A Time To Build Another Story On A Stone House
Sermon
Love Is Your Disguise
Second Lesson Sermons For Lent/Easter
There was much excitement in the summer of '64 at Tell Makor in Israel. Digging and sifting, digging and sifting, as two exploratory trenches were sunk into the earth where, millennium upon millennium, people ever more civilized and refined had lived. A tell is a place where, because of strategic advantage and fresh water, villages and cities have been created and destroyed over a long period of time. One city built on the ashes of another, allowing a careful archeologist to study in one location the many stages of civilization. James Michener in his novel The Source tells the story of Tell Makor. Funding the expedition is a wealthy Chicagoan whose imagination has been titillated by the possibility of finding the remains of a crusader's castle. The imagination of the archeologists at the site runs much deeper. In 1964 digging at such a site was done by hand: hot, hard, slow, careful work. After many days at Tell Makor they came upon a stone inscribed with the year 1105 A.D. Word went out, "It looks as if we've hit the castle!" And so careful work began in the recovery of crusader era artifacts.
But in the second exploratory trench there were no finds of the magnitude of a castle, so work continued, layer by layer finding artifacts as each layer of habitation was penetrated:
a stone from a place of worship which showed signs that in different times Muslim, Christian, and Jewish congregations had occupied its walls; a Roman coin dated 70 A.D.; a portion of Greek statuary, 165 B.C.; a Babylonian spear point and soldier's helmet, 600 B.C.; a horned Hebrew altar dated 1000 B.C.; a clay fertility goddess, 2000 B.C.; a flint sickle, 10,000 B.C. Twelve thousand years ago, "in some mysterious way he [the owner of the sickle] had made grain grow where he wanted it, and with the sickle to aid him, had been able to settle down and start a village that had become in time the site of a Roman city, of a fine Byzantine church and a towering crusader's castle."1 Soon after the finding of the sickle, the archeologists and their team hit bedrock, and the long hard exploratory digging stopped.
In First Peter we read, "Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house ..." (1 Peter 2:4-5). At Tell Makor the story of human civilization is told by stones and artifacts piled one layer upon another, and James Michener weaves together the stories of the people of the many layers to form a long, wonderful novel.
And likewise our sacred story in many ways is a story of stones marking our journey with God -- like ancient mile markers placed along the Roman highway, through wilderness roads to a land of promise, into exile, and on the road of return from exile. Our sacred history is a journey of stories and stones of God's people looking expectantly to the distance for the next story and the next stone.
In Genesis we learn the story of Jacob, son of Isaac, traveling between Beer-sheba and Haran, who in a certain place stayed for the night. He laid down his head on one of the stones from the place and began to dream. In his dream he saw a ladder set up between heaven and earth. And he saw the angels of God ascending and descending on it. "And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, 'I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants. And your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go ...' " And Jacob awoke from sleep and knew that the Lord was in that place. In the morning he took the stone which had been under his head and set it on a pillar and poured oil on it. He called that place Bethel, which means house of God (Genesis 28:10-18, author paraphrase).
Jacob marked that place with a stone and called it God's house. Some distance on, down the highway of history, we see another stone marker. Moses and Aaron stand together with the elders of Israel. They stand near a great stone, the stone of Sinai the Mountain. Moses receives the instruction from the Lord to come up on the mountain and the promise that Moses will receive tables of stone -- the law and the commandment. So Moses entered the cloud which is the presence of the Lord and stayed on the stone of Sinai forty days and forty nights. He returned from the Lord with tables of stone for the instruction and guidance of the people of God, and we learn from them even to this day.
And, at a distance on the highway of history, we find more stones, five smooth stones held in the hand of a boy standing before a great and threatening giant of a man. The giant scoffs at the lad who whirls a stone in a leather sling and unleashes its power. With the crashing of armor on the stones of the ground, the giant falls because of the power of a stone in the hand of a fearless boy who was faithful to God.
And on the highway of history in the distance there is Jesus on the temple, tempted. "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone' " (Matthew 4:6). Jesus spoke to us of stones, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone ..." (John 8:7).
And he said, "Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
-- Matthew 18:4-6
And on the highway of history in the distance there is a stone; it is in the midst of a garden and the earth is shaking -- a great earthquake. "For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it." The guards trembled and were paralyzed with fear becoming like dead men (Matthew 28:2-4).
We receive the instruction in First Peter "Like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house ... For it stands in scripture: 'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a corner stone chosen and precious ...
the very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner ...' " (1 Peter 2:5-7). Be yourselves built into a spiritual house like living stones -- a house made of stones with Christ as its cornerstone. Build on Christ, on the good foundation as stones being constructed into a spiritual house.
One of the great accomplishments in the building of the Golden Gate Bridge in the 1930s was that the second 746 foot tower, roughly the size of a 65-story skyscraper was placed on bedrock out in the entrance of San Francisco Bay -- bedrock that was 65 feet below the surface of the water. In the 1930s it was an amazing achievement to build on bedrock six-and-a-half stories deep under water. But if we are to build anywhere, it is important to be on a good foundation. Be as living stones constructed into a spiritual house built on the cornerstone of Christ, the good foundation. Our highway of history is marked by stories and stones, and collected, they are constructed together into a spiritual house and we have a cornerstone which is Christ, a firm foundation for our building. But this house which is constructed of stones needs a new level, a new story. It is our story as we are the living stones to be constructed and Christ is the head of the corner.
In First Peter we read, "Like new born babes long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation; for you have tasted the kindness of the Lord."
Now it is time for our level in the tell of history. It is time for our story of the spiritual house. God is building it, writing it, even in these days. But let us not allow ourselves to be left out of this construction. Let us not be cast aside or be found unacceptable in the building of this story for this is our time, and this is our opportunity to be crafted in the hands of the Master Builder as living stones into a house solid and sure and true, built on the cornerstone which is Christ who is our good foundation. Once you were no people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy; once you had no story, now you are part of God's story. So be built into a stone house and may your story, may our story, be as good, as strong, and as faithful as those which have gone before.
____________
1. James A. Michener, The Source (New York: Random House, 1965), p. 82.
But in the second exploratory trench there were no finds of the magnitude of a castle, so work continued, layer by layer finding artifacts as each layer of habitation was penetrated:
a stone from a place of worship which showed signs that in different times Muslim, Christian, and Jewish congregations had occupied its walls; a Roman coin dated 70 A.D.; a portion of Greek statuary, 165 B.C.; a Babylonian spear point and soldier's helmet, 600 B.C.; a horned Hebrew altar dated 1000 B.C.; a clay fertility goddess, 2000 B.C.; a flint sickle, 10,000 B.C. Twelve thousand years ago, "in some mysterious way he [the owner of the sickle] had made grain grow where he wanted it, and with the sickle to aid him, had been able to settle down and start a village that had become in time the site of a Roman city, of a fine Byzantine church and a towering crusader's castle."1 Soon after the finding of the sickle, the archeologists and their team hit bedrock, and the long hard exploratory digging stopped.
In First Peter we read, "Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house ..." (1 Peter 2:4-5). At Tell Makor the story of human civilization is told by stones and artifacts piled one layer upon another, and James Michener weaves together the stories of the people of the many layers to form a long, wonderful novel.
And likewise our sacred story in many ways is a story of stones marking our journey with God -- like ancient mile markers placed along the Roman highway, through wilderness roads to a land of promise, into exile, and on the road of return from exile. Our sacred history is a journey of stories and stones of God's people looking expectantly to the distance for the next story and the next stone.
In Genesis we learn the story of Jacob, son of Isaac, traveling between Beer-sheba and Haran, who in a certain place stayed for the night. He laid down his head on one of the stones from the place and began to dream. In his dream he saw a ladder set up between heaven and earth. And he saw the angels of God ascending and descending on it. "And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, 'I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants. And your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go ...' " And Jacob awoke from sleep and knew that the Lord was in that place. In the morning he took the stone which had been under his head and set it on a pillar and poured oil on it. He called that place Bethel, which means house of God (Genesis 28:10-18, author paraphrase).
Jacob marked that place with a stone and called it God's house. Some distance on, down the highway of history, we see another stone marker. Moses and Aaron stand together with the elders of Israel. They stand near a great stone, the stone of Sinai the Mountain. Moses receives the instruction from the Lord to come up on the mountain and the promise that Moses will receive tables of stone -- the law and the commandment. So Moses entered the cloud which is the presence of the Lord and stayed on the stone of Sinai forty days and forty nights. He returned from the Lord with tables of stone for the instruction and guidance of the people of God, and we learn from them even to this day.
And, at a distance on the highway of history, we find more stones, five smooth stones held in the hand of a boy standing before a great and threatening giant of a man. The giant scoffs at the lad who whirls a stone in a leather sling and unleashes its power. With the crashing of armor on the stones of the ground, the giant falls because of the power of a stone in the hand of a fearless boy who was faithful to God.
And on the highway of history in the distance there is Jesus on the temple, tempted. "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone' " (Matthew 4:6). Jesus spoke to us of stones, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone ..." (John 8:7).
And he said, "Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
-- Matthew 18:4-6
And on the highway of history in the distance there is a stone; it is in the midst of a garden and the earth is shaking -- a great earthquake. "For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it." The guards trembled and were paralyzed with fear becoming like dead men (Matthew 28:2-4).
We receive the instruction in First Peter "Like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house ... For it stands in scripture: 'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a corner stone chosen and precious ...
the very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner ...' " (1 Peter 2:5-7). Be yourselves built into a spiritual house like living stones -- a house made of stones with Christ as its cornerstone. Build on Christ, on the good foundation as stones being constructed into a spiritual house.
One of the great accomplishments in the building of the Golden Gate Bridge in the 1930s was that the second 746 foot tower, roughly the size of a 65-story skyscraper was placed on bedrock out in the entrance of San Francisco Bay -- bedrock that was 65 feet below the surface of the water. In the 1930s it was an amazing achievement to build on bedrock six-and-a-half stories deep under water. But if we are to build anywhere, it is important to be on a good foundation. Be as living stones constructed into a spiritual house built on the cornerstone of Christ, the good foundation. Our highway of history is marked by stories and stones, and collected, they are constructed together into a spiritual house and we have a cornerstone which is Christ, a firm foundation for our building. But this house which is constructed of stones needs a new level, a new story. It is our story as we are the living stones to be constructed and Christ is the head of the corner.
In First Peter we read, "Like new born babes long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation; for you have tasted the kindness of the Lord."
Now it is time for our level in the tell of history. It is time for our story of the spiritual house. God is building it, writing it, even in these days. But let us not allow ourselves to be left out of this construction. Let us not be cast aside or be found unacceptable in the building of this story for this is our time, and this is our opportunity to be crafted in the hands of the Master Builder as living stones into a house solid and sure and true, built on the cornerstone which is Christ who is our good foundation. Once you were no people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy; once you had no story, now you are part of God's story. So be built into a stone house and may your story, may our story, be as good, as strong, and as faithful as those which have gone before.
____________
1. James A. Michener, The Source (New York: Random House, 1965), p. 82.
