Some of you remember Ed Ames as Mingo on the television program, "Daniel Boone." But Ames is also a talented vocalist. In 1968 his song, "Who Will Answer?" topped the charts. It expresses the cynicism of the Vietnam era. Remember the words?

From the canyons of the mind,
We wander on and stumble blindly
Through the often-tangled maze
Of starless nights and sunless days,
While casting for some kind of clue
Or road to lead us to the truth,
But who will answer?

Side by side two people stand,
Together vowing, hand-in-hand
That love's imbedded in their hearts,
But soon an empty feeling starts
To overwhelm their hollow lives,
And when we seek the hows and whys,
Who will answer?

High upon a lonely ledge,
a figure teeters near the edge,
And jeering crowds collect below
To egg him on with, "Go, man, go!"
And who will ask what led him
To his private day of doom,
And who will answer?
On a strange and distant hill,
A young man's lying very still.
His arms will never hold his child,
Because a bullet running wild
Has cut him down. And now we cry,
"Dear God, Oh, why, oh, why?"
And who will answer?

Those are probing questions that are imbedded deep within the human heart. Everyone, at one time or another asks them. Now note the profundity of these lines. Ames does not ask, "What is the answer to the question?" but "Who will answer the question?"

Who will explain the nature of love to the bored husband and the disillusioned housewife? Who will account for the evil spectators who urge the suicidal man to jump to his death?

Existentialist philosophers Fredrick Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger are no help. They look at suffering people. Then they look at each other. They shrug their shoulders and say, "That's correct. There's been a collapse of meaning, an epistemological failure and life is nothingness. Macbeth was right when he said life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing."

Who will answer? Hobbes, Rousseau, Machiavelli and Jean Paul Sartre convene. They huddle together. Finally they announce their findings. They will answer. "Evil is an illusion. If anyone is to blame for suffering, it's society. Suffering is a product of an imperfect environment. So the best mankind can hope for is a miserable existence, blindly groping about in the dark."

Who will answer? Who will interpret the world for those who are searching? Who will stand and translate for those who want to know?

Some of you may have read in the paper that two of Edvard Munch's paintings were stolen - "Madonna" valued at 15 million dollars and "The Scream" estimated at 75 million. Someone asked, "Now that the thieves have the paintings, what will they do with them?" Have you ever tried to sell stolen art? The bottom line is this - the paintings were stolen from a museum and stashed away, hidden in a vault or a closet, only to be seen by the thieves. Now consider this - even though the paintings were stolen, the only thing that's changed is the number of people who enjoy their beauty. They were removed from one place, where they were enjoyed by thousands, and hidden in a secret place to be enjoyed by a few.

Jesus Christ said, "No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lamp stand, that those who come in may see the light" (St. Luke 11:33) You are the Lord's treasure, His invaluable piece of art. And He has placed you in a prominent place - in a world where people are looking for answers. And He has called you to stand on the ledge with the suicidal man. He's called you to befriend the husband and the wife who wonder aloud why they ever married. He's called you to answer the critic and the skeptic, who pound the drums of pessimism and agnosticism.

Who will answer? Jesus Christ said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (St. Matthew 5:16). Our Lord commanded us, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (St. Matthew 28:19-20).

God has called us to give an answer. Someone may say, "I feel inadequate to speak to others about my faith. I'm not able." But surely God is able to use you, if you're willing.

Exodus 3:10 [burning bush] "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." ¹¹But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

Exodus 4:1 [after God's persuasive assurance, "I'll be with you."] Then Moses answered and said, "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, "The LORD has not appeared to you."' ²So the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."

Exodus 4:10 [after the snake & leprous hand] "Then Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." ¹¹So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? ¹²Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." ¹³But he said, "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send."

I Corinthians 1: 26-28 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. ²⁷But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are

Today there are many who clamor to speak, many who claim they have the answer. But God says, "I send you."

The British author, Malcolm Muggeridge wrote,

"In one lifetime I have seen my fellow countrymen ruling over a quarter of the world, the great majority of them convinced, in the words of what is still a favorite song, that ‘God who's made the mighty would make them mightier yet.' [In one lifetime] I've heard a crazed, cracked Austrian proclaim to the world the establishment of a German Reich that would last for a thousand years; an Italian clown announce that he would restart the calendar to begin with his own assumption of power; a murderous Georgian brigand in the Kremlin acclaimed by the intellectual elite of the Western world as wiser than Solomon, more enlightened than Asoka, more humane than Marcus Aurelius. [In my lifetime] I've seen America wealthier and in terms of weaponry more powerful than all the rest of the world put together, so that Americans, had they so wished, could have outdone an Alexander or a Julius Caesar in the range and scale of their conquests. All in one little lifetime. All gone with the wind. Behind the debris of our self-styled, sullen supermen, there stands the gigantic figure of one person, because of whom, by whom, in whom, and through whom alone mankind might still have hope. The person of Jesus Christ."

In this feast, Our Lord feeds us and energizes us so we can give an answer. And when we leave this place His blood courses through our veins and beats in our hearts so we can do nothing other than speak. Those who halt - those who dither- those who hesitate, will eat His body and find in it the moral courage to stand upright, to answer the skeptic. And they will say with conviction, "Life has meaning. Suffering is a significant part of the human experience. And Jesus Christ is accomplishing His will in this chaotic world." Amen.