Sand - Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Sand - Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Author: Pastor Scott Schul
July 07, 2024

Two Sundays ago I spoke with you about how when we’re suffering trials and tribulations, it can feel like we’re in a boat in a stormy sea, alone, in danger, and forgotten by everyone, even our Lord.  And based on a story in Mark’s Gospel about a storm like that on the Sea of Galilee, I encouraged you to always look for Jesus, because he is there in the boat with you.  He cares, and he won’t abandon you.

This morning, I want to continue to address this topic of struggles and suffering, because it’s a reality for all of us.  But this time I want to do so with a very different metaphor, that of sand.  If you’ve ever been to the beach for a vacation, you know what happens.  Almost inevitably, you end up bringing some of that sand home with you.  It gets in your shoes, your luggage, and ends up tracked all over your house after you unpack.  A little poem by Helen H. Moore sums it up nicely:

Sand in my swimsuit, Sand in my hair,
When I go to the beach, Sand gets everywhere!
I wonder, I wonder, Oh, how can there be
Sand left at the beach, When there's so much on me?

Sand is a way for us to think about all those nagging things in life that we can’t seem to brush away, clean up, or eliminate.  It represents our trials, our struggles, and our sufferings.  Whether or not you’ve been to the beach recently, we all have that kind of sand, don’t we?  Some of that sand is self-inflicted; it comes into our lives because of our own bad choices.  It’s like a big bag of wet, heavy sand of regret, guilt, and shame we drag behind us every day.  It weighs us down and wears us out.

Other sand comes into our lives through no fault of ours.  We didn’t want it, ask for it, or choose it, but there it is, all around us.  This is the sand of advancing age, disease, injuries, accidents, and the losses of our loved ones.  It’s life-changing sand that alters the way we live.  It’s sticky sand we can’t escape.  It threatens to overtake us, redefine us, and suffocate us.  It often feels so very unfair.

Then there’s the sand that others dump into our lives.  This too isn’t sand we asked for or deserve.  It’s the job loss you’ve suffered because the economy tanked.  It’s the boss who treats you poorly.  It’s the neighbor, friend, or family member whose problems spill over into your life.  It’s the worries about your children, your grandchildren, or your parents that keep you awake at night.  We get caught in the dunes of someone else’s sand and try to move forward but our feet can’t get any traction in all that sand.

We of course aren’t unique.  This kind of sand has always been part of life.  We see it all throughout the Bible.  One of the most famous examples is in today’s reading from 2 Corinthians.  There we find Paul reminiscing about an incredible heavenly, out-of-body experience he had 14 years earlier.  That experience had a life-changing impact on him. 

Now that doesn’t sound like sand, does it?  But Paul knew that having such an extraordinary spiritual experience carried danger.  He might be tempted to see himself as holier and better than everyone else, and be puffed up with pride and boasting.  Or he might so long for a return to that moment of spiritual ecstasy that he’d become insensitive and blind to all the beautiful little miracles in the here-and-now.  Paul reminds us that even our good times can become sand if we make an idol of them.

So what happened to Paul?  He tells us in this letter that “a thorn was given me in the flesh… to keep me from being too elated.”  Or, to put it in the terms we’re using today, some serious sand dumped into Paul’s life.  What was it?  Paul doesn’t say and we don’t know for sure.  Scholars have speculated for 2,000 years about it.  It might’ve been a physical, mental, or emotional ailment that plagued Paul.  Maybe it was a temptation or compulsion he couldn’t shake.  Or maybe Paul’s sand was people who persecuted him.  Did God pour this sand into Paul’s life or did it come from another source?  That’s not for us to judge with respect to Paul or anyone else.  All we know for sure is that Paul’s sand was a terrible burden to him.

But Paul’s sand wasn’t going to simply blow away.  It’s the same for much of our sand.  The winds won’t disperse it and we can’t simply sweep it away.  I would love to promise you that if you just pray hard enough or do more good works, all your problems will magically disappear.  But for whatever reason, that’s not how life works.  That’s not how our God works. 

So, friends, if there’s going to be sand in our lives, what do we do about it?  How are we supposed to handle it?  Do we shut down, crawl into the fetal position and cry ourselves to sleep?  Do we grow angry and bitter and become sand to others as our anger and frustration builds and then eventually explodes?  Or maybe we lose hope and just give up.

What did Paul do?  He tells us he prayed.  Knowing Paul as I think I do, I bet those prayers were fervent, fiery, passionate, brutally honest, knock-down-drag-out sessions with the Lord.  And yet Paul, this holy, saintly spiritual master did not get what he wanted.  Instead, he got what he needed.  Jesus responded to Paul’s prayer by telling him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

Suddenly Paul saw his sand with new eyes.  No longer was it a source of perpetual sadness, shame, or frustration.  By Christ’s grace, Paul’s sand was transformed from a stumbling block to a steppingstone.  With this fresh understanding, Paul was able to make peace with his sand and say, “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”  You see, Jesus wasn’t going to remove Paul’s sand.  But he helped Paul see how that sand was making him a better disciple and a better person because of how that sand bound Paul more tightly to Jesus.

How does this apply to us?  Well, I certainly encourage you to be honest in your prayer life.  Go to God in boldness and ask for your sand to be taken away.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  But in all our prayers, Jesus reminds us to add, “thy will be done.”  Because sometimes, for reasons that often aren’t apparent to us, Jesus will decide it’s best for us, as it was for Paul, that our sand remain with us.  But why?  Well, there are probably lots of reasons, but they might only make sense much later, and perhaps only on the other side of heaven.  But at bare minimum our sand can be a blessing insofar as it obliterates the notion that we alone can do everything, be everything, solve everything and fix everything.  Our sand destroys the myth that we are independent superheroes who don’t need a family, friends, a church, a community, or Christ to make our way through this life.   The sand drives us from our pride, drives us from our tendency to set ourselves up as gods, and ultimately drives us to our knees

And there, we at last hear a voice.  “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”  As those words sink into our hearts, all the sand that was burying us becomes, by Christ’s grace, the holy building blocks with which we construct castles of love, forgiveness and hope; castles that become a holy dwelling place for our Lord; castles where we are healed by his wounds so we too can be wounded healers; castles where our weaknesses reveal our strength in Christ and bind us to him…now and for eternity.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Gospel Text: Mark 6:1-13

1 [Jesus] came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.

4 Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Copyright Rev. Scott E. Schul, 2024 All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.


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