For this blog post, I give to you my sermon from this morning (which also happens to be part of my Pentateuch final). I went off the lectionary, because honestly, I preached about the slaughtering of the children last year (and it's rather a depressing text), and I wanted to not let a fine sermon used for a final go to waste. We had to use a text from the Pentateuch for my final, so I picked Numbers 20:1-13. It's only found in the daily lectionary on a random Tuesday or something... It's one of my favorite stories, and you'll soon find out why. And every good sermon must have a Gospel somewhere, so I went with Matthew 6:25-34. An oldie, but a goodie...
(You get the added benefit of pictures) (for it is a blog after all)
Do we have to? Are we there yet?
Can we listen to something else? He keeps elbowing me… All of us have been
there. Stuck in the backseat with your smelly brother on a long car trip over
the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house you go... Okay, so maybe
you don’t all have smelly brothers. Maybe you don’t all have smelly sisters. I
don’t have any sisters, but I’ve had enough car adventures with my smelly
brother to know that it stinks, BOTH figuratively and literally. That point
where the smell starts giving you a headache; the air conditioner (or heater)
isn’t working well enough and you start to sweat profusely (or shiver
profusely) (let’s face it, you’re never comfortable in the backseat) until you
can’t take it anymore. You cry out with as many complaints as possible, because
you’ve had enough of your tight quarters next to your smelly brother.
Your dad yells from the driver’s
seat, “Cut that out, or I’ll pull over and you can walk the rest of the way!”
(Knowing that he was merely threatening; that there was no truth behind it.)
(Or, at least you hoped.) So, you sit back and endure the rest of the trip,
next to your smelly brother. But, maybe you’ve been that father, or mother, who
has said such things to your children. (Even though you were merely
threatening, but there was no truth behind it.) (Or at least they hoped.)
Stress makes us do crazy things sometimes, especially in the last month or so. But,
crazy enough to defy God’s divine will?
Moses had valiantly rescued the
Israelites from the clutches of Pharaoh’s grasp. He guided them across the Sea
of Reeds (or the Red Sea) by the thousands. God gave Moses the tablets with the
10 Utterances (Otherwise known as the 10 Commandments) not once, but twice. God
gave the Israelites manna; promised them a land flowing with milk and honey
(sounds sticky). Sure, they had to walk around in the wilderness for 40 years,
but God had set aside a land just for them. A land flowing with milk and honey
(still sounds sticky) and they had had enough. Their feet were tired, their
livestock were dying (probably stinking up the place), they had no fresh fruits
(sounds like Minnesota right now), and most damning of all, they had no water.
Stress may cause you to do some crazy things, but dehydration is a whole other
animal. We’ve all seen the movies of people walking forever in the desert and
seeing mirages (Spaceballs comes to mind), doing and seeing anything to get
water. But, defying God’s divine will? That may be going a bit far, don’t you
think?
After Moses and Aaron had heard
enough whining, they went to the tent with the Ark, and asked God for wisdom.
God commanded that Moses was to speak to the rock in front of the Israelites
and it would bring forth water. Crazy eh? It’s like squeezing water from a
rock… Oh wait… So Moses takes the staff, goes in front of the people, and
smacks the rock. Not once, but twice. Had Moses smacked it once, it would have
been a major “oops” at most. Had he smacked it once, Moses might have been able
to enjoy honey smoothies with the rest of the Israelites in the Promised Land.
Had he smacked it once, it would have been a mistake. He smacked it twice. Not
once, but twice. Twice shows intentionality. Twice shows that the stress and
dehydration have gotten to him enough that he’s done listening to God’s
commands. Twice shows that Moses is fed up with wandering around and he wants
results. Moses hit it twice, and thus he died before ever reaching the land
promised to him and the Israelites.
This summer, I had the blessed opportunity
to traverse the land of our northern neighbors with New Wine. During the trip,
I would overhear some youth saying things that were racially and religiously
offensive. I told them this story of Moses. I said, this is what you said, this
is why it’s offensive, and now you know. You are no longer ignorant about it.
That’s your first strike against the rock. The second strike, I get to yell at
you. This way, they learn a bible story, they learn why what they said was
wrong and offensive, and it gives them a chance for redemption. However, once
they are no longer ignorant of the offense, and I catch them saying similar
things; that shows intentionality. Once you get pulled over for having a
headlight out, you can’t blame ignorance if you get pulled over again.
I learned this rhetoric from my
rabbi, Joseph Edelheit, the Director of Jewish and Religious Studies at Saint
Cloud State. He uses it when he hears students say offensive things, and thus I
adopted the practice. I think it worked well this summer, and I will continue
to use it. Hopefully, I won’t have to all that often.
And yet,
there’s still something missing… My brother Erik is completing his final year
at Wartburg Theological Seminary, and he’s always vigilant when listening to
sermons. Where’s Christ JoN? Where’ the Gospel JoN? Where’s the Gospel in such
a LAW LAW LAW text? DON’T DISOBEY GOD. HE WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR HONEY SMOOTHIE.
A couple books before this text,
when Moses goes atop Mount Sinai, he receives the 10 Utterances from the Lord.
Moses comes down the mountain to see that the Israelites had DISOBEYED GOD and
made a golden calf idol. They were worshipping this golden calf. God threatened
to wipe them off the face of the planet, but Moses pleaded with God to stay
God’s hand. Moses asked if God had led them out of Egypt, then why was God so
willing to slay them after this offense. God saw Moses’ reasoning, and decided
to not destroy the Israelites. LAW LAW LAW. Where is the Gospel? For that, we
have to look at the whining. We have to revisit the smelly brother.
In the
Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is preaching the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the
cheesemakers and such… But towards the end in Chapter 6, Jesus utters these
words,
‘Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will
drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and
the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor
reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you
not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour
to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies
of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even
Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so
clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore
do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What
will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and
indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive
first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will
be given to you as well.
‘So do not worry
about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is
enough for today. (Matthew 6:25-34 NRSV)
When I was
younger, I was always worrying. I seem to have grown out of that because my
wife, Tiffany insists that I don’t worry enough anymore. But when I was
younger, my father noticed this and shared with me his favorite verse. “So do
not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s
trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34). So this text has become a marker
for me. I cling to the wisdom it holds, and perhaps that is why I don’t worry
as much as I should.
So maybe
Jesus has a point. Maybe we shouldn’t worry too much. That smelly brother isn’t
going anywhere, and there isn’t much you can do about it. All you can do is sit
back and relax as best you can. I had a choir teacher in high school that got
tired of us whining all the time. He proudly proclaimed once, “Life sucks, so
get over it.” Not very consoling to a high schooler…
Instead,
take consolation in the fact that things will hopefully, eventually get better.
The car ride will end, and fresh air can be felt again. The sun will rise on a
new tomorrow, and God is there, walking with you. Smacking the rock twice may
garner consequences here below, but all are welcome at the Lord’s Table, with
plenty of honey smoothies to go around. Merry Christmas.
Amen.
