No, this is not a sermon, but it is still something I wrote.
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for." -Hebrews 11:1
Faith is a difficult thing in today’s world, especially if we look at the definition that the author of Hebrews gives. In today’s world, “Seeing is believing.” If you can’t see it or touch it, then how do you know that it is real? Science takes that to the extreme saying for something to be true, we have to be able to duplicate it in a lab, and be able to explain it.
We like to be able to follow that law, “Seeing is believing.” We want to be able to have some sort of proof that what we believe is the truth. We don’t always get that in religion. We can’t talk to any eye witnesses from the day of Jesus. There aren’t photographs of Jesus on the cross, or even more importantly for faith, resurrected from the dead. We don’t have recordings of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount. We don’t have scientific evidence of any of Jesus’ miracles. All we have is 4 different historical accounts of Jesus (the Gospels) and a few other references in history, along with a smattering of letters written by early Christians. Is that enough to believe?
It wouldn’t be enough to be published in a scientific paper as truth, not according to modern standards. But some things in life are unexplainable. Some things in life are completely beyond explanation, despite the efforts of people everywhere. No matter what science says to try and explain it, it can never fully understand the love a mother or father has for their child. It cannot explain the reason that someone will forgive someone else time and time again, even when the same situation happens over and over. These things are completely unexplainable.
Faith is also unexplainable. It sounds ridiculous to human ears because it involves trusting in something we can’t see. We cannot see God, and we cannot always tell how he is caring for us or providing for us. It is impossible. But there is still a certainty that we have. We know that God loves us and provides for us. We know that Christ has died for our sins. We know that God will give us eternal life in heaven with him. We know these things, but we cannot prove them or see them.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” That is faith, that is why we confess we have faith, and not that we have “certainty.” As Thomas first saw Jesus resurrected and said “My God and my Lord,” so too do we say it now, though we have not seen Jesus face to face like Thomas. But Jesus speaks of us saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen, but yet believe.” (John 20) That is us. We have not beheld Christ with our eyes, but we believe, because we know him to be there in truth. In this case, seeing is not necessarily believing.
Even though seeing is not believing in this case, we do physically experience Christ. We partake in His very body and blood, even though we do not understand why. We eat them and in that eating gain life and salvation. We are covered by His blood in the waters of Holy Baptism, but we don’t understand how. It is about more than just understanding it is about faith. It is being certain of what we cannot see or understand, and being sure of what we hope for.
