Rev. Tom Lenhart
Sermon September 23, 2007
“Surprise -- Can Be Opportunity in Disguise”
Genesis 18: 1-15, Mark 8: 27-33 and 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Let us pray.

When someone yells “surprise” what do you think? Webster’s dictionary defines the verb “to surprise” as to strike with wonder and amazement because of the unexpected. [1] Surprises come in many forms and are prompted by many different unexpected and unanticipated events and things. When I think about surprises my mind immediately thinks of a surprise birthday party I was given some years ago and the pleasure that I had in unexpectedly seeing old friends. I also think back to the time when I was 11 and I unexpectedly won an electric train. I was wonderfully surprised though I might add it was the only time I have ever won anything in my life. I suspect you have memories of special surprises – delighting for example in opening a present that contained something totally unexpected but that you have cherished throughout your life. Or perhaps you received an unexpected   honor or award. Such surprises enrich our lives and find an indelible place in our memories.

But not all surprises are as pleasant -- as unexpectedly receiving a party, gift or prize. Some surprises challenge us and some change our lives profoundly. Often, the key is how we respond to our surprises – to the unexpected.  You have been married for many, many years. The biological clock has run out. And yet out of the blue your doctor says, "You are going to have a baby." How do you think you would feel -- surprised, skeptical -- even worried and scared?  Skeptical and doubting, of course, is how Sarah reacted when she overheard the strangers, who we know are in fact God’s representatives, proclaim to her husband, Abraham, that she  -- long past child bearing age -- will have a son. And so it is reported in Genesis that Sarah hearing this surprising prediction laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?”

And how do you think Peter reacted when Jesus -- the person to whom he had devoted his life – surprisingly rebuked him and called him Satan because Peter did not truly understand what kind of Messiah Jesus was. Indeed, the gospels reveal that none of the disciples, including Peter, fully understood who Jesus was until he was gone. Though perhaps skeptical, Peter does not, however, go home to his fishing nets.

In the case of Sarah and Abraham their surprise and evident skeptism arose from the fact that the surprise – the promise of   Sarah’s pregnancy -- defied logic and experience. Woman such as Sarah past a certain point in life do not have children -- at least not until recently with the advent of “in vetro” and other fertility techniques.

Peter’s skepticism over Jesus surprising revelation that he will be rejected and killed arises from a different source. Peter has inherited a traditional picture of the coming Messiah painted by the prophecies of the Old Testament. With almost unquestioning certainty the people of Israel, including Peter, believed that the Messiah to come was to be a great King, a descendant of David, who would lead the people to a glorious victory over their oppressors.  He would restore the Promised Land to the chosen people. Jesus’ revelation rocks the foundation of Peter’s faith.

As our passages suggest often embedded in our sense of surprise is an element of doubt or uncertainty or worry. The unexpected doesn’t fit. We are so accustomed to a planned and regular world that the unexpected is unsettling and worrisome. And so it is that at times we do nothing in response to surprise or the unexpected. Indeed sometimes like Sarah we deny the unexpected. It can’t be. Logic and tradition say so. I know what’s what and that can’t be – I can’t have a baby now or I know what the Messiah will really be like. And yet the unexpected are often a gateway to opportunity. Sarah and Abraham were not simply skeptical – it was physically impossible for Sarah to have a baby-- but also, I suspect, they were afraid. How were they going to take care of a baby in their old age and would the baby to be healthy? And yet out of this surprise -- this opportunity that they seized -- came -- in the birth of Isaac -- the fulfillment of God’s covenant promise to make his followers – Abraham’s descendants -- as numerous as the stars.

For Peter and the other disciples the unexpected changed their lives but not until they truly understood and accepted the unexpected Christ. Peter finally realized that he would not be the principal follower of a new King who would lead the Jews in triumph. Instead, he was to be a follower of the Son of God and of Man who died and rose giving us all victory over death;   Peter too was be  persecuted for  his faith. And seizing that unexpected opportunity, even after denying Jesus, he eventually became the rock upon whom, with Paul, the church was built.

The challenge of the unexpected is not of course only an issue for Biblical figures past. Despite our best efforts to control our lives we confront the unexpected. No amount of planning -- making “to do” lists and filling a calendar with appointments – insulates us from the unexpected. Doctor’s offices call with unexpected test results.  Out of the blue we get laid off from work. Or a child calls to tell us that they are getting married.  Surprises occur all the time. Perhaps it is only God who does not experience them. But such surprises are not necessarily negatives. The unexpected often creates an opening to live life more fully and more faithfully as it did for Abraham and Sarah and for Peter.

I am sure you have heard the hype for Ken Burn’s new documentary called “the War” – about World War II. Whether or not it measures up to the hype, I will be watching – as I am one of those who believe that we owe a debt to that generation that we can never repay fully. Listening to serious discussion about World War II that this documentary has prompted, I was reminded how unexpected events can change our lives. One historian, in talking about WWII, noted that never in the history of this country had so many from so many different places and backgrounds been thrown together for so long under such trying circumstances. Unexpectedly, a farm boy from Minnesota ended up with street kid from Baltimore in a landing craft moving ashore on Utah beach. They then fought their way together through France. And a sheep herder’s son from Wyoming and the son of New Bedford fisherman found themselves in the cockpit of a B 24 for repeated flak filled runs over Germany.

The military was aware of the challenge of so many different folks being unexpectedly thrown together and saw the issue as creating and maintaining an effective fighting force plain and simple. Many of those who went to war had not met others outside their community and group. And these unexpected meetings of humanity were not easy. What they knew about others were the traditional stereotypes -- often embodied in derogatory ethnic, racial and religious slurs common before the war. But this melting pot of humanity turned out to be an opportunity for this country. In these encounters between strangers people experienced first surprise and distrust, then understanding and acceptance, and finally often great affection. I know a World War II Vet who in his 80s still attends the reunion of his armored unit – this eastern patrician spends precious time with men so different from him but with whom he forged a life long bond. And he was changed and for the better by his experience. He found common ground with and appreciation of others in ways his forebears could not.

No one wants war. It is the least effective and desirable way of resolving differences and yet   it is sometimes thrust on us. But even out of the horrors of war came unexpected opportunity for good. In 1947 President Truman desegregated the Army, building on the experience of whites and blacks mixing during the war. By that act the President helped to ease the path in a small but significant way for the later civil rights movement. The myths of what others were like – the caricatures and stereotypes --     were refuted by the opportunity to live, talk, eat, sleep and fight with those others. The lie of discrimination so often based on misinformation and myth was disproved by the truth of personal contact.  The war also unexpectedly served to dampen anti Semitism in this country -- not simply because of the horror revealed in the concentration camps -- but through the personal contact between Christian and Jewish soldiers bound together by more than just their shared uniforms. The traditional myths were replaced by personal experiences and that made all the difference. Opportunity lurks in the unexpected.

The challenge in responding to surprise and the unexpected is in overcoming our skepticism and fears.   Sometimes we don’t want to believe the unexpected because it is frightening and disappointing. We don’t like the test reports; they just can’t be right but they are and we need to accept them to move on. Sometimes the unexpected brings us directly up against something we have held on to for along time.   The opportunity presented involves shedding our myths and our stereotypes [or our prejudices] and letting our faith illuminate our actions.  And what does our faith suggest? Let us turn to our passage from Timothy. The date is the second century and it is a world of total Roman domination. The fledgling Christian Church – that is the small communities of followers of Jesus -- are the subject of unremitting persecution by the authorities -- the severity of which depends on the whim of the Emperor and leaders of the Roman government. A follower of Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus. And what is his surprising message   to this group of followers? [Pray] for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions….”   I suspect   this message was greeted with a large dose of skepticism – “are we really supposed to pray for those who want to kill us unless we convert and offer our allegiance to the Emperor.”  It was a forceful reminder that God desires everyone be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”   Christ died as a ransom for all. Timothy doesn’t say for Greeks only or saints only – no Christ died for all. There are no stereotypes, no caricatures in God’s realm. 

As we encounter the unexpected in our personal lives and else where including here in the church we are reminded not to set our minds on human things but on divine things. {Let us not react to the surprising or the unexpected by relying on the myths that we inherit.} Instead let us embrace the opportunity to learn and to apply in our world God’s love of all. Amen