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Former President George Bush was flying home to Texas and was waiting for a connecting flight in an airport lobby. He noticed a man with a flowing white beard and flowing white hair. The man had a staff in one hand and some stone tablets under the other arm. The president approached the man. “Aren’t you Moses?” he asked. The man ignored him and stared at the ceiling. The president positioned himself more directly in the man’s view and asked again, “Aren’t you Moses?” The man continued to peruse the ceiling. Finally, a little frustrated, the president tugged at the man’s sleeve and asked for a third time, “Aren’t you Moses?” The man finally responded in an irritated voice, “Yes, I am.” Mr. Bush was curious and asked him why he was so uppity to him, a former president and all. After a long pause, the man replied, “Well, you see, the last time I spoke to a Bush I had to spend 40 years in the desert!” Friends, in today’s Scripture lesson we find Moses well into his 40 year journey. And he’s come a long way from the time he first meets God in the burning bush. At that initial meeting, Moses is surprised to hear God’s voice calling him, Telling him that he will be the one to help lead the Israelites out Egypt. At that moment, Moses is hesitant, resistant to God’s calling, and full of questions. Who are you? he asks God. What is your name? What if the Egyptians don’t believe me? I’m not a good speaker, I’m really not up to the task. Please, he tells God, please send someone else. Well, friends, we know the story. God doesn’t send someone else, and Moses becomes the leader of the Israelites. And with Moses as the leader, God guides the people – through the plagues, the Passover, the miracles of the Red Sea Crossing, manna in the desert and water from the rock, and the giving and receiving of the Ten Commandments. Yes, Moses has come a long way from the initial encounter with God. No longer hesitant or resistant, Moses is a confident leader, Confidence borne of God’s grace and experience. Up on the mountain, Moses is with God, And down a the bottom of the mountain, The people have convinced Aaron to build them a golden calf. When God tells Moses of the desire to demonstrate his wrath, Moses implores God. Moses questions God. Moses reminds God of the people and the promises God has made. My friend, Rabbi Deborah Cantor, tells me that from a Jewish perspective, this is Moses’ finest hour. Moses has stood up for God in the past, But now he stands up for the people. Moses chooses the people, And encourages God to do the same. Moses stands in the middle between God’s wrath and the people’s sin. Moses “convinces” God to think twice – And God rescinds the decision to bring wrath against the Israelites. This Exodus text has many lessons – About leadership, about idolatry, about the nature of decision making. But I’d like to invite us today to stand near the place where Moses stands – Next to the wrath of God. Can we stand and look at God’s anger, God’s desire to cast the Israelites into destruction? Looking at the wrath can be uncomfortable, Especially when it’s associated with God. For some of us, it’s because we resist thinking of any part of God’s character in any negative terms. In particular for many Christians, though, the question of the wrath of God is seen it relates to the God revealed in the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament. I’ve heard people wonder if there are two different Gods: A God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament being a God of wrath and revenge, And the God of the New Testament being a God of grace and love, exemplified in Jesus. In fact, we discussed that very point this past Wednesday at Bible study in looking at this Exodus text. Since then, I’ve been thinking about love and wrath, about rage and grace, and what they mean to God and what they mean to us. So, is there a way we can understand God’s wrath? Well, let’s acknowledge that no one can never fully comprehend the mind and heart of God. We can, however, continue to seek for a way to deepen our understanding – and hopefully our faith – in the God that the bible gives witness to. In my preparation and study on the text this week, I read a theology blog on the internet. This week it was written by Brent Latham. Here’s what he says about God’s wrath: “God’s wrath against Israel is but the flip side of God’s love for Israel – and thus for each of us. This love is so broad, and so deep that it cannot help but burn white hot against the self-destructive, death-inviting practice of offering worship to what isn’t God.” As I read this, I couldn’t help but think about God as our loving parent. And while I know that it’s humanizing God, I do wonder if God’s lheart was so deeply broken by the Israelites who had promised, Who had pledged to be in covenant, in sacred relationship together. I think of the way a parent’s heart sometimes breaks when a child turns away or does something so out of line in comparision to how they were raised. We love them, of course, But our hearts break, and we, too, may find ourselves burning with wrath. And that’s just over the little things – At least for me. And here are these people, God’s people – that committed the most egregious sin, and turned away from God just after they had pledged to keep God’s commandment to worship no others. Latham goes onto say that God’s wrath “is utterly real and absolutely good precisely because it is God actively loving sinners by actively opposing their sin. Divine wrath is thus not so much a feeling that our behavior causes, but the form love takes in the face of sin.” Wrath is the form love takes in the face of sin. And while Latham talks about that wrath in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, One can see it in the New Testament as well. This same broad and deep love that became real in Jesus Christ also faced the sin of the world and of the people, And so we see wrath in the words and actions of Jesus. This is the love meeting sin that led Jesus to shout at Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” This is the same love in the form of wrath that could – At least in Luke’s gospel – proclaim both blessings and woes. Blessed are you, Jesus says, who are poor and weeping and excluded. And woe to you who are rich and full and laughing. This is the same love – And the same wrath – That led Jesus to call some religious leaders snakes and vipers, and to promise to pursue and punish them. This is the same love – and the same wrath – That led Jesus to turn the tables on the money changers in the temple. This is the same love and the same wrath that ends up on the cross for our sake and our salvation. Jesus stands in the same place Moses stood – In fact some the earliest Jewish Christians called Jesus the “new Moses.” For Jesus, that standing led to the cross for our sake and our salvation, And ultimately to the resurrection – another form of the love of God. Friends, to acknowledge God’s wrath – Even as a form of love – present in both the New Testament and the Old Testament is not to become fearful and afraid. It is to touch the mystery and power of God, To know that God’s love can take many forms. It is also to acknowledge that if we desire to respond to God’s love, then there will be certain requirements and demands for us, demands because we promise to be in covenant with our God. So, we are invited to follow the commandments. Whether we follow the 10 given to Moses Or those given by Jesus – Love God, love yourself, love your neighbor, love your enemy. These are our daily challenges, Our daily responses to God’s love for us. We don’t always succeed at following the commandments or showing God the depth of our love. And the good news is that God’s love takes another form in the face of sin – the form of forgiveness. It’s a lesson from Exodus and a purpose of the cross: We have a God who invites back all who have strayed, all who have lost their way, be it the Israelites, or Peter, or the religious leaders or you and me. For God’s love and for all the forms it takes in our daily lives, Let us give our thanks and praise. |