Message by Janice Good :  February 10, 2008

Behold I Tell You a Mystery – Part 2

Texts – Deuteronomy 29:10-29; I Corinthians 2:6-13

Janice Good, Preacher

 In my household, as in my parent’s home, there are some things that we just can’t seem to get enough of, we collect them, look at them and even spend hours pondering and perplexing what to do next with them.  These things that I refer to our jigsaw puzzles – those marvelous photographs that have been literally cut up into a thousand pieces.  You carefully open the box, and depending on your particular method of working puzzles, you may first find the borders and assemble the framework of the finished puzzle.  Then perhaps you select all those pieces that have a distinctive design that you just know go together somehow.  You may even sort by colors, or even the cut of the piece.  But before you can even begin to sort or assemble the pieces you need to turn each piece so that the secret of its design is revealed to you.  You will find also that sometimes completing one of these puzzles is a lot harder than you thought.  In fact, there are times when you just want to give up because you don’t quite know which piece to put where, how to solve the mystery of the puzzle pieces’ correct placement.  I’m not sure why people enjoy putting together jigsaw puzzles.  I think perhaps in my household it has to do with figuring out a way to make it all fit together… perhaps some kind of sense of being in control, or maybe it’s just the sense of accomplishment at solving a mystery… finding just the right piece that goes in just the right place to make sense of that pile of pieces. 

Even as children some of us enjoyed putting together puzzles. But we didn’t start off tackling 1,000 or 1,500 piece puzzles.  Instead we worked on smaller puzzles, those with perhaps 20 to 50 pieces.  When we progressed to the point where we can quickly, and sometimes boringly, put together these simpler puzzles, we moved up to the 100 piece, the 250 piece and even the 500 piece.   As we matured in knowledge and we got brave and tackled those 1,000, those 1,500 and even those 2,500 piece puzzles. We feel like we have solved the mystery of reconstructing the puzzle, any puzzle.  But, in our human arrogance do we think we have discovered the mystery of suffering in this world, that we have solved the puzzle of why the picture of our lives is not a pretty photograph nicely pieced together?

During this season of Lent, we will be focusing our thoughts on the painful mystery of suffering.  As with any study, we need to start at the beginning… in the garden.  This past week at the Ash Wednesday service, Pastor John shared with those present the doctrine of original sin, and the evil that has imbedded itself within human existence.  He reminded us that Original Sin not only refers to the trespass of God’s will, the sin of Adam and Eve, but even more so, it gives us the origin of the sinful nature into which all human beings, except one, are born.  The doctrine of Original Sin teaches us that “We’re not sinners because we sin; we sin because we’re sinners.”  The story of the Fall teaches us that what we really deserve is nothing more than suffering, and the eventual death which our miserable lives deserve.  This is something that we must remember, especially when we face the reality of suffering.

The Genesis garden narrative clearly tells us that as a direct result of human sin and rebellion, God cursed the serpent, the woman and the man, and indeed, all of creation.  All who will follow after, as long as people inhabit the earth, will clearly feel the effects of the curse.  That curse will entail pain and struggle in life, and the ultimate certainty of death. 

But our text this morning from Deuteronomy is a reiteration of the covenant that God made with Moses and the people of Israel through the Ten Commandments.  Over hundreds of years since the Fall, even though those who sinned were cursed, God still cares for His children.  This text recalls the promises of God made at Mount Sinai, reminding the people that if they follow the commandments and worship only Yahweh, the God of Israel, they will live.  But if they should fall, should begin to worship idols of the people in the lands they traverse, should begin to think too highly of themselves, should begin to break the commandments that the Lord gave them… then they will be cursed, not just by God shaking his finger at them, and saying, “Bad, children!”  But “all the curses written in this book will fall upon [them], and the Lord will blot their name from under heaven!” (Deuteronomy 29:20 NIV)  Even the land will be cursed and wither up and dry out.  

This text leads many people to believe that the good will always be blessed, and those who are not good, will not be blessed.  We all know that’s not the way it really is.  There are bad people who do well, and good people who suffer.  Somehow, though, we still seem to think we have a right to the good life, the right to justice for our suffering, the right to be blessed and not cursed if we do well.  But be warned, do not think yourself so righteous that you will be blessed, even though you go your own way… even though you continue to willfully sin.  As Moses reminds the people, there are secret things that belong to God.  There are things in life that are a mystery that only God can explain.  Only those things that He has revealed to us belong to us, belong to us so that we can follow the words of His law… to follow the Word.

There is a tale that’s told about the end of time, about billions of people scattered on a great plain before God's throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly - not with cringing shame, but with belligerence.

‘Can God judge us? How can he know about suffering?’ snapped a young Albanian. He removes his shirt to reveal a bullet scarred back. ‘In Kosovo, we endured terror... shootings... torture!”

In another group an aged African woman pulls a crumpled, tear-stained photograph from her pocket. ‘What about this?’ she demanded, ‘This is my precious child. I have not seen her since the day she was taken away for no crime but being black!’ 

In another crowd, stands a raped and now pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes ‘Why should I suffer?’ she murmured, ‘It wasn't my fault.’

Far out across the plain there were hundreds of these groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He permitted in this world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that people had been forced to endure in this world? God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of these groups sent forth their leader, the one chosen because they had suffered the most: a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, an aborted baby, a youngster whose body was ravaged by incurable cancer, and others. In the center of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever so they thought.

Before God could be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth - as a human!

‘Let Him be born into a hated race. Let the legitimacy of His birth be doubted. Give Him a work so difficult that even His family will think He’s out of His mind when He tries to do it. Let Him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let Him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let Him be tortured.

‘At the last, let Him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let Him die. Let Him die so that there can be no doubt that He died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.’

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled.  And then, when the last of the leaders finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly they all knew that God had already served His sentence. (http://www.ozsermonillustrations.com/frames/problem_of_evil_frameset.htm)

We humans seem to think that we are in control; we can handle all that life throws at us.  Just like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, we plot and plan and try to take control of the puzzle of our lives.  We want to know why we can’t make sense of it all right now.  But really!  And, then don’t we all want to know what the future will bring?  We want to have the picture of our lives sitting in front of us, just like we do on the puzzle box, ready reference so we can see what to put where, what comes next, how it all fits together.  Life is just not like that!

When my oldest son was a child, he loved to play with GI Joe toys. He had a room full of GI Joe figurines, of tanks and airplanes and just about every imaginable GI Joe related item.  He even had four different GI Joe jigsaw puzzles. But the unique thing about these puzzles, the thing that most intrigued me than, just as it does today, was the connection of the puzzles to each other.  You see, each puzzle box contained its own 500 piece puzzle that when completed was the exact replica of the picture on the top of the box. But each puzzle did not have four straight cut edges.  Two edges of each puzzle were raggedly cut, just like the inner pieces.  You see… if one had the perseverance and patience, each puzzle, each individual picture could be fitted together to make one big puzzle, one big picture. The four individual scenes would then be connected into one large interrelated scene.  The secret things, the mysteries of life are like that too. Only God knows the final picture, and He is in control of what comes next, of which piece fits where.  God knows what the whole picture looks like.  Long before we have any inkling of which pieces might fit together God knows what the finished product, what our lives will look like. Even though we may suffer, we may face the trials and frustrations of life, God has the uncut photograph of our lives in His possession.  We can only see that small picture that is immediately in front of us. 

Depending on your age, you may have fitted together all the pieces of one or two, or even three of the individual puzzles that make up the whole GI Joe-like puzzle that makes up the segments of your life.  We do not know yet what the whole picture looks like, the only knowledge we have is what God has revealed to us, bit by bit, piece by piece so that we can continue to follow His Words.

God’s covenant was not just for the people of Israel, those assembled together to hear Moses’ sermon of the day… this covenant with God applies to all “those who are not here today.”  This covenant transcends space and time. It is with you, your spouses, your children, your leaders and elders …even with strangers in the land.   But the real truth, the mystery that we may never understand is why God continues to love us, to care for us, even when we continue to sin.  We do ignore the commandments, we do worship other gods: gods like money, possessions, and power.  We are sinful human beings. We often speak of getting what we deserve.  Be careful how you word that – especially demanding what you deserve from God.  The fact is that we never deserve God’s grace and goodness. We deserve His punishment.  But be assured. The Bible teaches us always that bad news never has the last word.  There is Good News -- the Gospel –  which is fully revealed to us in Jesus Christ.  And even though we seem to live in the shadows, because of Christ sin and suffering never have the last word!  God’s Word is the first, the last, the only Word!

Amen.