Walking the Talk

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture (semicontinuous)

Old Testament: Isaiah 5:1-7

Psalter: Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

Epistle: Hebrews 11:29—12:2

Gospel: Luke 12:49-56

Scripture (complementary)

Old Testament: Jeremiah 23:23-29

Psalter: Psalm 82

Epistle: Hebrews 11:29—12:2

Gospel: Luke 12:49-56

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Prayer

God of judgment and grace, you ask not for sacrifices but lives of trusting faith that acknowledge your power and mercy. Give us faith as deep and strong as Abraham's and Sarah's, that we may follow you through all our days as did Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

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Reflection

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval (Hebrews 11:1-2).

There is a popular adage in today’s culture, “If you’re going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk.” It’s a way of saying that we should practice what we preach and not be all talk and no action. The problem with that phrase is that it is not correct. We don’t walk the walk, we walk the talk. It is better to say, “If you’re going to talk the talk, you better walk the talk.” When the athlete before the big game is bragging that the other team will score no touchdowns, and then they get trounced, he sure talked the talk, but he didn’t walk the talk when it came to playing the game. I think walking the talk is a good way to capture the biblical meaning of faith and faithfulness.

How does one know one has faith? Perhaps before that question is answered, we should ask ourselves what faith is? Hebrews gives us one perspective: it “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I don’t believe the writer is giving us an exhaustive definition of faith, but one necessary component, to be sure. We all know what it is like to hope. We hope for a child, we hope for the new job we’ve interviewed for, we hope better days are ahead. We can reorder our lives in hoping for what has yet to happen. An aspiring actor moves out to Hollywood waiting on tables and taking every odd job available in the hope of landing that one acting job that might plunge her into the spotlight and stardom. A young mom works two jobs in order to save for her young daughter’s college in the hope the one day her lot will be better than mom’s.

Without the assurance that what is hoped for can possibly happen, and the conviction to act accordingly to help it happen, their is no hope… no faith to be had. That is why we dare not neglect verse 2 of chapter 11: Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. There is something in our doing that demonstrates our faith. It is in the doing that we know we have faith. As I write this reflection in the basement study of my house, if I believed that the ceiling was going to cave in on me any second, I would not be sitting here typing away. My belief that the ceiling is about to collapse would cause me to act to get to safety, that is unless I had a death wish which I can assure you, I don’t. If our belief is genuine, that should lead us to respond, to act.

For the biblical writers faith and faithfulness are two sides of the same discipleship coin. It matters that we believe the right things, but that is not sufficient. Our faith in those things—Jesus as Lord and Savior, for example—if it is genuine will lead us to act in accordance with that belief. To have faith in Jesus means we must be faithful to Jesus. German theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer states in his book, The Cost of Discipleship,

The one who believes obeys. The one who does not obey cannot believe.

An old adage states that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Hebrews chapter 11 is about those who had faith in God. How does the writer know they had faith?—because they acted on what they believed. The author states throughout chapter 11, “By faith… [they] did this, they did that.

It is certainly true that the faithful do not always life up to their faith. That is true for all of us. That is why forgiveness is always possible. When we are less than faithful, those are also moments when we lack faith, even though over all we may still believe. But God is always faithful and makes a way for us to be forgiven and to stand again so that we might continue walking in faithfulness the life of faith that is so important.

In following Jesus, we must walk the talk.

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