It all started in Georgetown. On M Street, in broad daylight, a manhole cover suddenly exploded into the air, flying six feet straight up and landing with a heavy clatter. There were no injuries, but there were fiery flames, an acrid smell, cars dodging one another, pedestrians pumping adrenaline. What was this all about? No one seemed to know. Just a fluke? Just one of those things?
A day or two later, in another part of the city, toward downtown, another manhole cover exploded, sending lunch hour pedestrians scurrying for cover and man-on-the-street TV reporters gathering quotes. But again, no explanation. Some theories. Pepco had statements to make about overheating junctions. We shook our heads and smiled puzzled smiles. No one was worried – yet.
But then there was another day, and there were two exploding manhole covers. And then another. And another. And finally, I believe, a total of seven eruptions around town, suggesting that something special was happening. But no one quite knew what. Something potentially very destructive was occurring, and so the resources of the power company, the public works department, the fire department, you name it – they were all on the case. They have all been drawn away from their normal pursuits, and were trying to solve the case of the exploding manhole covers. Whatever else they were supposed to be doing is all set aside now, because this sudden series of soundoff sewers had grabbed their attention.
Many of us experience life like that. Exploding manhole covers. Some of you have gone through a whole series of dangerous, disastrous, things. Medical, legal, financial, family relationships, employment, children. You are fed up to here with disasters. But you are not alone.
The Apostle Paul went through a series of critical events. It seemed as though things were pushing him inevitably toward total disaster. In the short space of about two years he had gone from being a free man, taking a business trip to Jerusalem, to a prisoner facing punishment and maybe even death. Paul had faced a whole series of unforeseen, unexplained, unwanted disasters; manhole covers had seemed to explode right in his face. Let me take you through his story.
I
The story begins back in Acts, chapter 21, when Paul arrives in Jerusalem to discuss with James and the other leaders the issue of how non-Jews can be brought into the church. Paul had not only won the debate, but had found that there was great enthusiasm for his mission among the Jerusalem believers. All they asked was one little public relations favor – would Paul please take four of the Jewish believers through a purification ritual in the Temple, and that would satisfy the skeptics. If those who were not sure about Paul were to see him taking young men through a very traditional Jewish ritual, well, that ought to take care of everything. What an innocent beginning for a series of disasters!
A
The first explosion came when some people who had seen Paul in the Temple misinterpreted what he was doing. They thought they saw him taking Greeks into the inner court, where only Jewish men were allowed. On the basis of their misinterpretation, they began to stir up the crowds. Pow! There’s the first exploding manhole cover. Have you ever tried to do the right thing, only to have it blow up in your face? You tried to give them what they wanted, but they took it the wrong way; they misread what you were doing, they added up two and two and got five! Pow! Like an exploding manhole cover, brought about by trying to placate somebody unwilling to see the truth.
B
Well, not only were these dunderheads riled up, they managed to get the whole city in an uproar! They ran from street to street and from door to door, shouting accusations and making it sound like there was a four-alarm fire. Paul was seized and dragged off, and who knows what they might have done?! Pow! The worst sort of exploding manhole cover is the unthinking, fierce, hot anger of those who think they are doing the Lord’s work! Lord, deliver me from riled-up saints! I’ll take my chances with the sinners any time! The folks who thinks that it is God’s will to destroy you are dangerous indeed! How could Paul have guessed that this was coming? The crowd dragged him off.
C
And then, what? Pow for the third time! Another explosion, this on in the guise of the Roman army. The tribune and his centurions and his soldiers stopped the crowd from beating Paul, but then clapped Paul in chains and hauled him off to the barracks! Why? Well, why not? If you have the power, why not use it? And so Paul’s third exploding manhole cover, the next unexpected dangerous turn of events, was to be arrested by the Roman soldiers for no particular reason. Sort of like the Army officer who was quoted as saying that he had to destroy a Vietnamese village in order to save it! Because we can do it to you, we do it to you. Because we can get away with it. Pow! Exploding manhole cover. Paul arrested.
It’s not over yet. Not by a long shot. Pow, the crowd is worked up; pow, the city is in an uproar and you are being beaten; pow, the police arrest you just to arrest you. But now things begin to take a different course. Now Paul begins to take charge. Oh, the Romans thought they were in charge. The crowd thought it had Paul by the throat. But surely, subtly, and swiftly, the tide is turns. Paul is takes charge of his own life.
D
In Acts, chapter 22, just as the Roman officer is about to give him the whipping of his life, Paul asks a question, “Centurion! Officer! Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who has not been condemned?” With one biting question the proceedings are changed. With one take-charge statement things turn around. For Paul has decided to stand up on his hind feet and no longer be a victim. Paul has decided to take charge of his destiny, to be the master of his fate. Paul has hatched a plan. We will find out about it in a moment. But the essence of it is this: Paul has decided that if manhole covers are going to explode in his face, he will no longer flinch in fear. He will use that energy for something he wants to do. He will no longer be a victim of things he cannot control; he will become a victor. He will use what is negative to accomplish something positive.
E
The explosions do not stop. The disasters keep on coming. Trouble won’t stay away. But there is going to be a difference. Paul is brought before the priests of the Temple and the Sanhedrin. He barely opens his mouth when the high priest Ananias slaps him for uttering blasphemy. Pow! Another exploding manhole cover.
F
He tries to explain that he started out as one of them, a strict Pharisee, and that he has been preaching about someone who has been raised from the dead. Pow! That gets a big fight started between the Pharisees and the Sadduccees on the Sanhedrin. They get into a big religious argument. Now everybody is mad at Paul because they are mad at one another! Exploding manhole cover number five!
G
The next morning forty men have an undercover meeting and decide on a death sentence for Paul. They are not a court, they are not authorized to do anything. If they had lived in America in the early 20th Century they would have worn white sheets and burned crosses. A clandestine kangaroo court, a lynch mob. Pow! Exploding manhole cover. I think we are up to six now. Unexplained, unwanted, undeserved disasters, six in a row. How much can one man take? But remember that Paul has decided not to be a victim, but to be a victor. Remember that Paul has decided to take charge of his own life.
H
The seventh – the next – is not so much a “pow” as it is a groan. A few days later there is a formal charge and a trial before Governor Felix. Paul made an eloquent defense before Felix and his wife Drusilla. They were both impressed. There was really no reason to hold Paul – except that the governor really hoped for a bribe, and just sat on the case for two years. Maybe that’s not an exploding manhole cover, but just one of those things that won’t go away. It just won’t resolve itself. You have them in your life. A lawsuit that goes on and on and on, and it becomes apparent that this is really about driving up the costs, not about justice. A medical condition that never seems to improve, despite all the physicians do. Chronic underemployment; you have opportunities, but they never quite turn out. A family issue that just goes round and round. And maybe you even burn out. After so many difficult times, you just feel like giving up. You just don’t want to try anymore.
I
But, at last, came a moment of hope for Paul. Felix has been sent elsewhere; there is a new governor. Festus might do something. Festus might have a better sense of justice.
Guess what? Pow! Exploding manhole cover number eight! It is not only Paul who sees opportunity in a new governor; it is also his enemies. His enemies, who lift up his case again and ask the new governor to hand him over. His enemies – and isn’t it true that there is no enemy like an old enemy? Just as there is no friend quite as true as an old friend, it is also true that when you are hounded by those who have nursed a grudge against you for months, for years, that grudge now burns white hot. That hatred is deep seated. Maybe you have in your life someone who simply does not like you; there is no reason for it, but she simply does not like you. Like the Oxford student who made up a little rhyme about his professor, “I do not like you, Dr. Fell; the reason why I cannot tell. But this I know and know full well; I do not like you, Dr. Fell.” Sometimes it feels as though there is no winning; they are out to get you for no reason at all. Pow! Overwhelming!
II
But remember: Paul had long since taken charge of his own life. Paul had decided no longer to be a victim, but to be a victor. And so when it became apparent that there would be no justice in Jerusalem, Paul raised his voice again and insisted, “I appeal to the Emperor. You must try me in Rome. As a citizen, I have that right. I appeal to the Emperor.”
What’s going on here? Why is that important? Let Paul say it for himself, when, in a final hearing before his journey to Rome, he gave his testimony to King Agrippa. He told of his conversion on the road to Damascus, and then said, “After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Hang on to that. “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
For, you see, whether you become a victim of exploding manhole covers, or whether you become a victor, is a matter of your vision. Your vision of your life. It’s about obedience to that vision.
A
On the one hand, it is your vision of where you’ve come from. Whether you are a victim of circumstances or whether you become their victor is a matter of your vision about your history. Do you know where you’ve come from? Paul simply told King Agrippa the story of how he first met the Lord on the road to Damascus, and how his whole life had been changed by that encounter. When Paul focused on where he had come from, that kept him going. Obedience to the vision of your life’s story.
Sadly, some people have only a victim vision. Some people see only the disasters and the failures in their lives and not the gifts they’ve received. I read about a man who had been struck by a car and sent to the hospital. He was comatose for two days, but finally regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, his wife was there beside him. He held her hand and began a long litany, “Oh, my dear, you have always been beside me. When I was a struggling student, I failed again and again, but you were there beside me, encouraging me to keep on trying. When I went for job interviews, and they turned me down, you were there beside me, cutting out more ads and urging me to apply just one more place. Then you remember I started work at this little firm and finally got a chance to handle a big contract, but I blew it because of one little mistake; yet again, you were there beside me, nudging me to get up and get another job. And I did, but they don’t recognize my work and I never get promoted, yet there you are beside me all the way, every day. And now, here I am, I’ve had an awful accident, and when I wake up, what do I see? You, beside me. There’s something I’d really like to say to you.” Her eyes brimmed with tears. She felt so proud. What a lovely moment this was going to be. She gently stroked his bruised cheek. “Yes, dear, what would you like to say to me?” His response, “I think you really bring me bad luck.”
Some folks are forever victims. They don’t know where they’ve come from. They don’t see the half of what God has given them. But Paul did. Paul had a vision of where he had come from, and was not disobedient to that vision.
B
But it’s not only the vision of where you came from. It’s also the vision of where you are going. It’s knowing where you are headed, so that you don’t get sidetracked. You use what is happening to get you where you want to go. Paul, at a critical moment, amid the clanging of exploding manhole covers, amid the jostling, unsettling pain – Paul took over. Paul saw an opportunity, because he knew what he was about. He knew that he was on mission for Christ; that what Christ had called him to do was to evangelize the whole Roman Empire. And so, if that’s the mission, as a prisoner he can be sent to Rome at government expense. An opportunity, even if it looks dismal! Jail is not a punishment, but an opportunity. A trial is not a trial, but a forum in which to be heard! If you know where you are going, if you stay on mission, then you become the victor, not the victim. Despite a hundred exploding manhole covers, you are a victor. Not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
On Thursday I went out to visit with Mrs. Sallie King. Some of you will remember her as a former member of this church. Others of you will know of her as the mother of our Associate Minister Rev. Vallerie King. Sallie King is dying; of that we are sure. She likely has only days or weeks to live. So on the way to her home I began to think, “What image, what picture, can I use to help Sallie think positively about the life she has led and the eternal life she is about to enter?” I thought of that old image of the glass half full or the glass half empty – you know, where one person gets a glass of water and says that it’s half empty, because he feels cheated, but another looks at the same glass and says that it’s half full, because he feels gifted. You know that old comparison. It’s about vision.
Well, don’t tell me God doesn’t have a sense of humor, because when I got to Sallie’s bedside, sitting right up there on the tray was a glass of water, exactly halfway. Didn’t God set me up?! So I said to Sallie, “That glass of water, what do you see there? Is that glass half full or half empty? She thought just a moment; and then this woman, into whose life manhole covers, moments of disaster, have exploded many times – this child of God, on the verge of eternity, pronounced, “I think it’s half full. You can enjoy it more that way. You can get to the ice better when it’s half full. And you can always ask for more.”
Yes! You can always ask for more. Grace upon grace. Gift upon gift. Hope upon hope. If you know where you are going. If you know that even in your last days, your mission is still alive. “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
Oh, it’s easy to complain. They’re out to get us. Life isn’t fair. Everything happens to me. But it all has potential for the Kingdom. Everything that comes into my life, good, bad, or indifferent, has potential for the Kingdom. Let me not be disobedient to the heavenly vision.
It’s easy to get disappointed in ourselves, too. We know that a whole lot of what happens to us, we bring on ourselves. It’s easy to get down on ourselves and to give up. But the cross, the cross. The cross lifts me up out of the miry clay. The cross bears all my sins away. The cross, the cross. “When I was sinking down, oh my soul. When I was sinking down, He gave up heaven’s crown, for my soul.” Jesus Christ has paid the price for my disobedience. Let me not now be disobedient to that heavenly vision.
Let me be victor and not victim. Let me know where I have come from and where I am going. Let me be sure about this one thing – that I not be disobedient to the heavenly vision, though everything explode around me. For this one thing I see, this one faith I hold: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
