Serendipity
Matthew 13:44-45
Click here to view the full worship service for July 26, 2020 entitled, "Serendipity".
In 1754 the English author Horace Walpole wrote a friend about a fairy tale entitled, “The Three Princes of Serendip.” It is about the king of Serendippo, now called Sri Lanka off the southern coast of India. The fairy tale narrates an elderly king’s concern about the ability of his three sons to manage the kingdom when he is gone. After providing them an excellent education, he was still worried that they did not have enough “street smarts”. So he sent them forth from the kingdom to learn the ways of the world.
So traveling along one day the three princes noticed that the grass had been eaten only on the left side of the road. They grew curious until they caught up with a man leading his mule. They discovered that the mule was blind in his right eye. “Ah hah”, they concluded, “So that’s why the mule ate the grass only on the left side of the road.” About this discovery, Walpole wrote, “As these princes traveled they were always making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.” So Walpole coined the term “serendipity” to describe accidental insight. Such “serendipitous wisdom” would now qualify the three princes to rule the kingdom well.
Now a serendipity does not mean just an accidental discovery. It really means accidental wisdom, stumbling upon something that you realize is important. Like the discovery of ether. In 1549 a German physician named Valerius Cordus developed a method for synthesizing ether. But nothing much happened with ether until 1842. That’s when Dr. Crawford Long of Athens, Georgia, was called to a house where an all-night party had left one young man seemingly near death. The good doctor discovered the young men had been sniffing-you guessed it-ether. After the young man was revived, Dr. Long had a serendipitous insight. It dawned on him that ether could be used as an anesthetic in surgery. So from that all-night sniffing party came the accidental wisdom that led to pain free surgery. A blessed serendipity for us all.
Serendipities happen all the time. It happens in Scripture, as in Jesus’ parable of a man out working in a field. Perhaps it was something like this: just another hard day’s work plowing behind a team of oxen. But then the plow gets stuck on something and the worker looks down to find a jar in the ground. A jar that may have been buried when robbers or an invading army came into the land. Having no safety deposit boxes at the bank, that’s how precious metals were concealed-buried in a field. Maybe our parable inspired Forrest Fenn of Santa Fe to bury precious metals in 2010 which launched a decade long treasure hunt that recently led to a two-million-dollar discovery. But a discovery that required wisdom and insight to find.
Now in our parable this worker’s insight follows upon his accidental discovery of the treasure. It goes like this. He does not steal the treasure but rather re-buries it! Then he goes and sells everything he has to buy that field. Now at this point we need to ask some ethical questions, don’t we? When you discover treasure in someone else’s field, like say oil, do you not tell the owner? It is clear that in our time there would be an impropriety here, something like stealing mineral rights. But it is clear that in the world of the First Century Jesus is describing without judgment a case of “finders, keepers”.
And more importantly, Jesus is commending the insight of the worker who says to himself, “I will sell everything I have to buy that field. That treasure is worth more than everything I have ever owned.” It is a moment of utter delight. He was not looking for treasure; but when he found it, he knew what he must do. He could hardly contain his glee. Jesus describes the Kingdom of God as just that marvelous, so worthy of our whole lives.
The Bible is replete with serendipitous discoveries. Moses is simply looking for his sheep on Mt. Horeb when he discovers a burning bush and holy ground. Saul, the first king of Israel, is out looking for his father’s lost donkeys when Samuel the prophet finds him and anoints him to rule. A later Saul, whom we call Paul, is looking for Christians to persecute when he discovers outside Damascus the Risen Lord of the Christians. Serendipities every one.
Church history is filled with such serendipitous discoveries. Augustine, a young scholar studying rhetoric in Italy, wants to hear the greatest orator in the land. So he goes to Milan to hear Bishop Ambrose, who is quite the preacher. Augustine, a very secular young man indeed, is not interested in the content, just the style. But as he listens week after week to Ambrose, the style is transfigured by the content and the content is the good news of Jesus Christ. So Augustine goes looking for rhetorical devices and comes away with faith in Christ.
Archaeology is filled with serendipitous discoveries. In 1947 a young Arab boy is out near the Dead Sea. His sheep are lost. Looking for them in a ravine, he throws a rock into a cave to see if he can flush them out. Tossing the rock, he hears something break. He goes into the cave and to his immense surprise he discovers he has broken open a jar with scrolls in them. And yes he has stumbled upon what we now call the Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical writings some two thousand years old. Now the story of finally realizing what he had on his hands is a long and complicated one. But eventually this would become one of the great serendipities of all time!
What makes an accidental discovery a serendipity is realizing what you have on your hands. You have come upon a treasure and you sense that it is going to change your life. Like discovering the Kingdom of God, God’s marvelous grace that sweeps you up and transforms you. You were just out in the field working and you stumble upon something that alters everything. Like the old country Western song says so well, “I just came to dance. I wasn’t looking for romance.” But then it happens and the dance never ends. A serendipitous rendezvous. Think about your own life. Were you looking for your best friend when you found him or her? Were you looking for your spouse? Or was it more like discovering a treasure in a field?
So you don’t know where or when you will find those special people who will change your life. They are everywhere, though sometimes concealed. Perhaps you were not looking at all, but then they fall in your lap and you can only fall to your knees in gratitude. I wish I had time to tell you how I met my beloved wife Sharon as well as my best friends. All grace upon grace. Serendipities that mark me to this day. And by the way, I have come to treasure so many of you here at First Presbyterian. So unexpected and so uplifting. Like shepherds out in a field just tending their flocks when the heavens open and angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest.” And they are directed to a manger where the Savior of the world is born. Just tending their flock, trying to stay awake. Then the heavens sing and the light shines in the darkness.
Two of today’s hymns by the same composer celebrate serendipity. They were written by the Eighteenth Century Englishman William Cowper. From an early age he struggled with debilitating depression perhaps brought on by the death of his mother when he was very young. We can only imagine how painful that was for this sensitive young man long before anti-depressant drugs were available. Throughout his life Cowper suffered from periodic insanity and long periods of depression. His suffering led him to attempt suicide three times. On the third try he survived in such a miraculous manner in circumstances so incredible that he was certain that God had moved in a mysterious way to spare him. And so he wrote the hymn: “God moves in a Mysterious Way.” One line says, “O fearful saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.”
Cowper wrote another hymn entitled “Sometimes a Light Surprises”. It opens with this line: “Sometimes a light surprises the child of God who sings; it is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings.” Sometimes a light breaks into your darkness and you feel the joy of life renewed and hope restored. “Healing in God’s wings.” Sometimes out in a field you stumble on something that you come to realize is the joy of every heart, the God who has been seeking you all along. And all you can do is fall to your knees in gratitude and delight. Serendipity. Grace upon grace. Thanks be to God. Amen.