Visiting Seminarian Mark Hunsaker’s Sermon:
A few years ago, my youngest daughter Ally came to me with a very important request. She said: “Daddy, I want to see Jesus.” I would think any dad would love to have his child pose such a request and I was no different. Just as the buttons were about to pop off of my shirt with pride, she added: “…and I don’t mean see Him in the Bible or in other people. I want to see Him! You know, I want to see the actual guy.” My pride quickly deflated as I found myself with no answer. How should I respond to her request ?
In today’s Epistle lesson, the Apostle Paul writes: “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.” Like Ally, you could also ask: “How in the world are we supposed to look upon the things that are unseen? How can I look at what I cannot see? ”
What is the answer to this question? In Ally’s case, you could maybe write it off as the silly request of a five-year-old. But Ally knew the Creed, she knew Jesus had ascended into heaven. She also knew from our story time each night that He told us He would be with us until the end of the age.
So the question is a practical one: How do we direct our gaze upon things that we cannot see? I started to think of the things we value but cannot see, like the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Other examples include: respect, courage and sacrifice.
All of us know stories where people act because of things we cannot see. When a soldier holds the line as bullets and bombs fly, there is something going on there that we cannot see, and yet it is this unseen thing which captivates us. When a firefighter rushes into a burning building, there is something going there on that we cannot see, and yet it is this unseen thing which captivates us. When a community rallies around a family in need, there is something going on there that there we cannot see, and yet it is this unseen thing which captivates us.
Recently I traveled toOhio on a Cross-Cultural Mission trip. I met people fromEthiopia,Somalia,Tanzania, and other countries. And I met Koye. He became a Christian when there was absolutely no reason to do so (from a “seen-things” perspective). In his homeland ofSomalia, becoming a Christian was the equivalent to committing a capital crime. When Koye was baptized, his family rejected him, his people rejected him, and his government rejected him. When looking at the surface, at what we can see, Koye’s story makes no sense. The story makes no sense, that is, unless we look upon the things that are unseen. Unless we look upon Christ.
But our culture urges us to look at only what we can see. It is easy to find those who contend that religion is just something designed to make us feel better, something to help us cope with the stresses of life. “God” becomes something that we use to fill in the “gaps” of what we are lacking within ourselves. So I ask you : Is that what God is for you? Is He a therapeutic treatment you receive once a week to make the pain subside? Is “faith” something you keep in a box on the shelf next to your work gloves or the food processor? Is this how your faith works: You get it out when you need it and then put it away when you are done?
The question then becomes: do you live your life based upon what is seen, or based upon what is unseen? Do you follow Christ, Who is unseen, or do you put your trust in what is seen? Money, possessions, or even the people you love! What would happen to you if your land became like Koye’s? What ifAmericasomehow declared Christianity to be illegal? Would you follow what is seen, or the One who is unseen? How would that work with a faith that sits on the shelf until called for?
When you look upon what is unseen . . . IN YOU, even more treacherous roads must be traveled. When you and I look at one another, we look upon what is seen. On the outside, your life looks OK. You are good at presenting yourself. And so am I. This is how things work. We use clothes and perfumes to cover up what is actually a dead corpse, filled with decay.
Just as love, joy and peace are things which are unseen, so are hatred, sadness and strife. Just as patience, kindness and goodness are things which are unseen, so are intolerance, dissentions and evil. Just as faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are things which are unseen, so are deceit, impurity and over-indulgence.
Here is what happens: you and I hide those things. We use all of our power to keep them unseen from everyone around us . . . and from God Himself. But that is as silly as a small child who thinks he’s hiding and not seen when he covers his eyes. Don’t play that silly game! Look upon that which is unseen, Look upon Christ and His cross! Look upon the empty tomb! Look upon what He has done! Look upon His promises! ALL OF IT IS FOR YOU!
Paul’s words from today’s reading come directly into play. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
“We also believe and so we also speak!” The One who loves us, and did not give us what we deserved but instead gave us what we don’t deserve, shall raise us, shall raise YOU from the dead!
So when Ally wanted to see Jesus, I think she was making a request that we all make. I finally explained to her that the reason she could not see Him in the sense she was asking, had nothing to do with whether He is there or not. Instead, I explained, the problem was with where and how she was looking. She needed to learn, just like you and I do, how to look upon the things that are unseen!
Listen to this. When you and I change the focus of what we look at from the seen, where we rely only on our own power, our own abilities, our own understanding, then we will certainly despair. But take heart, Paul says, and look on the things that are unseen! For when you and I know how to look upon that which is unseen, something amazing happens: It changes the way we SEE EVERYTHING. When we look upon the unseen, we then can truly see the reality of what is seen.
When we focus on the unseen, and we look through the eyes of Christ, now we look at our neighbor differently. We look at our family differently. We look at our employers, our teachers, our friends and our enemies differently. When I look through the eyes of Christ, I see you differently. When you look through the eyes of Christ, you see me differently.
It is only when we learn how to look upon that which is unseen that the things that are seen can be grasped! In fact, only when we can look upon that which is unseen can anything we see make any sense at all. In the coming minutes you and I will be able to see, to hear, to touch, to smell and to taste the true body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is the present reality of the resurrection! Because we have gazed upon the things which are unseen, His love, His mercy and His grace, we can now gaze upon the things that are seen and SEE what Christ has done and is doing for us…and yes Ally, we can SEE Jesus. He is doing it for YOU!
Our outer selves may be wasting away, but our inner selves are being renewed. For our light and momentary troubles are preparing for us an eternal glory and far outweighs them all! So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Amen.
