So Great a Treasure

Yet in his book The Cost of Discipleship this truly great and faithful man writes a poem which shows how faith and doubt are both present in his life:

Who am I?

Who am I? They often tell me

I stepped from my cell's confinement

calmly, cheerfully, firmly,

like a squire from his country house.

Who am I? They often tell me

I used to speak of my warders

freely, friendly, and clearly,

as though it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me

I bore the days of my misfortune

equably, smilingly, proudly,

Like one accustomed to win.

Am I really that which other men tell of?

Or am I only what I myself know of myself?

Restless, and longing and sick,

like a bird in a cage,

struggling for breath,

as though hands were compressing my throat,

yearning for colours, for flowers,

for the voice of birds,

thirsting for words of kindness,

for neighborliness,

tossing in expectation of great events,

powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,

weary and empty a praying, at thinking, at making,

faith and ready to say farewell to it all.

Who am I?

This, of the other?

Am I one person today

and tomorrow another?

Am I both at once?

A hypocrite before others,

and before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?

Or is something within me still like a beaten army,

fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I?

They mock me,

these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am,

Thou knowest, O God.

I AM THINE!

There is the treasure: not a possession, not gold or health or position.

Not thought or wish or accomplishment.

The true treasure is neither bought nor sold, but is only given by God.

It is a gift of living hope, a hope which makes our lives different now,

a hope which will have its vindication in the time to come,

a confidence that God is yet in charge.

So far things have sounded very familiar to us; we are accustomed to think in this way about our relationship with God.

What is not nearly so comfortable are the implications of this hope for our lives as a Christian community together.

We know the words and images which we use at Holy Baptism:

--part of the body of Christ,

--made a member of the family of God,

--adopted,

--grafted into the vine of Christ.

These are all phrases which make it clear that this is not just a one-on-one event between my God and me,

but it is the establishment of a community.

To be given a hope, then,

is to be placed in a community of hope, a community with borders as wide as the word of God reaches.

On one of the catechetical class trips years ago we went to the Self-Help Crafts operation in Ephrata, where they bring craft items from disadvantaged workers all over the world.

Our guide asked us “how large is our community?”

After our paltry answers, she said:

My community has billions of members; it includes the whole world.”

She is right, of course.

Our area of proper concern is not just ourselves, our family, our city.

The call is for us to pass one that word of hope which we have received to an entire world,

whether or not they are seemingly ready to receive it,

and whether or not we are feeling really firm about our faith.

The call is to speak the word, to pass on the hope, and to let the Spirit of God work the changes in whomever he wills, in whatever ways and on whatever timetable he chooses.

In some ways, this is a relief!

We have the job of speaking, sharing. and helping, but God takes care of producing the results!

It is not all up to us!

What a treasure we are holding here.

It grows ever more precious as we are giving it away.

We don't need to hoard it; it will stretch.

We will get a fresh supply every morning.

[Lamentations 3:23, Exodus 16]

Remember the Hebrews in the wilderness who had such a hard time believing this; they tried to keep their manna for the next day, only to discover that what what was used or given away on that day was fine, but what any that they tried to save for another day was spoiled before it could be eaten.

God will give us enough hope,

enough for ourselves today

and enough for us to share right now

More will come as it is needed,

but it can't be hoarded;

hope kept to oneself soon spoils.

How is it that we can get hold of this hope?

Let's think through the Easter stories again.

Imagine how the disciples felt in those dark days after Friday.

After Peter's grand declarations of fidelity and courage.

After they all ran away.

After Jesus was crucified and buried.

After all of that, Jesus comes through locked doors and says to them “Peace be with you.”

He didn't say:

“Some help your guys were!”

“Still running and hiding?”

“You're going to get it now!”

There was plenty of blame for everyone.

Instead he says “Peace be with you.”

We might interpret it to mean

“Don't be afraid; I forgive you.”

These were the very ones who had refused to believe what he said and refused to obey his command and follow him.

And yet the Gospels all agree that these were the ones to whom Jesus returned.

The first thing Christ says to them is “Peace to you”.

His word of forgiveness stills the dread of what he might have said or done to them.

Their relationship with Jesus was resumed only by Jesus' Word and act of forgiveness voiced to them.

In that action and those words is the content of the hope that Jesus raised up in them.

Jesus took up right where he left off before the passion.

He regularly walked up to someone and preemptively said “Your sins are forgiven.”

And he continues that post-resurrection, luckily for us as much as for the disciples!

For you and I often get stuck in those black days of our failures, omissions, deceits, guilt, and blaming.

And we need the good news that our Lord comes back to all of his betrayers including us and forgives us.

Thus hope springs up, a living hope knowing that with every faltering step we take , he forgives us.

That is a great treasure of the resurrection message:

when we hear the exclamation

“Christ is risen”, we can now reply:

We are forgiven; we are forgiven indeed! Amen.

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.