Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

By Neal F. Fisher, President Emeritus & Senior Scholar in Theology

The Epistle Text for Wednesday of Holy Week

Jesus’ Baptism by John. Chapel of the Unnamed Faithful. Photo by Al Caldwell.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 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. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12: 1-2)

"Looking to Jesus"

In Holy Week, the disciples faltered. Some of the first readers of this text had done the same. The point was to endure.

If we falter, it is not for want of role models in the faith. Our author in earlier paragraphs has reminded us of men and women whose examples of faith envelop us as a cloud. Having cited fifteen of the faithful by name, the writer of Hebrews runs out of time (11:32b) and must be content merely to recite the deeds of those souls without name or number who kept the faith in the teeth of outrageous odds. We would call them the "unnamed faithful," saints not known to us but assuredly known and named by God.

Fortified by this cloud of the unnamed faithful, we are bid to join them in the race, to persevere with them in the march, "looking to Jesus, the pioneer . . . of our faith."

In baptism we "put on Christ," adopting Jesus as pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Passing under the waters we symbolically die with Christ, confident that the One who raised him again from the dead will raise us as well into new life. Looking to Jesus as pioneer involves the practical trust that God is made visible in him. It entails reliance upon the One made known in him to sustain us and receive us at last into the divine care. Jesus endured the cross, disregarding its shame. And now the One who was judged and condemned by the powerful agents of both religion and empire is vindicated and sits at God's right hand. Faith in him fortifies and sustains.

Philip Yancy writes in his Reaching for the Invisible God the story of a woman named Betsy who suffered with Alzheimer's disease. Betsy attended a Christian discussion group in the nursing home where she lived. She could no longer carry on a conversation, but she could still manage to read a few words in succession. One of her friends in the group asked her to read the words of "The Old Rugged Cross." She read, "On a hill far away stands an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame."

As Betsy read those words, she broke into tears. She said that she couldn't go on. "It's too sad," she said. "It's too sad." The leaders assured her that she did not have to go on. But she kept repeating that it was too sad. The meeting ended, and her friends noticed that Betsy had become more calm and lucid, and she began to sing. With wavering pitch and a fresh supply of tears, the words of the hymn still came through:

"So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it some day for a crown."

She knew suffering and shame. But even in her disability she could still look to Jesus who endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sits at the right hand of God.

That's a faith that will get you home.