ACTS 9:1-19a

PSALM 33:1-11

REVELTION 5:6-14

JOHN 21:1-14

Sermon – April 22, 2007

The God of Surprises Offers Hope

God is the God of surprises. Wonderful surprises.

We spend 50 days each year celebrating Easter because it is, as the children’s book I read at the 11a.m. Easter Sunday service each year is titled, “The Wonderful Surprise.” Even though Jesus told his disciples three times ahead of time that he would be crucified, die and be raised from the dead, still they were totally and utterly surprised. That is the greatest and most wonderful surprise we have seen – yet – from God.

Because of Easter we know that life is more powerful than death – thanks to God, and that love is more powerful than hate – thanks to God – and that love and life will ultimately conquer all, while even now they can be spread in the world like a “good contagious infection” to lift the world while it waits for the world’s ultimate transformation by God.

The first ones to catch this “good contagious infection” of life and love were the original disciples. These guys, especially, are very candidly described in the Gospels, faults and all. All but two of them took off when Jesus was arrested, and one of those who hung in there somewhere near Jesus was Peter – who denied three times that he even knew Jesus.

Yet God did not just dump these “fair-weather friends” of Jesus – surprisingly, God cherished them and transformed them. These fallible human beings were transformed by God, filled with the Holy Spirit and became fearless, eloquent, hard-working servants of God to the ends of their lives. You never would have guessed that if you had stopped reading the Bible with the accounts of the crucifixion.

Perhaps even more surprising is who God picks to lead the spread of the Good News of Jesus Christ to foreign countries, including areas where there is no one who worships God as revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures, never mind Christ. God picks a Greek-speaking Jew from another country who never even met Jesus before Jesus’ crucifixion and who was investing his considerable energy in an effort to crush the Jesus movement! Talk about surprises – is nothing impossible for God?

Guess not. This is the story we hear about in today’s first reading: the beginning of the transformation of Saul the persecutor of the Church into Paul the apostle. He was just the right man to articulate and develop the Christian faith for Gentiles and foreigners – but nobody would have guessed it based on his résumé before he met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus.

In fact, it was a surprise even to Jesus’ original disciples that Gentiles could become followers of Jesus without first becoming Jews. Much of the New Testament book, The Acts of the Apostles, is about the working through of that very controversial issue. And that Paul would be the key figure in evangelism – that was a surprise piled on top of a surprise.

It seems like God springs wonderful surprises in some of the darkest hours people face. When the Israelites were suffering most in Egypt, God liberated them from slavery. When Israel was being devastated by the Philistine army, God raised up a youngest son from a small town family to lead them – David. When the people of Israel were bitterly divided among themselves and under Roman occupation, Jesus was born to be the Savior.

But God’s wonderful surprises did not stop at the end of the New Testament Scriptures. Again and again, God has raised up inspired people in time of need. Northern Ireland was wracked by religious violence for over a generation. Surprise! Two women, one Protestant and one Catholic, rose up to build peace – and were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Surprise! The bitterest of enemies have this year joined together in a coalition government to lead the government of Northern Ireland. The Kingdom of God has not yet come, but wonderful surprises have come, and the forensic evidence indicates God’s fingerprints.

The Godless Soviet Union kept Russia and a whole collection of nations under its brutal rule for generations. Surprise! Some devout Christians who were shipyard workers in Gdansk, Poland decided they were not going to put up with tyranny any more. Surprise! The Soviet empire collapsed and the Berlin wall came down without a shot being fired. Now of course, the Kingdom of God has not yet come, but wonderful surprises have come, and the forensic evidence indicates God’s fingerprints.

South Africa tightened its brutal suppression of all people who were not 100% white for over 40 years. Many died. Millions suffered. Then, surprise! Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many others rose up to stand up for justice, and the white leadership suddenly, miraculously had the wisdom to negotiate, and South Africa had free, democratic elections and the end to apartheid without war. No one predicted that. A truly wonderful surprise. And the forensic evidence indicates God’s fingerprints.

God produces wonderful surprises in smaller matters, too. And, maybe some of these “smaller matters” are not really that small. “Shock jocks” have been major powers in American radio for years; they are overwhelmingly white males, and some of them have felt free to unleash bigotry to millions over the airwaves. The fact that it used to be worse years ago is no excuse for it happening in America, now.

The situation was ripe for a “Knight in shining armor” to slay one of those dragons.

But who would have guessed that it would be Scarlet Knights who would topple one of the dragons of demagoguery and diatribe, and what a wonderful surprise – and how appropriate – that all of these Knights in shining armor are women, and eight of them are black! Who would want to grow up to be a knight in any other kind of shining armor when you could grow up to be a Scarlet Knight?

These ladies were so impressive. I think they were inspired with a capital “I”. Maybe this will go down as a key moment in the history of American media, and of respect for women and people of color.

Of course, we have lots of other, bigger challenges. We have the seemingly endless multi-faceted tragedies of Iraq and Afghanistan. We have the ongoing realities that natural disasters hit poor people the hardest in this country – from the ongoing colossal damage from Katrina to the more minor but meaningful problems from last week’s storm in our state, and our area, and even our town (in Oakdale Mobile Home Park). And we have the sudden, shocking tragedy of the Virginia Tech massacre – and the ongoing fear that something like this might happen somewhere else, sometime else.

The tragedies are enormous. The losses are real. The fear and frustration are compelling. But we must not give up hope because God has not finished remaking our broken and hurting world yet. God is still at work, and God will surprise us again and again in some wonderful way if people step forward who are willing to be God’s instruments in times of need.

Anyone here willing to get God’s fingerprints on them when God calls for volunteers?

Let us pray. In the words of Ephesians 3:20-21, “Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever.” Amen.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

Monmouth Junction, NJ