The Anchor of Our Hope: Faith, Perseverance, and God’s Promise
In this sermon, Fr. Nicholas reflects on the encouragement found in the Epistle to the Hebrews—God’s unshakable promise and the call to faith, trust, and endurance. As the journey toward Holy Pascha continues, he highlights Abraham’s steadfast hope and Christ’s role as our Forerunner, securing salvation for all. May this message strengthen faith and anchor the soul in the hope of Christ.
Transcript
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In the Apostle's reading for today, the author is presenting encouragement to hold fast—a reassurance for us to continue to be faithful and hope in the Lord. As we progress from the week of the Holy Cross, we have another three weeks before us until we get to our destination: the holy Pascha of the Lord. No matter how we might waver, the temptations that might come along, we're being reassured today to continue and stay on track, placing our trust and hope in the Lord.
The author of the Hebrews places before us the example of Abraham and his faith and trust in God. It is in Genesis that we are presented with the story of Abraham. Genesis 12:7 tells us of the promise that God made to Abraham when he called him out of Ur and sent him into the unknown to the promised land. Genesis 17:5-6 is the promise of many descendants who would be blessed in him. Genesis 18:18 is a repetition of that promise, but the promise to which God swore with an oath to keep it comes in Genesis 22:16-18. God made many promises to Abraham, and in the end, he actually made a promise that he confirmed with an oath. It was an oath which was doubly binding. Firstly, it was God's word, and that in itself made it sure, and secondly, it was confirmed by an oath. God became his own witness and guarantor, and so in a double sense, an unchangeable promise.
For men swear by someone greater when they bring in an oath. There is no one greater than God, so he swore by the greatest there was, that is, by himself. For what God was doing was reassuring Abraham by using two unchangeable things: his own word and his oath. And since it was impossible for God to lie, Abraham need have no fear that God would not keep his promise, for God's promise is unshakable and eternal. God's covenant with Abraham is fulfilled in Christ through his Incarnation, Passion, Cross, and Resurrection. Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of God's promises, and the Church, the body of Christ, is the continuation and fulfillment of Israel's covenant with God. Christ is the cornerstone, uniting all of humanity in one body: the Church.
The author of Hebrews reminds us in 6:15, "And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise." Abraham needed to wait patiently to receive the promise. It was not until 25 years after leaving Ur that his son Isaac was born. Abraham was old, Sarah was barren, the wandering was long, but Abraham never wavered from his hope and trust in the promise of God—an example of faith, persistence, endurance, and trust. No instant response and fulfillment as we have become used to in our instantaneous "I want, give me now" consumer society. It occurred according to God's timetable, not for our instant gratification and expectations. There is no "push the button, bingo, I've hit the jackpot" approach to the spiritual life. We need to be like Abraham: faithful, trusting, persevering, and have endurance. Read the lives of the Saints to also see lives of faith, trust, perseverance, and endurance in the spiritual life.
The writer of Hebrews insists that we Christians possess the greatest hope in the world, and that hope is our anchor. In the ancient world, the anchor was the symbol of hope. Interestingly, the writer states that it is a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. St. John Chrysostom has this to say: Paul shows that while we are still in the world and not yet departed from this life, we're already living amid God's promises, for through hope we are already in heaven. As the anchor dropped from the vessel does not allow it to be carried about, even if 10,000 winds agitate it, but being dependent upon makes it steady, so also does hope. Note what a fitting image he has chosen. He did not speak of a foundation, which would not be suitable, but of an anchor for that which is on the tossing sea and seems not to be very firmly fixed, stands on the water as upon land, and is shaken and yet is not moved.
For in regard to those who are very firm and who love the truth, Christ with good reason spoke of one who has built his house on a rock. But in respect to those who are giving way and who ought to be carried through by hope, Paul has more suitably set down this metaphor. For the surge and the great storm tossed the boat, but the hope does not permit it to be carried back and forth, although winds innumerably agitate it. So that unless we have this hope, we should long ago have been sunk. Nor is it only in things spiritual, but also in the affairs of this life, that we may find the power of hope great. Whatever it may be—in merchandise, in husbandry, in a military expedition—unless one sets this before him, he would not even touch the work. But he said not simply anchor, but sure and steadfast, not shaken.
But what is this hope? The author of Hebrews tells us: a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain. But what does he mean by that? In the temple in Jerusalem, the most sacred place was the Holy of Holies, and before it was a curtain covering the entrance. Within the Holy of Holies, on top of the Tabernacle, was the seat of mercy where the presence of God rested. Into that space, only one man in all the world could enter, and that man was the high priest. And even the high priest might only enter the Holy of Holies on only one day of the year, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. And even on that day, it was laid down that he must not linger there, for it was a dangerous and terrible thing to enter into the presence of the living God.
But who enters behind the curtain into the sacred space? It is Christ. The author of Hebrews uses an illuminating word about Jesus. He says that Jesus entered the presence of God as our forerunner. The word is "prodromos" and has three stages of meaning: it means one who rushes on, it means a pioneer, it means a scout, a member of the reconnaissance corps of an army, the advanced guard who goes ahead to see that it is safe for the body of the troops to follow. Jesus went into the presence of God to make it safe for all humanity to follow. Our salvation is secured and confirmed because Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us into the innermost heavenly shrine, into the presence of God.
In describing Jesus as a forerunner, the writer of the Hebrews reveals that we too will one day enter the very presence of God as Jesus did. Christ has opened the path, establishing free access for us as the children of God in the house of our Father. There, Jesus serves as a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Amen.
