Lay Aside What Clings – Hebrews 11

A text – Hebrews 11:29-12:2

11:29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.
11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days.
11:31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
11:32 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–
11:33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
11:34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
11:35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.
11:36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
11:37 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–
11:38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
11:39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised,
11:40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
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,
12:2 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.

A reflection:

The story of God’s relationship with the Children of Israel has been written about for several thousand years. The writer of Hebrews knows that his audience likes the many tales of faithful people who walked with the Lord, who trusted the Lord for their survival, and even when they did not survive that the Lord would bless their children. Hundreds of thousands of people across thousands of years, from Abraham through Moses through David and Solomon – they were a throng of believers. Literally multiple thousands of human beings. It had been so at the time of the writing of this letter, and it is even truer now, 2000 years after Christ carried that story forward into a new age, with an even bigger throng.

Verses 12:1&2 say that since so many people have shown us the way and been beloved of God, we too can set aside any weight and sin and run the race that is set before us. In this mental image it is as if sin is some kind of gloppy goo that clings to us to slow us down, becoming an obstacle or hindrance to running the race that is set before us. It seems to say that if we scrape it off and let it go, we can get on with the life we are meant to live.

How often are we hampered by our own shortcomings and failures? Whether or not these failures are personal faults or misdeeds or whether they are just weakness or fatigue, what would it be like to lay them aside, these clingy ideas and residual leftovers of disappointments, and just get on with what we are called to do and be? Those who live lives of faith have all scraped off the clinging goo of sin and failure and gotten on with what God was calling them to do and to be. Even Jesus disregarded the shame of derision and the worst possible death and got on with his work. When mistakes or the past or bad thoughts cling and prevent our living into our destiny, let us lay them aside and move on. And if we see our sister or brother weighed down, let us help lift the weight from them as well.

A prayer:

Dear God, Thank you for loving us and for making it possible for us to lay aside the obstacles to our doing your work. Help us daily to be about that work you have for us to do. Amen.