Devotional Reflections on Hebrews 12:1-3

David A. deSilva

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside
every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race
that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the
joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the
right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility
against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Heb 12:1-3, ESV)

The Christians addressed by this anonymous letter had already endured a great deal of
loss. Their reputations had fallen, their social networks had crumbled, their
vulnerability to abuse and experience of being marginalized had increased, and all
because of their decision to attach themselves to the name of Jesus and to the group that
followed him. Joining the Christian group meant withdrawing from the worship of any
and every other god besides the God of Israel and his Messiah. It meant no longer
showing up where pious people showed themselves; it meant a great deal less social
interaction since some act of piety toward the traditional gods was a part of most every
social or civic gathering. Their neighbors had been attempting to correct their
behavior by shaming and reproaching them, letting them know also through back-alley
abuse and economic sanctions that their new practices were not acceptable.
The author of this masterful sermon writes to encourage them to persevere in their
Christian commitments to the end of the journey. He urges them to value the gifts they
have received and are yet to receive in Christ rather than alienate God by acting in such
a way that shows they value their neighbors friendship more than his patronage. He
urges them to keep providing for one another the social support that will empower each
individual to persevere in the face of their neighbors pronounced lack of support, even
as they had done for each other dramatically in the earlier days. And he urges them to
recognize that attaining the honorable future that God has for them requires enduring
the disgrace that the unenlightened impose upon them. Our passage contributes
particularly to this third strategy for perseverance.
One key to grasping the challenge of this passage is to understand that it constitutes the
climax to the great encomium on faith that precedes it in Hebrews 11:1-40. It is not a
new section, but the so what of the preceding section. The cloud of witnesses
includes Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, and the many other
praiseworthy heroes who have moved forward in trust toward Gods promises

unwaveringly. These men and women endured ridicule, homelessness, the loss of
access to significant worldly honor, power, and wealth, and in some cases the loss of life
itself because they believed Gods promises and charted their course by what was yet
future and unseen. Because of this, they have attained a lasting, honorable
remembrance and will enjoy their place in the city that God has prepared.
These men and women are now the witnesses, or, better, the spectators, who fill the
stands of the stadium of life in which the addressees of this sermon now run their
course. In whose eyes should they seek honor? In whose eyes should they fear
disgrace? The author suggests that it is with this invisible audience, whose members
have already triumphed over their worldly antagonists, that we should be most
concerned. The Christian converts are engaged in a contest here, a race, in a few
verses, a wrestling match. It is strenuous indeed and they have significant hardships to
endure, but if they yield to their neighbors it will mean not recovery, but defeat and
that in the sight of the many who have triumphed over often greater hardships.
And here, in particular, they are encouraged to look off to Jesus, the victor par
excellence. Ancient stadiums often had special seating for dignitaries, the Greco-Roman
equivalent of box seats, conspicuous among the stands for their size and dcor. There
God is enthroned and Jesus seated in honor beside him, conspicuous among the many
other exemplars of faith that now watch our performance. Almost all English
translations speak of Jesus as the founder or pioneer and the perfecter of our
faith, as if speaking about Jesus action upon our believing or about Jesus as the central
figure of our confession. There is no word for our in the Greek of this verse, nor are
there contextual indications that it should be supplied (as in 10:22, where having
washed the bodies is clearly having washed our bodies in baptism). At the end of a
long chapter talking about what the pre-Christian heroes accomplished or endured by
faith, the author presents Jesus as the climactic example of faith. He is faiths pioneer in
that he goes before and blazes the trail for all the faithful; he is faiths perfecter in that
he has gone further than any other and has shown the virtue of faith and its end in
all its fullness. I can say that he went further than Abraham or Moses or even the
Maccabean martyrs celebrated in chapter eleven because the author of Hebrews would
have us remember that his journey of trust and faithfulness did not begin merely with
the manger, but with the Son leaving the heavenly court to become human, made for a
little while lower than the angels and then to live as one marginalized and ultimately
executed for his faithfulness to Gods cause.
Jesus despised shame, he looked upon the disgrace inflicted by those who were
themselves alienated from God, even the supreme degradation of crucifixion, for what

it was something of no value, of no meaning, of no force to deter him from his

trajectory of obedience that would lead back to Gods right hand.
With these images, the author of Hebrews summons us to release our feeling of being
at home in our society and its ways of doing things, to be willing to be thought less
of, to be thought foolish, even to endure hostile assaults from those around us, in order
to move freely and faithfully in obedience to Gods call. But it seems to me that the
author of Hebrews speaks most clearly and most directly to Christian brothers and
sisters facing a significant contest with sufferings throughout the world, many of whom
unlike even the audience of Hebrews at the time of writing have already resisted in
their wrestling match with the powers of Sin to the point of shedding blood. And
perhaps it is with their contest that the author of Hebrews would have us be deeply
concerned. We havent yet taken our places in the stadium with the cloud of witnesses,
but from the sidelines of their contest we can cheer them on, we can let them know of
the esteem in which they are held by their sisters and brothers around the globe.
Occasionally we are given opportunities to run out onto the field ourselves and wipe
the sweat from their brows or offer them a cup of cold water, or to support the families
that have sent contestants to this field.
I return here to another passionate concern of the author of Hebrews, namely that the
Christian community should provide relational, spiritual, and material support of such
a kind as ensures that no individual disciple falls short of the finish line. As he himself
will write at the beginning of chapter 13, Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect
to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and
those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body (ESV).