Ripples

During my sermon last Sunday I mentioned how the first sin by Adam and Eve was like throwing a rock into the water. All was calm. Smooth. Then the rock hit the water and the water rippled out from that place. Since that first act of rebellion in the garden the water has never been still. It is as if the water perpetually ripples from that one spot. The surface is never calm.

The ripples of that first sin can be seen in many different ways. One way I saw it yesterday was in preaching a funeral for a man who was just 34 years-old. I don't know any of the particulars of his death, but I do know that for life to end at the age of 34 was not the way things were intended to go in the world at the time of creation.

Another ripple. The man we buried yesterday was a pall-bearer at the funeral I did two weeks ago, for a man who was but 25 years-old.

Another ripple. The man buried yesterday was laid to rest right next to three other people whose funerals I've done, ages 53, 29 and 52. That’s a series of ripples.

The ripples of that first sin show themselves in lots of different way. I just offer these examples from my ministry because they are so freshly in my mind. I could come up with other examples from my personal life, and I'm sure that you could look at your life and find your own examples. None of us is exempt.

Because of family connections there were many people present yesterday who were also at the funeral two weeks ago. The text I preached was from Luke 8:22-25. The disciples are in a boat on the lake and a big storm comes up. It is so big that they fear for their lives. Meanwhile, Jesus is asleep. They wake him, he speaks to the storm, and all is instantly quiet. The disciples ask themselves, "Who is this?" That was the question I then answered as I pointed people to the hope that is only found in Jesus.

I chose that text because right now for some people here, life feels like being in a raging storm, and the danger feels very real. In the storms of our lives it is only in Jesus that we can find and know peace.

There was another time when Jesus spoke quite briefly. Briefly, but definitively. It wasn't like in the storm, where he gave a demonstration of his power, but it was in the pivotal event of human history, where he acted in power for the eternal benefit of all people that would one day have faith in him. In John 19:30 we read:

"…he said "It is finished", and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

Those words marked the act that defeated the power of sin, once and for all. We still live with the ripples and so many things that just aren't the way they should be. But by faith we live knowing that one day the water will be calm again.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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