The Story of John Brown

Way back in the year 1849, a ship was sailing in the South Pacific when it suddenly sprang a leak, took on water and sank. Only one sailor, John Brown, survived and he ended up on a small island. He survived, but he had lots of problems: no food, no drinking water and no shelter. His first task was to find a spring with fresh drinking water. Then he collected driftwood and built a little hut so he could get out of the rain on rainy days. The hardest part was to find food. After he found some fruits and vegetables, he gathered more driftwood to build a fire to cook his food. It took a few days, but he finally set up a pattern for himself. He would collect water and driftwood in the morning, take a nap in the heat of the day, gather up some food towards evening, and cook a meal after sunset. After three weeks of living like this, John began to lose hope. It just seemed like he would never be rescued.

One morning, when he returned from doing his morning chores, he saw that his hut was on fire. It seems that a dying ember from his campfire had come back to life. It had been fanned into flames by a morning breeze and his hut was burning to the ground. This made John more despondent than ever. He sat near his burning hut and cried his eyes out. Then he fell asleep. When he woke up he saw a ship sailing toward his island. When the ship landed, he said to the sailors, “How did you know I was here?” “We saw your smoke signal,” they said. “And we came to save you.” And so it was that his burning hut had saved his life.

That story is called a “reversal” story. It’s one of those stories in which things get turned upside down. What John Brown thought was bad news turned out to be good news. His burning hut became a smoke signal and he was saved. And now I would like to move into the realm of faith. It seems to me that the history of our salvation is filled with reversal stories.

Both the Hebrew scriptures and the Christian scriptures contain stories in which the outcome is the reverse of what people expect. In each case God moves in and reverses the laws of nature. In the Book of Genesis, we hear that Sarah is more than 70 years old, but thanks to God’s intervention she has a child and she names him Isaac. In the Book of Judges, we hear that Manoah’s wife is barren, but God intervenes and she has a child and his name is Samson. In the first Book of Samuel we hear that Hannah is childless; but then she conceives and gives birth to a child and his name is Samuel. In the New Testament, Elizabeth is quite elderly. But then she becomes pregnant and delivers a child with no difficulty—and he is John the Baptist. Her cousin Mary is a virgin and she conceives by the power of the Holy Spirit and her child is Jesus. In each case, God intervened and reversed the laws of nature. And in each case the child was dedicated for a special task in the history of salvation. Isaac, the child of Sarah, carried the promise of the covenant and established a new nation. Samson liberated the People of God from the tyranny of the Philistines. Samuel, the child of Hannah, became the prophet who anointed the first king of Israel. John the Baptist prepared the way for the Messiah. And Jesus set all people free from the power of sin.

The pattern has been clearly established: In each case there is a woman who cannot possibly conceive. Then God intervenes. The woman becomes pregnant and her child does something very important for the history of salvation. The child in each case has a mission—something to do for God—something which will advance God’s plan. Today we see that the Christmas story is another one of those reversal stories. People expect the Messiah to come from the royal family, but he comes from a peasant family instead. They expect the Messiah to be born in a palace, but he is born in a stable. They expect the leaders of the nation to get the news first, but the angels first bring the tidings of great joy to the lowly shepherds. They expect the Messiah to be born in the capital city, but he is born in the little town of Bethlehem. People don’t get what they expect and that surprises them and gets them to thinking that something special is happening here.

Slowly but surely they discover that God is at work—pulling off one miracle after another—until they focus their attention on Jesus and listen to his message and discover that he has come to save them. The story of Jesus turns out to be the greatest reversal story of all time. He comes onto the scene without political power or military power and he defeats a powerful enemy—the power of sin. He turns things upside down. After Jesus carries the cross, sin has no more power, no more energy, and no more life. The victory belongs to Jesus: the non-violent preacher from Galilee.

Now how does all this connect to our lives today? When we look into our lives we can see situations and occasions when God has intervened to help us. Perhaps not with flamboyant miracles, but with minor miracles. We have all experienced God’s healing touch. Perhaps we had a medical problem which God healed for us, or an emotional problem like depression or anxiety, or a spiritual problem like pride or greed or envy. These minor miracles help us to reverse what is happening in our lives. With the help of God’s intervention we can let go of the grudges which we have been carrying. We can also reverse our history of feeling sorry for ourselves. With God’s help we can let go of prejudice and feelings of superiority. With God’s help, our conversations can move away from defamation and move deeper into affirmation. With God’s help we can replace adversarial approaches to our co-workers with a spirit of teamwork and cooperation.

I wish to close with a quick summary: The history of salvation is the history of God pulling off surprises and causing things to turn out the opposite of what people expect. And the greatest story of reversal is the story of Jesus. His mother was from the lower class and he was born in a stable when people expected the Messiah to be born in a castle. He was a non-violent person, yet he defeated the power of Satan. And now he helps us to reverse what is happening in our lives. He helps us to move away from sin and into grace. He helps us to move from darkness into light. And tonight we promise to be Children of the Light all of our days