OUR ROLE MODELS OF FAITH

XIX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Hb 11:1-2,8-12

In chapter 11, the letter to the Hebrews presents some role models of faith. The first one is Abraham, whom Paul calls "our ancestor" in faith (Ro 4:12).

In the history of religious experience, Abraham is considered as the first to go through a radically new experience: his relationship with God is based on faith. From this experience of faith, the letter to the Hebrews stresses a few important aspects:

• Looking at Abraham, we can see that faith implies obedience. Once he heard God's call, he did not waste time  in answering that call and doing what he was told to do.
• Abraham's experience of faith is presented as a journey: he "set out on a journey" (Hb 11:8). The physical journey of Abraham, who lived a semi-nomadic life, is a symbol of his journey of faith. In fact, the image of "journey" plays a very important role in the whole history of salvation. We can remember the journey of the people of Israel from slavery to freedom, and the journey of Jesus towards Jerusalem, that is towards his death and resurrection.
• In this journey, we move forward "without knowing", by trust, sure that the one who called us and guides us will take us to a place of rest. In a way, this "without knowing" is part of the journey of our lives here on earth. We just move forward without knowing what lies ahead. In faith, we do not just move along, as if carried by a powerful but unknown current; instead, we move with hope certain that someone who loves us is guiding us.
• Living by faith means that we accept to be foreigners and to live in tents here on earth. We have no permanent dwelling here on earth; we are just passing by. This attitude leads us to relativize everything here on earth.
• Faith goes together with hope. Faith gives us motivation to move forward, because we do not rely on the present, but always look forward, sure that happiness is waiting for us. We do not concentrate in the past, always desiring to go back to a golden age that disappeared long ago. For us, the golden age is in the future. And this hope gives us the strength and the courage to go on struggling and to move ahead.
• They saw what they had been promised "in the far distance and welcomed them" (Hb 11:13).
• Abraham's faith was put to the test. This being put to the test is part of the experience of faith. In the great test of his life lived in faith, Abraham was found faithful.
• Faith is a total surrender to God, in which we throw ourselves in God's arms, sure that he is the God of life, and has "the power even to raise the dead" (Heb 11:19).