WARNING PREACHY: 11/17/2015 (Eyes on Paris)

Paris was attacked on Friday and it has taken me a few days to process it.  I think I finally have something worth sharing.

Luke 11:29-36

²⁹ As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹ The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.
³³ “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. ³⁶ Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

In the verses above Jesus was specifically speaking to the Jews; the Children of God, the Chosen, His special people.  It is they who are the “wicked generation” for they desired a sign.  The Jews wanted a physical manifestation that what Jesus was proclaiming was of God.  I suspect that they wanted to see Jesus bring something like fire from heaven as Elijah did in 1 Kings 18.

In response Jesus told them that they would only get the sign of Jonah.  Then he pointed out that the pagan queen came from far away because she recognized the Wisdom of God in Solomon and that the pagan people of Nineveh repented at the word of Jonah, the Prophet of God.  He said that at the Day of Judgment the Jews would be condemned by both of these pagans because they accepted God by FAITH and while the Jews have Jesus in their midst, they will not accept Him by faith for they demand a physical sign. 

The point is that the people of God are not seeing the wisdom nor the call of God in Jesus by faith.  And that’s where the next section comes in.  The eye is the lamp of the body and if they will not see with the eyes of faith then their whole bodies will be dark.

This then takes me to Paris.

The attacks in Paris really should not surprise us for ISIS has been festering many years like a zit.  Nobody knew where and no one knew when but everyone knew that it would happen somewhere someday.  And now that it has happened we as Christians need to be able look at it with the eyes of faith.

Is it a terrible situation?  Does it look like the world has gone to hell in a handbasket?  Does it appear that we are next? 

Yes, yes, and yes.  The world that we can see looks completely like the devil has won.  The evening news is full of murder and mayhem with unspeakable evils.  The BBC reports of atrocities of ISIS and Ugandan genocides.  The world looks hopeless, our health may be failing and our month may have run out of money.  We may fear that our world is hopeless and our children and grandchildren are doomed.  But how are we, as baptized believers, going to see the world?  What color are the lenses of our spectacles?  Are we wearing our faith-colored glasses?

The words of Jesus remind us that we are people of faith.  We need to stop looking at this world and responding in despair.  We need to see all that Paris is and respond with the narrative of faith that proclaims “It is well with my soul.”

Is it easy?  Of course not.  True faith is never easy.  True faith calls us to walk into Jerusalem with our Lord even though the people there want to crucify us.  True faith makes us recognize the people who ridicule, spit at, and beat us but we go to the cross to forgive them anyway.  True faith will show us the reality that the devil wants us to believe (remember the temptation of our Lord) and stand firm in the faith that God is alive and well.

While the Paris attack is certainly a travesty in our world, it is not the sign that I am going to accept as truth.  For me, I am going to stand in faith and continue to be encouraged because Jesus is Lord and He is very much alive.