More than meets the eye - Rev Allister Lane
READING: 2 CORINTHIANS 4:13-5:1
Sermon on 6 June 2021
In this part of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Corinth, he’s making an argument. It’s an argument that we can have hope because there is more than meets the eye.
Some might think what Paul is doing here is ‘mansplaining’. ‘Mansplaining’ is when a man explains something in a condescending, and often oversimplified manner.[1]
But I suggest that Paul actually develops a very strong argument here. And to do this he uses a couple of clever techniques to satisfy his audience:
1) He quotes the Bible.
Not perhaps how some people in the Church do today. Paul doesn’t always quote word for word, but has something more of an ongoing conversation with scripture. He argues his point by developing the big story of the Bible as a cohesive interaction between God and people.
2) He quotes well-known sayings the first Christians had begun to use.
There is one in this passage. How do we know what this well-known saying is…? The clue is how it is introduced. Paul says
we know that… (v14)
The saying comes next:
the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus
This is a well-known saying in the early church. And is at the heart of the Christian faith; this is the good news of Jesus Christ.
What God has already done by raising Jesus shows us that we get to share in the same wonderful fullness of life. Nothing can cut us off from God anymore. Jesus’ death and resurrection is God’s love-in-action, overpowering all things that aren’t part of God’s plan – even death itself.
And what’s fascinating about how Paul makes his argument about the Good news is WHO it’s for. Listen carefully to what follows the well-known saying:
...we know that…the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus…
…and will bring us with you into his presence.
This part is somewhat awkward.
“…and will bring us with you into his presence.”
Who is he talking about? (‘us, you, his?) The us is Paul himself and other believers with him. The you is the audience of believers he is writing to. And his presence is God’s presence.
Paul is explaining they will all (together) experience a reunion as God raises them (as God raised Jesus) and brings them all into God’s presence.
And what drives home his argument is the next verse:
Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. (v15)
Do you see how this hope is an inclusive hope? Grace extends to more and more people. People are embraced in the fulness of this life shared through Jesus.
And as more people are included, greater is our thanksgiving. It’s a beautiful and ‘right’ thing – Paul says it brings glory to God.
This inclusive grace that extends to more and more people makes me think of what is happening for every single person in our world right now.
The word ‘bubble’ has taken on a profound meaning in our language, our culture, how we live at the moment. ‘Bubble’ is a cute and harmless sounding word, but what living in a bubble means is that we are distanced/isolated/separated.
As cute as ‘bubble’ sounds is a sign of the restricted life we are experiencing as part of a global pandemic. Recently, as we know, New Zealand and Australia have managed to extend the bubble – but (again, we know) it’s fragile.
Like me, you probably know people separated from loved ones. Spouses, partners, families in the northern hemisphere, Asia and in the Pacific Islands. Maybe YOU are separated from loved ones.
This separation is very hard. It’s not the way we want it to be. One significant cause for hope in this pandemic is the vaccination.
Here are some advertisements that are playing around the world right now, that portray hope for a life that is greater than what we are experiencing currently:
Covid Vaccine Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiuZfBtE8fw
Into the reality of distancing and separation, hope is emerging – that a vaccine (that extends to more and more people) will unite us together.
To me this feels similar to how Paul makes his argument for the hope that we will be united together in the presence of God, and enjoy the fullness of life intended for us by the Creator.
Indeed, we know that the reality of the Covid pandemic isn’t the only reality we know. Life can be different; life HAS been different. We don’t know when we will be able to enjoy the same freedoms we did, but we hold on to hope.
In a similar way Paul encourages his audience to hold on to hope for a greater reality. There is more than meets the eye.
Paul lists a series of contrasts, with the emphasis on the second half of what he is contrasting. Whatever difficulty people are experiencing, he’s saying there is hope of a greater reality.
[outer nature/inner nature
slight momentary affliction/eternal weight of glory
what can be seen/what cannot be seen
tent/eternal building]
16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
5For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Our hope is because of the reality of our inner nature. the eternal weight of glory, the reliability of what is unseen, the eternal dwelling place.
If you are in a difficult place right now; if you are suffering, there is hope. This vision does not deny suffering; it’s not about glossing over our difficult experiences. You and I know people who are suffering because of failing bodies and tormented minds; people whose friends are dying and they are feeling loneliness of the separation.
As real and painful as these experiences are, the hope is that there is something MORE real. The greater reality is this promise of Resurrection life in the fullness we will one day know, where we will all be united together, enjoying the company of our loved ones and with THE Loving One.
Sounds good doesn’t it…?
But is that just somewhere off in the distant future? What about now? What does this mean for us today?
Let me try a silly example which may yield something truthful. I can remember once our fridge conking out, and so I wondered what sort of fridge to get to replace it (Brand? White or silver? freezer up the top or down the bottom?)
The thing is, I started noticing there were fridge advertisements everywhere! Have you had this sort of experience…? It’s quite weird. There are no more fridge advertisements than before, but I’m ‘tuned in’ to seeing them.
There is more than meets the eye.
So, by tuning ourselves to the hope Paul makes an argument for (of the fullness of life God has for us) we find the courage and conviction to live with this hope here and now. As practitioners of resurrection hope, we share it with others: proclaiming it and enacting it.
You can live with hope in the reality of resurrection life
in your prayer life,
the way you share meals,
by offering and receiving forgiveness.
What other ways do you experience living with hope? There are many experiences we can have that are about hope in a much greater reality – more than meets the eye.
Hallelujah!
…and Amen.
———————————