To Good to be True

The Rev. Joseph Winston

April 11, 2010

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.1
Let me tell you about a land too good to be true. Here time does not follow the
rules we all know. In this place, distances no longer separate.
It is a world that no longer lives up to your past experiences. Here your eye will
see all the things that it missed. Your ears can hear the past as well as the future.
You reach out and your closest friend is right there with you just like everyone
else you know. Your sense of smell now allows you to pick out musty notes of
the first rainfall as easily as the chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. You
can taste spices and delicacies from the world over without leaving the comfort of
your kitchen table.
Life itself in this location no longer acts as it does today. You can run all day
long without growing tried. You can spend as much time as you want and you still
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3.

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will have more. Everyone will have enough and no one will want anything.
It might sound just like a fairy tale told by some crazy old woman or an ancient
myth spoken by a man that has had far too much to drink. What I have set before
you is not even the half of it. But, please, do not think that I am off my rocker or
even had one nip too many. I know what I and talking about. I also am sober as
the day that I was born. Hear me out.
Everyone here knows this land that too often seem very far away. In case you
do not know if, you are there right now. Your language betrays you. I hear things
like, “We talked about everything on the phone just yesterday.” Now, we all know
in our heads that this is completely impossible. A single day is never enough time
to cover all the memories two friends want to share. Even a lifetime would not
last long enough. Your heart knows otherwise. Then there is that day at the park.
You know the one. It was wonderful. The weather was perfect: cool and crisp.
The crystal blue sky had large fluffy white clouds pushed by the light breeze. The
green grass stood in stark contrast with the dark soil. And you played, and played,
and played. It seemed like the day would never end. You cannot get back there
now but you would love to return some day. That is what I am talking about. All
those times that seem too good to be true. Tell me. Why do you talk like that?
Exactly, what makes an ordinary day so special that it must be a lie?
In some way or another, we all share in these types of experiences that defy
our ordinary expectations. We all can recall times when the clock no longer mat-
tered. Even after all these years, we are able to list each one of those extra special
moments. You always have a choice. You are more than welcome to say your body

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is deceiving you and nothing is what it actually seems. How sad. This life then is
nothing more than an illusion told by fools. The other option is more frightening
and only a very few people accept it. What you experience is really true.
The Book of Revelation or more properly the Revelation of Jesus Christ con-
tains many parts that stand in direct conflict with our ability to understand and
then change the world.2 Revelation describes the world using ideas that do not
make sense. It tells us about the past and the future all happening right now. It
contains numbers that just do not add up. Perhaps, this is the reason we stay away
from this book. We cannot make heads or tails of what it is trying to say.
Our problems begin with the title English speakers use for the book. We call
it “Revelation.” That word normally means telling someone a surprising fact that
they did not know. Something like, “His affair was a revelation to the community.”
So, when we read the book, we fully expect to hear a previously unknown truth
about Jesus. All by itself, this idea is dangerous. Consider the following. If I sell
you a used car without telling you the real mileage, then I can make a tidy profit.
If I can unload a sick animal on you by giving you a fake “clean bill of health,”
then I have tricked you. These are negative examples of holding back information.
That is not the purpose of this book.
Instead, the book presents the mystery of Jesus. That is what the word we
translate as “revelation” means in its original language. The book of Revelation
2
The classic definition of reason is the ability of the mind to grasp reality and then to transform
reality itself. Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology Volume One, Volume One, (The University of
Chicago Press, 1951), p. 72. Despite what the current culture believes, reason is not just the use of
technology and the mastery of reams of data because reason is also present in emotion, thinking,
and the arts. ibid.. This means there are two different types of reason: technical and ontological.

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takes its name from the noun apocalypse (ἀποκάλυψις) found in the first verse.3
The word is composed of two parts. The prefix apo (ἀπο) means “un” and the
suffix “to cover.” In other words, apocalypse (ἀποκάλυψις) is the lifting of the
veil. It is to uncover, to show, or to reveal. Despite the removal of the cloth that
hides, the mystery remains.
It is like those old fashioned weddings where the bride wore a fine piece of
material that covered her face. When the time came to kiss the bride, she carefully
lifted the veil that stood between her and her husband. This uncovering during the
service does not mean that one now completely is aware of every aspect of the
other, far from it. Many parts of their life together will remain unexplainable. We
all share that experience. They will just happen and the other person will not know
why.
If this happens in our relationships with the person closest to us, and it does,
then it should not come as a shock that our interactions with the One who created
us, sustains us, and save us should be any different. God has revealed himself and
yet He still remains something that we will never understand.4
The lesson today contains many different illustrations of mystery. How is God
the Father, “who is and who was and who is to come?” Do not know. He just
is. Why does the Father need seven spirits before the throne? He just does. How
does Jesus make us a kingdom? No one has an idea. Why does the Father need
3
Actually, the English transliteration is apocalypses. However, the noun apocalypses contains
a “s” at the end and that normally indicates a plural noun, which brings us to a second problem.
Many people believe the book is called “Revelations.”
4
Tillich, Systematic Theology, p. 109.

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us serving Him forever? That is what He wants. Why does Jesus need to come
in clouds? That is what will happen. How do all people of every time and every
place come together and see Jesus? It just occurs that way. What do the blind
see? Exactly this, Jesus in the sky with clouds. Why will Jesus coming out of the
clouds frighten all the people of the world, including the living and the dead, the
believers and unbelievers? He tells we will be scared, that is why. How can the
God who created the beginning and the ending have one? No one has a clue. And
if they tell you they do, they are lying to you.
All of these mysteries pale in comparison to the most unexplainable fact of all
time. Jesus loves you.
This is not some idealized love that lives in the pages of fiction. Christ’s love
for you is personal. He knows each of your faults. He sees exactly what you do.
He fully realizes what will happen in your future. Nothing in the entire universe,
not even death itself, can keep Jesus away from you. That is how much He loves
you.
The infinite distance that separates heaven from earth cannot keep Jesus away
from you. He is with you at all times. When you want Him to be right at your side,
He is here. When you do not have a friend in the whole word, He remains with
you. When you want to be all alone, He never leaves you. You can never shake
Jesus. He follows you through all the hells you make. He stays with you in the
thick and thin. That is how He shows His love for you.
You might believe that up in the highest heaven is the throne of God. It must
live off in a corner that humans can never reach. There far away from all the prob-

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lems of the world God sits. Separated from our concerns in the holy of the holies
God efficiently dispenses out His judgment on each inhabitant of the globe. The
word that jumps to our lips is, “Guilty.” “Found wanting,” is the actual sentence
God speaks over each of us.
The lamb that was slain offers His blood to us. It washes away our sins and
changes the outcome completely.
Christ’s death creates a different reality. God’s decision now clearly says, “Not
guilty on all accounts. Nothing missing at all.” That is how much Jesus loves you.
Every mark against you is gone forever.
The impact of Christ’s resurrection goes far beyond the pardon now given to
you. The throne of God moves from Heaven to earth. It now resides right in front
of you. It is the Lord’s Table.5 From it flows the gifts of, life, peace, and rest. This
is how Jesus shows His devotion to you.
The problem with stories too good to be true is that you do not believe them.
After all, tall tales have burned you in the past. Others have promised you the
world and all you got in return was the short end of the stick.
Here in this place, you are surrounded by stories too good to be true. There
down at the font, during your baptism, God the Father adopted you as His own
child. And oh, by the way, the Holy Spirit came to live with you. The encounter
with God changed you forever. You are marked with the cross of Christ. Over there
at the Table, the Son of God comes to feed you along with every other Christian
5
Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, Andrew of Caesarea and the Apocalypse in the Ancient
Church of the East: Studies and Translation, Ph. D thesis, (Université Laval Québec, 2008), p. 150.

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that has or will ever live. That is where you taste and see that the Lord is good.
Here at the pulpit, Jesus speaks directly to you. He convicts you and warms your
heart.
Martin Luther spells this understanding out in the following way:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus

Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me
by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me
in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies
the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in
the one true faith. 6

In other words, Luther says, I believe that I cannot have faith. The great reformer
knows that it is impossible for anyone to have trust in God. Your faith in God must
come from somewhere else. God comes to you and places inside of you this belief
of God. God then feeds this faith so that it matures. This is something that God
does for every believer and for the entire Church here on earth.
This is the world we live in and quite frankly it does not make any sense at all.
All that I can do is to ask you to be completely honest with yourself. Do you see
the cross in your life? Can you tell that the Meal is real? Do you hear Jesus calling
your name? Can God be trusted?
These do not have to be yes or no answers. It is never black or white. Faith is
not like that. I ask you to believe in what is possible and not what is certain. I want
6
Small Catechism, T HE T HIRD A RTICLE : S ANCTIFICATION, II, 6; Theodore G. Tappert et al.,
editors, The Book of Concord, (Fortress Press, 1959), p. 345.

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you to trust in the chance and not wait until you know for sure. I hope you believe
in the story that is too good to be true.
There is a land flowing with riches beyond your wildest dreams. There are
yours for free. This is the world that awaits you. You will be with the ones you
love. Now, nothing will keep you apart from them ever again. Here you will live
like never before. This is the story that is too good to be true.
There is a reason for all those things you cannot explain like the time with
your friend that lasts forever or the perfect day that you never want to end. Jesus
wants you to experience the gift of heaven today. That is how much He loves you.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”7

References

Constantinou, Eugenia Scarvelis, Andrew of Caesarea and the Apocalypse in the

Ancient Church of the East: Studies and Translation, Ph. D thesis, (Univer-
sité Laval Québec, 2008).

Tappert, Theodore G. et al., editors, The Book of Concord, (Fortress Press, 1959).

Tillich, Paul, Systematic Theology Volume One, Volume One, (The University of
Chicago Press, 1951).

7
Philippians 4:7.