The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for March 22, 2009 (Fourth Sunday in Lent)

Texts: Numbers 21:4-9/John 3-21

Title: “Journey to Treasure Island”

              There is an island on the horizon and on that island there is treasure.  Over the course of time many have made pilgrimages to the island, returning to commend the journey to others. The treasure on the island has been variously described; indeed no persons having encountered it have ever described it in quite the same way. You see, it is not the kind of treasure that can be weighed or measured. It has no mass or distinctive feature that might capture the eye. It cannot be valued in dollars and cents.  Indeed, those who have been to the island and come back to report their finding, have long sought out language to describe what exactly they discovered on the island, in the end concluding that the word “treasure,” though flawed, was most descriptive and true to their experience.  Though many pilgrims have been unable to describe the treasure, the lives they have lived after encountering it have offered bold testimony to the treasure’s worth.

               There is an island on the horizon and on that island there is treasure.  Hearing reports of the treasure the interest of a certain man was piqued and he decided to make the journey. He was soon to discover, as those who contemplated the journey before him had, that there was no ferry or other vessel that would deliver him to that distant shore. No, the journey would require personal initiative on his part. A motivated person, he would not let obstacles stand in his way. 

              In a short time the man acquired the plans and all the materials necessary to build a small boat sufficiently seaworthy to transport him to the island. Setting to work it took him very little time to construct a vessel that would suit his purposes.  Came the launch day, he was ready to take an important step in fulfilling his ambition.  He carefully pulled his boat to the water’s edge, and then into the water. Poised to step in, he was dismayed to discover water seeping at the boat’s seams. What to do now.

              As he lifted his boat from the water a passerby on the shore approached him. It seems that this passerby had seen many other prospective journeyers encounter the same problem the man now faced. While he had no skills or experience that might aid the journeyer, the passerby did have a piece of information he was willing to share. It seems there was a sage who lived not too far away who had helped other journeyers in the past.

              Eager to acquire any help that might advance his project, the journeyer, the passerby’s directions in hand, struck out in search of the sage. He soon discovered that the sage was well known by all, that he was regularly consulted by people like him.

              He soon reached his destination, well compensated for the time spent in travel by the sage’s cordial welcome. Without delay the journeyer explained his problem as the sage listened.  When he had finished detailing his aspirations to visit the island and see the treasure, the sage maintained a lengthy silence before speaking, as if to assess the journeyer’s commitment to his plan. 

              In the meantime the journeyer waited expectantly.  There was, the sage said, a special sealer he could apply to his boat that keep in watertight, a sealer that could only be acquired by those judged to most committed to their quest. A sealer?  But what kind of a sealer, the journeyer inquired. “Faith,” was the one word response.       

              There is an island on the horizon and on that island there is treasure. Over the course of time many have made pilgrimages to the island, returning to commend the journey to others. The treasure on the island has been variously described, indeed no persons having encountered it have ever described it in quite the same way. You see, it is not the kind of treasure that can be weighed or measured. It has no mass or distinctive feature that might capture the eye. It cannot be valued in dollars and cents.  Indeed, those who have been to the island and come back to report their finding, have long sought out language to describe what exactly they discovered on the island, in the end concluding that the word “treasure,” though flawed, was most descriptive and true to their experience.

              There is an island on the horizon and on that island there is treasure. On the horizon of these lives we are living there is treasure.  But the quest for treasure requires the willingness to make a pilgrimage, a willingness to work with certain tools, tools that are often acquired in a place like this.

              The church is an outfitter for pilgrims, a place where prospective pilgrims gather to ready themselves for their journey, a place where they identify and learn to use the tools they will need to succeed in their quest. Worship is a place where the challenges and rewards of the journey are honestly and openly reviewed. But it is also a place where journeyers come for encouragement, motivation, and empowerment to take up their quest. 

              Life under God is for the seeker a journey to treasure island, a journey to discover and know God even as we ourselves are known by him. It is a life of preparation, a life of striving and progressing, failing and regressing.  It is a life of maintenance and patching leaks.

               Nicodemus was on a journey to treasure island, and though he was a well informed Jewish leader, a man who in matters pertaining to God felt himself to be on very solid ground, his personal quest led him to Jesus.  Only God really knows what prompted him to seek out the Lord. Perhaps Jesus knew something about God that Nicodemus needed to know, for after all, Jesus was doing some pretty extraordinary things in God’s name.  

              Jesus, it would turn out, knew a great deal about treasure island, but the counsel he offered on how to get there, quite frankly, caught Nicodemus flat footed.  He and Jesus were definitely not on the same page.  There was that business about being born again to contend with.  “How can anyone be born after having grown old.”  A perfectly logical question. No, this business of spiritual rebirth was a concept he struggled to understand. In fact, Jesus might just as well have been speaking in another language.

             Nicodemus was on a journey to treasure island, but the lessons he learned in the synagogue needed updating if his boat was to become seaworthy. That updating for a man like Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Jewish leader, required a challenging leap. 

            Life under God is for the seeker a journey to treasure island.  But the challenges, as our friend Nicodemus discovered, can be rigorous. “Very truly, I tell you, no on can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” 

            “How can these things be?” Nicodemus was left to ask.  How indeed? The question, of course, has challenged Christians across the centuries.     

            Though there is no way of knowing if he ever posed that particular question when Jesus presented him with a challenge, the biography of Peter, Jesus’ nominal head of staff, and first among equals in Jesus’ ministry, [the biography reveals] that Peter was no stranger to the rigors of a life under God.

              Oh, yes, you would say that Peter was born from above, but not so as you would really notice in every episode that scripture records of his life.  His journey followed a meandering course, not unlike the one many of us follow today. There were days when he was on his game, days when he provided the solid support that our Lord needed. There were days when he offered great leadership to the others, days when he demonstrated great courage and determination.  But, as we well know, there were days when he performed far less well. 

             Peter stubbornly clung to a false perception of what he believed Jesus was called to do, refusing to surrender his self-serving idealistic notion of Jesus as one who would prevail against his enemies, and avoid the suffering that Jesus so openly discussed. He stubbornly clung to a false perception of what he believed he himself was called to do.  

              Peter’s journey to treasure island followed a meandering course. A passionate man who on more than one occasion allowed his passion to override his good judgment, Peter was the first the Lord turned when something needed doing, however, when the Lord turned to Peter in his time of need the disciple was nowhere to be found.

              “No on can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” The biography of Peter reports no sudden awakening of the sort that the “born again” of our day report.  Instead his is a biography to which many pilgrims like us can relate.  It is the biography of a man whose journey to treasure island challenged him to his depths.  This was a man whose faith faltered before the challenges he faced, who was forced to live with the reality that he had denied the Lord.

               To the very end Peter’s life was a work in progress, a point our gospel stresses in its concluding verses. In those concluding verses John reports Peter’s encounter with the risen Lord.  Jesus confronts Peter with an important question, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”  [referring to the other disciples]  He puts the question not just once, but three times.  Peter, disappointed that Jesus would pose such a question, does his best to assure Jesus that he does, in fact love him. The conversation proceeds with Jesus warning Peter that suffering his in his future.  He ends his interchange with his disciple with just two words, “Follow me.”

                Both Nicodemus and Peter discovered that the journey to treasure island, the journey that brings unity with God, is a rigorous one.  You and I know well the rigors of the quest. Like Nicodemus we struggle to grasp Jesus’ meaning, “You must be reborn.” How might that change my life? But what does that mean? Is that something I really want?  So many questions to take up.

Sin intrudes in our lives, doubts discourage us, preoccupations in life and indifference side track us.  Yet knowing full well that we stubbornly insist on our own way, and repeatedly veer off course, Jesus’ hand remains outstretched, “Follow me. His offer is life and treasure.      

                 There is an island on the horizon and on that island there is treasure. Our life under God is a pilgrimage.  It is a quest for treasure.

                Nicodemus made the quest, and along the way he met up with Jesus who set some conditions for the quest that troubled the pious Jew. “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”  We are not given to know what he did with that information. 

                  But there was another man, Peter, in whose biography we see the quest played out, a man in whose all too human striving and failures we glimpse our own biographies come into view. Peter didn’t consciously live his life as one “born again,” but in faith he opened himself to rebirth in whatever form God might choose to make that happen. It is that essential openness that God is calling us to maintain. Who knows what God is prepared to do through some experience you may have this very day.

                 A life in pilgrimage to treasure island is a rigorous life, a life that in most cases follows a meandering course. It’s rigorous life, but a life lived under the sovereignty of God who, as John would remind us, “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

                Life under God is a pilgrimage.  But we have a companion for our journey who will never leave us.  We may balk and backtrack, but the invitation is never withdrawn; “follow me.” AMEN.

              PRAYER

             Living God, who ordained that each of us live our lives in this small sliver of time, our minds struggle to fathom the breadth of your sovereignty, a sovereignty spanning the entire earth for all generations. We do not ask for wisdom to penetrate your plan in establishing the times and seasons as they are, if such were even possible, but we pray for courage that we might live our days fully and faithfully.  Grant us vision to see that which we need to see, and the will to do that which you would have us to do. In all that we do, O God, may our lives reflect the glory of our Savior, your Son, Jesus.

               Life is a journey of discovery, this we know full well, O Lord, a journey to explore the treasure of a freedom the world cannot confer, a journey to fulfill the persistent longing of the heart that no ambition apart from you can satisfy. With your Spirit to guide us, O God, we know we shall not be lost even though we wander. In Christ who saves us, we know the sins we commit are not a burden we must forever carry. With a confidence born of faith may we face all challenges we shall confront in this life knowing, O God, that Christ bore the punishment our sins deserved, knowing that sin and death have made their last stand and lost.

                O Counselor, we pray your blessing upon the confused and discouraged this day.  Brace those who face new obstacles in their daily lives that have undermined their confidence, demands in the workplace they feel ill-equipped to me, problems in the home they have been powerless to resolve.  Abide with those who live with stress as they struggle to make ends meet.  Be with those who struggle with the demands of parenthood, who feel themselves tested by issues they are incapable of handling. May those who struggle with temptation this day, O Lord, be empowered to meet the challenge with a brave heart.

               Lord, we pray your intercession to help us find ways and means to stop the downward spiral of the world’s economy, even as we lift up the unemployed and underemployed who struggle to hold on.  In your mercy help us help ourselves by finding strategies that will put the economy back on track. Be with the men and women within our government, and governments of the world who have been given authority to map recovery strategies.  May their persistence be rewarded with positive results.

               We pray, O God, for our church that our love for you may grow as we grow in faith and mission.  We give thanks for all those partners in ministry who pray with us and for us, who generously share their special gifts and experience that our ministry might prosper. Build up the church, O Christ, that we might become the church you are calling us to be. In our ministry and outreach may your presence be made visible, and your heart formed in our hearts, and in the hearts of those to whom you send us

                 Abide with those who live in harms way. We lift up the sons and daughters of our nation who are posted around the world in the military.  We lift up the innocents who live amid war and civil breakdown. May the voices of the peacemakers of our time gain a new audience, and may their counsel be heeded with new urgency.

We pray your blessing on this congregation that has gathered today.  May our experience in worship and fellowship today be a source of renewal and strength for all who have come. Charged to pray with and for each other we now lift up those who have special needs….We pray…