Would I Be That Brave?

St. Eusebius leads Christians in prayer as they faced their martyrdoms

As I read Hebrews 11, I'm moved to ask the question, "Would I be that brave?"

Hebrews 11 is known as the Heroes of the Faith chapter. The writer lists a host of Old Testament believers and the courage they demonstrated in the face of opposition and outright persecution.

He writes, "Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawn in two; they were put to death by the sword. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground" (Hebrews 11:36-38).

Would I be that brave?

As I reflect on this chapter, I realize that the emphasis is not on the heroes, but on the faith and what it was able to achieve in them, and presumably in us as well.

Each of these heroic examples is prefaced with the words "by faith." "By faith, Abel..." "By faith, Noah..." "By faith, Abraham..." "By faith, Moses..." By faith... By faith... By faith...

In others words, the individuals themselves were ordinary. In fact, in many cases, they pleaded with God to choose someone else because they did not feel up to the task. That which made them "heroes of the faith" is what faith emboldened them to do.

Faith still works the same way. It emboldens the people of God to attempt the unachievable and to dare the unimaginable.

Do you think that Daniel would have voluntarily strolled into a lions  den, or that his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, would have, on a whim, wandered into a fiery furnace? By no means! Their faith in God would have taught them, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

But when Daniel was left in a lions den overnight or his three friends were thrown into a blazing furnace, their faith in Yahweh, their God, gave them courage.

That same faith filled the hearts of first and second century believers who were thrown to the beasts under Roman persecution.

Although the outcomes were different in that Daniel and his friends were delivered from death and those early Christians were not, the faith was the same and the courage it inspired was the same.

Would I be that brave?

I think that many of those heroes of the faith that we admire would have answered that question the way many believers do: I hope so.

Nevertheless, when faith is tested, it can demonstrate great resolve and generate great courage.

It's done so for generations.

Oh, for a faith that will not shrink

Though pressed by many a foe;

That will not tremble on the brink

Of poverty or woe.

Lord, give us such a faith as this;

And then, whate'er may come,

We'll taste e'en now the hallowed bliss

Of an eternal home.

Hymn 396, The Lutheran Hymnal