We thank Fr. Bill Roberts for his homily and for presiding over our Mass. This sermon was originally published on his blog here.

+In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Earlier in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus and his disciples are in Galilee. Jesus knows it’s time for them to go to Jerusalem for Passover, and he wants to take a short cut through Samaria.

The Samaritans won’t let him, so James and John ask Jesus: “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

But Jesus rebukes James and John, and, according to some accounts, Jesus tells them, “Your spirit isn’t right, because I didn’t come to destroy people but to save them” (Luke 9:51-56).

Yet in today’s Gospel, Jesus says: “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”

When Jesus was born, the angels said, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God’s people on earth!”

And after Jesus healed people, he often said to them, “Go in peace.”

Yet in today’s Gospel, Jesus says: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”

How do we deal with such contradictions?

The answer is that Jesus’ teaching varies depending on the situation—

to those of us who think we’re saints who have it made, he speaks words of warning;

to those of us who know we’re sinners who haven’t got a chance, he speaks words of mercy.

At the very least, this Gospel reminds us that being a Christian is not always easy, which brings us to this morning’s letter to the Hebrews.

What is the key word in the first paragraph?

{{Congregational Response}} [faith].

“By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days.

“By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.”

Are you surprised to find a prostitute in today’s reading? {{Congregational Response}}

Does anyone remember the story of Rahab the prostitute? {{Congregational Response}}

Here’s the story, from Joshua, chapter 2 [1-4a]:

“Then Joshua sent two men secretly as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there.

“The king of Jericho was told, ‘Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.’

Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land.’

But the woman took the two men and hid them.”

(The rest of the story is exciting, too, so you might want to look it up later today!)

The remarkable thing is that the person who wrote the letter to the Hebrews mentions only two women in the entire letter— Rahab the prostitute is one, and the other is Sarah, the matriarch of every Jew and Christian!

Rahab is remarkable for three other things:

First, Rahab isn’t a Jew— she’s a Gentile!

Second, in St. Matthew’s genealogy, this Gentile prostitute is one of Jesus’ foremothers— and that might explain why, in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells the chief priests and the elders that the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of them (21:31-32)!

And third, listen to what St. James writes in his letter about faith and works:

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?

“If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?

“So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

And then, James gives two examples:

“Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?”

And:

“Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers. . .” (2:14-26 passim).

Isn’t it extraordinary?

Rahab the prostitute and Abraham are examples of justification in James’ letter; Rahab the prostitute and Sarah are examples of faith in the letter to the Hebrews; and in Matthew’s Gospel, Rahab the prostitute is our Lord Jesus Christ’s forebear!

This morning’s reading from Hebrews begins by assuring us that faith can empower the most ordinary and even the most unlikely people.

And then, after cataloguing all the ways that being a Christian can be hard, the author of Hebrews concludes with a big “Therefore!”

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”—

all those about whom we have just heard—,

“let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”

“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. . . .“

The word “race” in the original Greek is agōn, and it can also be translated as “contest,” or “struggle”— and in fact, agōn is where we get the word agony.

We all agonize— we all struggle— to be faithful people, to run the race that is set before us in this changing and challenging world.

And one of the changes and challenges we are now facing at St. Andrew’s is living and worshiping and ministering in a post-Father Carlton parish, while we discern our future.

So, we need to remember two things.

First, we need to remember that this “great cloud of witnesses,” who ran with perseverance their own races, are cheering us on and encouraging us as we run ours.

And second, we need to remember that the agony of the race isn’t the only thing that is “set before us.”

Because we look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, the joy that was set before him is also the joy that is set before us.

And so, like Jesus, for the sake of the joy that is set before us, let us persevere in the race that leads to eternal life, and “may the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Amen.

Note: The “may the God of hope” quotation comes from The Book of Common Prayer, page 102. It’s based on Romans 15:13.