Walk by faith, not by sight

A Sermon preached on Sunday, June 17, at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13, 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17, Mark 4:26-34

Paul has some lovely inspiring phrases in this section of his letter to the Corinthians: “For the love of Christ urges us on.” (5:14) “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” (5:17) Or “we walk by faith, not by sight,” (5:7) which is the one I want to focus on this morning.

Some English Bibles just translate this as “we live by faith, not by sight.” That is a shame. The word Paul uses, peripateo literally means "to walk." We get the word peripatetic from it. If you look at the Gospels, one thing you had to do if you decided to follow Jesus was to walk: all through Galilee and eventually down to Jerusalem, and then after the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension, into all the world following the commission he gave to his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19)

The word “walk” reminds us that following Christ is not just intellectual or spiritual. It is an action involving the whole body. As Paul puts it, combatting a tendency among some Corinthian Christians, to put the spiritual above the physical, “whether we are at home;” in the body “or away,” in spirit “we make it our aim to please the Lord.” (5:9)

The word walk also reminds us that following Christ is not a one-off event or moment, it is the beginning of a journey, a journey towards God and towards our own true selves. There is a reason why walking to holy places, on a pilgrimage, is a traditional Christian spiritual practice, one that in recent years has become popular again. A pilgrimage is a chance to travel at least for a time unhindered by worldly possessions, simply trusting in God for all that we need. I know quite a few people who have walked the Camino (Jakobsweg), most recently Audrey’s parents. We even have a visitor today who is about to start a shorter, but no less meaningful pilgrimage in St. Hildegard’s steps.

This idea of a gradual development of incremental growth is also behind the first of the two parables we heard from Jesus this morning. The seed of the kingdom grows slowly underground, until gradually first the stalk, then the head, and finally the full grain is ready for harvest. (Mark 4:28-29) The seed takes time to grow, and we need time to grow into Christ.

Lastly, the word ‘walk’ recalls another verse by Paul, in the Letter to the Ephesians (5:2), a phrase I use every Sunday at the Offertory (though you may not always hear the beginning as you are all still busy greeting one another at the Peace). “Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God.” When we walk with Christ, our companion is love and our goal is love.

But next Paul emphasizes another of the three theological virtues: faith. What is faith? According to the author of Hebrews, “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (11:1) In today’s passage Paul wants us to be confident, always, confident and even cheerful, not only when things are going well, but always. Not even the prospect of death affects his basic attitude. Paul is confident for two reasons. While he is happy to be alive, and to serve his Lord in every way possible while on earth and in the body, he is not particularly worried about the prospect of death. To die is also to be at home with the Lord. He is sure of an eternal home with his Lord.

Another reason for his confidence, and the confidence he wants us all to share, is another death, the death of Christ out of love for all, for every single person. Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross was all-encompassing. In the second of the two parables we heard in Mark’s Gospel this morning, the parable of the mustard-seed, Jesus too alludes to this universal application. This parable is often explained as a contrast between small beginnings and great results. Actually, mustard seeds are not that small, and a mustard bush at about 8 – 10 feet maximum is not that large. Jesus’ listeners will instead have heard and understood an allusion to one of the dreams the prophet Daniel had to interpret in the OT Book of Daniel. (4:11-12)

In that particular dream, “the tree grew great and strong …  its foliage was beautiful, its fruit abundant, and it provided food for all. The animals of the field found shade under it, the birds of the air nested in its branches, and from it all living beings were fed.” The tree in the dream was a great kingdom, offering shelter to all. It was however a human kingdom and it fell. The bush of God’s kingdom offers shade, protection, and a home for all and will never fall or fail.

Turning now to the last part of the phrase, “not by sight,” let me start with what this does not mean! “Not by sight” does not reflect a belief that the immaterial or spiritual is better or more valuable than the material or physical world. On the contrary this is a concept that Paul has been trying to quell among the Corinthians. What we do here on earth is very important indeed. Our bodies, as Paul writes in 1^st Corinthians (6:19) are Temples of the Holy Spirit. And as he goes on to say in today’s extract: each will “receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)

“Not by sight” also does not mean that we close our eyes to what is going on in the world: with the environment, with the poor and oppressed in our own countries, or with the people in other countries whose living and working conditions make our lifestyle and prosperity possible. Jesus is not invisible, Jesus is the one we seek and serve in other people, and Jesus died, “so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.” (5:15)

“Not by sight” represents a conviction that what is yet to be seen is unimaginably more glorious compared to what can now be seen. In Jesus’ first parable, the sower does not see the seed growing, there is no visible sign until the plant first comes out of the soil. And yet it happens, invisibly and inevitably. In his earthly ministry and life, Jesus planted a seed that has already started to grow into God’s kingdom. He planted it in the world and in all his followers. We can’t see it and the harvest is still to come, but it will come, and it is worth us working towards. In the words of the hymn “It is well with my soul” that we sang last week, we look forward to “the day when my faith shall be sight.” This end, this realm of faith is what we cannot see, but still believe in. We hear a similar turn of phrase in John’s Gospel, in Jesus’ response to Thomas: “Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:29)

Sadly, we say goodbye today to the Onders family, to Karen, Ren, Malachi and Gabby. They have been very visible and active in our community. For a while at least, we will not see them. For me, Paul’s little interjection, we walk by faith, not by sight, contains one more promise, one more reason to be confident. If we are in Christ, if we are part of a new family that transcends both time and nations, we will never be truly or fully apart. We share a common goal. We live no longer just for ourselves. Our walk of faith, our journey to Christ is a common and shared one, wherever we may be, and whether we can see each other or not.

Amen.