Walk by Faith, not by Sight
Sermon 16 June 2024
By Rev Prince Devanandan
Walk by faith, not by sight
1 Sam 15:34 – 16:13
2 Cor 5:6-10
Mark 4:26-34
In our epistle reading, Paul urges Corinthians to ‘Walk by faith, not by sight.’ Walk by sight is by what is visible, what is spoken, what is proclaimed. Walk by faith involves discerning what is invisible in relation to God and to walk in the way God expects us to walk.
The way God acts, is not by sight. The best example is, the way God chose David to be king over Israel. For the selection of a king, Jesse’s sons were lined up in front of Samuel. When Samuel saw Eliab, he thought, surely this one must be the one. But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
God chose not by what appears but by God’s standards. Samuel was reminded to walk by faith and not by sight. Today’s readings are about God’s choice of a young shepherd boy to be the king, the psalmist encouraging people to trust God and not to put their trust in military power and armaments, Paul celebrating the crucified Christ and Mark’s story of mustard seed. They all point us to walk by faith not by sight.
How can ‘walk by faith, not by sight’ become applicable to us?
People more often walk by sight, simply accept what they see without thinking further. News in the media is not the full story but limited to what authorities want people to know. Walk by faith means to hear what is not spoken, see what is not visible, understand what is not disclosed.
Over the past week I heard a conversation over the radio about the school attendance dropping to 84%. The reason given by the powers is, due to winter illnesses. But a report from a school says that the parents cannot afford to pay the travel costs for the school children from 1 May. The fact is government removed the free ride for the children under 12. Half price concession for all under 25 years were removed. This is only one example. It is hard for families who were dependent on subsidies. The people are told to walk by sight.
A T-shirt worn by a youth had these words: ‘Real eyes realise the real lies.’ I think these words tell us succinctly to walk by faith, not by sight.
Amidst an economic system that favours the rich and deprives the poor, we are called to walk by faith. In a similar context, Jesus teaches to plant seeds of hope. That is because Jesus planted the seeds of the kingdom of God. In J D Crossan’s words: “The rule of God is like a spicy shrub with a pronounced tendency to invade places where it is not wanted, something hard to control.”
The two parables in our gospel unpack the lessons. First, the smallest of all the seeds on earth known in Jesus’ earthly life, when sown on the ground, it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs. It puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.
Secondly, the person who sows does not tend to the plant, does not water it or prune it. It grows. The sower neglects the seed and go on about their own life. Jesus says that this person has no idea how this seed is growing.
Thirdly, our lack of knowledge as to how the Kingdom comes in our midst does not stop us from benefitting from it. We may not understand how the seed grew; but we know what a crop looks like when ready to be harvested.
The parable points to the fact that though our contributions to God’s Kingdom being known and understood are miniscule, God does not stop us from being part of its harvest blessing. We get to know it only when we walk by faith.
The Kingdom grows, not because of us, but because of the miracles God works at God’s wise timing in and among God’s creation. The Kingdom is not something we can understand or control, but it is something we participate in as its blessings grow. We walk with God in God’s kingdom not by sight, but by faith.
Jesus sows the mustard seed that is the Kingdom of God, which grows and becomes the home of living things. It is, yet again, a blessing without our merit. Amidst a world of despair, where walk by sight is the way, you and I are mustard seeds sown in God’s kingdom. We are the seeds of hope for a world of despair. We are to walk by faith, not by sight, however much insignificant we are. God does not see in the way humans see.
I share a note from Martin Luther’s sermon that shows the effect of the parable of the mustard seed.
In a sermon on March 10, 1522, Martin Luther preached about seeing the mysterious growth of the reform movement, saying, “I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise, I did nothing. And while I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses on it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.”
(William Placher’s Belief Series commentary on Mark alerted me to this illustration.)
We simply walk by faith, not by sight and the rest God will work out in God’s own time.