Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 02:3 (Aug 2001)
Article: Rejoicing In Discovery (Genesis 8:18–22)
Author: Ken Schurb

Rejoicing In Discovery (Genesis 8:18–22)

Ken Schurb

Ph.D. (c), Ohio State University
Assistant to the President of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

A sermon preached at the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, Concordia College, Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Columbus Day, October 12, 1992.

1.

Let’s begin with two basic points. The first comes from God’s Word: the most important thing in the whole world is the rescue mission that our Creator planned and carried out for a sinful world in His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. That mission continues today. The ascended Christ sends out His Word, accompanied by His Holy Spirit, to accomplish His purpose of salvation in the lives of people. All of creation gets eternal survivability, let alone eternal significance, only in connection with this most important thing of them all.

The second point is not as firm. It comes not from Scripture, but from world history. Still, it’s pretty solid: the significance of Columbus’s voyage 500 years ago does not lie in the voyage itself, but in the follow-up. Columbus was not the great genius who figured that the world was round while everyone else thought it was flat. All the great navigators of his day—to say nothing of the ancient Greeks—knew the earth was round. The Portuguese would not support Columbus was that they knew many things better than he did, such as the circumference of the earth. They knew it was bigger than Columbus thought. When he found land, he was convinced he was in Asia. In many ways, the voyage of Columbus constituted a huge mistake. But it turned out to be a good one because of the follow-up. For after Columbus came, he came back again and again. Others did too.

Here our two basic points connect. When the Europeans came back and kept coming, they brought the message about Jesus to people who had never heard it. They brought most important thing in the world to these shores. Over that, we rejoice. We can rejoice down to this day.

But do we?

2.

This question is worth some attention. Here at the end of the twentieth century, Columbus Day can become something other than the simple observance of a civic holiday or the commemoration of an important historical event. It might actually raise a question of faith for us, as we are tempted not even to want to rejoice over Columbus and his voyage.

We know what happened when people followed him to the Americas. It wasn’t pretty; it was absolutely ugly. Europeans carried diseases to which native Americans had no immunity. Many of them also came with delusions of grandeur and dreams of conquest. Some were cruel. They enslaved and killed people. There’s no question about it.

The world around us sees these thi...