The Diocese of East Tennessee
Sermons

Sept. 10, 2000
Pentecost XIII
Delivered at St. Timothy's, Kingsport

Sermon: "God's Intention for Creation's Fulfillment"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

One of my favorite seminary professors used visual aids quite effectively. For instance, he loved to draw a line across the blackboard. That line represented the history of the world. And on the line, he would mark various familiar dates. Then, with much flourish, the professor would draw other lines, from above the first one, right down to particular spots on the time line of history. Such dramatic lines represented God's acting in history - from outside history, but breaking into history. Of course, one of these dramatic lines quite literally split the time line in two - into BC and AD.

By means of that visual aid, the professor showed us that God was above and beyond and outside history. Yet, in marvelous ways, history exists within the environment of God. Let me repeat that. History exists within the environment of God … on the blackboard of God, so to speak. Thus, from above and beyond and outside history, God becomes part of that which is part of Him. God enters His own creation. God promises descendants to a very old Abraham. God parts the Red Sea. And, God sends a baby to save the world. God breaks into history, and as a result, history is transformed.

In the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah writes a word of hope and encouragement to the people of Israel. At that time, Israel was being threatened by her powerful neighbors. The prophet Isaiah speaks for God in warning neighboring countries, in promising Israel a glorious future, and in threatening punishment to those nations which dare to attack God's people. God has in mind not the destruction of His chosen people but, rather, that those people might be a light to the world.

In the midst of such words of support for Israel, Isaiah predicts signs of God's intervention. When God breaks into history, these things will happen: "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy…"

Notice that the message here is not simply that God intervenes in time. Also, God's intervention works for wholeness and completeness and fulfillment of creation. Thus, God intervenes in the same direction that He began in the beginning. God creates in ways consistent with His plan for creation. God supports and directs in order to encourage creation along the road of its original intention. God works for fulfillment of people and things and all creation.

Of course, the intervention of God which divided history is the event of Jesus of Nazareth. And this fulfillment of humanity - personified in Jesus - indicates for the world what people are called to be and to do. Again, God in Christ works and points and encourages all people in the direction we are meant to travel on life's journey - toward the fulfillment of who we are created to be.

One example of the perfection of human creation emerges from our Gospel reading. Jesus works against that which perverts or hinders or handicaps God's creation. And so, Jesus heals infirmities as a sign that God wills wholeness and health for the creatures of His creation.

Jesus touches the man who is deaf and speech impaired. And, we read of the man, "His ears were opened, and his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly."

God does not will that His people should be deaf or unable to communicate. Rather, God wills the completion of creation as it was intended. And, thus, God breaks into history in the direction of His original intention. In Christ and always, God works for wholeness and health and fulfillment.

Now, the problem of innocent suffering emerges here. That is, if God wills good for us all, then why is there so much bad? What answer do we have to pain and suffering and, finally, to death in the world?

The explanation for tragedy does not lie at the feet of God. Our faith affirms that God works for good, for creation as intended. The bad that happens - tragedy, suffering, and death - this bad perverts God's intention for creation. It is not God's will. Rather, pain and hardship come about basically as the result of a struggle between people's wills and the will of God. That's the story of the Garden of Eden - evil's arrival into the world … the struggle of human will to overcome the will of God.

So, this world since Eden is fallen. It is less than perfect … less than intended. Illness and hardship and tragedy seem to flourish. And people - all of us - persist in struggling against God's will.

But, God is patient. He continues to work in the direction of fulfillment and perfection for creation. In fact, God intervenes precisely in times of tragedy and in moments of imperfection - times like threatening doom for Israel and moments like Jesus' healing of the deaf man with a speech impediment.

At the point of tragedy and of creation's imperfection, God's message is the cross. From the worst that people can do in our struggle with God, still God can redeem His creation. We really do need to remember that the image that the cross presents to us is quite different from what it meant to people in Jesus' day. Then, the cross was an instrument of torture, a terrible means to a painful, agonizing death. That horrible symbol of death - the cross - has become our symbol for salvation, of life's triumph over death. God redeemed that image of the cross in a way consistent with His intention for creation.

And so, in moments of grace, we glimpse God's intentions. An inoperable tumor disappears. A child is baptized into a new life of promise and of grace. Candidates for Confirmation consciously invite the reality of God's presence into their lives. A family draws close in the midst of tragedy. A life is celebrated at the point of death. At such moments, we do indeed glimpse God's intentions for creation.

God intervenes in our history. God pushes and encourages and compels us toward that which we are created to be. May we, therefore, align our wills with God's will so that we, too, may seek the fulfillment and completion of all creation. Amen.

Copyright © 2000 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee