Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
There’s a somewhat obscure book in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series you
may or may not be familiar with called A Horse and His Boy.
And this book tells the story of a boy named Shasta. And Shasta has quite a great many of difficult situations thrown at him. At the beginning of the story, he learns the fisherman who raised him is not actually his father. He learns this truth when the fisherman tries to sell him into slavery. It is only with the help of a talking horse that he is able to escape. This horse works with Shasta to try to return to the horse’s native land of Narnia. While they make the journey, they face many hardships. They are chased by lions, face dangerous beasts during the night sleeping at a tomb, endure hunger and thirst in the desert, and encounter yet more lions.
And if all this weren’t enough, in the course of their difficult journey, Shasta gets separated, and a deep fog rolls over him. And he finds himself unable to see ahead of him and completely and utterly alone.
It is at that point that Shasta notices the sound of someone nearby. An “unwelcome traveler.”
Somehow, Shasta finds the courage to speak to this person by him. And as they strike up a conversation, Shasta tells this stranger all the misfortunes he has encountered on his travels.
But the stranger says to him, “I do not call you unfortunate”
Shasta replies “Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?” “There was only one lion: but he was swift of foot.”
And this book tells the story of a boy named Shasta. And Shasta has quite a great many of difficult situations thrown at him. At the beginning of the story, he learns the fisherman who raised him is not actually his father. He learns this truth when the fisherman tries to sell him into slavery. It is only with the help of a talking horse that he is able to escape. This horse works with Shasta to try to return to the horse’s native land of Narnia. While they make the journey, they face many hardships. They are chased by lions, face dangerous beasts during the night sleeping at a tomb, endure hunger and thirst in the desert, and encounter yet more lions.
And if all this weren’t enough, in the course of their difficult journey, Shasta gets separated, and a deep fog rolls over him. And he finds himself unable to see ahead of him and completely and utterly alone.
It is at that point that Shasta notices the sound of someone nearby. An “unwelcome traveler.”
Somehow, Shasta finds the courage to speak to this person by him. And as they strike up a conversation, Shasta tells this stranger all the misfortunes he has encountered on his travels.
But the stranger says to him, “I do not call you unfortunate”
Shasta replies “Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?” “There was only one lion: but he was swift of foot.”
Shasta is confused and asks “How do you know?”
And then the stranger explains, “I was that lion. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”
This lion, it turns out, is Aslan. The lion who died and rose again in order to save the realm from the White Witch. The lion who at the beginning of the series sings the world into existence. The lion who represents God in C.S. Lewis’ series. And it is this character who stoops to help even this poor orphan boy.
The lesson we learn from this story is that even when it doesn’t seem like it, even when only troubles seem to surround us, God is in fact present. He is there to be with us.
And that is the same lesson we gain from our readings today. In the reading from the prophet Habakkuk, we capture a glimpse into the world of Israel as the Babylonians are getting ready to capture them. Violence and wrong doing are all around.
Lawlessness abounds, and “justice never prevails.” It seems that only what is wrong wins in the end at this time, from the corruption inside Israel and the evil of the kingdom of Babylon from without. Only that which is wrong will win in the end. Or so it seems.
At the end of the reading from Habakkuk this morning, God responds to what is being said by saying not to despair. There is an appointed time when Good News will come. And even when it does not seem like this Good News will never come, it will. Even if it does not come tomorrow, it will come eventually.
As those of you who have ever looked ahead at the readings on lectionarypage.net know, after the Old Testament reading, the Psalm is listed as “The Response.” I mention this because I think “response” is an apt description for the Psalm this morning.
Because in Psalm 37, we hear, “do not fret yourself because of evildoers, do not be jealous of those who do wrong.”
And we are called not to be jealous not only because they will, in the end, fail. In the end even if they do succeed, it will only be for a short time, especially in the grand scheme of things.
We are instead called not to be jealous, or fret, or despair because we have hope. We have hope because God is there. As the psalm says, “Put your trust in the Lord and do good.”
And our proof that God is there comes from the Good News, the vision, as Habakkuk puts it, that will come at the appointed time. Because that time has indeed come.
Because that time, that sign, that vision, that Good News, comes in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Because in that Good News, we have the hope and indeed certainty, that God is always with us. Because He was willing to be one with us, and in fact one of us. And we know that God always cares for us because He died and rose again so that we could rise to new life with Him too.
There are times in all of our lives which we have enemies all around our borders, like the Babylonians surrounding Israel. There are times where it seems that no matter what happens to us, there is always one more danger around the corner, as with the horse and his boy. And there are times that when, at the end of our struggles, we seem to find ourselves completely and utterly alone. Alone and without anyone to help us.
But have no fear. It is in these moments that God is acting, even though we don’t always see Him, even if we don’t know He is there.
It is not to say that there won’t be troubles. There will be. But even in our troubles, even when all seems hopeless, God is there, pushing our boats to shore, even though we may not realize it. And for that we can say, Thanks be to God!