Just recently my sister was inducted into the Stanford Hall of Fame. Sarah is a phenomenal athlete who was a stand-out high school athlete in swimming and softball. She went on to play softball for Stanford University where she batted .350 with 28 home runs over her career and was a three-time All American, eventually playing on the US Women’s National Team.
You might be familiar with some of the other members of Stanford’s Hall of Fame: Tiger Woods and John Elway are two of the other inductees. Sarah My is also a member of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame alongside Tucson greats like Steve Kerr, Lute Olsen, and Sean Elliott.
I haven’t yet received an invitation to any hall of fame [drumming fingers].
Hard core fans of sports and music argue about whether or not players deserve to be in the Hall of Fame or not. Baseball fans will throw down over whether Pete Rose and Barry Bonds ought to be in the Hall of Fame. Some Rock and Roll fans are outraged Stevie Nicks and Percy Sledge are in the Hall of Fame and Tina Turner and Lionel Ritchie aren’t. Football fans argue over whether Ray Lewis and OJ Simpson ought to be in the Hall of Fame and whether it’s fair Reggie Wayne and Roger Craig aren’t.
You might know that the Bible has a Hall of Fame as well. Tucked away at the end of Hebrews, it contains a list far more controversial than any list in Canton, Cleveland, or Cooperstown.
Here is the list of heroes of faith that the Bible offers:
Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel.
It’s an interesting list. A surprisingly few members of this Hall of Faith are no-brainers, when you stop to consider it. Outside of his childhood pride, Joseph seems like a natural choice. Samuel also lives a fairly blameless life. Others such as Abel and Barak feel like odd choices because we their acts of faith seem fairly insubstantial and we don’t know much about them outside those small acts.
Things escalate when we come to Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, and David, though. That group has quite a rap sheet on them. Two murders, an attempted murder, abandonment, serious sexual sin, and thievery start the list.
The most baffling by far are the inclusion of the three judges, though. Gideon, Samson, and Jephthah are despicable characters. Gideon begins and ends his narrative as an idolater, Samson is a lustful, disobedient, vengeful womanizer, and Jephthah is no better than the worshipers of Molech. Jephthah rashly makes a horrific oath that he refuses to repent of that results in him sacrificing his daughter.
It becomes more baffling when one considers that there isn’t a shortage of candidates who could have been includes on the list. Consider the impeccable credentials of Caleb, Joshua, Ruth, Elisha, Daniel, and Isaiah, for instance.
How can we make sense of the inclusion of those with such egregious sin?
Let’s turn to the beginning of the chapter to answer that question. The author of Hebrews begins, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Heb 11:1-3). The author goes on to explain that,
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Heb. 11:13-16)
In other words, the faith of those in the Hall of Faith points to the singular truth of what faith is: a trust that God’s kingdom is not of this world, and that our hope is for his “better country.” It’s fitting, then, that the author of Hebrews picks out such a motley crew. This isn’t the Hall of Obedience or the Hall of Righteousness. This is the Hall of Faith. And the power of faith is in the object of that faith, not the strength of the one who holds onto that faith. Faith is worthy of praise because of the King who has promised and created a new Kingdom. Faith is worthy of praise because it is in the right thing!
The biblical Hall of Fame looks like a mistake. One-hit-wonders in Cleveland, third-string linebackers in Canton, and middle relievers in Cooperstown. But it’s no mistake. Because, unlike worldly fame, heavenly fame is all about the Creator, not the creature. And he receives great glory through even our faltering and finicky faith. How encouraging is that?
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Photo by Boris Balsindes Urquiola on Unsplash