is not just for me. The gospel is for the whole world. For what else is "the joy set before" Jesus than us, than all humanity? What other reason would God have to come to earth and willingly die? Likewise, we we must view our potential connection with humanity as a potential joy worth sacrifice, for this is the work of the kingdom - not that I be connected to God, but that the entire world be redeemed.

Paul writes to the Colossians (chpt 1) concerning "the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel. 24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. 25 I became its servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known."

If we are to continue Christ's work, we will have to learn the meaning of sacrifice, which is myseriously tied up in love of our neighbor, and even of our enemy. For it is not a select few that God predestined to redeem and whom God will redeem despite our efforts, but rather it is the whole world for whom Jesus lay down his life, and it is the entire world for whom he has called us to lay down our lives.