Many years ago, Elizabeth Silance Ballard wrote the story of Miss Thompson who taught Teddy Stallard in the fifth grade.* He was a slow, unkempt student, a loner shunned by his classmates. The previous year his mother died, and what little motivation for school he may have once had was now gone. And Miss Thompson didn’t much care for Teddy either, but at Christmas-time he brought her a small present. Her desk was covered with well-wrapped presents from the other children, but Teddy’s was different. As Miss Thompson tells it,
“Its wrapping was a brown paper bag, and he had colored Christmas trees and red bells all over it. It was stuck together with masking tape. ‘For Miss Thompson -- From Teddy’ it read. ... As I removed the last bit of masking tape, two items fell to my desk; a gaudy rhinestone bracelet with several stones missing and a small bottle of dime-store cologne—half empty. I could hear the snickers and whispers, and I wasn’t sure I could look at Teddy. ‘Isn’t this lovely?’ I asked, placing the bracelet on my wrist ... [and] I dabbed the cologne behind my ears....”
“At the end of the day Teddy worked up enough courage to softly say, ‘Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother . . . and her bracelet looks real pretty on you too. I’m glad you like my presents.’ After Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and prayed for God’s forgiveness. She prayed for God to use her, as she sought not only to teach these children but to love them as well.”
Teddy is living among the tombs, like the man in our passage today. The man Jesus meets among the tombs has so many problems, so many pressures, so much destructive energy that no matter how people try to keep him safe, he breaks all the restraints. Teddy is grieving over the loss of his mother, the lack of care from his father, dealing with growing up and smelling, and learning, and trying to make friends when he is not sure of himself. Oh yes, Teddy is living among the tombs. Miss Thompson in our story is also living among the tombs. They are pretty suburban tombs, but she has all sorts of problems and pressures inside:
· She has curriculum to cover every day.
· She has other teachers she works with, and she wants to stay ahead of them
· She’s thinking about what she will have to do after school with her family.
· She is not sure how she and her family will pay all the bills sitting on her desk at home.
· And she doesn’t really care for Teddy and probably some of the other students.
If we are honest with ourselves, we have lots of things working on us too. Are you living among the tombs today? Do you know someone who seems so bent on hurting themselves and pushing others away that they break all restraints? For you, Jesus has three words of hope today.
First, Jesus comes to you in the tombs. He doesn’t wait for the man to come where it is nice and clean. Jesus comes into the depths of our darkness, dirt and nastiness. We don’t have to be perfect, hard-working, beautiful or even good. And Jesus can reach the people we care about who are like this man, can reach them in ways even we can’t. Jesus comes to us in the tombs.
Second, Jesus has power over all your problems, pressures and pain. Like the man among the tombs, Jesus wants you to name them. As you name them, Jesus gains power over them. Perhaps you have so many that, like the man among the tombs, all you can say is they are “Legion.” Jesus may not be able to make all your problems go away, but He can break the chains that bind us to negative thinking, oppressive burdens, and destructive habits. Then we can actually choose. Jesus casts out the demons for this man, removing the external powers that trip him up, taking them out and breaking them down. Jesus has the power to clear your head and your heart, and to give you courage to face your legions of problems.
Third, Jesus enables people to live in true freedom. What we see happen to the man in our passage is nothing short of restoration—his overwhelming madness replaced with calm sanity, his self-destruction gives way to human relationship, his manifold burdens fade before powerful grace. It’s what Christ desires for us!
That day at Christmas-time was a turning point for Miss Thompson and Teddy Stallard. Miss Thompson became a new teacher. She lovingly helped students like Teddy, and by the end of the year Teddy had caught up with most of the students. Miss Thompson didn’t hear from Teddy for a long time. Then she received this note: “Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my high school class. Love, Teddy Stallard.” Four years later she got another note: “Dear Miss Thompson, They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stallard.” Four years later: “Dear Miss Thompson, As of today, I am Theodore J. Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stallard.” Miss Thompson went to the wedding and sat where Teddy’s mother would have sat.
Miss Thompson and Teddy left the tombs that day at Christmas-time, and started living the freedom of a new life. Their story reminds us that sometimes, like Miss Thompson, we have to ask for God’s help to leave our tombs, so that we can be present with other people in theirs. There, in the tombs, we find Jesus Christ comes with us to be the presence of grace to people whose problems are legion. It is Christ who saves—not us—but He needs our hands and feet. Our world’s problems are legion—sequestration damning the least able in our society, intractable conflicts abroad, paralyzed law-makers at home, climate change, pollution, isolation, hunger and homelessness—and still our problems are just challenges. And we can stay among the tombs and wring our hands, or we can agree that something must be done for the good of all of us, and begin. Jesus calls those who walk in Christ to walk with Him into the desolate places of people’s lives so they may one day walk free.
Are you living among the tombs today? Does it feel like your problems and pressures are legion, pulling the strings of your life to make you dance their dance? Are you feeling isolated and lonely? Do you feel like you are hanging onto life with your fingernails? My friends, Jesus has come to you as you wander in dead and desolate places, and in this moment, He wants to set you free.
Are you living among the tombs today? Not satisfied with your comfortable quarters, are you going where the last, the lost and the least may be found? Wherever you go, are you looking for the people who are living among the tombs of their problems and pressures, and are you offering them the hope of Jesus Christ. My friends, Jesus wants to come in you to those wandering in dead and desolate places, and in this moment, if you will go with Him, you will be free.
* SOURCE: A version may be found at “Who Switched the Price Tags?”, Tony Campolo, W Publishing Group, 1986, p. 69-72. The story was originally told by Elizabeth Silance Ballard (now married, last name Ungar) as “Three Letters from Teddy” in Baptist Monthly, 1974. For more information on this remarkable story, visit www.snopes.com and search for “Teddy Stallard.”