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.

Like other nations

A Sermon preached on Sunday, June 10, at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, Mark 3:20-35

It seems a little ironic to have what sounds like an anti-monarchy reading on the day when we celebrate the Queen’s birthday. That is not something that the authors of an international, ecumenical lectionary can consider of course. Now, HM the Queen cannot be accused of any of the things that Samuel warns the Israelites against: she has not been known to take your sons and appoint them to her or as her horsemen, let alone to run before her chariots. Nor will or has she taken your male and female slaves, or to my knowledge the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to work. And you will certainly not be her slaves. Of course, this does not apply to all of her ancestors.

And so, both in the USA, which rebelled against a supposed tyrannical king over 240 years ago, and in the UK, which had its own revolutions while keeping the monarchy, we have checks and balances and controls that are supposed to prevent the rise or recurrence of tyrants, whether crowned or elected. If course these controls don’t work on their own, they require active and watchful citizenship, or they will fail, especially if the people believe they need a “strong man.”

Why did the Israelites want a king, why did they ask Samuel to “appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations?” (1 Samuel 8:5) For most of the time since their return from Egypt to the Promised Land the tribes had governed themselves, occasionally coming together as a nation under a judge, a leader, some male, some female, selected by God to help them in an emergency. Most recently the leaders had also been the chief priests like Samuel. But it had not been easy. Other nations also laid, often violent claim, on the promised land. Israel found it difficult to live up to the standards of being the Chosen People, and frequently fell short both in worship and justice. They also felt threatened by their neighbors and were therefor frustrated, disappointed and afraid. Being special was just not working out. They even seem to have lost their trust in God. As God says to Samuel: “they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” (8:7) And so, the Israelites do not heed Samuel’s dire warnings: “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (8:19-20) We want to be like others, they said, even in what they do wrong!

Just last week a major new Pew Research Center survey of religious beliefs and practices in Western Europe[1] was published. It contains some good news and some bad news. Secularization continues, and yet most adults surveyed still do consider themselves Christians, even if they seldom go to church. Across Western Europe an astonishing 91% say they were baptized, 81% were raised Christian, 71% identify as Christian … but only 22% are active, defined as regular church attendance. And as we can assume that only a portion of the 71% identifying as Christians will raise their own children that way, the proportion of religiously unaffiliated adults, or “nones” will continue to increase. The study also looked at the religious, political and cultural views of the groups surveyed. As it turns out, active Christians are not always as different in their attitude to the general population, as they should be.

Most church-attending Christians say they believe in the biblical depiction of God. That is good! And although many non-practicing Christians say they do not believe in God “as described in the Bible,” they do still believe in some other higher power or spiritual force. That is something we can use. After all, we do not just offer “the God as described in the Bible.” We offer the living God whom people can experience in their lives. Not surprisingly, a clear majority of religiously unaffiliated adults do not believe in any type of higher power or spiritual force in the universe.

Both church-attending and non-practicing Christians believe that churches and religious institutions serve society by helping the poor and bringing communities together. And interestingly, observant Christians are more likely to participate not only in religious groups but also in other charitable or volunteer organizations and community groups.

Now for the bad news. Christian identity in Western Europe is also associated with higher levels of negative sentiment toward immigrants and religious minorities. On balance, self-identified Christians – whether they attend church or not – are more likely than religiously unaffiliated people to express negative views of immigrants, as well as of Muslims and Jews and to express nationalist views, i.e. to say that their culture is superior to others and that recent immigrants are not and cannot be fully part of their nation. The concept of neighbor is understood in a very narrow sense indeed! Like the Israelites in Samuel’s day, Christians seem to feel threatened by their new neighbors, neglected by their peers, and afraid.

It does make me wonder, what are they being taught at church? While it is wonderful that the Christians interviewed say they believe in the God as described in the Bible, they, like the Israelites in our OT passage, do not seem to be quite so interested in what that God has to say or, for today’s Christians, in what God lived and died for as God’s incarnate son. The Old Testament God says, “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19). Jesus says, Love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:31)

God does not want lip-service and empty ritual. God wants a real and genuine change in how we behave and think and act as a result of our turning to God and accepting the relationship God has to offer. In the words of the Collect of the Day we prayed earlier, God wants us to not only think those things that are right, but also by God’s merciful guiding to do them. God wants us to be different, but by living God’s values, and not national, particular and selfish ones.

In the Gospel passage we heard this morning, Jesus has not been behaving “normally,” he has not done or said what is expected of him by his family, people, and religion. Instead he has been rocking the boat. Last week we heard him redefining the Sabbath laws, making clear that we serve God best when we serve God’s people, even if that means breaking a few rules. This week the focus is less on new teachings, and more on his defense against attacks.

Because of his “abnormal” teaching and actions, all sorts of people are out to get him. His own family, including the BVM, is embarrassed by him. The neighbors have been complaining and so the only explanation is that Jesus must be mad to do these things! “He has gone out his mind.” (Mark 3:21) The religious authorities represented by the scribes from Jerusalem feel threatened in their power and privilege. And as they are so sure that they know what God wants and that only they have the authority to define God’s will there is only one explanation. He must be possessed by demons or possibly even worse, Jesus is in league with the devil.

Hardly, Jesus says. How can I drive out the devil if I was his ally? You see me helping people and ridding them of their demons, and yet you accuse me of having an unclean spirit? You really don’t know who I am, do you? And he is not very patient with his family either. Who are my mother and my brothers, he asks? “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35) That is a radical redefinition of family, clan, tribal and national allegiance. The Israelites who want a king to help them defeat other nations, to grow bigger at their expense have not understood that God wanted a chosen people as a beacon, as a positive example of loving service to God and one another, and not as another power-hungry nation. The Christians who think their country and culture are superior to others have also just not understood that the love of Jesus Christ transcends all barriers and that our primary allegiance is to Him.

On this and our other national days, there is nothing wrong with us celebrating the nations we belong to and live in, as well as their leaders. But we must not forget that to follow Jesus is to declare allegiance to a new universal family. The ties that hold this family together are not blood or color or tradition, but the invisible bonds of faith, hope and love. As followers of Jesus, our role is not to become more like the nations we live in and serve, but to change them: by preaching and teaching God’s word as revealed in Jesus Christ, and by how we live that word in our daily lives.

Amen.

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[1] Pew Research Center, May 29, 2018, “Being Christian in Western Europe”