Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
In June, NASA released the pictures of deep space taken from
the James Webb space telescope, giving us a sharper and clearer picture of deep
space than ever seen. Have you seen these pictures? I have to admit, I spent
hours just staring at the computer screen when they came out. The colors, the
spots, the swirls of planets and galaxies are so remarkable. Forget the
pictures we saw in our science books when we were kids. These brightly and
clearly show a vastness and depth of space that is – at least to me – beyond
comprehension.
And each picture only shows one small part of outer space.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson described it this way: “If you held a grain of
sand on the tip of your finger at arms length, that is the part of the universe
you are seeing [in one photo] — just one little speck of the universe.”[1]
Imagine it: a spec of sand on your fingertip, and that is just a fraction, a
speck of all of the whirling, swirling galaxies, planets, and stars and
everything else of what’s all out there.
Now, considering the incredible, beyond-imaginable vastness of space “out there”, turn that around. You, then, become just a spec, just one infinitely small colorful person-spec, on this colorful planet-spec, that is part of this galaxy-spec, that is just one small spec in this portion of space. It’s humbling to realize that we are such an infinitesimally small part of this incredible cacophony and whirling dervish that makes up God’s vast, broad creation. If you let your imagination run wild, it’s actually possible to let this feeling overwhelm you so greatly that it puts you into a panic of sorts, filling you with a sense of lost-ness, wondering how to find one’s place in this vastness. In an article she wrote for State of Faith Newsletter, author Kelcey Dallas admitted that as she looked at these pictures of the vastness, breadth and depth of far outer space, she began to have an existential panic, as if she were suddenly lost, meaningless and worthless amidst all of the space. Fortunately for her, she was given some advice from a friendly scientist who, herself, admitted it was easy enough to lose oneself in the vastness. She told Dallas, “You don’t have to look at the vastness of the universe and feel insignificant. You can look at it and see how great God’s power and love are,” she said.[2]
I could understand that. Everything you and I know on earth has
a limit: a river, a lake, the ocean, I-35. But these pictures…it was like
looking into a time machine. Scientists talk about the speed of light; that’s 186,000
miles per hour. A light year is how fast and far light travels at that speed
over 365 days. Those pictures, with those stars and galaxies that are in the
pictures, the light that appears on the picture is 13 billion light years old.
The moment of light captured by the Webb telescope’s photos has been traveling for
13 billion years. Now, I know – using Biblical chronology, traditional,
conservative Christianity says the earth is approximately 6500 years old. How
is it possible that light could then be 13 billion years old? I don’t know. If
you pardon an easy out, that’s above my pay grade. But, it is possible, I thought,
that the light in those pictures may have been in existence when Adam and Eve
walked on earth? We read Genesis chapter one and how God put the sun, moon and stars
in the sky and the planets in their orbits with the Earth around the sun. Those
pictures, though; they pulled my eyes back up to the heavens and gave me a new
perspective on the vastness of what God had made with merely his Word, “Let there
be.”
But if you look to the stars and the planets and the solar
systems and the galaxies, or even to our own solar system’s Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Mars, , Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune – and, yes, I still stick to
Pluto, you get a glimpse of the majesty of God and His power. Or, you could
look smaller, grab a magnifying glass or microscope and look at small bugs and
organisms, viruses and bacteria. You get a sense of God’s great detail in
making things work on the micro-cellular level and, again, His majesty and
power. Or look at things in-between: the plants and animals and see the
similarity yet uniqueness of so much of creation. And it is good, and right,
and awe-inspiring to study the incredible wisdom and power of God.
But, if you want to see God, if you want to know God, if you
want to understand God, you must look only to Jesus and His cross.
For the last two weeks, we’ve been reading from Hebrews in
the Epistle lesson. You heard of this incredible catalog of testimonies, a
literal list of the heroes of the faith that go back in time, colorful
characters with swirling histories that vacillated back and forth between good
and not-so-good, and faithfulness and moments of weakness. The list began with
Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham, moved through the Judges into the Kings, David,
Samuel and the Prophets, all awaiting the fulfillment of their faith in the
promises of God. It is the constant refrain through the list: by faith, by
faith, by faith, all trusting God and His Word of the Messiah who would come.
From the promise to Abraham, “Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars
in the sky,” to the promise to David, “Your descendance will remain on the throne,”
God’s people trusted that Word when all human evidence pointed to the contrary.
Hebrews 11 began with the simple definition that faith is
the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. The refrain
is repeated over and over throughout the chapter, “By faith.” They lived by
faith in God’s promises, promises that pointed to an even greater Promise: the
promise of the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Son of God who would enter
into the world to redeem, rescue and save.
If you want to see how great God’s power and love are, you
don’t look to the stars and galaxies, you look where God’s people have always
looked, by faith: at Jesus. Jesus set aside His full divine power and authority
to be born of Mary, to take up human flesh and live in this fallen world and
perfectly fulfill the Law of God in our place. He is the perfect sacrifice for
people who fail to worship God and who fail to trust His Word; people who instead
worship creation rather than Creator; people who trust themselves and their
possessions rather than the Giver of the gifts.
The cross is such a strange place to demonstrate power.
Death is such a strange way to show authority. The grave is such a strange place
to show love. Yet that is exactly where and how Jesus shows His power, and His
authority, and His love. His glory is shown at the cross where He completes the
Father’s will, the holy being crucified for the unholy, the perfect dying for
the imperfect, the One who is Love buried in the earth that He created. And He,
who is the Resurrection and the Life, who Himself was raised on the third day,
is both the fulfillment of and the continuation of the promises of God, with
His own grave-shattering resurrection destroying death forever while also
promising you your own, last-day Easter.
That is where you see the power and love of God – at the
empty cross and the empty grave.
All of those heroes of faith, they yearned to see it but did
not live to see it with their own eyes. You and I join with them, again, by
faith, yearning for this promise of Christ to be fulfilled. In these grey and latter
days, look to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy
set before Him, endured the cross. He is now seated at the right hand of God,
but He has promised He will return. We may not see it with these eyes, that
blessed day of return, but we see it now with eyes of faith, albeit dimly.
And, when this world with its news stories and frightening events
seem overwhelming, turn off the news, go outside one evening, turn off all the
lights and just look up at the moon, the stars, and galaxies yet unknown. Look
up and in those moments of twinkling beauty, you are seeing bits of light that
is already ancient. But Jesus was there before that light was even a twinkle in
the vastness of space. He is the same yesterday, today and forever, Scripture
says, and His love for you will never fail.
Amen.
[1] https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2022/7/11/23204684/james-webb-space-telescope-nasa-unveils-the-deepest-ever-view-of-the-cosmos-deep-field
[2] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/how-should-christians-feel-about-the-new-images-of-outer-space/ar-AA10xyEY?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=3aa18e23334444aca3a5fe1eb24fe90f
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