For today’s Scripture readings go to http://bible.oremus.org
When we lived in northern California Stuart and I used to visit the mineral baths at Wilbur Hot Springs. The water was piped into a series of large, concrete pools about four feet deep. They were arranged from tepid to scalding. On our first visit, being neophytes, we slid into the middle pool first thing. What a mistake! We shot out and waited for the pain to subside; then we entered the tepid pool. After ten minutes or so, it felt cool, so we got out and entered the next warmest pool. And so we continued right on into the pool we had tried first. No pain! After growing accustomed to that temperature, we moved on to a hotter pool and another even hotter. I am telling you this, because it helps to understand the reading from Exodus.
These Moses stories present a challenge. They are told in a way that allows us to picture an action; and they leave it to us to sort out what really happened. For example, we are told that Moses went up on the mountain to meet with God. What does that mean? Moses went up the mountain, true; but not because that was where God was. God is everywhere. Moses went up the mountain to get away from the busyness and distractions of life in the camp. He reached a great height with a 360 degree view, found a comfortable place and sat down in pure silence. Was there a special aura about that spot? Did a mysterious figure wait for him there? No. Moses sat hour after hour, pouring his concern for the people into the void, and gradually, gradually he became aware of a Presence. No words passed, but Moses developed the conviction that God, that Presence, would not desert God’s people. Afterwards, back down among the throng, in order to make plain to them what could not be put in words, Moses told the story as we have it – as if he had found a figure waiting for him on the mountain and a conversation ensued. The trouble with these stories is this. If we take them literally, then where can we find common ground with Moses? We know that if we climbed a mountain we would not find a mysterious figure waiting and a conversation would not ensue. The story has no power to transform if we take it as we find it; we must read through it to the subtext, to what really happened. Then we can connect.
Moses asked God to show him God’s glory. In other words, Moses was longing for closer union with God. If you know how it feels to miss breakfast and then stop at a bakery window with the smell of fresh-baked bread wafting your way; you know longing. Spiritual longing reaches deeper and sets up an ache in the very soul. Moses had tasted a degree of God’s presence and he ached with even greater hunger. In fact, he wanted the whole loaf. God said no. God replied that God could reveal Godself to Moses only obliquely. Why? Because, were a human being to see God full in the face, the radiance would vaporize that person; spiritually, it would be ground zero. So God arranged to show Moses as much of Godself as Moses could stand. Now here is where the analogy of the mineral hots springs comes in. The more Moses went up on the mountain to soak himself in the Presence of God, the more of God’s Presence he could withstand. The more nearly complete his union. Now the story holds meaning for us. What happened on Mt. Sinai could happen to us, in our homes, in our church, in our garden!
It happened in Jesus’ life. Like Moses, Jesus spent time up on the mountain, often at night. Jesus, though, went all the way to ground zero. He was able and willing to be utterly effaced, to the point where he became transparent to God. If we think of ourselves as window panes, we can readily imagine panes that let a great deal of light through and some that let less light pass. Jesus – I’ll put it this way – ceased to be a pane at all. Pure light came through directly.
Not everyone appreciates the bright light of truth. Certainly the Pharisees did not. No one does whose house has unexamined corners. So the Pharisees sought to have Jesus killed. Two certain methods lay ready to hand. Make Jesus seem like a revolutionary and the Roman overlords would arrest him and kill him. Or make Jesus seem like a Roman sympathizer, and the people would be ready to stone him. So his enemies posed a question that could go one of two ways, and either way they would be rid of Jesus. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” Heads, I win. Tails, you lose. But Jesus can read hearts, so his answer did more than evade their trap.
In fact, his answer points to a third trap, this one not a political trap, but a spiritual one. Perhaps you know this song: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.” The things of earth can grow strangely dim as one’s fervor for God increases. Of course we want such “things of earth” as petty quarrels to grow dim, the dimmer the better. But what about such “things of earth” as hunger, loneliness, war and disease? The third, the spiritual trap is this: people of faith can find, as the joy of God’s Presence becomes ever more real, that they want to spend ever more time ‘up on the mountain’. A pernicious self-centeredness ensues – pernicious because it appears to be godly devotion. The first letter of John warns about this: “Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have … is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”
Moses, as we know, did come down from the mountain. He left the pure silence, the vast open view, and the profound joy and peace of Mt. Sinai in order to return to – what? Petty quarrels? Whining and complaining? Greed? Rivalries? Yes, but also to fear, confusion, fatigue, despair, animosity, shame, and broken hearts. He came down because they were his people and he loved them. He loved them because he loved God; and the true love of God is a see-saw action: up, down; up, down; up down.
This action reached perfection in Jesus. After countless nights up on the mountain and many more days down among the motley crowd of his disciples, he went up for the last time, not on a mountain this time, but on the cross. From there he went up all the way into heaven. He could have stayed there. He had earned his rest. Instead, he came down, down for the last and final time, to be among us. He saw our fear, confusion, fatigue, despair, animosity, shame, and broken hearts. He came down for good, because we are his people and he loves us. If he is our savior, and he is, one of the ways he saves us is by showing us the fundamental action that leads to eternal life: up, down; up, down; up, down.
Friends, the closer we can come to God’s Presence without scalding ourselves, the more healing our ministry among the people – first to our personal family and friends, then to our church family and friends, then to the world. When Jesus’ mission is fully accomplished all shall be family and friends. Let it begin right here at St. Gregory’s in Woodstock.
