( Sermon Hebrews 11:1–2(8–12.39–40); 12:1–3 ) [ German Sermon ] [ Announcements (German)543.89 KB ]
Move 1 Surrounded on the way
The day had come. The great festival had begun. Crowds cheering along the roadside. Big and small, strangers and locals, children with their parents and grandparents. They had heard it: Jesus was on the way. He had raised Lazarus from the dead. Whoever can do such a thing can also change society. He can bring peace, drive out the Romans. He had healed the sick. He performed miracle after miracle, spoke of God's kingdom in pictures and was full of love and mercy.
Yes, they longed for peace so much. Hosanna! Praise be to him who comes, in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel.
Now great things will happen. That is what they, from all over the world who ran after him, hoped for. They spread palm branches and clothes before him and fixed their gaze on Jesus. That day in Jerusalem.
The beginning of his last journey. After he had already walked long distances. With friends, with strangers, at times lonely and contested. Rejected and hated by others. Was this his way?
Certainly. He had spoken of it. It had to be. He had to endure.
The people on the roadside ... they see and believe in him yet have no idea of what is ahead of him. His way leads to the cross, towards suffering, betrayal, mocking, ridicule. Execution.
They could not have known it then, what we know today: There is no Good Friday without Easter.
Through suffering, he makes his way into the glory of God.
But first the suffering. There is no way around it.
All eyes turn to Jesus. Clear the way.
And we? Today we also stand at the roadside and look at him. With our own thoughts.
Who is Jesus for you?
And then the people along the way started talking to each other about it. They told each other the stories about Jesus which they have heard or experienced themselves. Parents told their children; friends told their girlfriends. And there they stood together.
The view of Jesus united them. In that moment.
Move 2 A Cloud of witnesses
Us too. We are not alone. We have others around us. People who look with us. To Jesus.
People who believe with us.
Those who have believed before us.
And there will be countless more who will believe after us.
Move 3 The way of faith
Dear congregation, our history of faith has to do with people. Our own personal history. And what has been handed down to us in the Bible. It tells of people and their lives of faith, their experiences with God.
Listen to the sermon scripture text.
Dear Congregation
The unknown author of the Letter to the Hebrews has a church at the end of the 1st century in mind in this text; about two generations after Jesus' death. No one who knew Jesus is still alive here. People tell the stories of Jesus. They know the stories of the Hebrew Bible, which they have taken over from the Jewish community. They meet in congregations. Week after week, month after month, year after year. Decades have passed like this. The quick end to the world, did not happen. The first Christians expected that. Jesus has not yet returned but they still held on to that hope.
And here I see a community which has long since established itself in the world. Much like us. With our homes, our families, our children, and with the worries of the world. With work and all the troubles of life. And the joys. So many things occupy us day after day, week after week. Some days we hardly come to our senses. We try to fight our way through life without any great concept. Our view is clouded and blurred. It was similar back then.
Those who are addressed here, become tired and dull over the years. They no longer have the fire that the first Christians had after Easter and Pentecost. Some lose their faith and no longer come to the meetings of the church. They need to be won over to the faith, they need motivation. Or a mixture of encouragement and exhortation, as the Letter to the Hebrews tries to do.
Move 4 Faith – a struggle?
11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Abraham is THE example of faith par excellence: who looks up to heaven and God promises him countless descendants like stars in the sky. He will never experience this promise and yet sets out in the firm belief that God will go with him and show him the way. Abraham has no clue where he is going.
Just as we sometimes do not know where we are, let alone where we are going. Only a few hear God's voice as Abraham heard it. What does God want me to do? Does he even exist? I cannot see him, I cannot hear him, I cannot feel him. Is what I think I believe really God's will?
And sometimes, I cannot understand him either. God's ways are strange to me. I cannot fathom him with my mind. And I cannot trust my faith either. And then it is as if I get caught up in myself, because all my thoughts revolve too much around myself.
Move 5 Focus on Jesus
Jesus did not let his courage sink.
Why didn't he? For two reasons: firstly, he stands in the history of his people, a cloud of witnesses; they also surround us. They already never let their courage sink. God's testimony confirms that one is on the right path with the wise who lived in hope.
Secondly, Jesus endures the will of God - as did his fathers and mothers. Those who know God, the great courage of every life, need not lose heart.
Of course, we are always allowed to have doubts. But we must not give doubt all the room it needs. A little space must remain where hope can grow and flourish. It does not have to be big. With Jesus, at the worst moment, it was only a little word, the word "my" God. You are mine and I am yours - whatever happens, whatever God's will is, whatever I do not understand, you are, you remain "my" God.
That is the place of hope in a room full of doubt. There hope can grow. From tiny mustard seeds, Jesus says, great trees can grow. Therefore, also from a grain of hope.
And so today we also stand along the roadside. Rejoicing, doubting, believing. Jesus is coming.... Everything begins with him. Believing, loving, hoping, and doing.
With him everything ends
and everything is completed in him.
We do not stand alone. We do not believe alone. We do not walk alone. Towards all that may come. Through suffering. Into God's glory.
Amen