Peace be with you. Friends, if you've been following
my work the last couple years, you know that I've been
interested in Jordan Peterson, the psychologist from Toronto,
who's become quite a celebrity on social media. And Peterson, like Joseph
Campbell before him, is a Jungian, so a
student of C.G. Jung, the great twentieth-century
psychologist. And Jung bequeathed to us
this idea of the archetypes of the collective unconscious,
these sort of patterns of thought and meaning that
permeate so much of culture. And they can see them in myth
and literature and religion, etc., etc. Campbell, by the way,
had a big impact on George Lucas, who produced the
“Star Wars” movies. And you can hear
a lot of Jungian and archetypal overtones,
of course, in those stories. Well, both Campbell
and Jordan Peterson are very interested in this
archetype of the hero's journey. Now you can see it
indeed in “Star Wars.” Think Luke Skywalker beginning as
this sort of mild-mannered figure and then going through this long
process and becoming a hero. You can see it in almost
all the superhero movies —they're so popular now— look at the
Spider-Man story, etc. So all over the
literature of the world. Now, here's why I want to
talk about it with you. As Peterson lays it out,
this is on display very strongly in the Bible. Now here's what I mean. Peterson's telling is that
someone begins in the familiar with a cozy domesticity —what they're well aware of,
what they're comfortable with— and then they're summoned
somehow out of that cozy domesticity into adventure, and they go forth into
“terra incognita.” They go into some
kind of unknown land, some unknown territory. Calling forth courage,
yes indeed, because they're going to face
down all sorts of obstacles. They're going to face their own ignorance,
their own fear. But if they're
courageous enough, they're stout-hearted enough,
they will open up a kind of landing area in
the “terra incognita.” They'll establish a new ground
where others can move in. They're going to claim
something of this unknown land and make it
available to others. That's the structure,
Peterson says, of every hero's journey. You know what comes
to my mind here, especially in the “Lord of
the Rings” books and movies, because Tolkien was very
much in touch with this. Remember how “The Hobbit” opens with Bilbo Baggins,
in his very cozy, very comfortable
little Hobbit hole. And his life is well ordered. Everything is at peace.
Everything is fine. And then suddenly he's invaded
by this group of dwarves, and they interrupt
his domesticity and they turn things
upside down. Then Gandalf the
wizard comes. And they're all inviting him
into this great adventure. It's going to cause
him to leave home, to leave what he's
familiar with, to go into all kinds
of unknown lands, face all kinds of dangers. But in making that journey,
he makes possible something that would never
have happened otherwise. He conquers something
of a “terra incognita” and makes it
habitable for others. That's the great
hero's journey. Well, as I say,
once we get this, we begin to see it
all over the Bible, with this interesting addition: It's not just coming from
inside the potential hero, the motivation to
act in this way. It's not just coming from
friends who challenge him. But the one who calls forth
the heroism of the hero's journey is
none other than God himself. Think in story after story
where God does exactly that, he calls people out of their
comfortable domesticity and to move into more
dangerous territory, to go on a kind
of adventure. And only because of
that heroic journey do they make a new way
of life possible for others. It's all over the Bible. Now I bring this up because of
our remarkable second reading, and we don't read it that
often in the liturgy, so I want to focus on it. It's the Letter
to the Hebrews. We don't know for
sure who wrote it. For a long time people
said Paul wrote it, but the scholars are almost
certain that he did not. Whoever wrote it was someone
who's very familiar with Jewish life, especially the rituals
and customs of the temple. But we find some of the
richest theological reflection in the New Testament,
I think, in the Letter
to the Hebrews. And in this chapter 11
that we read from today, he's talking about faith. Now, this is a much contested
idea today, trust me. Because the enemies of
religion will typically say, "Yeah, faith, people accept
any old nonsense. They've abandoned their reason. They're accepting things
on the basis of no evidence whatsoever. That's what faith means. It's a childish
way of thinking." Now, can I suggest to you,
that has nothing to do with what the Bible
means by faith. The Greek word, by the way,
that you'll find in the new Testament is
“pistis” for faith. And a better rendering of that
would be something like trust, confidence, trusting in God
—listen— even when I can't see for
sure where he's leading me. Trusting in God even
when it's not clear to me what God is about. But following him willingly
in an attitude of faith. It's an invitation
to a hero's journey. Now listen,
with all that in mind, listen to this now from
Hebrews chapter 11: "By faith Abraham obeyed
when he was called to go out to a place that he was
to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing
where he was to go." See that's the essence
of it, everybody. Not accepting nonsense on
the basis of no evidence, that's not at all what
the Bible means by faith. It means this. A willingness to
leave your hometown, where you're comfortable. What do we say today? Your comfort zone. To leave that and to go
trustingly in search of something God is
going to show you. Listen: "By faith he sojourned
in the promised land as in a foreign country,
dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob,
heirs of the same promise." Interesting, isn't it?
Same promise. They had to follow that
promise in faith too. "For he was looking forward
to the city with foundations, whose architect
and maker is God." Trust, confidence,
a willingness to go on an adventure. Ah, that's at the heart
of the matter for people of faith. It's one thing to say
"I believe in God" as an abstract proposition. Yeah, but do you
have faith in God? You see what I'm saying? Do you have trust in God? Are you willing to follow
God where he leads? That's where things
get interesting. That's where the
rubber meets the road. That's the test
of your belief. Not just an abstract
intellectual proposition, but are you willing
to trust? Listen,
"By faith he" —again, Abraham,
because he's the father of faith,
he's the paradigmatic figure of faith— "By faith he received
power to generate, even though he was
past the normal age —and Sarah herself
was sterile— for he thought the one
who had made the promise was trustworthy." Because he was willing to
trust in God's promise, what happened? "So it was that there
came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous
as the stars in the sky." See there's the paradigm. There's the archetype
of the hero's journey. Because he was willing
to go on adventure, he opened up something
for everybody else. He made possible the
emergence of this holy people. And listen, anyone
hearing me right now who's baptized,
you're a child of Abraham, because you're
born of his faith. It's because he was willing
to trust and go on that journey that
you are here today, thousands of years later,
as a person of faith. Now, the pattern's repeated
up and down the Old Testament. You see it with Jacob,
Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Saul,
David, everybody else. Think of Isaiah when
he receives the call: "Here I am Lord, send me.” Well, where am I going to go? I don't know for sure. But, “Lord, send me.” I’ve got trust. I've got faith
and confidence. When Jeremiah pulls back, "Oh Lord, don't choose me.
I'm too young," the Lord says, "Don't tell me
you're too young. I'm going to give you
strength to go forth." Okay. That's what faith means. I think here of the
great Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. I think he catches this
biblical notion of faith in his idea
of the “semper maior,” Latin for “always greater,
always more.” In other words,
no matter where you are, no matter where you are
in the faith journey, there's always more. There's always somewhere
else you can go. There's always
another adventure. That's the attitude of faith. The God who awakens faith is
the God who awakens heroes, awakens people to go
on heroes' journeys. Okay. Now as if all of that is
not remarkable enough, can I close by just drawing
your attention to maybe the most amazing thing
in the biblical witness? Yes, God calls all kinds of human
beings to spiritual heroism. Yep. Calls them to faith and
trust and confidence. But if I can be a
little bit edgy, I think the real story of
the Bible is God himself going on a kind
of hero's journey. Look, God is God,
God is absolute, perfect, satisfied
in every way. And yet, and yet,
God undertakes the adventure of creation. And then, when his
creation falls into sin, God undertakes the great adventure
of rescuing his creation. Remember that passage from
Paul in Philippians chapter 2: "Though he was in
the form of God" —the “he” here is Jesus— "Though he was in
the form of God, Jesus did not deem
equality with God a thing to be grasped at." The Son of God
didn't remain in the sort of cozy domesticity
of his divine life. “But rather he emptied himself
and took the form of a slave, being born in the
likeness of men. He was known to be
of human estate, and it was thus that
he humbled himself, obediently accepting
even death, death on a cross.” The Son of God went
on a hero's journey, went into the
“terra incognita” of sin. Paul says on the cross
Christ “became sin,” and what was made possible,
everybody, by that hero's journey? The space of salvation
opened up for all of us. If Christ had not gone
on that hero's journey, we would not live
a divine life. God didn't cling to godliness
but went on an adventure so as to bring us life. Do you see now how our faith,
as I've been describing it —which is not believing
any old nonsense, that's not at all
what faith means— that our faith,
our trust in God, is an imitation
of his willingness to go on the
hero's journey? Because he did it,
we can do it. We put our faith in him. And God bless you.
