Tuesday Sermon: Seen and Unseen

          We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen.  We state this each time we say the Nicene Creed, a profession of our faith.  And today, our lessons are about "seeing."

          To see:  to understand; to discern; to realize; to appreciate; to meet; to view; to observe; to perceive; to imagine.  The Greek word "see" translates very similarly in approximately as many diverse ways.  But for humans, scientists calculate that what is contained in our visual spectrum is approximately .0035% of all that exists.  That leaves 99.9965% of the "unseen" that we have learned methods of seeing some of it through intellect, extrapolation and science.  But the next time you say the Nicene Creed, remember that we believe God created it all.  How much more do we have to discover?

          The two young men who approached Phillip in today's Gospel likely meant more than just observing with their eyes, for they could see Christ from a distance without Phillip's intervention, and likely meant more along the line of wanting to meet Jesus.  The interesting part is that Jesus immediately begins explaining the future, and how much will occur in places where we can't see. 

          Paul's letter to the Corinthians reminds us, "“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”  This comes from another chapter in Isaiah, "The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden."  From the beginning of time, God helps us to understand that faith in Him is what matters.  If our faith is of both the seen and unseen, and our wisdom is about the miniscule amount that we have learned to see and comprehend, then Paul's words make a great deal of sense.  "He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"

          The Son of Man will be glorified through His death and resurrection – just as a grain of wheat dies and bears much fruit.  The entirety of our belief rests on that resurrection, and that through Christ, we also will have eternal life. 

          We look at the glory of Christ, the majesty of all that we actually can see, the Son of God, begotten as true God from true God.  But think about the fact that this Glorious Being came from the lowly, the ordinary, the faithful, but mundane.  When Christ died, he sparked the biggest revolution, dying to create the good fruit that has become the body of believers in Christ – no matter which method they choose to worship. 

          The fruit created through the death and resurrection of Jesus is us.  And like every seed, there's a choice that determines which person lives as an exemplar of Christ, and which person chooses to exist and never bear fruit.  To help those learn to choose, to choose a life of living, of service, of sacrifice, we have to create the environment in which each seed we plant can grow.  We have to make the environment a place for the soul's slow ripening to live and help others.

          In this holy week, we focus on seeing the true nature of Christ – what He's about, what He really is – in order to see Christ in His glory.  Each of us has that spark of the Divine in the ordinary – we believe that it will grow in glory through faith.