Hebrews 11:1

“What is faith? How does it manifest itself in a
life and not just in theological verbiage? Paul’s
oft quoted definition here from the letter to
the Hebrews is a pithy and useful place to
start, but it requires a lot of theology and
philosophy to explain it further. Sometimes,
though, it takes a good story to fill in the
blanks for most of us who have neither the
time, the talent, nor the inclination toward the
more academic pursuits of theology and
philosophy. The scriptures are a great aid to
us for they are full of excellent didactic, or
teaching stories. One of the best of those
stories that reveal the reality, the cost, and
the reward of faith can be found in the Second
Book of Maccabees. It goes like this:
“”Most admirable and worthy of everlasting
remembrance was the mother who, seeing her
seven sons perish in a single day, bore it
courageously because of her hope in the Lord.
Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her
womanly reason with manly emotion, she
exhorted each of them in the language of their
ancestors with these words: ‘I do not know
how you came to be in my womb; it was not I
who gave you breath and life, nor was it I who
arranged the elements you are made of.
Therefore, since it is the Creator of the
universe who shaped the beginning of
humankind and brought about the origin of
everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back
both breath and life, because you now
disregard yourselves for he sake of his
law.'”” (2 Maccabees 7: 20-23)
Faith, then, is not just a theological musing; it
is not a mere passive response to mystery.
Rather, it is something more down to earth,
something with life in it. It is something that
is done, not just talked about. This powerful
story that is remembered in this passage
reveals faith in its most profound sense, that
is, in action. It recalls this mother and her
seven sons who refused, even under the threat
of death, to go against the laws of God. They
could have saved their lives, simply by eating,
but they chose, rather, to remain true to the
law. Now, if it was just a matter of ‘laws’ this
story could be interpreted as nothing less than
foolishness on this family’s part. But, in fact, it
is about something beyond the law, something
much deeper than a mere law. These seven
young men and their mother do not just
believe in the ‘law’ but, more importantly, they
believe in the One who gives the law, and his
promise. Indeed, the law is as nothing in
comparison to the One who gives the law,
whose wisdom is beyond that of human
beings. This mother and her seven sons
endured what they did, because of their faith
and the hope that it inspired in them. They
saw in the One who gives the law the
‘substance of what they hoped for and the
evidence for what they could not see with
their finite bodies.
What strikes me most here is that this story,
this famous act of faith is undertaken by
people whose hope is in a savior who had not
yet come, who was a promise yet to be
fulfilled. We Christians have had the
immeasurable grace of being witnesses to, and
the inheritors of, that promise. Jesus, the
promised savior, has come and he has
revealed the truth about God’s love for us in
the flesh, in and through his suffering, death
and resurrection. This mother and her seven
sons did what they did out of the hope for
eternal life that only their faith could have
revealed to them, long before the coming of
Christ into the world. This is faith! What they
did seems utterly foolish in the eyes of the
world. But with the eyes of faith this mother
could say to each son as he was being led to
his torture and death, and which she was
forced to witness each time: “”I do not know
how you came to be in my womb…”” She had
none of the knowledge that we possess almost
without thought today, because of modern
science and technology. But her statement
here is not one of ignorance, but one of
humility. Such wonders, even today, with the
knowledge that science gives us, is still
miraculous and mysterious. Her humility is
revealed further as she goes on to say, “”…it
was not I who gave you breath and life, nor
was it I who arranged the elements you are
made of…”” And so it is today.
This mother was able to counsel each one of
her sons, giving them courage in the faith,
because her faith gave her the ability to ‘see
the unseen.’ Even though, she did not have the
advantage that we do as Christians who have
seen the promise come to be in the flesh, she
was able to tell her sons, “”Therefore, since it
is the Creator of the universe who shaped the
beginning of humankind and brought about the
origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give
you back both breath and life, because you
now disregard yourselves for the sake of his
law.””
How does one accept, endure, undergo such
suffering and death for something that one has
not seen? Faith is the only conceivable
explanation. Can you see a scientist willingly
enduring such suffering and death for the
second law of thermodynamics? Yet this
mother and her seven sons did so for their
faith in a promise that had yet to be fulfilled.
They did so for the One whom they had not
seen, but who they believed in faith had
’caused them to come to be in their mother’s
womb,’ who had ‘given them breath and life,’
who had ‘arranged the elements they were
made of.’ For this reason alone, were they able
to ‘disregard’ themselves ‘for the sake of his
law.’
We Christians need to hear and to contemplate
this story even more today. There are parts of
the world today where Christians are
confronting this same choice; either submit to
a forced conversion, or suffer and die for the
sake of his name, the one who was promised
and who has come. But even in our own
situation, many of us are ridiculed for our
faith, and our Christian beliefs are daily
threatened and challenged by the powers of
political correctness and hatred. We have to
ask ourselves if our faith is as rich and deep as
that of this mother and her seven sons. Is our
faith strong enough to stand up in the face of
threat and personal attack? Do we have the
courage of our convictions that this mother
and her seven sons had? We may not be put to
a test as extreme as theirs every day, but we
are tested.
We need to meditate on the faith that this
story remembers in Second Maccabees. It
reveals the reality of faith very clearly. While
we may not be threatened with death, we are
challenged to help those we are challenged by.
The culture we live in presently is more and
more a culture of death. We need to challenge
it with our clear and evident faith in a God of
life and hope. We need to have the courage to
live our faith openly and meaningfully.
Christians are a people charged with faith,
hope, and love. We need to help lead the
people back to a culture of life, where life in
all of its diversity is honored, respected and
protected. We are a people who believe in the
natural goodness of all of God’s creation. If we
are not willing to suffer, and maybe even to
die for these truths, then who will? The world
needs us tho have the faith of this mother and
her seven sons. Let us pray for the grace to be
so. Let us pray that God give us the grace to
be his true and enduring sons and daughters.
Amen.
-Dan D