Hebrews 11:32-38 (NIVUK)
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about …others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawn in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated – 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
I remember reading the biographies of Terry Waite (the envoy of the Church of England & hostage negotiator) and John McCarthy (journalist) who were held as hostages in Lebanon. With their positions, it was easy to see them as special people, different from me. I remember listening to another hostage from the time speak. What struck me was his everyday, almost mundane outlook on the events and what he thought about etc. Here was someone I could relate to, someone like me. It’s a bit like this chapter, it’s full of big names, but then at the end it opens up to these nameless ‘others’, people who are obscure and just like us. We might not be facing the same treatment, but we can share the same faith.
Father, help us to grow in and demonstrate our faith in the situations we find ourselves in each day, whether they are spectacular, terrible, or simply mundane.
Leave a Reply