1 Corinthians 2:7-8

Expect the Unexpected | Maundy Thursday | 1 Cor. 2:7-8 | May 14, 2022 | Pastor Andrew F. Weisner |

It is not my usual custom to give to sermons titles; but if, this evening, I were to use one, it might be, “Expect the Unexpected.”

Had our ancestors in Jerusalem – the religious leaders and the crowds – had this in mind – “expect the unexpected” – they would not have succumbed to the turn of events that followed in the course of the week. So suggests St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians: “We speak,” wrote St. Paul, “of a wisdom of God that is a mystery, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this [mystery]; for, if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:7-8).  They shout with excitement over the salvation that they expect – political liberation, not aware of the different – indeed, richer, broader, grander – salvation that God is preparing. And because God’s plan, in Christ, is not the same as their plan; … because things don’t go along the way they expect … they turn on their hailed, proposed leader, and (as St. Paul states), they “crucify the Lord of glory.”

How easy it is to lay blame somewhere else; or better yet, to lay blame on someone else, someone who didn’t come through with the way we think things ought to be. How easy it is to become frustrated, and to turn against the situation in which we find ourselves, rather than look for God in the midst of it, prayerfully looking, searching, for what God might be doing in the midst of a strange, unexpected circumstance in which we find ourselves. This happens in our families … one of our children takes interest in something that we never expected she would, and it doesn’t fit our expectations; and perhaps we become totally undone by it. Or, our circumstances at work do not progress as we expect, and we become bewildered, maybe even angry. Political, economic, or world events, take a turn that is disadvantageous to us, so we blame the president, or blame the local congressman; but do we pause to prayerfully wonder, “what is God doing in all of this?” And certainly, we are sometimes thwarted in the church, events not moving in the direction we expected, and by that – at the house of God! – we can surely be undone.

An old story goes like this (… and maybe you have heard it before)…

Once upon a time, there was an old monastery that stood on a hill outside a village. The monastery had stood there for a long, long time, and there was a time when it flourished. There were many monks, their land was fertile, there was plenty of work – and plenty of monks to help with the work; and their life of prayer was rich and satisfying.

But, over the years, in recent years, there were fewer new recruits. The older monks began to die out; new ones were not coming in. And as a result, all the monks remaining were beginning to get worried … anxious, frustrated, wondering what would become of their future, what would become of their home and monastic community. And as a result of their frustration and fear, they became angry, and crabby, especially with one another. (Some of the feelings and experiences we have in our own families are not foreign to monks in monastic communities, even though they don’t have wives and children!) Word of the crabbiness and “sour spirit” that existed in the monastery spread, and people stopped wanting to go there for their retreats, which further hurt, and frustrated, the monks in the monastery.

So the abbot of the monastery traveled into town and consulted with a sage who lived in the village. According to legend, the sage he visited was a Jewish rabbi, who the abbot had come to know over the years. The abbot recounted to his friend all the frustration and anger that was going on in the monastery, and wondered if his friend had any advice. And to this, the rabbi replied: “Well, didn’t you know, have you not heard – I have! – that the Messiah is living within your monastery?”

“No!,” replied the abbot, „I didn’t know this! Which one of the monks is he?”

“I don’t know which one,” said the sage, “but the word I have is that he is certainly there. Look for him!”

So, the abbot returns to the monastery, and tells his fellow monks the news revealed to him by his friend in the village. Some of the monks didn’t want to believe it; but others said, “but what if it’s true? We can’t ignore the presence of the Messiah! But who – which one among us – is he?”

The abbot replied, “I do not know, but I was assured that he is here, and that we must watch for him.”

And so, the monks did. Not knowing who among them the Messiah might be, each of them began to treat all the rest as if he might be actually Jesus, the Messiah, hidden secretly in their midst. And they began to treat each other with love. They began to treat each other with respect. Their fear and frustration – and anger toward each other – waned, as each of them was so concerned that he may treat unkindly the Messiah. And eventually, the word spread that something new was happening in the monastery. People came to visit and make retreats; people came back; some people stayed, and their vocations – new monks coming into the monastery – increased, so rich, so impressive, was the love within the community, because each person there was treating all the others there as if he was the very presence of Jesus the Messiah. They began to look for – to expect – the unexpected.

Had the religious leaders and the people of Jerusalem done this, many years ago, they would not have (as St. Paul wrote) “crucified the Lord of glory.”

He came in a way not expected. As St. Paul wrote to the Philippians: “though in the form of God, he did not regard his equality with God as something to be grasped,  ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being in human form, he humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.”

As we go through the events of this week that brought about our salvation, and afterward, expect the unexpected. Look for Christ – the Messiah – among those, among whom, you do not expect him to be. You will find him among the poor; you will find him among the helpless and humble; you will find him in unusual, unexpected circumstances; you will find him within your own family. You will find him where you do not expect him to be. There, well-he-may appear to give you a blessing.

Expect the unexpected … He comes to us and appears in unexpected – sometimes, surprising – ways. He told us, the night in which he was betrayed, that he even comes among us, comes to meet us, veiled, hidden, in bread and wine.  Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

___

From: Pastor Andrew F. Weisner
North American Lutheran Church
Antioch Lutheran Church, Dallas, North Carolina