The LCA provides this sermon edited for lay-reading, with thanks to the original author.
Pentecost 9 (Proper 11), Year C
Colossians 1:15-28
Dear heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit on us so that we might see you clearly through your
Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
What’s your sight like?
Do you see things clearly, or do you need some help in the form of glasses or contact lenses? Do
you only see things up close, and things in the distance are fuzzy? Or is it the other way – can you
see easily into the distance, but struggle with seeing what’s close to you?
Many people struggle to see things clearly, but it has nothing to do with their eyesight. Many
people are not very good at seeing past the obvious.
For example, let’s say there’s an election coming up. What do people ‘look’ for when they vote?
Most likely many will look for something that’s going to benefit them. ‘What’s in it for me if I vote
for this or that candidate?’ In this way, many will only look up close and might struggle to see the
long term effects. Most people are worried about themselves and how any politician will affect
their immediate lives; not always seeing how certain policies, which might be helpful for us today,
may also impact us negatively later on.
Strangely, what most people see and look for is who’s going to be the prime minister. But most of
us don’t even get to vote for our prime minister: we only vote for our local representatives. The
leading party gets to choose who’s going to be the prime minister (and sometimes they change
their minds mid-term!).
Or, let’s say you’re looking to buy a car. What will you look for? Will you go by the look or colour of
the car? Will you test out the seats to see how comfortable they are? Will you check the engine to
see how powerful it is? Will you go by its size and shape? Will you be impressed with all the
optional extras?
Now these are all fairly obvious and easy to see and test. But what about those things that aren’t
so obvious? How economical will it be to run? How expensive are the spare parts? How reliable is
it going to be? How quickly will it depreciate? Will it satisfy your current and future needs? How
well will the safety features protect you in an accident? Some of these things you can’t see straight
away, so buying a car can be a bit of a gamble.
It can be the same with our faith. We often look at the obvious and at what can be tested. We like
to see and measure what we hope in. We like to know what we trust in is truly trustworthy by
testing it.
For example, some put their faith and trust in wealth. After all, money can be measured and
counted. It can purchase things that will make life more comfortable and seem to bring more
pleasure. It can even pay for good health and beauty to a point. But what about the long term
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results of relying on money? The song goes ‘Money can’t buy me love’, but are there other things
money can’t buy, such as peace, forgiveness, or reconciliation? Money can’t buy a good
relationship with God.
Some put their trust in science, knowledge, health, beauty, etc. Most of these things can be
measured, stored, restored and enhanced. Many of them will give good results, but what will their
result be at the time of death? Do some have more faith in what has been created, rather than
having faith in the creator himself?
But even if people go to worship and have faith in the one true God, many will go to a church that
will satisfy only their current needs. They’ll often look for the right style of service, a charismatic
preacher, or programs that satisfy them.
Some churches try to test their success by counting numbers in seats, the amount of money
people give in the offering plate, and the regularity of their attendance. These things can be
counted and controlled to some extent. But the more we focus on achieving these things, we
actually chase people away because they soon figure out all we want is their money or their bum
to fill an empty seat! We end up becoming so busy we distract ourselves from what is really
needful.
This is the frustrating thing about faith. Faith is looking beyond the obvious. Faith isn’t trusting
what we see, but trusting what we don’t see and can’t quite understand. Although we’re
encouraged to use our intellect, faith sometimes means leaving behind our logic and our common
sense. Faith is sometimes letting go of our immediate wants and desires for the eternal benefits.
Paul knows we’re often distracted from having faith in God alone. He knows we’ll place our trust in
the obvious, in what can be easily and immediately tested, or even in our feelings. He knows we’re
often distracted by having faith in things that aren’t helpful, so therefore he preaches about Jesus
Christ in all his fullness. He does this to give you the glasses you need in order to see God clearly
and have faith in him.
You see, we can’t see God. He’s a mystery to us. But he chose not to remain such a mystery and
revealed himself to us in Jesus. And what he reveals to us about himself is unexpected and
surprising.
He reveals himself as the maker of the heavens and earth, of all things visible and invisible. Yet he
reveals himself to us in human form. Jesus is the first over all creation, yet he suffers for our sake.
Although all things bow down to him, he serves us and helps us instead of expecting us to serve
and help him. He loves us as the best part of his creation, and reveals his pain at our rebellion.
But yet, in order to restore our relationship with him, he didn’t wait for us to say sorry. As
rebellious and selfish human beings, we often wait for the other person to make the first move, to
make up for what they did before we’d have anything to do with them. But God isn’t like that. He
made the first move despite our hostility toward him. Before we asked him, he sent his Son to
shed his blood on the cross for us so that we could be presented as clean, unblemished and holy
before the Father; so that we might be at peace with him.
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Now of course we don’t feel holy and we don’t see ourselves as holy. We don’t see each other as
holy either! Even if we do believe what Jesus has done for us, we think we don’t deserve what he
did and wonder how God could even begin to forgive what we’ve done against him and other
people.
But his blood, shed on the cross, is so effective he’s made peace with all things on earth and even
in heaven. Despite what we might feel and see, we’re forgiven through faith in Jesus. Despite what
we feel and see, we’re holy people, loved by God.
The danger is that after all Jesus has done for us, we could become short sighted again. We might
be distracted once again by promises of glory, health, wealth, power and beauty. We’ll be tempted
to give up our trust in an unseen, illogical and mysterious God and instead put all our trust in what
we see, hear, feel and touch; in what you can measure and test.
This is why we need to sit at Jesus’ feet again and again. We need him to keep our focus on the
one thing needful for our salvation. We need to keep our focus on Jesus, because he reveals the
unseen God to us. It’s like Jesus is the glasses we wear to see beyond the obvious and see God the
Father himself.
For when we look to Jesus, we no longer see an angry God who stays far away from us, but we see
a compassionate God who comes close to us.
We no longer see a God who punishes us for what we’ve done or not done, but we see a God who
punished his own Son in our place instead.
We no longer see death as an end, but as a doorway to life with God.
We no longer see what we have to do in order to be reconciled with God, but we see how God has
restored his relationship with us through the death of his Son.
We no longer see ourselves as dirty, unworthy, or hopeless, but we see how Jesus presents us
before God as perfect in his sight.
We can’t see God the Father properly without Jesus: he’s blurry and unrecognisable. Jesus sends
the Holy Spirit through his Word to give us wisdom and to help us clearly see and discern the truth.
In fact, the whole Bible makes sense only when seen through what Jesus said and did. Even our
own life makes more sense when looked at from the perspective of Jesus’ life, death and
resurrection.
Therefore, keep looking to Jesus so that you may see the truth. Sure, keep testing and measuring
things, but keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author of your salvation. Keep puzzling over the
mysteries of faith, but trust Jesus so you may be presented as made perfect in Christ.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard our hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
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