Receiving The Cloud of Witness of The Gospel:
A Reflection on Hebrews 12:1-10, Sunday of Orthodoxy 2025
BRETHREN, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives."
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his Father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father.
RSV Hebrews 12:1-10
Within today's Epistle, we hear of the cloud of witness each of us has been enveloped into, leading to this period of Lent where we are laying aside our sins in preparation. We hear that in imaging the endurance of our Lord, we are also called to endure. And finally, we hear of Fatherly discipline and the discipline we are called to embody as children of God. All of these topics may seem foreign to us, so we must take the time to ask what these words of the Apostle mean for our Lenten journey.
First, what is this cloud of witness that Paul is speaking of? The cloud of whiteness refers to the all-consuming revelation of the Gospel. Through the resurrection of Christ, which we will celebrate at Pascha, we have the all-consuming revelation that Christ has risen, the core of the Gospel. In His resurrection, our faith in Him has been perfected, for sin and death no longer have any grip on us. So if sin and death have no genuine grip on a Christian, and this has been revealed to us in our reception of the Gospel, then here in lies our call to turn from the weight sin once had on us in imagining the saving acts of our Lord.
Second, we hear the Apostle Paul continue by speaking of why we are called to endure amid this witness of the Gospel. In imaging the endurance of Christ on the cross, we see an extreme example of the suffering He carried out. This extreme example helps us to put into context our suffering, and that leads us to the realization that the only true salvation amid suffering is turning to Christ in our endurance. In embodying Christ, Paul reminds us that we are all made sons and daughters of God, for as we endure imaging His Son, we live lives commensurate with this great dignity. So, through enduring the struggle of Great Lent and the struggles of the whole of our lives, we are actively embodying the saving struggle of Christ while gaining the sight that He is there with us, transfiguring our struggle and leading us to true life in His presence.
Finally, Paul speaks of the discipline we need as we continue to undergo the fast. We hold this discipline willingly in the same way that a noble father dispenses healthy discipline. Our example of a true, noble Father is God, so when we hear these topics addressed, we need to look at them as God relates to His Son and subsequently to us rather than from our human perspective. Rather than using our, at times, distorted understandings of fatherhood and discipline, we need to look to the perfect image of this as seen in Christ. As He willingly carries out the will of the Father, we see salvation is offered to us all. He does not carry out the will of the Father in fear or dread; instead, His willing self-offering is done in love for the Father and the whole of creation. Thus, with the same discipline that Christ embodies in His ministry, we, too, are called to embody this discipline in our lives. Discipline in this example is not arbitrary rule-following; instead, it is the embodiment of Christ, Who Himself is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. Thus, as Christ, in embodying the will of the Father freely in the love of the Trinity, offers salvation to us all, in holding to this same discipline in our Lenten journey, we make our lives commensurate with the great gift of salvation, we are preparing for.
Thus, we learn from today's Epistle that as we carry out this Lenten journey, we do so because in our coming to Christ, we have been presented with the all-consuming revelation that true salvation has been offered to us all. In coming to this revelation, we strive to live up to our call of being called children of God. In doing so, we discipline ourselves in love so that we may become recipients of the love of our Lord, which He is continually offering to us freely, for there is nothing we can do to become worthy of this great gift. So, we need to remember that as we carry out this journey, we are doing so in the image of our Savior, for He is our example of discipline, perseverance, and salvation. Let us take to heart this living example in our lives as we continue through the next six weeks, and ask the Lord to continue to grant us the strength needed to receive the gift of salvation He lovingly offers us not only at the end of Holy Week or at the end of time but with the whole of our lives.