Curiosity And Questions
Sermon
Sermons on the Gospel Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Object:
When I was sorting through household items in Minnesota, preparing for a move to Florida, I came across my old Nancy Drew mysteries. The pages were worn, some had my childhood scribbles on them, the pictures on the covers had started to fade. The question was, "Should I keep them or not?" Reluctantly, I decided not to keep them. I took the books to an antiquarian bookstore where a man offered me $30 for the 25 books. I took the money and walked out the door. When I got to the corner, I turned around and went back to the store. I said I had to have just one copy back.
I needed to keep one of those Nancy Drew mysteries because of what they represented to me. When I read them as a child, I was transported into a world of questions and mysteries. It was a magical world of curiosity and surprise, where a suspicious man in a black hat standing under a street light in the dark turns out to be just a guy waiting for a date. And the friendly man at the neighborhood fruit market turns out to be a villain. Nancy Drew taught me that things are not always what they seem. She taught me that questions were good and surprise was right around the corner. But the best thing about Nancy Drew was her curiosity.
Curiosity is a virtue. In another childhood story I loved, Tom Sawyer wondered if he could convince his friends that it was a privilege to whitewash a fence. He was successful. His curiosity and reframing of a situation changed the perspective from a negative to a positive. Curiosity is the first step to seeing things through new eyes.
Yet, curiosity often gets a bad rap. As children, we were told that curiosity killed the cat. In the church, we are sometimes suspicious of curiosity and questions. The movie, The DaVinci Code, raises a lot of interesting questions that could provide a very interesting discussion. Psalm 77 raises questions: God, where is your power? Why don't you hear me when I call out to you? Why do you have such a short memory? Where is your love and compassion? The last five chapters of Job have a list of the world's most fascinating questions. The ancient rabbis loved questions. They told wonderful stories that left you hanging at the end. No answers, just questions that make you think ... and maybe see something new. Here is one of the ancient stories from the Talmud, a collection of Jewish teachings.
A group of rabbis decided to give a gift to the emperor and discussed whom they should send. They decided to ask Nahum, the man of Gamzo, because he was used to having miracles happen to him. So they gave Nahum a bag of gifts for the emperor. On the journey, Nahum spent a night at an inn. In the middle of the night, some men from the inn stole the contents of Nahum's bag, and filled it with dust, instead. When Nahum appeared before the emperor with a bag of dust, the emperor lost his temper. He said the Jews were trying to make a fool of him. He ordered Nahum put in jail. That night, Elijah appeared in the emperor's dream and said, "Perhaps this dust is part of the dust of their patriarch Abraham. Whenever he threw some of it at his enemies it turned into swords." The emperor awoke and decided to try some of the dust against his enemy. It worked! The emperor's army won the battle. Nahum was immediately taken to the treasury and his bag was filled with precious jewels. Then Nahum returned home. On the way he stayed in the same inn, where he told his story. The same men who had stolen from Nahum decided to take some dust to the emperor. But when their dust was tested it did not turn into swords. All of those men were put to death.1
What conclusions are we to draw from this story? The rabbis weren't interested in answers. They used stories to make their students think, raise questions, struggle with issues, and open their eyes to new truths. Being curious is good.
Nicodemus was a curious man. He was so driven by his curiosity about Jesus that he came to him in the dead of night. Nicodemus was a learned man who was well acquainted with the teaching methods of the ancient rabbis. Jesus sees the longing in Nicodemus' heart so he responds with compassion, welcoming Nicodemus and his questions. Jesus seems to know that Nicodemus is considering leaving behind the truth he has known in order to explore something new. Like a good rabbi, Jesus invites him into this new realm of insight and then pushes him beyond his comfort zone. Nicodemus is confused by Jesus' words. Confusion isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is often the consequence of curiosity. Nicodemus tries to make sense of Jesus' words about being born again. So he asks questions. Nicodemus was also a rabbi. I wonder if Nicodemus realized that Jesus was helping him to see a new reality. Do you suppose that Nicodemus realized being born again means one has the chance to grow up again? If Nicodemus had that chance, what would he do differently? Jesus is inviting Nicodemus to be curious about his life and look at it with a different set of assumptions and expectations. Nicodemus did not choose to be born. But he could choose a redeemed revision of his life, seeing that God loves him with a sacrificial love that overflows from this life into a life that is to come. This was a stunning new way of thinking about God. For Nicodemus, the living water of the Torah was expanding into a whole new pool of wisdom. Curiosity was opening the door to transformation.
Another group of spiritual people who were curious were the desert fathers. They were the first Christian hermits, escaping to the deserts of Egypt in the fourth century. They were way ahead of their time. They sought a new way to God that was uncharted and freely chosen. They were willing to lose themselves in Christ and the mysteries of life. They knew they had to die to the world's value system as Christ had died for them and then rise from the dead with him in the light of an entirely new wisdom and truth. Here is one of their stories.
One of the elders lay dying in Scete. The brothers surrounded his bed, dressed him in a shroud, and began to weep. But the elder opened his eyes and laughed. He laughed another time, and then a third time. When the brothers saw this, they asked him, saying: "Tell us, Father, why you are laughing while we weep?" He said to them: "I laughed the first time because you fear death. I laughed the second time because you are not ready for death. And the third time I laughed because I go now from my labors to my rest." As soon as he had said this, he closed his eyes in death.2
Curiosity, questions, a new reality -- what did Nicodemus decide about Jesus? We don't know. But there is a hint later in the story. Nicodemus is going with Joseph of Arimathea to Jesus' tomb. Nicodemus is carrying with him 100 pounds of precious ointment for his teacher's body. Do you suppose the very extravagance of his gift means that he got it, that he began to understand the new reality? Do you suppose that he knew Jesus' death was for him -- Nicodemus -- a new life, covered with the extravagance of God's love? Good question. Did he understand? I wonder. Do we? Amen.
____________
1. A. Cohen, Everyman's Talmud (New York: Schocken Books, 1975), p. 80.
2. Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert (New York: New Directions Books, 1960), pp. 49-50.
I needed to keep one of those Nancy Drew mysteries because of what they represented to me. When I read them as a child, I was transported into a world of questions and mysteries. It was a magical world of curiosity and surprise, where a suspicious man in a black hat standing under a street light in the dark turns out to be just a guy waiting for a date. And the friendly man at the neighborhood fruit market turns out to be a villain. Nancy Drew taught me that things are not always what they seem. She taught me that questions were good and surprise was right around the corner. But the best thing about Nancy Drew was her curiosity.
Curiosity is a virtue. In another childhood story I loved, Tom Sawyer wondered if he could convince his friends that it was a privilege to whitewash a fence. He was successful. His curiosity and reframing of a situation changed the perspective from a negative to a positive. Curiosity is the first step to seeing things through new eyes.
Yet, curiosity often gets a bad rap. As children, we were told that curiosity killed the cat. In the church, we are sometimes suspicious of curiosity and questions. The movie, The DaVinci Code, raises a lot of interesting questions that could provide a very interesting discussion. Psalm 77 raises questions: God, where is your power? Why don't you hear me when I call out to you? Why do you have such a short memory? Where is your love and compassion? The last five chapters of Job have a list of the world's most fascinating questions. The ancient rabbis loved questions. They told wonderful stories that left you hanging at the end. No answers, just questions that make you think ... and maybe see something new. Here is one of the ancient stories from the Talmud, a collection of Jewish teachings.
A group of rabbis decided to give a gift to the emperor and discussed whom they should send. They decided to ask Nahum, the man of Gamzo, because he was used to having miracles happen to him. So they gave Nahum a bag of gifts for the emperor. On the journey, Nahum spent a night at an inn. In the middle of the night, some men from the inn stole the contents of Nahum's bag, and filled it with dust, instead. When Nahum appeared before the emperor with a bag of dust, the emperor lost his temper. He said the Jews were trying to make a fool of him. He ordered Nahum put in jail. That night, Elijah appeared in the emperor's dream and said, "Perhaps this dust is part of the dust of their patriarch Abraham. Whenever he threw some of it at his enemies it turned into swords." The emperor awoke and decided to try some of the dust against his enemy. It worked! The emperor's army won the battle. Nahum was immediately taken to the treasury and his bag was filled with precious jewels. Then Nahum returned home. On the way he stayed in the same inn, where he told his story. The same men who had stolen from Nahum decided to take some dust to the emperor. But when their dust was tested it did not turn into swords. All of those men were put to death.1
What conclusions are we to draw from this story? The rabbis weren't interested in answers. They used stories to make their students think, raise questions, struggle with issues, and open their eyes to new truths. Being curious is good.
Nicodemus was a curious man. He was so driven by his curiosity about Jesus that he came to him in the dead of night. Nicodemus was a learned man who was well acquainted with the teaching methods of the ancient rabbis. Jesus sees the longing in Nicodemus' heart so he responds with compassion, welcoming Nicodemus and his questions. Jesus seems to know that Nicodemus is considering leaving behind the truth he has known in order to explore something new. Like a good rabbi, Jesus invites him into this new realm of insight and then pushes him beyond his comfort zone. Nicodemus is confused by Jesus' words. Confusion isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is often the consequence of curiosity. Nicodemus tries to make sense of Jesus' words about being born again. So he asks questions. Nicodemus was also a rabbi. I wonder if Nicodemus realized that Jesus was helping him to see a new reality. Do you suppose that Nicodemus realized being born again means one has the chance to grow up again? If Nicodemus had that chance, what would he do differently? Jesus is inviting Nicodemus to be curious about his life and look at it with a different set of assumptions and expectations. Nicodemus did not choose to be born. But he could choose a redeemed revision of his life, seeing that God loves him with a sacrificial love that overflows from this life into a life that is to come. This was a stunning new way of thinking about God. For Nicodemus, the living water of the Torah was expanding into a whole new pool of wisdom. Curiosity was opening the door to transformation.
Another group of spiritual people who were curious were the desert fathers. They were the first Christian hermits, escaping to the deserts of Egypt in the fourth century. They were way ahead of their time. They sought a new way to God that was uncharted and freely chosen. They were willing to lose themselves in Christ and the mysteries of life. They knew they had to die to the world's value system as Christ had died for them and then rise from the dead with him in the light of an entirely new wisdom and truth. Here is one of their stories.
One of the elders lay dying in Scete. The brothers surrounded his bed, dressed him in a shroud, and began to weep. But the elder opened his eyes and laughed. He laughed another time, and then a third time. When the brothers saw this, they asked him, saying: "Tell us, Father, why you are laughing while we weep?" He said to them: "I laughed the first time because you fear death. I laughed the second time because you are not ready for death. And the third time I laughed because I go now from my labors to my rest." As soon as he had said this, he closed his eyes in death.2
Curiosity, questions, a new reality -- what did Nicodemus decide about Jesus? We don't know. But there is a hint later in the story. Nicodemus is going with Joseph of Arimathea to Jesus' tomb. Nicodemus is carrying with him 100 pounds of precious ointment for his teacher's body. Do you suppose the very extravagance of his gift means that he got it, that he began to understand the new reality? Do you suppose that he knew Jesus' death was for him -- Nicodemus -- a new life, covered with the extravagance of God's love? Good question. Did he understand? I wonder. Do we? Amen.
____________
1. A. Cohen, Everyman's Talmud (New York: Schocken Books, 1975), p. 80.
2. Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert (New York: New Directions Books, 1960), pp. 49-50.
