Pentecost 22B, 2024

22nd Sunday after Pentecost, year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

On Friday, a few of us took a couple of trucks to get supplies to some hard-hit areas to the west of us. The first truck went to a warehouse in Morganton, where they’re providing for some of the more southern of the hard-hit areas. The second truck we took to a town called Buladean. I’d never heard of that town before last week. It’s west of Banner Elk, and not far from Johnson City, TN.

As we drove up the mountain roads, it was pretty amazing to see the damage. And not all of it from water. There was one hill we saw that had one whole side, the trees had been stripped of their leaves, branches, and bark. Must’ve been a tornado, but I’ve never seen that before.

The houses that were left, some had been completely emptied out, and all the contents were just shoved to the road for pickup. Trees and trash that had come down the mountain with the flood waters had been cleared from the roads, but many properties are still working to clean up. At least one house we saw had been isolated from road access because the water washed away the driveway and part of the yard in front of the house. Now there was a chasm 30 feet across and 20 feet deep.

What amazed me was that as we got to the center of Buladean, we brought the load of supplies to the community center, which is an old school house. It was bustling with activity inside and out. We were immediately greeted with smiles and warmth and much gratitude. We began to unload our supplies and bring them inside for sorting and distribution.

Inside the building was more of the same - volunteers working hard to make sure the food went to the right places, the clothes were taken to be sorted and put on display, the same for the tents and sleeping bags and camping stoves and quilts. Everyone had a job to do and they were doing it with a smile. And some “customers” were there, too - getting what they needed to make it through the next few days. And some of these people are STILL without power. Well, that’s not true. They’re without electricity. But they are not without power, if you get my drift.

Coming up that road, my heart was breaking for these people. I didn’t know what I was going to say when I encountered them. I expected great sorrow, defeat, and despair…but I found nothing like that. I found community and resolve and love of neighbor and great faith. There was no giving up in these people. It was awe-inspiring to see.

All this week, I’ve been thinking about this reading from Ecclesiastes. At first, I wasn’t really sure what God was leading me to with this passage; but once I met the people of Buladean, it became abundantly clear to me. “As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?” [ESV, Ec 5:15–16]. This is one of the Books of Wisdom, and the wise old teacher is telling his students what they should truly value.

And he starts by telling them what they should NOT value. Don’t love money or wealth. It won’t make you happy…not truly happy. How many times do we as human beings have to be taught this lesson? Jesus is teaching this very lesson in today’s Gospel as well. We’re pretty certain that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, in the 10th century B.C. So, we have 2 Bible lessons, one thousand years apart, teaching the same thing.

Martin Luther has similar teaching in his Large Catechism article on the 1st Commandment: “Many a person thinks he has God and everything he needs when he has money and property; in them he trusts and of them he boasts so stubbornly and securely that he cares for no one. Surely such a man also has a god—mammon by name, that is, money and possessions—on which he fixes his whole heart. It is the most common idol on earth.” [Tappert, 365]. That was some 1500 years after Jesus. Add another 500 years or so, and here we are. Have we learned the lesson yet?

When you look broadly at our society, I’d say for the most part, we as a society have not learned this lesson yet. But that trip up the mountain showed me that some people have. They lost their “stuff” - the wealth they’ve accumulated, their creature comforts, their property... and yet they’ve still got joy. They’ve got brotherly love and community. They’ve got the things they need to survive, and they’ve got gratitude for it.

“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.” [ESV, Ec 5:18–20]

In this passage, Solomon tells us that God does indeed want us to have joy, but to seek and have joy not in what we wish we had, but instead in what we *do* have. It looks an awful lot to me like those mountain folks have got that figured out pretty well, in spite of their suffering. I don’t think they’re pretending they’re not suffering. But they’re not wallowing in it. They’re helping each other through it. And we’re blessed to be able to add to that.

What I saw in the drive up was the evidence of suffering, the visual reminder of what caused the suffering of the last few weeks to our neighbors to the west. But what I saw when I got out of the car was God’s work - in, with, and through those people. There’s simply no doubt in my mind that God is at the very heart of the joy I saw… and the strength and the love and the community. Those are the things that God creates when He goes to work. And for those of us who call ourselves His children, we just might be blessed to be the ones through whom He does the work.

Today’s reading from Hebrews reminds us that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses...” nor is he unable to sympathize with our sufferings. He himself suffered for us, just as he submitted himself to be tempted like us. Out of his great love for us, he humbled himself and took on our sinful flesh and lived the kind of life we were supposed to live. Then he let his flesh be beaten and killed to die the kind of death were supposed to die. His life was our example; his death was our salvation. And since he experienced such great suffering, his compassion for us comes from a place of understanding and sympathy. And while he certainly doesn’t want us to suffer, life in our fallen world means that we will experience suffering. But we are reminded that he will be with us in our suffering. And he will be there through it all. And sometimes He’ll use that time to show us what’s really important.

There’s a quote I mention from time to time, and I hope this is at least a little familiar to you. It’s author is a man named Blaise Pascal, a Frenchman who was both a man of science and of faith. The quote I’ve always referred to goes like this: “We are all created with a God-shaped hole. If we try to fill that hole with anything but God, we will always be left unsatisfied.” I learned this week that I’ve been misquoting him. The actual quote comes from a paper in which he describes how all human beings are in search of happiness, but “no one without faith has ever reached the goal...”. Instead, the faithless are constantly wanting and frustrated. And then Pascal says this: “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?  This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.” [Pascal's God-Shaped Hole - The Harvard Ichthus]

But we are here this morning specifically because we *do* have faith. We are here to fill that God-shaped hole with exactly what it craves. We have filled it with His Mighty Word. In a few short minutes, we will fill it with the Body and Blood of our Savior. When His Body is placed in your open palm, when you receive that cup of His Precious Blood, that is when we confidently have come near to His throne of grace. That is when you have received mercy. That is when you have found grace. And having received God’s mercy and grace, let us continue to help our neighbors in their time of need. He has certainly led us to a strong start. Let us all pray that we can continue to help for the long haul.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.