Such a Great Cloud

Hebrews 11:32-12:1

January 30, 2022 • Mount Pleasant UMC

This Friday, the whole world will turn its attention toward Beijing, China as the Winter Olympics begin. This year will be a lot like last summer’s delayed 2020 Olympics, with very few in-person spectators, but the games will go on, as they should. The Olympics have a long history. Athletic festivals designed to honor the Greek gods were held as early as the 1400s bc. To give you a sense of perspective, that’s about when Joshua in the Old Testament lived. The first known official Olympic contest dates back to 776 bc. It took place in western Greece, in the city of Olympia, in a stadium that could seat around 40,000 spectators. I’ve had a chance to stand on that field, where only men competed and the only event held was a sprint of less than 200 meters. The main attraction was not the race, but the festival honoring the gods. Over time, though, the games became more important. Other events were added, such as wrestling and chariot races. A whole training facility was built at Olympia, the remains of which you can still see today. And at these games, winners competed for an olive wreath; the gold medals came much later! The contests continued every four years until 394 ad (that’s 1,100 years or 275 games) when the Roman Emperor Theodosius ordered an end to them. He considered the celebrations “too pagan” for Christian Rome.

It wasn’t until the late 19^th century, when a team of German archeologists were excavating the site of the ancient stadium in Olympia, a site that had been destroyed by an earthquake, that the idea came to a French educator, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, to start the Olympics again. Could the Olympic games, which brought the ancient world together, be revived as a way of bringing the modern world together in peaceful competition? Gather the best athletes from around the world and let them compete without politics, without tension, without borders. The idea caught on and in 1896 the first modern games were held in Athens, Greece. And while the modern games haven’t always been without political tension, to a large degree, de Coubertin’s vision remains alive. So much so that, even in the midst of a pandemic, the games must go on.

I’m not much of a sports fan; I don’t have any teams I follow and I don’t attend many games, but I never miss the Olympics. Summer, winter, it doesn’t matter. For the next two and a half weeks, our television will be set on watching these games. I love the bobsled and the luge, I love skiing and snowboarding, but I haven’t figured out curling yet. Still, I will watch it all because there’s something thrilling about these games. I think about all the training and the effort these athletes—amateurs, no less—put into this moment. I love hearing the stories behind the achievements. There may be other awards and other stages during the intervening years, but no stage is as big or as important as the Olympics. An Olympic gold medal outshines all of the rest of the awards. It is still significant to be called an “Olympian.”

But on those rare occasions when I do think about sports, I remember  how often the Bible compares the Christian life to sports. For instance, Paul told the Corinthians, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24). In another place, he describes his life this way: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). And then there is Hebrews 12, which is full of this kind of imagery. In this chapter, the writer draws on what was a familiar picture to his readers as he urges them to become spiritual champions, faithful Christians. So with the Olympics as a backdrop, for the next few weeks we’re going to wade around in Hebrews 12 as we think together about what it means to run the “race” that is the Christian faith, and how becoming a spiritual champion is about pursuing “More Than Gold.” Each week, I’m going to share what is hopefully a memorable statement that will become a tool for running our race faithfully. This morning, here’s the essence of the message: “Remember the witnesses.”

So, chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews is often called “The Faith Hall of Fame.” At the beginning of the chapter, the author gives us a definition of faith: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (11:1). Listen to that same verse from The Message: “Faith is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see” (pg. 2194). Faith is what we have to have in order to live life, and in order to help his readers understand that, the writer gives multiple examples from Israel’s history of what faith looks like in the real world and among real people. It looks like Abel (not Abel Marks), who gave a heartfelt sacrifice of what he had to God (11:4). It looks like Noah, who built an ark even when everyone thought he was absolutely nuts (11:6). It looks like Abraham, who left a secure home because a God he’d never seen told him to go a place he’d never been. Abraham, who risked everything he had on the belief that this God was going to give him a son in his old age, who even offered that son back to God in a dramatic way (11:8-19). It looks like Moses, who ran away from a privileged place in Egyptian society, a life of luxury in a palace as a prince of Egypt, so he could lead his people to freedom as God asked him to do (11:23-28).

Then, in verse 32, the writer says, “I wish I had more time to tell you about all the other faithful followers.” He describes some of the horrible things these people went through to be faithful to God: mocking, flogging, sawed in two, persecuted, tormented, hiding in caves, stoned to death (11:36-38). Sometimes and still in some parts of the world today it’s dangerous to be a believer. I still remember seeing the horrific images of the Christians who were executed by ISIS. Teresa of Avila, a 16^th century Spanish mystic, once complained to God about her suffering, and God responded, “This is how I deal with my friends.” To which St. Teresa responded, “Well, in that case you shouldn’t be surprised if you don’t have very many!” (Wright, Hebrews for Everyone, pg. 143). Hebrews would agree! Friends of God aren’t guaranteed an easy life, but look what the writer says they accomplished: they quenched raging fires, they conquered kingdoms, they put armies to flight, and they raised the dead (11:32-35). Because of that, Hebrews concludes, “The world was not worthy of them” (11:38). But that’s okay, because they didn’t set out to impress the world. They did what they did and lived the way they lived because they really did believe what it says in 11:6: “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” They set their sights on something higher than making people around them happy. They set out to be faithful to the God who had been faithful to them. Tom Wright puts it this way: “They were out of tune with their times because they were living by faith in God’s future world while society all around them was living as though the present world was all there was or ever would be” (145). Their times and their world doesn’t sound all that different from our own, does it? When we believe that this world is all there was or ever will be, then a pandemic feels like the end of the world, doesn’t it?

So now that the readers (and us) have in our minds an image of these people, out of step with the world but in step with God, the writer turns a corner in chapter 12. “Therefore,” he says, “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” (12:1). Like I said, we’re going to walk very slowly through this verse over the next few weeks, so today I want to focus simply on the first phrase, that cloud of witnesses that surrounds us, because it is the great cloud of witnesses that enables us to keep running the race.

The writer of Hebrews is picturing that stadium in Olympia, where a large crowd of people would gather to watch and to cheer on the contestants (Guthrie, NIV Application Commentary: Hebrews, pg. 397). And the way he’s describing it, it’s not just about them getting together to watch us. The great cloud of witnesses has gathered to encourage us in our faith. At the end of chapter 11, the writer says that “only together with us would they be made perfect” (11:40). We’re being reminded that all of these ancestors of ours, these pioneers in the faith, never fully received what their hearts hoped for. They never “got their hands on what was promised” (Peterson, The Message Bible, pg. 2196). For them, the promise of the kingdom of God, the completion of the race, was far off and so from the stands, they are waiting to see if we will be the community in which their hopes are realized and their faith is completed (Wright 146). In other words, they are not simply observers; they are part of our community. They are what we refer to in the Apostle’s Creed as “the communion of saints.” In some way, they are like participants in a relay race who have handed off the baton but are still part of the race. They stand near the runners, encouraging and cheering them on (Morris, “Hebrews,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, pg. 133). The difference is, of course, that in a foot race, the various runners are competing against each other, trying to win. In the race of life, what matters most is not “who wins,” but that all of God’s children finish the race and make it home safely (Wright 148). So the great cloud of witnesses surrounds us and cheers us on. Though we can’t hear or see them, they are present with us every day.

That’s one of the challenges of having a COVID Olympics. When we watched the Summer Olympics last year, it was strange to see the stands basically empty, only having other athletes and the occasional coach sitting there. Where there were usually the sounds of a crowd roaring, instead you could more clearly hear words of encouragement from teammates. “You’ve got this, you can do it, this is your moment!” Maybe that “challenge” actually became a blessing. The athletes were able to hear their names being called from the stands, and that had to serve as a huge encouragement, knowing that there were others who were pulling for them. But not just in the stands. There are others who are “cheering” for them as well—those who have come before.

I read the other day that for the first time in 24 years, the tiny Caribbean island nation of Jamaica will have a bobsled team at this year’s Olympics. Their first bobsled team was immortalized in the film Cool Runnings, which I have to watch every time the Winter Olympics come around. So of course I have to share it with you. Take a look.

VIDEO: “Jamaica’s Bobsled Team”

Cool Runnings loosely tells the story of that first bobsled team who competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. No one believed that a tropical island nation could field a bobsled team, and yet they did. And they will again this year. Don’t you think that, as the 2022 team prepares to race down the hill, the memory of those who have gone before, especially those who blazed the first trail for them, will be in their minds? Will their success encourage and spur this new team on? Of course it will. The same thing will be true for Americans River Radamus and Keely Cashman, hopefuls in skiing. Among others, they will remember Lindsey Vonn, perhaps the greatest American skier of all time. Louie Vito and Greg Bertz will compete in the shadow of Shaun White, the greatest American snowboarder. And figure skating hopefuls Nathan Chen and Mariah Bell will undoubtedly remember Tara Lipinski who won gold in skating at the age of 15. Lipinski might even actually be in the stands as she often does commentary during the Olympics. Nevertheless, here’s the point: this year’s Olympic hopefuls know all about past performances in their event. They look to these past champions as heroes and can almost feel their presence as they participate. That’s what Hebrews is describing. Those who have a “go for the gold” mindset remember the witnesses. We are mindful of those who have gone before and can almost sense them cheering us on. This week, the whole world will be watching what’s going on in Beijing. But today, the whole unseen world is watching what’s going on as you live out your life. “We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” (12:1).

That should encourage us. We can look back and see the example of those who have gone before us, and we can be reassured that if they made it through life to glory, then we can, too. Their example is a witness and a reminder to us that the race can be run successfully (Stedman, Hebrews, pg. 135). That should inspire us, just as certain sports stars are inspirations to younger players, those who hope to follow in their footsteps. Sports heroes show us that the game can be played well and can be won. Basketball players want to be like LeBron or (closer to home) Larry Bird. Baseball players want to be able to play like Babe Ruth or Willie Mays (both still considered the best of the best). Soccer players want to be like…well, I honestly don’t know because I know even less about soccer than I do about other sports. The point is, though, that sports heroes “set the bar” for excellence in their fields. They are an inspiration to many, even a model for life (sometimes for better and sometimes for worse). Just so, those who have preceded us in faith can be an inspiration, a model for our lives. They can be, like Paul, people who say to us with their lives, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:1).

You probably know by now that one of my inspirations is John Wesley, not just because I’m a Methodist preacher. In fact, I grew up as a Methodist but was in my twenties before I knew much about Wesley. And as I learned about him and his life, I began to admire him in part because he was fully human; he made mistakes, like the time he got angry at a woman he was in love with and barred her and her new husband from the communion table. He admitted his fears and failings, but he also kept preaching right on through them, sharing what he knew to be true. As I told you a few weeks ago, he learned from the Moravians that sometimes a preacher has to preach faith until they have it, and then keep preaching faith. Not only did Wesley take that advice into his own life, he shared it with his Methodist preachers. Wesley was very practical, believing that Christian faith applied to even the smallest details of life. He was disciplined, and he never quit learning. Perhaps most inspirational, to me, are his last words. He had said that truest test of a person’s faith was its ability to sustain you in the face of death, and as he died, Wesley said to those around his bed, “The best of all is, God is with us.” Those in the great cloud of witnesses can inspire us to go on, even when it seems too difficult.

Their example also ought to humble us, and call us to a deeper walk with Christ. Just reading in Hebrews 11 about the things that the faithful went through for the sake of their God is incredible. I’m humbled when I read about them going through torture, wandering in deserts and mountains, enduring imprisonment. Truly, “the world was not worthy of them” (11:38). Their faith, I come to realize, must run incredibly deep if they are able to endure such treatment, and it causes me to wonder how deep my faith is. Am I only a Christian because it’s easy in this culture? Is my faith deep enough that it would survive real persecution, like that faced by Christians in Sudan or Egypt? I was in Egypt in 2012 and realized then how unsafe it is for Christians there. One of our guides, who was a Christian, said he would leave the country in a moment if he had a job in the States. We don’t know real persecution, and I wonder how my faith would respond to it. One of those whose life humbles me is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was martyred for his faith near the end of World War II. Bonhoeffer could have escaped the Nazi regime, could have stayed in America where he had a teaching post, but he felt compelled by God to return to Germany, to speak out against Hitler, to speak out against a corrupt church, and to train pastors in an underground seminary to be faithful to Christ first. He said if he didn’t suffer with his people, he couldn’t participate with them in rebuilding. Shortly before the war ended, Bonhoeffer was arrested and executed because he took part in an attempt to kill Hitler, but even the threat of death did not keep him from giving witness to Christ. A great cloud that includes Bonhoeffer humbles me.

Hebrews says, “Remember the witnesses.” But the only way we can be shaped by and remember those witnesses is if we get to know them. In the Protestant tradition, we have been so afraid of putting the saints on too high a pedestal that we’ve largely neglected to get to know those who came before us. Sometimes it seems we think we dreamed up Christianity in the twentieth century. But there is a whole host of history, such a great cloud of witnesses, that could serve as our inspiration and our example. One of the things I started doing last year is including in my reading a biography or two of someone who has “gone before,” whose faith continues to inspire and humble me. Last year I read a biography on Elisabeth Eliot, the wife of the missionary Jim Eliot who was martyred by the Auca Indians in the 1950’s. Her faith in the face of horrible tragedy was challenging. I also read Philip Yancey’s autobiography and marveled at the way his faith overcame a really difficult and painful childhood. His story tells me the faith sometimes grows in the difficult ground. And I listened to an audiobook biography of A. W. Tozer. Tozer was someone I had read but didn’t know a lot about. He started as a pastor in Indianapolis, and spent most of his ministry in Chicago. He was also a terrible husband and father, yet he made and continues to make an impact on people around the world. God uses us in spite of our weaknesses. That’s just a couple of examples, but here’s what I want to encourage or challenge you to do: find someone you can be inspired by or humbled by. Pick a hero from the great cloud of witnesses, find inspiration from their story and follow their godly example.

There are lots of stories out there, especially of those who have gone before us. Maybe read about the faith of someone like Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we celebrated a couple of weeks ago. Learn about how his faith informed everything he did. I know theologically King had some departures from what’s considered orthodox Christianity, but he still was compelled by his faith in everything he said and did. Or go a bit further back in history and look at Patrick of Ireland, the man whose legacy we will celebrate in a few weeks on March 17. Patrick’s story isn’t about green beer or snakes and leprechauns. He was actually a missionary to the Irish and, as historian Thomas Cahill has said, he helped the Irish “save civilization.” He was a slave who became a bishop and shaped the Irish church in tremendous ways. 

Or maybe you’d be interested in learning more about our United Methodist heritage, so look up John Wesley or his brother Charles or their mother Susanna. Check out Francis Asbury, the first Methodist bishop in America, or William Otterbein or Jacob Albright, ancestors to the Evangelical United Brethren movement. What about Barbara Heck, one of the founders of the Methodist movement in New York? The story is that she overturned a card game between her cousin, Philip Embury, and her brother and told Embury that he needed to become a preacher to help save them all (Norwood, The Story of American Methodism, pg. 67). Or what about learning about the only person ever elected bishop who turned it down to continue working in missions? His name was E. Stanley Jones, a great preacher and one deeply in love with Christ who impacted India for eternity. Or what about the blind hymnwriter Fanny Crosby? From other traditions, there’s C. S. Lewis, or Mother Teresa, or Saint Francis, or Saint Augustine, or Martin Luther, or William Wilberforce or…the list could go on and on. Check out our library here at the church, or our public library, or do a google search and choose someone whose life will inspire you and challenge you to walk closer to Jesus. Or, if you’re not a reader, find a good movie about a predecessor in the faith, one like Agent of Grace (Bonhoeffer) or Shadowlands (C. S. Lewis) or Amazing Grace (Wilberforce). If you need help, let me know and I’ll loan you something to get you started. The point is: get started. Remember the witnesses, because according to Hebrews 12, they will teach us to live for “more than gold.”

When I was younger in ministry, I used to go to what was then called Senior High Institute at Epworth Forest in northern Indiana every summer. (Now it’s called “That Thing.”) But we went in the “old days,” before they had those nice comfortable air-conditioned lodges. We worshipped Jesus in the heat and humidity, sticking to the hard wooden chairs the way God intended! Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh, yes. One time while I was there at Epworth Forest, I got to thinking about this very idea. We had arrived early one morning for the assembly, and as I was sitting there, listening to the band warm up, I got to looking around at the auditorium. It was old, and it needed a lot of work. But then I got to thinking about how many senior high youth had sat in those chairs, how many had listened to keynote speakers from that stage, how many had filled those rafters with songs of praise to God. And then I began thinking about how many Christian walks were started in that auditorium, and how many had answered a call to ministry from that place. Now I’m not saying that the auditorium didn’t need to be updated, or replaced as it now has been. There was nothing particularly sacred about the building itself, but as I sat there I became mindful of the great cloud of witnesses. And I could almost feel those who have gone before us, watching with us, waiting for what God would do among us that week. So I gave thanks as I remembered, and I give thanks when I walk in this place each week, thinking about those who have come before us. Because we are indeed surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Who’s in your cloud? Remember the witnesses. Let’s pray.