Homily 21 — Hebrews 10, verse 32, to 11, verse 2

“But call to mind the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great contest of sufferings: partly while you were made a public spectacle, both by insults and by sufferings, and partly while you became companions of those who were treated so. For you had compassion on those who were in chains, and accepted with joy the plundering of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves in heaven a better and a lasting possession.” [a]

The best physicians, after they have made a deep incision and increased the pain by the wound, do not go on to make a second cut. Instead they soothe the part that hurts and give rest and relief to the troubled soul, calming the cut already made with gentle remedies, the kind that take away the violence of the pain.

Paul did the same. He had shaken their souls and pierced them with the thought of hell. He had convinced them that the one who insults the grace of God must certainly perish. He had shown from the laws of Moses that such people will perish too, and more terribly, and confirmed it by other testimonies, and had said, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10, verse 31). Then, so that the soul would not lose heart from too much fear and be swallowed up by grief, he soothes them with praise and encouragement, and gives them zeal drawn from their own conduct. For, he says, “call to mind the former days, in which, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of sufferings.”

Encouragement drawn from deeds already done is powerful, for whoever has begun a work ought to go forward and add to it. It is as if he had said: when you were brought into the church, when you were still in the ranks of those being taught, you showed such eagerness, such nobility; but now it is no longer so. And whoever wants to encourage people encourages them best from their own example.

And he did not simply say, “you endured a contest,” but a “great” one. Nor did he say “trials,” but “contest,” which is a word of commendation and of the very highest praise.

Then he goes through them one by one, enlarging on what he says and multiplying his praise. How? “Partly,” he says, “while you were made a public spectacle by insults and sufferings.” For insult is a heavy thing, able to twist the soul and darken the judgment. Listen to what the prophet says: “While they say to me every day, Where is your God?” (Psalm 42, verse 10). And again: “If an enemy had insulted me, I would have borne it” (Psalm 55, verse 12). Since the human race is extremely fond of empty glory, it is easily overcome by this.

And he did not simply say “by insults,” but that they were insulted with great intensity, being “made a public spectacle.” When a person is insulted in private, it is painful, but far more so in front of everyone. Tell me, how great an evil was it, when people who had left behind the lowliness of Judaism, and gone over, as it were, to the best way of life, and despised the customs of their fathers, were mistreated by their own people and had no one to help them?

He is saying: I cannot say that you suffered these things and were grieved by them. No, you even rejoiced greatly. He expressed this by saying, “while you became companions of those who were treated so,” and here he brings forward the apostles themselves. He means: not only were you not ashamed of your own sufferings, you even shared with others who were suffering the same things. This too is the language of someone who is encouraging. He did not say, “Bear my sufferings, share them with me,” but, respect your own. [c]

“You had compassion on those who were in chains.” You see that he is speaking of himself and the others who were in prison. So you did not count chains as chains, but stood like noble wrestlers. Not only did you need no comfort in your own distresses; you even became a comfort to others.

And “you accepted with joy the plundering of your property.” Oh, what “full assurance of faith”! (Hebrews 10, verse 22). Then he also sets out the reason, not only to comfort them for their struggles but also so that they would not be shaken from the faith. He means: when you saw your property plundered, you endured it, for you already saw him who is invisible as though he were visible. That was the work of genuine faith, and you showed it in your very deeds.

Well then, perhaps the plundering came from the force of the plunderers, and no one could have prevented it, so that it is not yet clear that you endured the plundering for the sake of the faith. (Though this too is clear, for it was in your power, if you chose, not to be plundered — by not believing.) But you did something far greater than this: you endured such things even “with joy.” That was truly apostolic, and worthy of those noble souls who rejoiced when they were flogged. For it says, “They went out from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name” (Acts 5, verse 41). Whoever endures “with joy” shows that he has some reward, and that the matter is no loss but a gain.

Moreover, the words “you accepted” show that they endured willingly. He means: you chose it, and you took it on.

“Knowing,” he says, “that you have for yourselves in heaven a better and a lasting possession.” He says “lasting” instead of saying firm, not perishing like this one.

Next, having praised them, he says (verse 35): “So do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” What do you mean? He did not say, “You have thrown it away; get it back.” Instead he said what would strengthen them more: “You have it.” For to recover what has been thrown away takes more labor, but not to lose what one is holding firmly does not. Yet to the Galatians he says the very opposite: “My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4, verse 19). And with reason: they were more careless, so they needed a sharper word; but these were more fainthearted, so they needed something more soothing. [d]

“So do not throw away,” he says, “your confidence.” So they had great confidence toward God. “Which has,” he says, “a great reward.”

“And when will we receive these things? Look, everything on our side has been done.” So he got in ahead of them, taking up their own assumption, and said in effect: if you know that you have a better possession in heaven, look for nothing here.

“For you need endurance” — not any addition to your labors — so that you may stay as you are, so that you may not throw away what has been put into your hands. You need nothing else but to stand as you have stood, so that when you come to the end you may receive the promise. (Verse 36): “For,” he says, “you need endurance, so that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise.” You need only one thing: to bear the delay, not to fight all over again. He means: you are at the very crown. You have borne every contest — of chains, of sufferings; your property has been plundered. What then? From now on you are standing there waiting to be crowned. Endure only this one thing, the delay of the crown.

Oh, the greatness of the comfort! It is as if someone were speaking to an athlete who had thrown every opponent and had no rival left, and was about to be crowned — and yet could not bear to wait out the time it takes the president of the games to come and place the crown on him, but grew impatient and wanted to leave and get away, as though he could not stand the thirst and the heat.

Hinting at this, then, what does he say? (Verse 37): “For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come, and will not delay.” So that they would not say, “And when will he come?” he comforts them from the Scriptures. In the same way, when he says in another place, “Our salvation is nearer now” (Romans 13, verse 11), he comforts them with the thought that the time remaining is short. And he says this not on his own authority, but from the Scriptures. But if even back then it was said, “Yet a little while, and he who is coming will come, and will not delay,” it is plain that he is nearer now. That is why even the waiting is no small reward.

(Verse 38): “Now the righteous,” he says, “will live by faith; but if anyone shrinks back, my soul takes no pleasure in him.” This is a great encouragement, when someone shows them that they have succeeded in the whole matter and are losing it through a little laziness. (Verse 39): “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”

(Hebrews 11, verses 1 and 2): “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders won a good report.” Oh, what an expression he has used, in saying, “the evidence of things not seen”! For we speak of “evidence” where things are perfectly plain. He means, then, that faith is seeing things that are not plain, and that it brings what is not seen to the same full assurance as what is seen. So it is impossible to disbelieve things that are seen; and on the other hand there can be no faith unless a person is more fully assured about things invisible than about things most clearly seen. [e]

Since the things we hope for seem to have no substance, faith gives them substance — or rather, it does not give it, but is itself their substance. For example, the resurrection has not yet come, and does not yet exist in substance, but hope gives it substance in our soul. That is the meaning of “the substance of things.”

If, then, faith is “the evidence of things not seen,” why on earth do you want to see them, and so fall away from faith and from being righteous? For “the righteous will live by faith,” whereas you, if you want to see these things, no longer have faith. He is saying: you have labored, you have struggled; I grant that too. Nevertheless, wait — for this is faith. Do not look for everything “here.”

These things were said to the Hebrews, but they are also a general encouragement to many of those gathered here. How, and in what way? To the fainthearted, to the small-souled. For when they see the wicked prospering and themselves faring badly, they are troubled and cannot bear it patiently. They long for punishment and vengeance to fall on others, and they wait for the rewards of their own sufferings. “For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come.” Let us, then, say this to the sluggish: there will certainly be punishment; he will certainly come; from now on the things of the resurrection are already at the door. [f]

“How does that appear?” I do not say from the prophets, for I am not speaking now to Christians only. Even if a pagan is here, I am entirely confident, and I bring forward my proofs and will instruct him. “How?”

Christ foretold many things. If those earlier things did not happen, then do not believe these either. But if they all happened, why doubt about the ones that remain? It would be most unreasonable, if nothing had happened, to believe the one; or, when everything has happened, to disbelieve the others.

But I will make the matter plainer by an example. Christ said that Jerusalem would be taken, and taken in a way no city ever was before, and that it would never be raised up again; and in fact this prediction came to pass. He said there would be “great distress” (Matthew 24, verse 21), and it came to pass. He said that as a grain of mustard seed is sown, so the preaching of the good news would spread; and every day we see it running over the world. He said that those who left father or mother or brothers or sisters would have both fathers and mothers; and we see this fulfilled in fact. He said, “In the world you will have distress; but take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16, verse 33), that is, no one will get the better of you; and we see from what has happened that this has come to pass. He said that “the gates of hell will not prevail against the church” (Matthew 16, verse 18), even though it is persecuted, and that no one would put out the preaching of the good news; and what has happened bears witness to this prediction too.

And yet when he said these things, it was very hard to believe him. Why? Because all of them were words, and he had not yet given proof of what he said. So now they have become far more believable. He said that “when the good news has been preached among all the nations, then the end will come” (Matthew 24, verse 14). Look, now you have arrived at the end! For the greater part of the world has been preached to, so the end is now at hand. Let us tremble, beloved.

But tell me, what is this? Are you anxious about the end? It is indeed near, but each person’s own life and death is nearer still. For it is said, “The days of our years are seventy years; and if one is strong, eighty years” (Psalm 90, verse 10). The day of judgment is near. Let us be afraid. “A brother does not redeem; will a man redeem?” (Psalm 49, verse 7). There we will repent greatly, “but in death no one will praise him” (Psalm 6, verse 5). That is why it says, “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving” (Psalm 95, verse 2) — that is, his coming. For here, in this life, whatever we do has its effect; but there, no longer. [h]

Tell me: if someone put us for a little while in a blazing furnace, would we not submit to anything to escape — even if we had to part with our money, or even to become slaves? How many people have fallen into terrible illnesses and would gladly give up everything to be freed from them, if the choice were offered? If in this world, then, an illness that lasts only a short time afflicts us so, what will we do there, when repentance will be of no use?

How many evils are we full of now, without even being aware of them? We bite one another, we devour one another (compare Galatians 5, verse 15), by wronging, accusing, slandering, and resenting our neighbors’ good name. [j]

And do you see the trouble here? When someone wants to undermine a neighbor’s reputation, he says: “So-and-so said this about him. God forgive me, do not examine me strictly — I have to report what I heard.” Then why do you speak of it at all, if you do not believe it? Why do you speak of it? Why do you make it believable by repeating it so often? Why do you pass on a story that is not true? You do not believe it, and you beg God not to call you to strict account? Then do not say it. Keep silent, and free yourself from all fear.

I do not know where this disease has come upon people from. We have become tattlers; nothing stays in our minds. Listen to the advice of a wise man who says, “Have you heard a word? Let it die in you. Be brave: it will not burst you” (Sirach 19, verse 10). And again: “A fool hears a word and goes into labor, like a woman in labor with a child” (Sirach 19, verse 11). We are quick to accuse and ready to condemn. Even if we had done no other evil thing, this would be enough to ruin us and carry us off to hell; it entangles us in ten thousand evils. And so that you may know this for certain, listen to what the prophet says: “You sat and spoke against your brother” (Psalm 50, verse 20).

“But it is not I — it is the other one who told me.” No, rather it is you. For if you had not spoken, the other would not have heard; or even if he did hear it, you would not have been to blame for the sin. We ought to cover over and hide our neighbors’ failings, but you parade them under the cloak of zeal for goodness. You become not an accuser but a gossip, a trifler, a fool. Oh, what cleverness! Without realizing it, you bring disgrace on yourself as well as on him.

And see how great the evils are that come from this. You provoke the anger of God. Do you not hear Paul saying of the widows, “Not only” — these are his words — “do they learn to be idle, but they are also tattlers and busybodies, going around from house to house and saying things they should not” (First Timothy 5, verse 13)? So even when you do believe the things that are said against your brother, even then you ought not to speak of them; much less when you do not believe them.

But you, if you please, are looking out for your own interest? You are afraid of being called to account by God? Then be afraid of being called to account for your tattling as well. For here you cannot say, “God, do not call me to account for idle talk,” since the whole thing is idle talk. Why did you make it public? Why did you make the evil bigger? This is enough to destroy us. That is why Christ said, “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged” (Matthew 7, verse 1).

But we pay no attention to this, and we are not brought to our senses even by what happened to the Pharisee. He said what was true — “I am not like this tax collector” (Luke 18, verse 11) — and he said it where no one could hear; and yet he was condemned. If he was condemned when he said what was true, and said it where no one could hear, what fearful punishment will they not suffer who, like gossiping women, carry everywhere lies they do not even believe themselves? What will they not endure?

From now on, then, let us set “a door and a bolt before the mouth” (Sirach 28, verse 25). Countless evils have come from tattling: families have been ruined, friendships torn apart, countless other miseries have followed. Do not busy yourself, my friend, with your neighbor’s affairs.

But you are talkative, and you have a weakness. Then talk about your own faults to God, and the weakness will no longer be a weakness but an advantage. Talk about your own faults to your friends — true friends, righteous people, people you trust — so that they may pray for your sins. If you speak about other people’s sins, you gain nothing and profit nothing; you have ruined yourself. If you confess your own sins to the Lord, you have a great reward. For someone says, “I said, I will confess my wrongdoing against myself to the Lord, and you forgave the ungodliness of my heart” (Psalm 32, verse 5).

Do you want to judge? Judge your own sins. No one will accuse you if you condemn yourself. But he will accuse you if you do not condemn yourself; he will accuse you unless you convict yourself; he will accuse you of having no feeling. Have you seen someone angry, irritated, doing something else that is out of place? Think at once of your own faults, and so you will not condemn him harshly, and you will free yourself from the load of your past wrongs.

If we order our own conduct this way, if we manage our own life this way, if we condemn ourselves, we will probably not commit many sins, and we will do many good things, being fair-minded and moderate. And we will enjoy all the promises made to those who love God. May we all attain them, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.