September 27, 1998

 Here's a joke. A horse walks into a bar and sits down. Bartender comes over and says, "Hey, hey, hey...why the long face??"

Now, there is more than a giggle at stake in this joke. Leonard Sweet says that, to "get" the joke, you've got to be willing to do certain things. First, you've got to be open to surprises--like horses walking into bars. Second, you've got to be able to identify with the role of bartenders--they're actually pastoral counselors, you know - often helping people through the use of quick wit. Third, you've got to be able to laugh at the long face of a horse--and know that "long face" means "sad face."

A great deal of the richness of life can only come to us when we're willing to entertain ideas that, on the surface, may seem rather strange and even bizarre, but that underneath, lead us to hidden truths and joy and beauty.

Last week, we heard Jesus invite us to "take my yoke upon you, and learn from me". To be a follower of Jesus is to enter a new partnership with God, and to learn new things about life. In the Gospels, we see the disciples curiously asking Jesus all kinds of questions they've never dared ask before. And likewise, we see Jesus asking them questions that make the disciples stop and think about things they've never considered. Christians are people who are willing to creep out to the very precipice of the canyon and dare to peer over the edge.

And it is there...beyond the place where we feel safe and comfortable...that we catch the gleaming rays of the kingdom of God.

Now, I wonder if you're willing to try a mental exercise with me this morning. Imagine taking a pen and a sheet of paper and writing on that sheet of paper the word God. Go ahead and do that - I'll give you a second or two to finish. Are you done? Now, put your pen in the other hand and again write the word God.

Feel awkward? Uncomfortable? Does the word God look a little different by writing it this way?

And yet, it is the very same word you wrote with your other hand.

Now, the coming of Jesus into the world is like that little exercise. All of a sudden, we are confronted with a picture of God that's far different than what we've often thought. It's awkward and uncomfortable. The God of judgment and punishment turns out to be one who welcomes sinners and loves them into salvation. The God of love and forgiveness turns out to be one who causes a riot in the temple by judging the money changers, calling the religious leaders a bunch of snakes and suggesting they're all headed for an unpleasant future.

When you take a careful look at Jesus, you begin to see a picture of God not exactly like the one you've been drawing all these years with your preferred hand.

God is far different than most of us think.

And for me - as discomforting as it may be - that's a hopeful thought.

I'm not sure how you feel about it, but life is a puzzle to me. I find myself wondering why things are as they are. I wonder not only why bad things happen to good people, but why good things happen to bad people. I wonder why babies die and murderers live. I wonder why some people do everything right, but seem to be rewarded by everything going wrong. I find myself troubled by things like the tragic crash of Swissair Flight 111. 215 passengers and 14 crew lost their lives. Some who were supposed to be on that plane but couldn't make a connection on time will say God miraculously saved them. The families of others who were miraculously able to get a seat by way of a last second opening will wonder why God played such a terrible trick. Why is life like it is?

Now, those who write the word God with their dominant hand seem to have all the answers, of course. They are neat, concise, no-loose-ends kinds of answers. Some of them say that God is God, can do anything He wants, and if God decides your time is up, your time is up. Period. These are those who come through the line at the calling hours and tell you that God needed your two-year old daughter in heaven more than you needed her here. Or who insist that God has a reason for giving you that terrible illness. Or who see your hurt or heartache as proof positive that you've done something wrong and are under the judgment of God.

Others say these tragedies are proof that there is no God, or at the very least, that God has distanced Himself from the world and has no interest in intervening in human affairs. These are folks who come to feel that, in lieu of there being a transcendent God, we must be our own gods. We must rely upon the god-in-us to make the most out of life, and pull ourselves up by our own hidden spiritual power.

Oh, those who write the word God with their strong hand - whether as believers or doubters - see it so clearly!

But to be honest with you, neither side really speaks to me. How about to you?

I find a much more hopeful and realistic voice in Jesus who shows me a God drawn with a different hand. A God so unlike anything I can imagine and far different than most people think.

Sandy and I spent part of our vacation this summer trying to tend the wounds of a close family member. Husband of 18 years, father of three beautiful children, hard worker, good person, man of faith. In that strange way that life has of hitting us from the blind side, he discovered a few months ago that his wife no longer loves him, is not willing to pursue reconciliation, and wants out. When we arrived in New England in August, she'd just told him that he had 48 hours to get out of the house. He was suddenly facing the end game of his marriage with all the heartbreaking discoveries about what that would mean, not only for himself, but most importantly for his relationship with his children. The only certainty he had was the uncertainty of what the future holds.

As I spent time with him, it struck me that one of the real dilemmas of the experience he's going through is that he's caught up in a whirlwind that is completely beyond his control. There is nothing he can say, nothing he can do, nothing he can offer to make things better.

This is not an uncommon experience. It's happening to our family member, and right now it may be happening to you. In a relationship. With your health. In the lives of people you love. How easily we fall out of control and become vulnerable to dark and sad and tragic things. And then, of course, there is the ultimate freefall. For no matter how well we take care of ourselves and try to avoid it, death will one day seize us, and we will be powerless to fight it off.

But it is precisely here - when we come to grips with the uncontrollable uncertainties of life - that we hear a word from Jesus.

It is a word that is so vastly different from the message of those who make God the cause of all the bad things that happen in life. And it is a word that strongly contradicts the message of others who claim that God, if He's there at all, has nothing to do with life.

Jesus draws a picture with a different hand. And the picture he draws comes out of his own life experience - betrayed by a disciple, denied by his friends, convicted unjustly, sentenced unfairly, and summarily executed on a hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Perhaps the nails piercing his hands and his feet are the ultimate picture of a human being stripped of every ounce of dignity and control.

And yet, in the darkest moments of that terrible hour, Jesus prays a revealing prayer.

You see, when your world is knocked out of orbit, when there's nothing left you can do, when life has reduced you to a feather in the swirl of hurricane force winds, there is a promise waiting to be kept.

Our Scripture lesson this morning tells another such story of God's wondrous love. You remember Joseph, the youngest of Jacob's sons? A sniveling, snobby, self-absorbed boy detested by his brothers. At every opportunity, Old Joe makes sure his siblings know that his father loves him more than they, and even worse, he tells them of dreams he has in which they bow down in obedience to him. So the brothers decide to get rid of Joseph.

They fake his death to fool their father, and then sell Joseph as a slave to a band of wandering Ishmaelites. They take him to Egypt where he's sold to an official named Potiphar, and because of Joe's keen intellect and imagination, he rises to his master's favor. But then - just as things are getting better - he gets tangled up with Potiphar's wife. He refuses her, but she accuses him of attacking her, and the next thing you know, old Joe is doing a life sentence at the federal penitentiary. That's where he meets the Pharoah's butler and baker who are doing hard time for displeasing the King.

Well, you know the rest of the story. Joseph interprets their dreams, and two years later when Pharoah has a troubling dream of his own, the butler remembers Joseph and has him summoned. Joe ends up being the Alan Greenspan of Egypt, producing great prosperity at a time when all the other markets are crashing. Refugees from all over the world flock to Egypt to buy food. Among them are Joseph's father, and his very embarrassed brothers who have to somehow explain to their dad how it is Joseph is not dead, and how it is he's become an Egyptian!

Just as in his dream, Joe's brothers bow down in shame before him in great humiliation and sorrow. They say they're willing to be his slaves. But then something amazing happens.

Joe looks into the eyes of the people who tried to destroy his life, and he loves them! And then Joseph shares a great truth he's learned through all the hardship:

You see, dear friends, life is full of pitfalls. They come to us not because God wills them on us, and not because God is powerless. They come, rather, because there is a power of evil at work in the world. Sometimes evil reaches into our lives through the natural forces all around us. Sometimes evil works through people. Sometimes we make choices of our own that bring evil upon us and others.

But into every moment where evil intends to do us harm, God - out of love for you and me - creates a greater intention. God offers us the possibility of bringing good out of evil!

And so when Joseph lost control, he turned to God and obeyed Him. And over time, God led Joseph to the goodness of life.

And when Jesus lost control, he turned to his Father and obeyed Him. And even the grave was interrupted by the power of good, and life came forth from death!

And you and I, as we face all the uncontrollable uncertainties of our own lives, are invited to a dimension of living that is built upon a fantastic truth:

One of the great questions of life and faith is simply this: Is God really in control of my life? Can I depend upon Him?

That's not just a rhetorical question for our family member, or for those of you who are facing losses, illness, and trying times when life seems completely out of kilter.

It's a question that demands an answer.

And the answer...I believe...is a resounding yessss! Not only is God able to bring about goodness in our lives in our present circumstances, but even more importantly, into eternity.

Let me leave you with a final thought about that. One of my dreams is that there will come a day when I will see my father again. He died in 1974, at fifty years of age. In my dream, we talk and reminisce about the times of our lives, and then my dad asks me a question.

And there, in the joyous light of eternity, I imagine my dad's arm coming around my shoulders as I say to him, "Dad, I guess I just never knew the POWER of God's incredible love."

Take that power with you this week. Trust in the goodness of God!