Pentecost +7 – Return to Eden

Sermons – St. Brendan's Anglican Church

Rev. Doug Floyd

Pentecost +7 2024
Rev. Doug Floyd
2 Corinthians 12:2-10

It’s vacation season. Folks are taking off by plane, by car, and some even by boat. I love a road trip.

A few years back we drove with my friend Izaak out to Yellowstone. On our way back, we took the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln Highway starts in Times Square, New York and crosses the upper Midwest and goes all the way to San Francisco. It was the first coast to coast highway in America, and it was expressly designed for automobiles. The developers encouraged people to travel on the highway by partnering with folks to build motor lodges along the route, so travelers could have a place to rest for the night. In 1928, Boy Scouts spread out along the highway and installed concrete markers with a bust of Abraham Lincoln and the inscription, “This highway dedicated to Abraham Lincoln.”[1]

Highways tell stories across generations. If you’ve driven 25E to Kentucky, you’ll cross the Cumberland Gap. This passage was used by the Indigenous Tribal nations and was mentioned by Abraham Wood in the 1670s. Later, explorer Thomas Walker introduced this passage to settlers of the region, and Daniel Boone used it 1775 in his exploration of western Kentucky and Tennessee.

We not only walk ancient paths, we drive over ancient paths today. Some signs along the way tell the story of that road or that spot on the road. The Lake Moeris Quarry Road in Egypt dates back to the Old Kingdom period in Ancient Egypt and is considered the oldest paved road in the world.

Roads play an important role in Israel’s history. The people travel to Zion for great festivals. They write and sing songs about travelling on these roads. Consider Psalm 84:2, “My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” ^[2] Later in the psalm we read, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” ^[3] Here we see clearly the image of travelling to Zion.

With this in mind, we see how the physical road becomes an image or symbol of the journey toward the Lord and toward the way of obedience to the Lord. In Psalm 119, the psalmist sings the complete song about the glory of the law or the glory of Torah. In the midst of this song, we hear, “Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.” ^[4] And, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”^[5] The physical path and the spiritual path becomes clearer in light of God’s instruction. The psalmist is on journey toward God for worship and for refuge.

In our second lesson today, Paul speaks of a man who was caught up to the third heaven, into paradise. It seems clear from the passage that Paul is speaking of himself. When did he have such an experience? We can tell from the Acts of the Apostles that Paul had many unusual encounters, but many people think this specific encounter happened on the road to Damascus.

Think about it this way. Paul’s journey to Damascus is a road trip story. He believes this journey is in service of Torah and the Temple. He is not moving toward Jerusalem but away. He’s physically moving away, but unbeknownst to him, he is also leaving Jerusalem symbolically. He’s moving away from the true way of Torah, the true way of the Lord. He’s moving away from God’s instruction because he has turned against the very way of the Lord, which he discovers in this encounter.

Suddenly, Paul’s Road trip is interrupted. When a road trip is interrupted, it can be stressful. When Kelly and I were driving up to Boston a few years ago, we had reservations at a hotel in Virginia. When we stopped at the hotel, they informed us that they had overbooked the hotel and didn’t have a room. They sent us to the next closest hotel in that chain, which was 30 miles out of the way. It was in the opposite direction of where we were headed. We had planned to drive through Maryland but now we were in Pennsylvania. We stayed on that route and saw some wonderful sights as we drove in to Philadelphia.

Paul’s interruption is a little more dramatic. He falls off his horse before the glory shining down. Suddenly, he is being addressed by the Lord Jesus. He is blinded in the light. At the same time, his eyes are opened to the light of glory in the face of Jesus. In this encounter, Paul comes to see that he was on the wrong road. He had missed the way. Paul, the expert on Torah, failed to see the true implications of Torah. He had opposed the very way of God in the burgeoning church.

We don’t exactly know what all Paul saw on the road to Damascus, but he says he was caught up to the third heaven, and he peers into paradise. This vision blinds him, and he must be led into Damascus where he waits for three days. Finally, Ananias comes to pray for Paul. The scales fall from his eyes.

The Lord will show Paul how much he must suffer for His sake. This great Pharisee was a Hebrew of Hebrews and recognized for his brilliance and passion. But now his path has changed. He moves from glory to suffering. Even as his external glory fades, Paul will grow inwardly into glory. In one sense, Paul returns to the path of his vision.

He was transported to the third heaven and peers into Paradise. The word Eden means paradise. In some sense, Paul is returning to Eden, to the home of humanity. This will be a path of suffering and death as Paul details in 2 Corinthians, but it will also be a way of glory.

As I was meditating on Paul’s story, I thought about the Hebrew exiles in Babylon. Isaiah prophecies they will return home on a highway of Holiness right through the middle of the wilderness. The Lord will not abandon them even as they pass through fire or water. He will lead them home.

Some of the exiles eventually return home with a commission to rebuild the Temple. It will be more difficult than they ever imagined. When it is finally finished, it will be disappointing. The exiles struggle to finish and Haggai steps forward to exhort them. God is working don’t lose hope. Haggai speaks the word of the Lord to the people,

“For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.”^[6]

This rebuilt Temple will never match the glory of Solomon’s Temple and yet Haggai suggests that it is more glorious. After this Temple, there will be a Temple that the people will not even recognize as the Temple of the Lord. Jesus Christ is the most glorious Temple of all but He will appear even less glorious. As this Temple of the Lord ascends the cross and dies on Calvary, he will ascend into glory. In his weakest moment, with his life poured out, Jesus will reveal unspeakable glory.

He is leading us into this same glory. Outwardly, it looks weak and crumbling but it contains a glory of God that will transform everything. Now think back to Paul’s vision. Third heaven. Paradise.

I might suggest that Paul is led to an ancient road. This road is older than any road known on earth. It is the road that led out if Eden. Humanity banished from the Garden of Eden. An angel with a flaming sword blocking the entrance. Paul returns home by this way. This is one of the great stories in all of literature. It is the story of home, away, and home again.

Adam and Eve begin at home in the Garden of Eden. But in their sin and rebellion, they must go away. An angel with a flaming sword blocks the entrance. God promises to make a way that will one day bring them and us home.

This brings us back to the Temple and the Tabernacle. In the book of Exodus, we read details about the creation of the Tabernacle. All the details can make it confusing. These details such as the candlesticks and flowering branches that burn with olive oil communicate images of Eden. Walking through the Tabernacle, the priest is ascending the Holy Mountain, leading to the Garden of Eden. The Holy of Holies is the place where heaven and earth are united and man stands before God.

But only the High Priest can ascend to the Holy of Holies. There is an image of two angels guarding the ark of the covenant. Zeal for the Temple will consume Paul to the point that he wants to destroy the church. But Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem is no longer the Temple. Jesus has replaced a Temple made by hands. In Christ, all can draw near to the throne of mercy and grace. Once Paul has had this encounter on the road to Damascus, he will say,

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. ⁷ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” ^[7]

He is walking the ancient road to Eden, he is walking toward Christ Jesus. He is returning to our true home. To return home is to pass through this flaming sword: the way of the cross, the way of death and the way of life.

We follow Christ into this way of death and life together. We are dying. We are growing weaker. We will face failure and struggle and difficulty. But we are also being renewed and prepared for glory. We are immersed into the love of God which is so vast and great that we can never find the end of it. He is embracing us, transforming us, leading us home and into glory.

The beauty of this road to death and glory is that we are not alone. Jesus has made a way. He will lead us into the fullness of love and joy and glory. He leads us into the great communion of love, Following Jesus, Paul has gone on ahead into this way of glory. Peter, James and John have gone on ahead. We are not alone; the great communion of saints goes on ahead. We help encourage one another as we walk through difficult places of fire and water.

When we literally walked through fire, the body of Christ upheld me and Kelly in prayer and encouragement. We experienced the tangible love of God from the people of God. I hope that we all might be graced to love and strengthen and help one another through the difficult places.

I have said before that my basic understanding of spiritual formation is the knowledge of the love of God. We must know God loves us and this love is relentless, unshakeable. At the same time, we will walk through places that will stretch our souls and may cause us to question God. In these valleys of the shadow of death, we will ultimately discover a deeper, fuller vision of God’s love.

Each of us are walking in a way. There will be places of joy and places of grief and struggle. Psalm 84 assures us that the Lord will turn these places of weeping into places of fullness.

“As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.” ^[8]

We are going from strength to strength, from glory to glory even as we are walking through the valleys in our lives.

As we walk this way, let us encourage one another, bless one another, and come to the table together, feasting on the very life of Christ.

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[1] Origins of the Lincoln Highway https://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/history/#:~:text=The%20highway%20started%20in%20Times,Lincoln%20Park%20in%20San%20Francisco.

^[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 84:2.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 84:5.

^[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 119:35.

^[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 119:105.

^[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Hag 2:6–9.

^[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Php 3:4–11.

^[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 84:6–7.