When Faith Doesn’t Make Sense

 

I will make a covenant with you: I promise that you will be the ancestor of many nations.

Your name will no longer Abram, but Abraham, because I am making you the

ancestor of many nations. I will give you many descendants, and some of them will be kings.

      You will have so many descendants that they will become nations.      

 

Prayer:

A story was told about President Bush that, when he died and went to heaven. At his arrived at Pearl gate he met Peter, President Bush requested to speak to Moses. So Peter searched and found Moses. Moses, said Peter, there is a man here by the name of Bush who wishes to speak with you.  Moses responded Oh! No, Oh! No, the last time I spoke to Bush, I ended up in the wilderness for forty years.

How often do you hear others and yourself talking about "good luck" and "bad luck"? You might hear something like this. "It was just bad luck that the little boy was killed. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." "I had some really good luck today – I got $50 from a Scratchie." " Waoh! that was a lucky escape." "How lucky can you be!" "I’m the luckiest person in the world."

It seems that we talk about good luck and bad luck to explain the good things and the bad things that come our way and for which we have no explanation. Since people these days have very little understanding of God and no longer believe in a God who intervenes in our history with purpose and meaning, they resort to the only thing that can explain why good things and bad things have come their way – they talk about good and bad luck.

The gambling industry relies on the concept that we are certain to be lucky and win more money than we have earned in our entire lifetime, or fortunate enough to win the house and car that have only been possible in our dreams. Just look at the growth of casinos, gaming machines and lotteries in our country and the number of people that go there, all of whom believe that this might be their lucky day.

Those who build the casinos and run the lotteries haven’t invested their millions simply to rely on something called luck. They can tell us down to the penny what our chances of winning are, and they can tell us what they will earn from the dollars played in their casino or on their machines. When a person wins it is not because of luck, but because the very definite and predictable laws of probability.

Not only does biblical faith but also science questions the idea that things happen because of good or bad luck. We talk about "accidents" on our roads but if someone is driving at 150 kmp and smashes his car can we really speak of this as an "accident". The use of the word "accident" implies that someone was proceeding along responsibly and then, zap, from out of nowhere, had an accident.

The word "accident" implies that something happened outside of our control.

We might say that it was just bad luck that a tire blew out and the car plunged down on embankment, but it was extremely good luck that it was stopped by a tree before plunging into the river.

Some time ago, a man by the name of Rabbi Kushner wrote a book entitled, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. He said that when bad things happen to people, it is mostly a result of bad luck. Our faith is in the hands of a vast roulette wheel (like wheel a fortune). When your number is up, it is up. It is all a matter of chance. Doesn’t really matter, whether you have paid off your mortgage or not, young or old, healthy or not, Noble or commoner, married or single, rich or poor.

When your time is up, it is up. It is all a matter of chance. If Rabbi Kushner is right and everything is a matter of luck, then what can anybody do about the future. To think like that makes us feel helpless and powerless isn’t it.

Whatever will happen will happen regardless of what we do to change it. How does the idea of a loving God fit in with that kind of thinking? To put it simply, it doesn’t. If we look in the Scriptures we won’t find any references to luck, or chance. What we will find is a God who is moving, caring, hearing and acting behind the scenes of our lives. As far as God is concerned nothing is left to luck or chance. His divine providence is directing our lives and our world to some good end.

Let us look at the life Abraham and see God’s active, loving and caring hand at work. Abraham and Sarah were old. They had wanted to have children but for some reason they remained childless. Then God comes to this elderly couple one day and tells them that he has plans for them that include having a son.

Here is a couple near the end of their life, Abraham planning a quiet retirement. But God has other plans for Abraham and Sarah. He tells them that from their child comes a great nation that will bring blessing to the world. Friends and neighbours might have talked about the bad luck Abraham and Sarah had when trying to have a family.

They might have talked about the good fortune that they had when they finally announced that Sarah was pregnant, but on the other hand, they might have thought what bad luck that these two folk had to deal with a baby when they were so old. But luck is not involved at all.

Abraham and Sarah spoke of this as part of the guiding and loving purposes of God. We might say that God used the fact that Sarah was unable to have children to bring a blessing not only to this aging couple but also to all nations.

The child conceived is no ordinary child. This is a child who has come into being by the power of God. This child will be the beginning of a new nation of people. This child is the beginning of a great family from which the Saviour would be born.

Nothing is left to chance.

God says, "I will give you many descendants…. I will give you this land. …I will keep my promise .. as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God." Notice how many times God refers to what he is doing saying, "I will do this, I will do that". There is no luck or chance involved. It is all a part of God’s loving and caring plan for the world. We are the result of the promise of Abraham’s faith.

We see the same thing in or Gospel reading today. It could be said that it certainly was unfortunate that Jesus, the only innocent man ever born, should suffer and die in such a cruel way. It could be said that indeed it was a stroke of bad luck that one of his disciples would betray him and that all the others would run away and desert their master.

It could be said that it was such bad luck that after being so enthusiastically welcomed into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday he was handed over to his enemies and the crowds called for his execution. But there is no luck involved here at all. Jesus said, "The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law.

He will be put to death, but three days later he will rise to life." God will use the wickedness of Judas and the High Priest. He will use the fickleness of the crowd. He will use the evil intent that the elders, chief priests and teachers of the Law had for Jesus. He will use Pontius Pilate who was afraid to stand up to Jesus’ enemies and allowed Barabbas to be freed in place of Jesus.

God has a plan. His plan included the rescuing of all people from sin and death. His plan meant that his Son must die. Jesus knew this.

Notice how Jesus says, "The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected".  There is no question about it. He says these things must happen because God is in control, because God is working out his plan of salvation. In story after biblical story there is this affirmation that God is in control. Was it just bad luck that Jonah was swallowed by a big fish?

Was it just good luck that the boy David hit the giant Goliath with his sling shot and killed him? Was it simply just by chance that the wise men found the child Jesus? Was it just bad luck that Stephen was stoned to death for speaking so boldly about Jesus? We could go on.

Luck is not involved in any part of the Bible’s message. Rather it describes again and again how God was at work behind the scenes, loving, guiding and caring. It describes God working out his plan.

God is no different today. He acts with the same love and care as he did in biblical times. God’s providence, care and guidance of all his creatures are still at work in our lives today, as they were in ancient times.

His care for all people, his love for everything he created and his awareness of the fact that no matter how hard we try we are unable to change anything, caused him to work in history and through the people of the Bible to bring salvation into the world.

God’s care and guidance for our world continues today. However, often it is only as we look back that we can see what God was really trying to do. In hindsight we can see the bigger picture of how certain events that we could see no sense in at all, are simply a small part of God’s overall plan for our lives and the lives of others.

Not many understood Jesus’ death, not even his disciples. Even Peter who was one of the inner circle of disciples rebukes Jesus for speaking in such a way about suffering and dying.

At the time of Jesus’ arrest they run away confused and afraid. They couldn’t make any sense out of the events that were unfolding. But as they looked back after his resurrection they could see what God’s plan was. In the heat of the moment we can’t understand what God has in mind but later as we look back we can see God’s love and care at work.

People refer to luck and chance because they have lost the concept that there is a greater power at work behind the events of our lives and of this world. Christians believe that God’s love and care is always at work behind the scenes.

And as we move through this Lenten season reflecting on the Passion of Christ, with hindsight we can see the love of God at work bringing salvation into our world.

As we hear again of the betrayal by Judas, the cruelty of the soldiers with the whip and the crown of thorns, the treachery of the High Priest, the weakness of Pontius Pilate and the cross and the nails remember that God is working out his plan.

 

In spite of all this cruelty, God is working behind the scenes to bring forgiveness, peace, tranquility, and eternal life for all people. And as we do this we remember that our loving, caring and guiding God is at work in us,

changing us from glory to glory.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                               ×6Ø                                           March 16, 2003