Thomas J Parlette
“Eyes of Faith”
2 Corinthians 4: 3-6
2/11/24
When I was in the 4th grade, I used to walk to school. It wasn’t far, less than a mile – so unless it was raining or snowing, I would walk. A bunch of neighborhood kids would gather at the corner and we’d walk to school together.
Every day, we had to walk pass this one particular house that had a huge German chained up in the yard. And he did not like kids. He would charge out after us and we just had to hope the chain held – otherwise he would tear us apart. It was pretty terrifying. So, to avoid that dog, we would walk a couple of extra blocks out of our way. It added a bit of time to our route, but it was worth it to avoid being terrorized that dog.
That’s the way it is with those huge obstacles, those daunting problems, those frightening situations we face in life. Some people go over them. That is, you know the problem is there but you just scratch the surface, gloss over the problem, brush up against it but you don’t really address it. It’s always there and you minimize the danger. “It’s no big deal. I’m fine.”
Other people decide to go under the problem, meaning they bury their heads in the ground and don’t even acknowledge it. They don’t name it. They think, “If I don’t talk about it and I don’t think about it, maybe it will just go away.” But pretty soon the problem suffocates you with its weight. Choosing not to do something is a decision.
But people with eyes of faith choose to go through the difficulties they face. They can see what others can’t. They name the problem, identify the problem, stare that problem right in the eye and decide that the only way to conquer this problem is go through it.
On this Transfiguration Sunday, Jesus three closest disciples go with him up a mountain, and their eyes were opened. They saw what others could not see. There on the mountaintop, they saw Jesus in all his glory. Even though the stumbled and were often filled with doubt, they now had eyes of faith.
In our epistle reading today from 2nd Corinthians, Paul wrote about such eyes of faith. “Our gospel is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ…” Paul, however has eyes of faith. He can see things others cannot.
Perhaps you remember the story in 2nd Kings, chapter 6 about Elisha? The king of Aram was an enemy of Israel. However, he couldn’t seem to surprise Israel’s army. Unknown to him, God would tell Elisha the prophet where the enemy was waiting to ambush them and Elisha would warn the King of Israel. Every time, the army of Israel would escape unharmed.
When the king of Aram heard that Elisha was giving away their position, he sent troops to capture Elisha. One night, they snuck in and surrounded the village where Elisha and his servant were staying. In the morning, when they woke up, they looked outside – and each of them saw a different situation.
Elisha’s servant saw the soldiers of Aram surrounding them on all sides. He saw defeat. He saw no escape. But Elisha, with eyes of faith, saw something else. Elisha offered a quick prayer that God would open the eyes of his servant as well. Then the servant took a second look. This time he saw a band of angels surrounding the Aramean army who far outnumbered the enemy. Elisha didn’t hide, run away. Or even deceive the enemy. He didn’t go around the problem, over the problem or under the problem. He went through the problem. He faced the problem with eyes of faith knowing in his heart that there were more FOR him than AGAINST him.
When I was in my high school years, I used to think about faith in terms of a list of doctrines or beliefs that you had to accept before becoming a member of a club or joining a church. I thought of Confirmation as that time when you learned the beliefs that you had to hold.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to see faith in much more active terms. There are a lot of people who believe in God, but they don’t really have faith. Faith is living against the odds. Faith has less to do with what you believe and more to do with how you decide to live. Faith is seeing the enemy surround you, the problem overtaking you, the crisis overwhelm you – and instead of going around it or over it or under it, you decide to do what Paul and Elisha did. Go through it with eyes of faith.
Why is that so important? Because Paul wrote about two ways to live. You can live with blinded eyes that are veiled and unable to see the glory of God. Or, you can live with eyes of faith that walk you through the storms of life.
Sometimes God parts the water and you walk right through the obstacle you’re facing. Sometimes God the eyes and sight comes back. Sometimes God heals miraculously. Unfortunately, those are the exceptions. Usually, and don’t ask me why, usually you can’t get over or around or under such problems. Most of the time, you have to go through them. And for that, you need eyes of faith.
You will recall that the topic of faith is one of the major themes of the book of Hebrews. There we find perhaps the most familiar definition of faith we have – “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
The writer of Hebrews then launches into a long list of examples of this kind of faith.
By faith, we understand that the world was formed by God. We never saw it.
By faith, Noah built an ark without seeing the first drop of rain.
By faith, Abraham and Sarah left their homeland without seeing a map or a travel itinerary of where they going.
Abraham and Sarah believed they would have a son – without seeing any way that that would be possible.
By faith, Joseph saved his people in Egypt from famine.
By faith, Moses led the people out of bondage in Egypt, through the desert and right to the edge of the Promised land, despite never seeing it for himself.
After this long list of people who by faith went through these problems and obstacles with eyes of faith, Hebrews 11 concludes with these words:
“By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned into strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.”
A lot of action in those verses – overthrowing kingdoms, ruling with justice, shutting the mouth of lions and quenching flames of fire. I suppose they could have responded differently. I suppose Abraham and Sarah could have just said – No, we’re not moving. We’re staying right here. I suppose Noah could have gone around the problem, built a couple of canoes, and hoped for the best. I suppose Joseph could have gone over the problem, shrugged and said, “Why is a famine that will kill the Egyptians my problem?”
But instead, they went through their obstacles with eyes of faith. They couldn’t see where the path would lead or how the story would end, but they still went through. Like Elisha, they looked out at the obstacle they were facing and thought, “It sure looks bad out there. The path looks incredible hard. No doubt my life is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better, but I press on, I go forward, I go through convinced that there are more who are FOR me than AGAINST me.”
Early in my ministry, I remember talking to a man who had suffered terrible abuse as a child. For a long time, he went over it by denying it happened. He tried going around it by avoiding the problem with alcohol, work and exercise addiction. He tried going under it, saying, “It happened a long time ago. I’m over it.” However, the demons of his past were still there, breaking apart his marriage, ruining his business and destroying his health. He realized that the only thing he could do was put on his crash helmet and go right through it.
When I knew him, he was about halfway through that battle. He would stop by every once in awhile and tell me he was making progress, but admitted that he knew that before it was going to get better, it was going to get a whole lot worse.
But now, with eyes of faith, he was no longer suffering. He felt like he could see what the disciples saw on that mountaintop – the glory of Christ working in him, even as he walked his dark, difficult path.
During one of our visits, he grabbed one of my Bibles and flipped open to Isaiah 43, and he shared with me his favorite verse:
“When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
Notice that the word “through” is used 3 times in those verses, just like it pops up in the 23rd Psalm as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We will still go through deep waters; we will still go through difficult rivers. We will still go through fire and we still walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The difference now is that we do not travel alone. The ones who are FOR us outnumber the ones AGAINST us. The difference now is that you have eyes of faith.
It is in this journey with eyes of faith through life’s difficult storms that Paul gives us this word of hope today. “For it is God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
May God be praised. Amen
