It's not only what people do that interests me; it's also why they do it. When I see someone doing something over and over again, I want to know what that behavior means. If there is a pattern in someone's behavior, what does that pattern mean?
Often you find that people do what they do, even when it seems very unusual, for the most profound of reasons. People do what they do, however unusual, for a reason, and sometimes a very good one.
Years ago I asked my brother why he practiced the piano so long and so hard every day. After all, other young men were out running around. Why was he spending hours at that keyboard? You see, I had thought of piano playing as a lot of hard work, especially if you were trying, as he was, to get it perfect. Was it worth all that? I asked him, "What does it mean to you to invest hour after hour, day after day, in this one thing, piano practice?"
My brother answered that for him to make music was to deliver one of God's gifts to humanity, and therefore he had to be worthy. For him, the discipline of hours of piano practice, while it seemed to me too much, too overwhelming, too demanding, for him was nothing less than preparing his talent for the use of the Lord.
So you see, often you find that people do what they do, even when it seems very unusual, for the most profound of reasons. People do what they do, however unusual it may seem, for a reason, and sometimes a very good one.
It's not only what people do that should interest us; it is also why they do it.
I first met Athelstein Coleman several years ago, right out here in the hallway immediately behind our sanctuary. She was seated at a rickety old card table, wearing a sweater and shivering in the coldest, draftiest spot in this entire building. Spread out on the table in front of her were several items: some plastic name tags; a legal pad and a pencil; and a crossword puzzle book, over which she was poring as if it were the assembly instructions for a Titan missile! When I greeted her, she looked up for a moment; she smiled and explained that she was here to register the guests for our Wednesday Club ministry. And then she went right back to her crossword puzzle.
Over the months that followed I soon learned that working crossword puzzles was Athelstein Coleman's trademark. It was her signature. Whenever she had otherwise idle time, she would go back to her old friends, the crossword puzzles, chipping away on seven-letter words for this and ten-letter words for that. Every Wednesday she would come and, while waiting for the guests to arrive, would quietly set up shop in that same drafty spot, and back she would go to those crossword puzzles.
Crossword puzzles were so much Athelstein's signature that when Mrs. Rabun and I visited her in the hospital some months ago, we took a little gift. Guess what? Crossword puzzle books, of course. Nothing else would do for her.
But why? Why this love of crossword puzzles? One day I got up the courage to ask her. Why crosswords? Why this form of recreation? Why so much investment in word games? Remember, it's not only what people do that interests me; it is also why they do it. And when you ask, often you find that people do what they do, even when it seems very unusual, for the most profound of reasons.
Athelstein’s reply was, "Crossword puzzles do two things for me. First, I learn things I wouldn't know otherwise. I learn words and definitions, names and places; I learn about all kinds of things." And she went on, "Also crossword puzzles keep me alert. They keep me mentally nimble. They exercise my mind. Crossword puzzles are a great way to use time when the only other thing you can do is to sit and wait."
And so I found that in something which I had thought of as just recreation, maybe just a time-killer, Athelstein Coleman had found two great gifts: wisdom and strength. Wisdom and strength. She learned and she kept her mind alert. Wisdom and strength.
Today we also are here to look for wisdom and strength. Today we need to know from what source we can find wisdom and strength for our needs as we say farewell. Wisdom to understand the meaning of life and death; strength to handle our loss. We too need wisdom and strength.
And so, if you will permit me a twist on Mrs. Coleman's favorite recreation, today we will find wisdom and strength in the crossword. Or, to turn it around, in the word of the cross. Not in the crossword puzzle but in the mystery of the word of the cross.
Listen again to Paul's great affirmation, "The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Wisdom and strength in the word of the cross. The world thinks the word of the cross is nothing; but to those of us who receive it, it is wisdom and strength.
I
The word of the cross is, first, wisdom. What God did in Jesus Christ and him crucified is wisdom. The cross seems strange to human minds, but the word of the cross is wisdom, wisdom which will teach us today.
With your wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend, you have walked a long and difficult road. With her I am sure you have wondered what it all meant and whether all this suffering was worth it. Why should she, why should anyone, have to suffer like this? Why does God permit this to happen? Why does a loving God not heal and take away all this hurting? Why, why, why? Surely there have been a thousand questions in your minds about the meaning of all of this pain. You would only be human to ask that kind of question.
The word of the cross gives us an answer. The cross teaches us that God suffers too. It teaches us that we have a God who understands suffering, and more than simply understanding it intellectually, that God in Jesus Christ has taken into His very self the agony and the misery of human life. God in the crucified Christ has known both the physical pain and the spiritual agony of suffering and of death. The word of the cross is God's wisdom, for there at the cross God teaches us.
And while not all our questions are answered in the way we wanted them to be …"for the Jews demand signs and the Greeks seek wisdom" … this much we learn from the word of the cross: that we are not alone in our suffering; that God is our companion; and that, as much as we might like to have had healing for Athelstein, we have something else, something very valuable indeed. We have an understanding God, we have a companion in Christ, we have one who has suffered as we suffer, one who is with us in our suffering. That is the wisdom of the word of the cross.
So, crossword puzzlers: do you know a five-letter word for wisdom? The word is "cross" The word of the cross is wisdom.
II
But the word of the cross is also power; the word of the cross is strength.
Death seems to be the triumph of weakness, doesn't it? Death seems to be the victory of disease over health, the vanquishing of the strong. Death seams such a waste. We feel faint and weak. We feel vulnerable; we stumble over this, this destroyer of nearly half a century of marriage, this devastation of a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend. We stumble over this and suspect it will defeat us too. We feel weakness and not strength today.
I know this family is tired. Mr. Coleman, Brenda, Renee, the rest of you. You must be exhausted by now. You have stayed by Athelstein's side so long. You have hoped and waited, you have watched and prayed. And these last two weeks especially have surely drained you of so much of your energy and strength. I'm sure there have been times when you felt you just couldn't go on any more. Not only did you feel tired, but maybe you also felt defeated.
Then I want you to hear the word of the cross, for it is power. "The foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Hear the word of the cross, for there we hear a story we recognize. We hear how a weak and limp body was to be placed in a tomb; we hear how they went sorrowing to say farewell; we hear how they cowered in a quiet room, powerless and afraid. We know that story. It's our story too.
But the foolishness of God is stronger than men. And the word of the cross is the power of God, for there at the tomb what did they see? What did they find? They rubbed their weary eyes and they saw it: the stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty! They staggered up the path and stumbled toward it. What did they hear? Two men robed in white, exclaiming, "He is risen and gone before you" What did they hear? The word of the cross, the shout of triumph, "He is risen, as He said."
Oh, I tell you today, the word of the cross is power, because weakness is not the last word. The last word is not the tomb, but the grave-clothes laid aside. The last word is not defeat, but victory. The last word is not death, but life. The last word, the word of the cross is strength, for it is the power of God for salvation.
Crossword puzzlers, what is a five-letter word for strength? Cross. Cross. The cross on which a savior died so that He might rise from death and be the first fruits of those who sleep. And we who remain have only to wait in faithfulness to feel that strength for ourselves.
Oh, eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, what God has prepared for those who love him.
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem … behold the dwelling of God is with us … and God himself will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be nor more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."
The cross word. Christ crucified … for those who are called … Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Take courage. Hear the cross word; receive today His wisdom and His power.
