Radical Faithfulness (Week 43, Jun 18)
Reading
Hebrews 11:1 – 12:13
Silent Reflection
Remarks
None of this matters if we give up. And, make no mistake, the temptation to give up is unbelievably real. The very word radical is enough to remind us that remaining committed to this ancient rootedness is not easy. It looks crazy. It feels foolish. It sounds counter-intuitive. And, to be fair, from a certain point of view it is all those things.
If what we’re after is being on the winning side, then love feasts and the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, and the rest—don’t seem like great prospects against the empires of the world, led by a great dragon commanding a multi-headed beast devouring everything in its path.
Yes, we have a new King and a new Kingdom, and yes, our King in Revelation goes to confront the dragon. At first, it seems promising. We hear a loud proclamation: “Behold! The Lion of Judah!” A real lion! The king of beasts! But in the eye of our imagination, reality sets in: what can a lion really do against a dragon and his beasts?
It gets worse. Our lion, it turns out, isn’t really a lion at all. We hear the proclamation of a majestic lion, but when we turn to look with our eyes, what we see is a lamb. And not only that, but a lamb “standing as though slain.” To reference some of our favorite British fiction, what the cosmic battle of the ages essentially comes down to, then, is Smaug the Dragon vs. Shaun the Sheep. What hope do we in this new Kingdom have of being on the winning side now?
None, it turns out.
But winning, it turns out, is not what true victory is about in this Kingdom.
The Apocalypse of John in the book of Revelation is an invitation to consider what we truly believe about power. Is Dragon Power really power? Laying waste to everything in your path sure can strike a lot of fear and get a lot of compliance, but can it truly change the heart? Can it inspire love? Or is that what happens when someone is sacrificed for? When they are shown grace? The Power of the Slain Lamb risks everything. It risks being rejected, trampled on, rebelled against, despised, or even simply unnoticed altogether. But it is the only power that is really real, able to cast the mountain of a stone heart into the sea.
Revelation is a call to believe this power, this grace, this love and sacrifice, and to live faithfully out of it despite all our eyes are telling us. If we’re honest, this is a very difficult thing to do, and the perseverance required is massive. Thankfully, it’s not something we are ever asked to do alone.
The great “Hall of Faith” reminds us of the stories of all those who have run the race before us. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that there have always been faithful, persevering people going far back into the past who chose to lean into the unlikely Power of the Slain Lamb. The character of the people in this hall is itself a testimony to this subversive power. See, the Hall of Faith is not a list of perfect people with immaculate résumés and shiny trophy rooms. This isn’t a list of characters who wore capes.
They are people who had unbelievable struggles and were far from perfect. They were people of faith and people of failure. They were also finishers. They ran the race to the end. They kept the faith. They continued the story. They do that even now, we are told, as they go on forming a great cloud of witnesses around us, cheering us on and reminding us that our faith and our failures and our struggles and our victories and our trials and our temptations—they’re worth it. “Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Keep running.”
The Slain Lamb might look like a colossal failure, and in one sense He is, but in a much deeper and realer sense, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Creator of the Universe, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We are told the heavenly hosts surround this Prince of Peace and sing the Song of Moses for all of eternity.
Yes, there is a new King and a new Kingdom. They are the hope of the world. Life, not death. Hope, not despair.
And so we remind ourselves that radical community is very difficult. We acknowledge it will feel like too much work and commitment.
And we remind ourselves that sharing all we are and all we have with others will seem like a fruitless endeavor that doesn’t work.
We remind ourselves today that radical inclusion is unbelievably messy and difficult and raises a ton of questions. It is so much cleaner and effective and efficient to create rules and structures and traditions to define who is truly in and exactly how to be them.
And yet, we remind ourselves, in full light of all of that, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” We must remain faithful because the proclamation of a new King, the building of a new Kingdom, and the declaration of the Good News depends not on our being able to explain it and define it, but to live it out with passion. Whenever we find it hard to remind ourselves, may we remember the great cloud of witnesses, who remind us by their lives, who gave up the efficient and the easy and the clean for a better city, and who await our part in this grand narrative. May we see that only together with our faithfulness will theirs be made perfect.
Silent Reflection
Response
Have somebody in the group look at each member and say, “Radical community is very difficult; it will feel like too much work.” Have each member respond with, “Faithfulness, with the help of God.”
Have somebody else in the group look at each member and say, “Sharing with each other will feel fruitless and ineffective.” Have each member respond with, “Faithfulness, with the help of God.”
Have someone else in the group look at each member and say, “Radical inclusion is messy; it will raise questions that are hard to answer.” Have each member respond with, “Faithfulness, with the help of God.”
Have another in the group look at each member and say, “At times we will be tempted to return to Egypt and the pots of meat, to the leeks and melons and cucumbers of systems and traditions and structure, and we know those do not breathe life into dry bones.” Have each member respond with, “Faithfulness, with the help of God.”