(Based on Ephesians 3:1-6)
Last weekend, Harry Potter was all the rage and many people lined up for hours at various stores all over the world, so that they could purchase the latest and last book about this modern young magician. For the past decade, millions of these books have been sold making the author JK Rowling one of the richest people in the world. Her own rags to riches story is in itself an example of how hard work, determination, and imagination can bring about well deserved fame and success. Seven books ago, JK Rowling was an unemployed single mom writing a story in her brother’s coffee house in Edinburgh, Scotland – today, she has even more wealth than her monarch Queen Elizabeth.
I guess mostly everyone got caught up in the Harry Potter craze. I even did a quiz on the internet to see which character I am most like. As I waited for the results to come in, I worried that I would end up being Siruis Black, the notorious prisoner of Azjekeban, or Severus Snape, the teacher of the Black Arts, or worst still, little Ginny Weasley, who has a crush on Harry Potter – but in the end my test results came back with a resounding 90% that my Harry Potter alter-ego is actually Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts school that Harry attends. I guess that’s what I get for having a grey beard, teaching Sunday school and wearing robes!
But why is Harry Potter so successful? What has caught the hearts and minds of so many millions of people on the earth? Well, I think it’s because of several things. The books contain elements of magic, mystery and suspense – three ingredients that have sustained writers of books and religious communities for generations. When I was a teenager, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Scooby Doo nourished my mind with magic and mystery. Dick Tracy, Batman, and Superman satisfied the generations before mine. And if you go back far enough, Tom Swift, Tom Sawyer, and Sherlock Holmes intrigued millions of readers with their own adventures, mysteries, and magic. It’s a formula that has worked since people were drawing in caves and telling stories around the tribal fires – it’s all about good versus evil with magic and mystery thrown in to make up a great story.
The element of mystery has always intrigued us. As human beings, the great unknown has always attracted us. Why else did Columbus set off in 1492? He wanted to explore the great unknown of his age, of what lay beyond the western horizon of the Atlantic Ocean. Why else did pioneers head out on the Oregon Trail in their wagons to settle on the other side of this continent? They wanted to begin a new life, in a new place, and explore the possibility of being successful. And why else did President Eisenhower sing the Space Act on this day in 1958 in order to establish NASA? He wanted America to explore the final frontier of space – that great unknown of which we still hardly know anything, and in which we are only making small steps.
Mysteries are what make us who we are. We are attracted to them – why else do you think that Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation in the Garden of Eden? Curiosity got the better of them – the tree of knowledge was a mystery to them and they just had to experience it. They were attracted to a mystery and they were tempted by the great unknown. They wanted something they couldn’t have, and they were frustrated by it. They needed to possess the fruit and eat it because they felt incomplete, insecure, and inconsolable without it. They wanted to solve the mystery, so they stole the fruit and set humanity on a course of unending curiosity, exploration, and wanderlust that will be with us until humankind returns to the dust from which we came.
Mysteries get the better of us. They become our obsessions, our longings, and our desires. We want to know how things will turn out, which is why millions of people queued up for hours last weekend trying to get their hands on a book. They wanted to be amongst the first to read all of the 760 pages to discover how it all turned out – and if you want to know, then don’t ask a Harry Potter fan – they’re good at keeping secrets – you’ll just have to buy it yourself, or wait for the movie version to come out in 2010.
Mysteries were a way of life for the people of Ephesus, which is why Paul mentions the word here in today’s Bible passage three times. The Ephesians lived in a place that was built upon magic, superstition, and mystery. The temple of Diana was a mysterious place where ancient rituals were carried out. Sacred secrets about the temple were passed from generation to generation amongst the priests. It was a place where people came to make pledges and sacrifices, to look for blessings and benevolence, to express their love of Diana their goddess, and to ward off the wrath of other Greek gods.
You see life was a mystery to the Ephesians and the people of that time. Disease, pestilence, famine, and war were rampant throughout the region. A person could be healthy one hour and dead the next. Infant mortality was high and life expectancy was low. People felt insecure all of the time, so they clung to mystery and magic, superstition and secrets as the means to ward off evil, to escape disaster, and to prolong their lives.
There were even mystery cults all over the region that people participated in. Most of these cults involved the use of drums and music, hallucinations and visions, virgins and temple prostitutes to placate the gods and bless their devotees. In other words, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’roll were as popular then, as they are today. People believed that if they could learn the secrets of these mystery religions, then they could guarantee long life, wealth, health and fame. Penetrating the Mystery was the means of discovering the real secrets about eternal life.
And we still are like this today – think about it. Famous people and ordinary people are looking for the secret of success, the secret of acquiring wealth, the secret of staying young and keeping fit. We all want to ward of death and dying, disease and discomfort, insecurity and inferiority. We all want to be something special, do something great, complete something that will change the world. We want to know that our lives have made a difference and that our time, our talents, and our treasures have been used to the best of our abilities, to reward ourselves and take care of our loved ones. That’s why books like The Secret, or the Da Vinci Code, or the Purpose Driven Life appeal to us – we all want to feel that we’ve solved the mystery of life and why we exist in the first place. That’s why people like Madonna are drawn to the Kabbalah – old Hebrew wisdom with hidden secrets in the Bible text – or Tom Cruise is drawn to scientology – a higher wisdom and greater spiritual plane than anyone else – or even Shirley McLaine and Reba who feast upon New Age ideas in order to cast aside their insecurities and put themselves at the center of the universe. It’s all the same stuff that’s been tried for thousands of years. It’s all the same old tested and tried ways of finding the meaning of life, the universe and everything that was even ancient history to the Ephesians two thousand years ago.
But Paul touches their hearts and minds; he penetrates their souls and spirits when he uses the word mystery and links it to Christ. He tells the people that the mystery they are longing to solve can only be found in Jesus. The purpose that they are yearning to find for their lives can only be discovered in Christ. The reason for their existence in the entire world can only be revealed through Jesus Christ for, as the scriptures say, there is no other name under heaven, given to humankind, through which we can be saved.
Life was a mystery way back then. Life is till a mystery today. We cannot hope to understand everything about life, but we have a Guide who has experienced life at its best and worst who can, if we are willing, lead us through this journey of existence and bring us to the shores of eternity. As Paul himself writes,
this mystery “has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. “
In other words, what was once given to the Jewish people almost four thousand years ago, has now been given to the entire world. The magic of life and the mystery of existence are rolled into one. We live because God loves us. We exist because God wants us to love His Son. It’s as simple as that. As the old question from the catechism once put it: what is the chief purpose of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
So, what have we learned this morning?
That we all love mysteries and seek to solve them.
That we are part of a mystery called life and each of us is on a unique and personal quest.
That we can look in all the wrong places and never be satisfied with anything.
That we can look to Jesus and discover that He is the key to unlocking this mystery. He is indeed the great magic of life, the universe, and everything.
Prayer:
There's Just Something About That Name
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus;
There's just something about that name!
Master, Savior, Jesus,
Like the fragrance after the rain;
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Let all heaven and earth proclaim;
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,
But there's something about that name!
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