i think i know, but i don't know why

questions are the answers you might need

A sermon on the preacher's hymn to time's timelessness:

In high school, my favorite band was Oasis. I’m sure you’ve heard them. In the 90s, they were basically inescapable. iTunes tells me their most popular songs are Wonderwall, Don’t Look Back in Anger, and Champaign Supernova. And that seems about right. Unless you were living under a rock, you must have heard at least one of those songs a time or two. 

As for me, I’ve listened to those songs many a time! Like many people of a certain age, I have an overestimation of the music of my youth. And there’s a version of this sermon where I tell you all about Oasis, too! But suffice it to say, the thing that made Oasis so compelling is the very same thing that also made them so unstable! 

Oasis was fronted by two working-class brothers. When they hit it big, they burnt through their money like a couple of teenagers who discovered a fortune—which is more or less exactly what happened! And while that might make for rock and roll fodder, it wasn’t the real drama. No, the real electricity was the energy between those two brothers. 

You all know how brothers can be. One moment, they’re thick as thieves. And the next, they’re at each other’s throats! Well, that’s how it was for Oasis. The push and pull between those two catapulted them to fame. And, as it should happen, it was also the source of their demise.

I don’t want to talk about Oasis’ breakup, though. I want to talk about their meteoric rise. In hindsight, it’s easy enough to see what made them so riveting. But, at the time, they were just a couple of “chancers,” as Noel, the elder brother, put it. 

That’s one of the things I like about the documentary. The two brothers are probably the world’s biggest Oasis fans themselves! When they tell their story, it’s as if they can’t believe it! They talk about Oasis like enthusiasts with all the inside information. 

It’s charming to listen to them reflect on their rapid ascent. But the observation that’s worth the price of admission is an aside Noel makes. He says if he had known beforehand how popular their first album would become, he’d never have been able to finish it! He'd have been too worried about getting the songs just right!

He’s clearly had time to think, and he’s noticed something! Success doesn’t always help. Just as often, it hinders! Before he made it, Noel wasn’t writing music to get famous. No, he did it just for the fun of it! And, paradoxically, that ease is what fueled him to write those powerful tunes!

…There’s some plain wisdom here. Isn’t there? If you’re too worried about an outcome, you’re liable to never act in the first place! Contrary to conventional wisdom, objectives aren’t inspiring. They’re stifling!

This is what the Quester is saying in today’s passage, too! There is a right time to get anything done in this life. The trouble, though, is that we don’t know what the time is! And the rub is, if you take the right action at the wrong time, you’re guaranteed disaster despite doing the right thing!

And as upsetting as that is, the real problem is that we can never be certain when the right time to act is! And we can’t find out, either! But if that isn’t unnerving, the reason we can’t discern the times is that God isn’t telling! In fact, as far as the Quester can tell, God isn’t just keeping quiet on the matter. No, God is actively frustrating our attempts to verify the times!

This is scandalous for those of us who have been bilked into believing God is just here to help our lives roll along. Isn’t it? But it shouldn’t shock us. Why, Jesus himself said as much.

When the disciples wanted to know when the Kingdom of God would come on earth as it is in heaven, Jesus just shrugged! He said he didn’t know! And he said God isn’t in the business of telling, either. The crux, insisted Christ, isn’t knowing the time. No, it’s just getting on with life that can end at any given moment.

Although it may not sound like it, that’s really the best advice there is! First of all, it’s probably grace itself that keeps God from burdening us with the future. But it’s also what Noel of Oasis says helped him write those monster hits! The key to action isn’t knowing the outcome. No, it’s just getting out of that corner!

And it is a corner, too. We like to think that if we knew what was coming down the pike, the road would open before us. But in reality, the opposite is actually true! It’s only being untroubled about the future that frees you to act at all in the present!

Knowing the times is not only impossible, it also doesn’t help! No, that theoretical information only freezes you in a time that is really no time at all! Surprisingly, the impetus to action isn’t protecting yourself from surprises. No, it’s an expectation and openness to surprise!

…That, finally, is all today’s passage is saying! Of course, we all want the Bible to give us some decoder for the times. But today’s passage offers something more humble. And, therefore, more realistic. 

The Quester tells you to make yourself at home in this bewildering ol’ world. Enjoy life’s little pleasures as they come your way. Relish a good meal when you can. And find satisfaction in your work, too. 

Sure, this may not seem like much to the part of us that’s never satisfied. But, as our office administrator said, if you’re happy with your work and home life, you’re actually doing very well. And, as our passage says, those simple joys are nothing less than gifts from the very hand of God—GOD!

This is what Luther loved about Ecclesiastes! The smoke Ecclesiastes decries is simply the disappointment of an ungrateful heart. So long as you think you’re owed the world, nothing will satisfy you. It’s not the gifts that fall short. It’s us.

Absolutely everything changes when you know, deep down, that you live every single second of life in utter dependence. Once you know that, the rest becomes blessing after blessing, freely flowing from God’s graciousness! It’s the grateful heart that finds everything, good and bad alike, as nothing less than God’s provision!

The Bible doesn’t lie! When you have God, you lack for nothing! With God, it doesn’t matter how much you have. And it doesn’t matter how little you have, either! When you have God, you’ve already got it all! The rest is just gravy.

…When we hear the Quester telling us to appreciate our daily bread and everyday work, we think we’re being told to settle. In reality, though, we’re really being told to settle for nothing less than every last drop of all God’s goodness! In fact, expecting anything else is actually a plan for discontent! Not only is reality all we really have, but there’s also nothing better, too! And wanting anything more only ruins everything.

But you know what? That’s not all! God has even more in store for you! When it all becomes more than you could hope for, you burst into life yourself!

And not just any life, either! No, you blossom into the life that really is life! You come to the life that’s not a project to manage or a problem to solve. No, you open to the life that’s pure adventure through and through!

When life becomes the good gift it’s been all along, the future ceases to be a threat! Suddenly, even the unknown becomes nothing less than a promise! And when that’s all the future is, not only is the outcome out of your control, it’s also beside the point! Things can shake out as planned, or not. It doesn’t matter! When you have it all, nothing can spoil the fun! 

Herein lies your freedom! And you won’t find it anywhere else, either! Yes, the old sinner in you will say you can only act if everything is assured. But all that’s really said is that you can never do anything! But, with God, you don’t have to worry about outcomes anymore! Instead, you can finally just get going in the present, come what may!

However, it’s not as simple as all that. Is it? As Bob Dylan, reflecting on the genius of his youth, said, you can’t go back. The past has taught us the hard way to hedge our bets.

We can’t just recapture our innocence. Can we? For all intents and purposes, it’s been lost. And as much as we might wish we could gin it up, we can’t. That’s beyond us.

…One night, a world-weary man found himself in the exact same spot. For most of his life, he thought he had a pretty good handle on things. He was successful. He was discerning. And he was even modest, to boot!

But then, this itinerate rabbi had shown up and put everything on its head! This traveling preacher was working miracles clearly only someone from God could have done. But this traveling preacher wasn’t authorized. So one night, at the end of his wits, Nicodemus knocked on this Jesus’ door.

If it took Jesus a second to answer, it took him a year. When he emerged, light spilled out of the doorway. But it couldn’t have been any light, either. There was something to it.

As the cool night air swirled ‘round them, Jesus told Nicodemus he’d need to be born again. But poor Nicodemus couldn’t imagine such a thing happening to him anymore. And, as usual, Jesus didn’t make matters easier, either. Enigmatically, Jesus said Nicodemus needed to be born “anothen.” 

“Anothen” can mean either “from above” or “again.” And more than likely, Jesus chose that word for its very ambiguity. And, no doubt, for its fullness, too. Nicodemus needed a new life. But he didn’t need just any new life. No, he needed a new life that was beyond him, above him.

Presumably, that pulled the rug out from under Nicodemus. He only asked one more befuddled question. And after that, he didn’t say anything else at all! But Jesus launched into an entire sermon on the Holy Spirit and the unending love of God in reply. When Jesus finished, it was daytime, and Nicodemus was nowhere to be found.

But that’s not the end of Nicodemus’ story. And you know what? It’s not the end of yours, either! I don’t know what brought you here, to Jesus’ doorway, today. Maybe it’s nothing more than habit. But maybe, like Nicodemus, you’re strangely drawn to this Jesus. 

No matter what, though, like Nicodemus, you’re weary. Aren’t you? We all are. But that’s not the similarity that really matters. No, that’s just the one all of us sinners share.

…No, the commonality that really matters is that, like Nicodemus, it’s the Holy Spirit who brought you here! And even more importantly, if you can believe it, is that as you’re driven to your wit’s end, you’re coming to the one place where your new life from above can finally begin again! That fresh start we all desire is closer than we know! We’ve just been looking the wrong way! 

That new life that sees everything as a gift of God is not in us! It’s in Christ! And by your baptism, that old life stuck in your thankless self ended once and for all! In your baptism, you died! That’s right, you died!

And the life you now live is lived in Christ! Christ, whose innocence knows no bounds! Christ, whose zeal knows no limit! Christ, whose passion can’t be held back!

In Christ, you now live outside yourself! Now, everything is totally new for you! And best of all, in Christ, you’ve already hit the jackpot, too! From now on, you’re playing with house money! You can’t lose anymore! In Christ, you’ve already won it all!

In Christ, everything else can finally just be everything else, too! As the Quester says, there’s a right time for everything, but you don’t know when! And now, you don’t have to, either! If something works out, great! And if not, oh well!

Now, failure is just failure! It doesn’t mean you’re a failure! It just means you did the right thing at the wrong time. Or, it may mean you did the wrong thing. But that’s another sermon! Either way, that’s all it means! 

The outcome is in Christ’s hands! And that’s where it’s been all along, too! The only difference is that now that’s not a problem for you! No, now it’s a promise! And it’s a promise that makes everything new—including you! Yes, you.

And listen, if that seems too good to be true, too bad! That’s right, too bad! It’s true! It’s true. And the sooner you get used to that, the better. 

Go ahead and fret if you want. It’ll be foolish, no doubt. But it doesn’t change a thing about your hot streak in the Holy Spirit! You’ve already won the cosmic lottery! Everything else is now sheer bonus!

…Well, I hope you can’t hold back. But I know how it goes in real life. And anyway, it’s all true anyway! Even if you’re still caught in the never-ending push and pull between saint and sinner, Christ has already settled the matter for you once and for all!

Now, for you, it’s just a matter of time! That old sinner in you will one day pass away. And on that day, all that will be left of you is the true you! The you in Christ! The you that falls in awe to gratefully receive everything and eternity, too, from the hand of God!

And since that’s true, let’s get a jump start on the way it’s going to be! Our hymn of the day is hymn number 636, How Small Our Span of Life. hymn number 636, How Small Our Span of Life. Let’s sing!