Piles of Troubles

The Tower of Babel story in Genesis relates mankind's first prideful attempt to build our way up to God and in effect claim to be as important as the Lord.

We remember that the attempt ended in confusion, enmity, and scattering of the peoples over the earth... and we haven't been able to get back together even yet with all of our fancy communication tools.

The ziggurat in Babylon which was likely the stimulus for the tower of Babel story, still lies mouldering there 4 millennia later.

Saddam Hussein spent millions fixing up one side of it 30 years ago, but that great pile of stones is rather marked up with bullet holes now.

Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, we heard Jesus' disciples exclaiming about the impressive size of the Temple complex in the Gospel reading today.

The Temple complex was massive; it had taken some 60 years or more for the renovations of the whole area to be completed.

A valley had been filled in, huge retaining walls had been erected and the level platform on which the Temple itself was placed was larger than 6 football fields in size.

Remember that Jerusalem is build on hills; there is nothing naturally flat there.

But Jesus turns to the disciples and tells them not to be too impressed by all this work of human hands, for the Temple will soon be gone, not one stone upon another.

What one man can put together, another can tear apart, and that is what happened only 30 years later.

Jesus warned that those beautiful stones would only be a pile of troubles for the people of Israel... and that is what they became.

The so-called Wailing Wall which one often sees in photos of Jerusalem is the western edge of the retaining wall built by Herod the Great.

The stones of the Temple itself are lost somewhere in the rubble now built over many times since.

“Just look, Teacher, at what large stones!” said the disciples, and they're all gone.

That is the destiny of all things, if we are determined to make our own way.

We will lose every time; death holds one more card than we do, no matter how clever we think we are.

The Gospel is this:

Jesus' resurrection is still trump when death plays its last card,

so when Jesus promises that we shall share in his new life, this is a promise that makes all the difference in the world.

The great pile of troubles is quite real, but it is not insurmountable, it is not forever...Jesus' resurrection provides the promise that will endure to its fulfillment.

And that should make a difference in our attitude in our approach to the troubles of the day.

I came across a story this week which may help us hear this idea, from the great Methodist story-teller Fred Craddock:

He and his wife were traveling on vacation in the mountains of Tennessee and stopped at a little cafe, just wanting to be inconspicuous and to be left alone.

In walked an old fellow, talking with everyone, and sure enough, he came over to Fred's table.

“You folks on vacation?”

“Yes.”

“Having a good time?”

I was, thought Fred to himself.

“Going to be here long?”

“No, just passing through.”

“What do you do?”

This is the question that would usually end the conversation when he answered:

“Well, I'm a professor of homiletics and theology.”

But the old man's face lit up and he said, “You're a preacher man! Well, I have a preacher story for you!”

He pulled up a chair and sat down.

“Yeah, I was born back in these mountains.

My momma wasn't married.

We lived in a shack outside town.

The other women in town spent time trying to guess who my daddy was.

And I didn't know who my daddy was.

My momma worked a lot.

Other kids weren't allowed to play with a boy like me.

I would hide in the weeds at recess.

I ate my lunch alone.

They said I wasn't any good.

They called me Ben the Bastard Boy.

I thought that Bastard Boy was my last name.'

The old man was weeping, but he collected himself and went on.

'There was a church in town with a preacher with a big booming voice.

I know this church was not a place for a boy like me.

But sometimes I would sneak in and sit in the back and listen awhile and sneak out before the service was over.

But one day, I got to listening so closely that before I knew it, the service was over, and the aisles were all jammed up and I couldn't slip out.

All at once I felt this big hand on my shoulder.

The big voice boomed, 'Boy!'

It was the preacher man himself.

He said 'Boy!' and I froze.

He talked so loud that everybody heard it as he said, 'Boy, who's your daddy? Boy, I know who your daddy is.'

That was like a knife in my gut, and I wondered did he know who my daddy was.

He said, Boy, now let's see...why, you're a child of... he paused and everyone was listening...'Boy, why you're a child of God, and I see a strikin' resemblance!'

Then he swatted me on the bottom and said, 'Now you run along and you claim your inheritance.'”

Fred looked at the old gentleman, who seemed familiar, so he asked his name.

“I'm Ben Hooper.”

“Oh, yes, now I remember. You are the illegitimate boy who grew up and was twice elected governor of Tennessee.

And the old man looked up with tears in his eyes and said to Fred, “I was born that day in those preacher's words:

'You are a child of God.'”

Not just a pile of troubled protoplasm.

You are a child of God.'”

You and I are ones for whom Christ died, and more than that, was raised from death.

Before we get busy with making something of our lives,

we first have the privilege of hearing how God is determined to make something of us.

It is quite a transformation he intends: from being turned in upon ourselves and what we think, want, feel, and desire...or what evil names others affix to us as they did to young Ben Hooper...

to being transformed into the praise of God asking regularly what might God's intentions be ahead of our own, since we know now that we too carry that label “Child of God,” we are his chosen and beloved.

The piles of troubles that we have to handle day by day are kept in perspective by the song that we sing to Christ our hope,

creation's mighty Lord, ...

who redeems this fallen world, ...

and purges us of our pride,...

so that we can stand and sing...

All praise to you, Father Son and Holy Spirit, ...through all eternity. Amen.

[LBW#300]

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.