Hope in a Promise

Homily for Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s passage from the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of God’s promise to Abraham. Careful reading of the Book of Genesis reveals that God made more than one promise to Abraham. The first promise was made when God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and sent him into the unknown and into the Promised Land. In chapter 17, God promised Abraham that he would have many descendants who would be blessed in him. That promise is repeated in chapter 18. However, the promise which God swore with an oath to keep comes in chapter 22; namely, that Sarah would bear him a son even though he was old and she had been barren up to that time. Because God swore an oath when he made that promise, it is doubly binding. The promise of a son resulted in the birth of Isaac. Through that son, Abraham did gain many descendants. The blessing upon those descendants came true in Jesus Christ.

The author goes through this discussion to impress upon us that we can “hope” in the promises that God has made. In the ancient world, the anchor was the symbol of hope; it remains a symbol of hope even in our own day. The Greek Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, wrote: “A ship should never depend on one anchor or a life on one hope.” Pythagoras wrote: “Wealth is a weak anchor; fame is still weaker. What then are the anchors which are strong? Wisdom, great heartedness, courage – these are the anchors which no storm can shake.” The writer to the Hebrews insists that the Christian possesses the greatest hope in the world. That hope, he says, is one which enters into the inner court beyond the veil. In the temple, the most sacred of all places was the Holy of Holies. The veil was what covered it. Within the Holy of Holies, there was held to abide the very presence of God. Entrance to this holy place was limited to one man, and he was able to enter only once a year for a brief time. It was believed that he must not linger in it because it was dangerous and a terrible thing to enter into the presence of the living God. Now, Jesus Christ has opened the way for every person at every time to enter into the presence of God.

Because of what Jesus was and did, God has become the friend of every person. Once people thought of God as barring the door; now we think of the door to his presence as thrown wide open to all. Indeed, we can enter God’s presence every day, for God lives among us and within us.