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This week we study another payoff sort of text, one that functions as the climax of much of the book. In fact, I think it is very fair to look at the first couple of verses as summarizing the plea of the letter. This text tells us clearly what the letter is written to accomplish, what the author wants to happen. From there the text offers some encouragement that invites some theological reflections and difficulties, but is demonstrative of a healthy perspective of hardships.
This is a brief text, one of the shortest in our breakdown of Hebrews this spring, but it is rich and dense. There is enough in this passage to meditate on that I believe your class will find it quite rewarding. As a final note, please remember to challenge your class to spend some time committing a few of these verses to memory. It seems that 12:1-2 would be a great candidate for worthy memory work.
Understanding the Text12:1-3
This text is not complicated, but profound and brilliant. It is firmly connected to the immediately preceding text highlighting heroes of faith from the past, but also functions as to give a real life focus to all the theological arguments that have been given throughout the letter. One way of demonstrating that is that the “therefore” at 12:1 can logically be read as following almost any other passage in the book, not just the closing verses of chapter 12. You could say,
we have a high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses...” (paraphrase of 4:15)
“...therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us...”.
Or,
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account ...(4:13)
“...therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us...”.
Or,
Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant...”
“...therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us...”.
Connecting this passage with different parts of Hebrews demonstrates that the text summarizes the rhetorical intent of the letter. However, in a more specific way, the “therefore” is connected with chapter 11, as the text says that it is because we have such a cloud of witnesses that we are encouraged to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and to run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Not only is this text intimately connected to chapter 11, but if we look carefully, we can see that it actually completes the picture chapter 11 draws! Who is missing in the list of heroes in chapter 11? Only the best example of all, Jesus! So chapter 12 opens first with the exhortation, then points towards Jesus as an ultimate example. To make this function clear, imagine substituting the phrase “For the joy set before him” with the words “by faith...”, and you can see how what Hebrews tells us about Jesus fits very well with the flow of chapter 11. Jesus is the ultimate example.
Now that the connections have been clarified, what is it that the author is exhorting us to do?
There are several components, as we are encouraged:
- To throw off everything that hinders
- To throw off the sin that entangles
- To run with perseverance while focusing on the perseverance of Jesus
All of these things really boil down to taking on a “never give up” attitude, an attitude of focus that refuses to let any sin or hardship get in the way of faith. The threat against someone who takes on such an attitude is that after a while, the goal seems so distant, so far away that it is easy to become discouraged. That's the purpose of the letter, all of the theology of this letter is to encourage the reader to remain faithful, to continue pursuing the goal of faithfulness. More specifically, that's the purpose of the examples of the previous chapter and most importantly the reason for fixing our eyes on Jesus. Verse 3 says that our reason for considering Jesus is so that we won't grow weary and lose heart. The message of Hebrews is: “Press on!”
12:4-12
After this first, very positive word of encouragement, the text turns to a darker word. The text notes, oddly, that they haven't yet resisted to the point of shedding their blood, almost as if to say that in comparison to Jesus and the examples of the previous chapter, what they are undergoing is not really all that bad. This verse gives some interesting information about the original readers, and is a limiting factor to what we might assume after reading 10:32-34. the readers have suffered to be sure, but haven't gone to the most extreme forms of persecution yet. What is the author's reason for pointing this out? He minimizes their suffering a bit before offering a bit of theology that offers further rationale for the principle of “rejoice when others persecute you”.
The rationale, most simply stated is that the hardships we endure serve as discipline from God for our growth. There are certainly theological difficulties if we read this text the most natural way, that God actively causes suffering for the sake of his purposes, and those difficulties are only slightly minimized if we interpret the passage as God passively allowing such suffering.
It is important to note that this latter section of the text almost certainly has in mind the wilderness wanderings of the people referred to earlier in the letter. That was a period of hardship endured by the people as a whole for the redemption of the people as a whole, even though it was only the later generation that would enter the promised land. It may be that thinking through the text in that context helps us accept the difficulties above. What may be more telling is that the struggle being engaged in may not be best understood as a threat from physical adversaries. After all, it is in their struggle against sin that they have not yet resisted to the point of blood. Ultimately, this text affirms both God's love, power and sovereignty while pointing to a future time of reward that will outweigh present difficulties.
What we can take awayThis payoff text primarily serves to encourage us against giving up. Perhaps discussion can be had about the things that tempt us to give up, the sins that easily entangle you, or the things that cause us to lose our focus on Christ. In other words, what makes these encouragements challenging?
A second place of discussion may be about what we perceive our hardships to be. What has been difficult that we have already passed through, and were better for it? What is it in our present circumstances that seems like it might be a discipline we need to persevere through?
Finally, what has been our “harvest of righteousness?” What is the reward (not just heaven) of perseverence?
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