I have been wrestling in recent days with some thoughts about faith: how much of it is has substance and how much is merely a shadow of faith? At our weekend camp worship service on Sunday morning I used the story of blind Bartimaeus who threw away his cloak and ran to Jesus. I asked our kids if they were willing to throw away everything and run to Jesus and they said ‘Yes!’ most enthusiastically. When I suggested that everything meant giving up the latest version of their Nintendo DS the enthusiasm waned dramatically.

The easy line is to assure the kids that Jesus doesn’t really mind us having our favourite toys; but I wonder? Western thinking does not align with Jesus thinking very often. If we read more of the gospels we might actually come to an understanding that, well, actually, Jesus DOES ask us to give up everything and follow him!!

I am spending a lot of time in the Book of Hebrews right now and have come to a halt at the part bridging the end of chapter 7 and into chapter 8. It is a consideration of shadow and substance.

It seems to me that many today are content with the shadow of faith. Jesus seems to always be calling us forward to something else and it is that something else that intrigues me and drives me.

‘The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world.’ John 1:9
‘But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the father seeks such as these to worship him.’ John 4:23

‘but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.’ John 6:32

‘For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.’ John 6:55

There are a great many ‘trues’ in there! It seems to me that Jesus is suggesting that his coming is a watershed moment in history and we would do well to consider our response very deeply.

In Hebrews the author is comparing the Old Testament temple system to a new faith in Christ and we discover another true.

‘Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up.”

Hebrews 8:1-3
In verse 5 of this same chapter we read: ‘They offer worship in a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one.’ Before designers or architects settle on a final plan they do concept drawings and play around with ideas. The very latest top of the line sports car began its life as a sketch; but one day it became reality – it emerged from the shadows and had substance. It became true!

Is our faith based on shadow or substance?

The Hebrews passage goes on to remind us of the words in Jeremiah 31:31-34, which speak of a new covenant that replaces the old. It speaks of a time when the law of God will be placed in our minds and written in our hearts. When Jesus gathered with his disciples that last night he chose his words very deliberately:

‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood’ Luke 22:20

The coming of Jesus among us heralded a new beginning. This is a time when we are not constrained by temple law but are freed to love and worship God in fullness and in truth. So it is not written in a book, or kept as a holy secret by some holy guru’s, or hidden behind some great curtain. However, it is also not something that is defined as people simply being ‘good’ and living by some golden rule of behavioural modification. Thankfully the substance – despite all of the evidence to the contrary – is not all about us!

‘Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or observing, festivals, new moons or Sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.’ Colossians 2:16,17

If the sketch or the shadow does not satisfy then perhaps I need to take seriously the substance and to do that I need to choose to follow Jesus. He doesn’t want me to draw a picture but to get up and follow him. He doesn’t want the word Christian to be a brand name that I can wear and stay in the shadows.

For many years now the substance has seduced me! It is the reason that I do what I do. As Jesus continues to invite me into his journey, so I will continue to do the same to others.

Let me close with one of my favourite Jesus quotes from John chapter 4. The disciples had gone off to grab some take-away for lunch and returned to find Jesus having a yarn with a woman of shall we say a ‘colourful’ background. They were sitting around having their burgers and Coke, just a little frustrated that Jesus was showing no interest in lunch.

‘Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”’
I think that is a question of shadow or substance.