Scripture: John 11:40
Sermon Text
What does faith do in our lives? Faith gives us new eyes. Faith gives us insight. Faith helps us see the things that we did not see beforehand. That was what Jesus said in today’s passage. “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40) If we believe, we will see the glory of God. If we have faith, we will be able to see what is good in life. Today’s story is about Jesus raising the dead Lazarus. If you have time, please try to read the whole chapter 11. When you look at the scene, they all saw death. They all smelled death. When Jesus said to take away the stone of the grave, Martha said: “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.” (John 11: 39) That was when Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40)
It is similar to what we reflected last week: the born blind man. People only saw the sin of the born blind man, but Jesus saw the hands of God working in him. Faith – gives us new eyes and with these new eyes we see what is good.
Faith is the light in a world of darkness
Hebrews writer said this. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith gives us the assurance of what we hope for. Through faith we will have the conviction that things will work out all right even though we don’t see it yet. Every day, we hear threatening news. I don’t think the media just sensationalizes the fear but nevertheless what they tell us is threatening. Every day, the virus becomes stronger. More people get infected and more deaths we see. The virus infects everyone: the young and old, movie celebrities, princes, and the prime minister. In Italy, so many people died and the military had to be brought in to move the bodies to the neighboring village. We are surrounded by darkness. Surrounded by death. Surrounded by fear and worries. This is when we need faith. Faith that gives us new eyes. Faith helps us see hope. Faith lets us see the glory of God. Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead is right here with us.
Faith grows from suffering
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live…” (John 11:25) Even if you die, you will live. Jesus is saying that Death does not have the final say. Death will not drive us into devastation and fear. If my soul is alive, we will live even though we die. It is faith that makes our soul alive. How can we have faith? Faith is not something you decide to have. It is not about your will and your decision. Faith grows mysteriously within us. And I believe that suffering has a lot to do with the growth of our faith. Suffering makes our faith grow. Suffering awakens us and when we have a right attitude in our suffering, faith grows within us. What is that right attitude? The right attitude is the desire to know God and trust God. When suffering is combined with the right attitude, faith grows within us. And with the faith, we can see beautiful things in the midst of our suffering. In the midst of ashes we can see beautiful flowers. We can see not only death but the goodness, warmth, and sacrificial attitude of people. We can see that in the front-line workers who try to save people’s lives, risking their own.
In France, last Tuesday, people came out onto the balcony and clapped for the front-line workers. It was a beautiful image. One woman shouted out, “Bravo to Caregivers!”This attitude spread and it happened in Italy, Spain, Britain, and Canada. Somebody said, “Not all heroes wear capes, the real heroes wear scrubs.” Even in this crisis, we see the beautiful love people show to each other. Not only doctors and nurses, but also people working at grocery stores who help give us essential food, paramedics, TTC drivers, and to all those people who are working so hard to fight against the virus and give us advice to point us in the right direction. While some businesses do despicable things such as jacking up the price of wipes, there are people who give helping hands. Evangel Hall asked us whether we could provide gift cards from the grocery stores instead of coming out and serving the meal. Simon will put it out on our website, asking for donations. I think it is time for us to be kind to each other.
Faith humbles us
Through the eyes of faith, we can also see how weak and fragile we are. We have no choice but to be humble. We have realized that the walls we have built around us to protect ourselves are not indestructible. We are not invincible. Our economy is not invincible. Everything can collapse in an instant moment. Let us see that God is our wall; God is our fortress; God is our refuge; and God is our shield. With the eyes of faith, we should be able to see this. We need God’s mercy. We can see how precious it is to have God’s mercy. We also need to be kind and merciful to each other. That’s what we need. When we have eyes of faith, we can overcome our challenges. We will get through this crisis. We will come out stronger. My friends, with the eyes of faith, let us see, again, the glory of God.
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