Through the Eyes of Jesus-We See Eternal Life

Sunday, March 20, 2005

PASTOR BURCHAM'S SERMON

A father kept thinking about a promise, a promise that kept echoing through his head that he'd made to his son. He said to his son, “No matter what, I'll always be there for you.” So he rummaged around on top of the rubble, and he found the place closest to where he believed his son's classroom was and he began to dig. He began to move stones and metal and rubble out of the way. Pretty soon, other parents rushed over to the schoolhouse as well. Women were sobbing. Fathers were trying to console them. They shouted to the man, “It's too late. The children are gone.” He wouldn't stop. The police and rescue workers soon came. They took a look at the mess. They encouraged the man, too. “Stop, it's too late.” He wouldn't stop. He refused. He kept digging in the rubble for 8 hours, then 16 hours, 32 hours. For 36 hours, he had dug through the rubble. His hands were raw. All of his energy was spent. Yet, he refused to give up. After 38 hours of digging, he moved a large boulder out of the way and he heard his son's voice. And he cried out to his son, “Arman, Arman.” The boy called back, “Dad. Dad, it's me.” Then he added these words, “Dad, I told the other kids not to worry. I told them if you were alive, you'd come and save me. And if you saved me, then they'd be saved, too. Because I told them you promised me, no matter what, you'd always be there for me.”

God has made the same promise to us. Jesus said, “I will come back for you.” Jesus made the promise to us that no matter happens, He's always going to be there for us. Jesus says, “I will come back for you. I'm going to prepare a place for you and, if I go and prepare that place, then I'm coming back for you.” No matter what could happen in our life, no matter how many things can fall upon us, no matter how much rubble we might find ourselves in, even if our lives are shook to the very core, we still have God's promise, “I will come back for you.”

This morning, I want us to focus on the long view. I want us to focus on God's promise, God's eternal promise. I want us to focus on the fact we always have that in front of us. I want us to look through the eyes of Jesus, and I want us to see eternity. Jesus lived His whole life that way. Jesus didn't live His life in the moment. Jesus kept His eyes focused on the eternity. Even when everything crashed in upon Him and, especially at those times, Jesus kept His eyes focused on the promise of the Father and on the eternity that was awaiting Him and the eternity that was awaiting us.

If you look at the context of our gospel reading for this morning, we found out, as we celebrate today, on Sunday, Jesus came riding into Jerusalem . Palm branches were laid down in front of Him. They welcomed Him as the new king. They shouted Hosanna to Him, Hosanna in the highest as He came in. They hailed Him as their deliverer. They hailed Him as the new king coming in. But even today, Jesus knew differently. Jesus knew what lay ahead of Him. And in the gospel reading for today, we find ourselves on Thursday night. Jesus and His disciples had just finished up the Last Supper. And in the context of that, Jesus says these words. He says that He's going away from them but, if He goes there, He's going to prepare a place. And if He prepares a place, He's coming back so they could be with Him.

But understand the context in which Jesus says this. In a few short hours, Jesus' life and His world is going to come crashing down upon Him. Within a few hours, Judas is going to betray Him for 30 pieces of silver. Later on that night and early in the morning, Peter is going to deny Him 3 times. He knows in the Garden of Gethsemane , they're going to come and arrest Him and all of the disciples are going to scatter and they're going to run away. And the same crowds that hailed Him as the king were now going to shout for His execution. Jesus' life is in a room. He was buried in the rubble of everything imaginable wrong that could happen to Him. Soon He would be left alone. He'd be beaten. He'd be nailed to a cross. He'd be despised by His very followers, and He'd be left to die. And yet, Jesus keeps His focus on eternity. He doesn't focus on the moment. He doesn't focus on the rubble and the disaster that's happening around Him. Jesus focuses on eternity. He focuses on the promise of His Father that He made to Him. He focuses on the promise that He made to us. The writers of Hebrews probably put it the best. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross and scorned its shame and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.” Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.

Jesus knew the cross was ahead of Him. He knew the pain and the suffering. He knew He would be declared guilty even though He was innocent. He knew He would have to literally go through hell for us and yet, because He kept the long view, because He knew where He was going to spend eternity, He knew by doing that He was going to return and give eternity to us, He endured the cross. He scorned its shame. Jesus had the long view. Jesus kept focused on eternity.

You and I need to focus on eternity. We need to keep the long view in mind. More often than not, don't we focus in on the moment? Don't we focus in on just what's happening right here, right now? Maybe we'll think to the rest of the day. Possibly we'll think for the week or maybe the month. And if we're really thinking outside the box, we'll think about maybe retirement or maybe 5 years down the road or 6 years down the road. But do we really keep the long view? Do you understand and put it in perspective of what eternity and the promise God has for us in eternity? We need to keep that long view, to keep our eyes focused on eternity. And that's especially true when life comes crashing in upon us, when all of a sudden we find ourselves in the midst of all kinds of challenges, all kinds of rubble that are sort of falling in upon us. Each of us has lived through it in the past. And more than likely, we'll have to live through it in the future. When the thing we thought would never happen to us happens, when the news comes that we didn't expect and yet it still comes, when the phone rings and it's the sudden death of someone we love, or maybe it's when the boss calls you in and says your position has been eliminated, or maybe it's the medical report you thought was going to be fine and it's not, or maybe the call at the office from the Guidance Counselor and it has to do with your son or your daughter, when our world comes crashing in, when it seems like we're buried by the burdens of this life, we have to focus in on eternity.

You know sometimes we can see an end to the struggles that we're through. Sometimes we can find ourselves maybe in the midst of sickness, we can say to ourselves, “But you know, we'll have the operation, we'll take the drugs, and we're going to be better.” But what do you do at those times when there is no end, when it seems like one thing after another keeps happening? You probably know people with that. Maybe you're going through that. You've known people that it seems like it goes from bad to worse to even worse yet. You've known people that it seems like their entire life is just simply one struggle after another. How do you survive things like that? You have to keep your focus on eternity. You have to keep the long view.

It's like J.T. J.T. had to keep the long view. J.T. had everything going for him. In fact, he probably had more going for him than any of us in this room. He was exceedingly wealthy. He was a man of prestige and power. He was into livestock, and his operation would make even the largest operation in Iowa pale in comparison. That's how big he was. And yet he was a godly man, and he was a humble man. He had a large family. He had 7 sons and 3 daughters. Can you imagine? Ten kids this guy had. And believe it or not, all 10 kids were faithful to God. All 10 kids turned out great. All 10 of them were successes in and of themselves. And they were a close-knit family. Even though there were 10 of them, all of them, with their wives and husbands, got together often. This man had everything going for him. He had his relationship with God. He had his relationship with his family. He had wealth, power, everything was his. And it seems like, just like that, he lost everything. It's almost unbelievable what happened to him. It seemed like in an instant, herd after herd of his livestock were killed off to the point where there was literally nothing left. His mass fortune was nearly gone. He was ready for bankruptcy. And as he's reeling with that and trying to deal with it, there was a family get-together. All of his sons and daughters came together and, in a freak accident, all of them were wiped out in one day. In one day, all 10 children, his family, gone. He's dealing with the grief. He's dealing with the bankruptcy. He's dealing with not knowing what's going to happen the next day. He gets a rare disease, a painful disease. The doctors do what they can, but there's really not much they can do for him. Talk about a man whose very life was shook to the core, who had it all and lost it all. You could say he was buried in the rubble of life and there was no light at the end of the tunnel. He could see nothing. And what was his response to this? Listen to what he wrote, “I know that my redeemer lives and, in the end, He will stand upon the earth.” You probably know J.T. as Job, a man from the Old Testament. You can read about his story. He lost everything, buried in the rubble of life. And yet he says, “I know that my redeemer lives and, in the end, he will stand upon the earth.” Job survived, I dare say thrived, as he kept his focus on eternity. He kept the long view and the promises of God.

We have to focus on eternity. If we're going to navigate through life, through both those positive times and those negative times, we have to focus on eternity and the promises God has given to us. We need to listen to the words of Jesus. When He says, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I'm going to come back for you.” That's Jesus' promise to each and every one of us. He says, “I'm going to come back for you. This life isn't the end. This life isn't really even scratching the surface. There is an eternity waiting for you, an eternity with Jesus and His Father in heaven. And a joy and a peace we can't even begin to comprehend or understand or try to describe.” And Jesus says, “That's all waiting for you.” His promise is, “No matter what, I'm always going to be there for you. No matter what, I'm coming back for you.” We need to focus on the long view, focus on eternity. Even when life comes crashing in upon us, maybe even more so, to have the conviction of not focusing in on the moment, not that the moment is not a struggle or not painful, but to look beyond that, to know God has promised us something more, something better.

The apostle Paul put it this way in Romans 8, “I consider our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us.” He's not saying the sufferings aren't real or painful, and Paul certainly knew all about that, but he says, “I consider them nothing really when you compare them to the eternity that's waiting for us, to the glory that God has in store for us.” What we're going through now, it pales in comparison. Paul had the long view. He focused on eternity.

You and I should focus on eternity. Hold on to that promise of Jesus. In fact, as we go through this holy week, as we walk through Jesus in His last days before He dies, as we're there on that Thursday night when He has the supper, as we witness again the crucifixion, and as we come back next Sunday and we celebrate the resurrection, let's look through the eyes of Jesus. Let's gain a better perspective on life. Let's have a new view of this life. Let's focus on eternity and His promise, “I will come back for you.” Amen.

Copyright 2005 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church