Please read the passage before reading the commentary.
What a list of heroes we have for us today in the reading, some well-known and some less well-known. All of these lived by faith and overcame great obstacles and torments, yet did not receive the promise and they were not made perfect. They would only be made perfect with us.
Like them, we also face great struggles and obstacles. As we are being made perfect, they are likewise being made perfect. We are both part of the same process. We are in solidarity with them, and they with us.
By faith they conquered and by faith we conquer. All this is part of the process God has for bringing us to perfection. Perfection, however, happens not on a one-on-one relation between God and a person. It happens in a community situation. Those heroes of ancient times need us, and we need them. Perfection involves each of us individually, but only in community. What one is to receive all are to receive.
What does faith demand of us? It demands only a relationship, a relationship with God and God’s community. Since the ancient heroes were members of God’s community as we are today, we need them, and they need us. We have no real relationship with God unless we have a relationship with all of God’s people. Our faith in God means nothing unless includes all those whom God has chosen.
The author had described the great work of our high priest, how the high priest had faithfully endured for us. Now, remembering his work and the faith of those before him, the author encourages us to be faithful despite our loud cries and supplications. God is faithful to us, and we are to be faithful to God.