Several
years back, researchers conducted a study investigating whether there is
any relationship between office workers’ attitudes and their
productivity. The data suggested that workers who view their home or
social lives as lacking or who believe they have little to look forward
to after the work day has ended grow increasingly bored, tired, and
unproductive as the work day progresses. In addition, the efficiency of
these workers wanes well ahead of the work day’s end. In contrast, the
data suggested that workers who report having something to look forward
to after the end of a long work day don’t grow increasingly bored,
tired, or unproductive. Furthermore, these workers operate at top
efficiency right up until the end of the work day.
These research
findings can perhaps help us to understand a little better what faith is
and how it operates in our lives. As Jesus’ disciples, these research
findings can also help us to understand better how central faith is to
our lives faith if we are to lead more spiritually and morally
“productive” lives.
It may well be
the case, for example, that those teenagers who view their lives as
lacking in one way or another or who believe they have little to look
forward to, grow increasingly bored and despondent. “My life is so
boring, there’s nothing to do” many of us have heard teenagers
complain. With little faith in what the future portends, these
teenagers are looking only at the present and have concluded that
anything of real value must be had right here and now, at this very
moment.
To avoid these
feelings of boredom, tiredness, and despondency, these teenagers
oftentimes will compound their problems. They might conclude that more
material possessions will make them happy or that illegal and immoral
activities and behaviors will increase their happiness. Having
concluded that these are the things that will make them happy right now,
these teenagers conveniently overlook the fact that these activities and
behaviors can also have the deleterious effect of destroying their lives
and their souls as well.
Undoubtedly, this
is not a productive way to live one’s life, forget about spiritually and
morally. And, we all know it. Who needs to study the destruction so
many teenagers—having no faith in their futures—have wrought upon
themselves by such selfish and self-serving addictive behaviors? Sad to
say, the data are abundant.
So, too, with
spouses.
Husbands and
wives who view their marriages as lacking and deficient or who believe
they have little to look forward to also grow increasingly bored and
despondent. “There’s nothing in this marriage for me,” these spouses
will complain. With little faith in what their future portends, spouses
who have ensnared themselves in this trap look only to the present for
their fulfillment. Then, they conclude that they deserve what will make
them happy and want it right here and now.
So, to soothe
their feelings of boredom, tiredness, and despondency, these
spouses—just like the teenagers I have just spoken about—also become
involved illegal or immoral activities and behaviors. While these may
make these spouses momentarily happy, what they have neglected in their
decision-making process is the obvious fact that these behaviors can
also have the deleterious effect of destroying their marriages and
families as well as their souls.
This also is no
productive way to live one’s life, forget about spiritually and
morally. And we all know it. Who needs to investigate the destruction
these selfish and self-serving addictive behaviors have wrought upon so
many marriages and families? Sad to say once again, the data are
abundant.
Like the office
workers whose negative expectations about the future make them
increasingly bored, tired, and unproductive, don’t we also become
increasingly bored, tired, and unproductive when we possess little or
nothing to believe in that uplifts our sights beyond the tedious boredom
that seems to be so characteristic of daily life in any generation?
To deal with this
fact of life from a spiritual or moral perspective rather than to engage
in behaviors that threaten to destroy our lives and our souls, the
author of today’s epistle provides an important definition: “Faith is
the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen”
(Hebrew 11:1-2).
Notice that the
author doesn’t say faith provides answers, guarantees, or proofs. No,
faith involves making the choice to look toward the future and to take a
risk to pursue that future based solely on a promise, namely, God’s
promise, one without any proof whatsoever. The choice in the present
moment is to risk all for that future. This is what provides the
foundation for a productive spiritual and moral way of life and we all
know it because, after all, God has breathed the divine law into our
souls. We may not want to admit this fact, but we know it all the same.
After all, isn’t
taking a risk to pursue one’s dreams what growing up is all about?
A teenager looks
toward the future and, catching a glimpse of that future, hopes to
become what one’s vision portends. With only a promise that one will
achieve what one is striving after, one’s belief in this vision provides
all of the power any teenager needs to overcome the obstacles,
challenges, and personal limitations that stand in one’s way or will
stand in one’s way. Furthermore, as the teenager recognizes in small
ways the realization of what one believes so deeply, doesn’t this
provide all the evidence needed about all of those things the teenager
doesn’t yet see?
Isn’t this also
what falling in love and getting married is all about?
A young man and a
young woman look toward the future of wedded bliss and, as they glimpse
into it, they believe they can overcome their differences as well as the
obstacles and challenges that will confront them. When two people are
in love, it seems nothing can come between them. So, these two people
dare to risk all for that collective future in which they place all of
their belief. Then, as the couple recognizes their belief being
fulfilled in small ways—because, after all, there is not such thing as a
“perfect marriage” and total “wedded bliss”—doesn’t this provide the
spouses evidence of all those things they do not yet see?
And again, isn’t
this what raising kids is all about?
When
contemplating having a family and raising kids, does any spouse have all
of the answers? Does any spouse have a guarantee? Does any spouse have
any proof whatsoever that all of one’s devoted efforts as a parent will
result in a healthy and mature as well as spiritual and moral young
adults who are well-prepared to live their lives? No, parenting begins
with and is based solely upon vision of a future where all that one will
do for a child will favorably influence and shape or, if and when
necessary, save a child’s life. And then, as parents see a child
maturing as well as behaving morally and spiritually in small ways,
don’t these parents recognize what they believe in? Doesn’t this
realization provide evidence of the things they do not yet see?
The author of
today’s epistle reminds us that life—and especially a spiritually and
morally productive life—isn’t about having answers, guarantees, or
proof. Instead, life is about possessing a vision for the future that
we can believe in. This vision enables us to risk living our lives in
accordance with a promise for which we have no proof other than that God
has made the promise. In addition, this vision allows us to see in so
many small ways each day the evidence of those things we do not yet see.
In any
generation—and, perhaps more so in this generation because it is so
smitten with “grabbing for all the gusto” and having everything right
here and now—choosing to walk the pathway of faith requires taking a
great risk.
Walking this
pathway might require taking the risk of being laughed at, mocked, and
ridiculed. Why? Because someone chooses to believe in God’s promise
that our lasting citizenship is found not here in this world but in
God’s Kingdom. Or, walking the pathway of faith might require taking
the risk of being shunned and rejected for choosing to believe in God’s
promise that He is present with us when everyone seems to have abandoned
us. To add insult to injury, those who mock us or abandon might be
our own children, members of our family, or even a spouse!
As people of
faith, all that we have available to contemplate as we consider taking
the risk to walk the pathway of faith are the stories of those who
preceded us along the pathway of faith. If we reflect seriously upon
these stories, especially as they were reiterated in today’s stories
about the Jewish people and of Abraham and Sarah, or if we contemplate
the story of Jesus’ life and death, we will see that those who have
chosen to walk the pathway of faith first had to take a great risk.
And, what did they base their risk upon? All they had was God’s
promise. And, in every instance, God has fulfilled His promise.
There is no proof
nor is there any guarantee that following this pathway and adhering to
its requirements will result in any one of us having an easier life or
of getting into heaven. But, as Jesus taught us in today’s gospel,
“Take a risk, sell all of your belongings and give alms.” What Jesus is
teaching us as his disciples today is that, rather than to accept and
cherish what our culture dictates we should accept and cherish, we must
instead take the risk to walk the pathway of faith trusting only in
God’s promise. This counter-cultural stance carries with it the very
high probability that we will be rejected for looking at our world
through the prism of God’s promise, because we have neither the proof
nor the guarantee that our faith will make any difference. But, as we
realize in so many small ways what we believe in and hope for, this
provides all the evidence we need concerning all of those things we
don’t yet see.
Walking the
pathway of faith can be extremely difficult because each of us has been
born into, developed, and now participate in a culture. Unlike Abraham,
Sarah, and Jesus, however, when we become more enamored with our culture
than we do with God, we gradually grow blind to God’s promise and we
gradually accept what our fellow citizens call “progressive” and
“enlightened” outlooks and attitudes toward spiritual and moral
matters. We then find ourselves ignoring God’s promise altogether when
we make important decisions and, because we desperately desire to “fit
in” and to “be like everyone else” we push to the side what being
spiritually and morally productive requires, namely, being the “genuine
article” that God has created each of us to be. Lastly, we compound
these errors with one additional error, namely, we choose to become more
“tolerant” and “inclusive” of attitudes and behaviors we know are
clearly immoral and in violation of God’s law.
Interestingly,
there is no way any one of us can “prove” that walking the pathway of
faith is superior to the pathway being advocated by our culture. All we
can do is to believe in God’s promise that this pathway is one and only
pathway toward the peace and the happiness for which our souls yearn.
While we may not know the future, we do have a vision of what it
portends as well as a promise that is testified to by scripture.
Because God’s
time is greater than our own, all of us and all of our ancestors
participate in a larger stream of time where our sole purpose is to lay
the groundwork for God’s future. Like our ancestors, we most likely do
not and will not experience that future. After all, Moses never
did into the Promised Land but only caught a glimpse of it.
Moreover, Mary bore God’s only begotten Son not only in her womb but
also in her arms at the foot of the Cross. Like Moses and Mary, our
lives can serve as stepping stones for future generations if we live our
faith and pass it on to the next generation. Like Moses and Mary, this
is our purpose, too.
However, we’d
rather psychics and tarot-card readers tell us our future. We’d rather
foresee tomorrow’s winning lotto ticket number. We’d rather know
infallibly where to invest money in the stock market. We even fantasize
living in a world like Back to the Future where we’d have a
catalog with all the winners from horse races to the World Series so
that we could place sure bets.
In contrast to
these and other such fantasies, discipleship requires being realistic
about what being spiritually and morally productive requires. Just
as Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Mary, and Jesus had to be realistic about what
being spiritually and morally productive required of them, so too, we
must be realistic. To achieve this end, we need faith, namely, to
envision a future where the little things today provide us the
“realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.”
Then, as walk along this pathway, we need not “be afraid any longer…”
because “where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” |