Buried Treasures

First Lesson: Jeremiah 17: 5-10
Responsive Reading: Psalm 1
Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 15: 12-20
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 6: 17-26

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Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
Once upon a time, there was a man who lived in Northern China whose most prized possession in the world was his horse[1].  Well one day, the horse bolted from his owner’s property crossing over the nearby border.  The owner never believed he would see his horse again.  He was sad for days over his horse’s loss.  Everyone around did their best to comfort him.

 His father though gave him advice different from every other person that he encountered. He told his son: “You never know, it could be a blessing.”  The son can’t quite make sense of his father’s words.

Months go by, the horse finally returns, only this time he brought with him the most splendid stallion that anyone had ever seen.  Everyone but the owner’s father’s rejoiced as he declared: “You never know it could be a curse[2].” The son is once again, confused.

A few weeks go by; the owner is out riding on his horse.  The horse throws him; he breaks his leg in the process.

Everyone tries comforting the man in his misfortune, other than his dad upon seeing the broken leg declared: “It could be a blessing.”  

Well, a few more weeks go by, a group of nomads crosses the border forcing every non-disabled young man to grab a bow to try to defend the village.  The casualties among the men in the village were high.  The father’s words were correct as because of the son’s leg, his life was spared[3]. 
This story reminds us how it is indeed often what seems to be our greatest blessings that can lead to disaster, and our greatest disasters lead to eventual blessing[4]. 

Second story, a little over eight years ago, I was working in Lamberton and got called by a church in Kentucky.   They wanted me to meet with them to be their next pastor. The church wanted a young pastor with experience working with youth.  They let me know that I was the only candidate they were considering.

So I drove twelve hours into Kentucky.  I had dinner with the Call Committee Chair.  I had an open forum with nearly everyone in the congregation attending. I preached Sunday morning what I thought was one of the better sermons I had ever written.

I don’t hear anything back for a couple of weeks.  I then get a call from the Call Committee Chair saying they had a congregational meeting to discuss me.  They decided their only candidate wasn’t what they were looking.

Now, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to move to Kentucky.  Grandma might well have vetoed the move.  Potential job loss like this causes a person to doubt God’s ways within a situation.

A few months later, Glenda Hedin from Sychar gives me a call.  A few months after that, I move to Silver Bay making it my home a lot longer than I could ever imagine living in Kentucky away from my beloved Vikings.

So a situation that seemed to be a woe eventually leads to a blessing.

These stories lead us into our Gospel lesson for Today from Luke 6[5].  Today’s Gospel Lesson has Jesus preaching a sermon titled “The Sermon on the Plain.” Jesus’ most well-known sermon is the “Sermon on the Mount” from the Gospel of Matthew. 

These might be the same sermon as much of the content is very similar though Jesus like any good preacher would repeat important points throughout his ministry.  Both sermons occur right before the Healing of the Roman Centurion in Matthew and Luke’s Gospel[6].  The difference in two sermons has to do with how they begin.  The Sermon on the Mount begins with Jesus walking up a Mountain to speak[7]. The Sermon on the Plain has Jesus coming down to address a gathering crowd[8]. 

Perhaps the most noticeable difference is the Sermon on the Mount is 107 verses long[9], whereas the Sermon on the Plain only 32 verses long[10].

Our section for Today deals with the concept of blessings in life and woes in our lives.  We can define a “woe” as doom or condemnation brought to us[11].  Examples of woe would include: losing a horse, breaking a leg, or not getting a job. 

The critical thing to understand about woe in Jesus’ day is how people thought about it. 

Tim Zingale describes this well when he says: “The people in Jesus’ day thought that if you were rich, successful, happy and popular this was because you were favored by God. But if you were poor, miserable, and rejected, or you had a disability or a terrible accident this was because you or a relative had done something to displease God[12].”

So Jesus within the Sermon on the Plain wanted to change the way that people thought of not only their blessings but also their woes.

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
 Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.[13] Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven[14].

Some years ago, the country music singer Garth Brooks wrote a song titled Unanswered Prayers.[15]  The song is autobiographical from Brooks’ life.  When Brooks was in high school, he had a girlfriend.  He would pray that his girlfriend would become his wife[16].  The relationship eventually crumbles. Brooks is distraught. Brooks keeps hoping that his ex-girlfriend would take him back. Some time passes, Brooks meets his wife.  Years later, he runs into his ex-girlfriend at a high school football game in their hometown.  Brooks only upon running into his ex-years later, realizes that some of the best things in life are indeed unanswered prayers. How even when God doesn’t necessarily answer, this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care[17].   As he looks at his wife, he thanks God for having better judgment than himself.  How indeed God’s greatest gifts often come from turning our woes into an eventual blessing.

Jesus within our Gospel lesson is hoping to speak a word of hope to those with their unanswered prayers as he declares: “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.”

Jesus’ words intend to give us perspective regarding our situations.  Now we have been blessed in many ways to live in this country[18].  We have a standard of living that wouldn’t have been imaginable 100 years ago.  We still inevitability struggle with a longing for more.

My Mom has undertaken multiple mission trips to Africa.  What’s always stood out to her so much about Africa is the perspective of the men, women, and children whom she has come across. How people that seemingly have nothing, seek to give to those who seemingly have everything continually.  These visits have highlighted to my mom how material possessions don’t guarantee happiness, but can instead be sources of woe.

My mom’s experiences highlight why Jesus closes the lesson with a list of woes including eternal punishment commonly associated with material comforts. 

Here’s the thing about our wealth. It doesn’t guarantee us the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus turns our sins into vessels to receive his forgiveness.   Woes often lead the way to the blessings that are to come. 

Let me close with one final story about how we often get the nature of woes and blessings wrong as Christian people.

Once upon a time in Poland lived a very poor man named Isaac who often went hungry[19].  One night, Isaac had a dream.  In Isaac’s dream, he had a vision of the city of Prague where a certain bridge contained buried treasure beneath it.  Isaac kept having the same dream, night after night.  Finally, Isaac decided that he needed to walk on foot hundreds of miles to Prague to try to find this buried treasure.

Isaac finally arrives in Prague, found the bridge in his dream, and went underneath it to try to find his treasure.  A soldier spots Isaac then comes over to question him. Isaac proceeds to tell the solider about his dream regarding the buried treasure[20]. 

The soldier begins laughing hysterically in Isaac’s face.  He calls Isaac “stupid.”  He points out how foolish that he is to trust in his dreams.  The solider continues to make fun of Isaac as he declares his own dream to find treasure buried in Isaac’s kitchen.  The solider though won’t go to Isaac’s kitchen because it would be the most idiotic thing to do in the world. He then kicks Isaac to mock him before leaving his presence[21]. 

Isaac walks home dejected, feeling like a fool.  Upon returning home though, Isaac moves the stove in his kitchen when something catches his eye.  There was treasure buried in Isaac’s kitchen all along.  Isaac had gone from a very poor man to a very rich man within the blink of an eye.  No soldier could ever take this away from Isaac.  Isaac’s greatest woe had become his greatest blessing[22].

As Jesus gives the Sermon on the Plain to us Today as his Christian people, he seeks to remind us that indeed our woes (our poverty, our relationship failures, our job loss, our broken bones, and our lost possessions) might be the sources of our inevitable salvation.  When Jesus would soon breathe his last breath, he was not dying, but merely opening the gate to life eternal instead.     Amen
 


[1] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer. 2007. Web. Jan.29.2019.  Story by Liu An. 
[2] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer.
[3] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer.
[4] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer.
[5] Luke 6:17-26. 
[6] Wayne, Luke. “What is the Sermon on the Plain?” CARM Ministries (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry). 25.Feb.2016. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[7] Matthew 5:1
[8] Luke 6:17
[9] Matthew 5-7
[10] Luke 6:17-49. 
[11] Wellman, Jack. “What Does Woe Mean? A Biblical Definition Of Woe.” Christian Crier. Patheos Network of Blogs. 20.Aug.2015. Web. Jan.30.2019. 
[12] Zingale, Tim. “The Lifestyle.” Sermon Central. 16. Feb.2004. Web. Jan.30.2019. 
[13] Luke 6:20-22.
[14] Luke 6:23.
[15] “Unanswered Prayers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 7.Dec.2018. Web. Jan.29.2019.  Reference comes from Rev. Dr. Phillip McLarty’s sermon “Are You Blessed” published on Sermon Writer in 2007. 
[16] McLarty, Phillip. W. “Are You Blessed.” Sermon Writer.
[17] Unanswered Prayers.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
[18] Markquardt, Ed. “Luke’s Beattitudes.” Sermons from Seattle. Web. Jan.30.2019. 
[19] Jackson Shelton, Sarah. “Blessing or Curse?” Day 1. 11. Feb.2007. Web. Jan.29.2019. 
[20] Jackson Shelton, Sarah. “Blessing or Curse?” Day 1.
[21] Jackson Shelton, Sarah. “Blessing or Curse?” Day 1.
[22] Jackson Shelton, Sarah. “Blessing or Curse?” Day 1.