"Spiritual Pacifier" October 19, 2013

Exodus 33: 12-23 Matthew 22:15-22 There is in each one of us an odd balancing of polar extremes. Each of us are sinful saints, sainted sinners. We have compartmentalized our lives, so that when we are with our parents – we are their children, when we are with our children – we are their parents; when we are at work we are devoted to that business, when we are with our spouse/ our loved ones/ our soulmate we are devoted unconditionally to them. We are SU fans during Basketball season, and Yankees fans during the summer. We are people who work hard and play hard. The difficulty is that each and everyone of those realities is only a compartmentalized self of who and what we are committed to. We are hypocrites! We are trying to be several selves all at once without a single self mastering life. In good Presbyterian fashion we tend to function as if a Committee of selves, with each being a rank individualist, uncooperative, shouting all the louder when voting time comes. We feel the pull of many interests and are left feeling distraught and disgruntled by trying to fulfill our many opposing obligations. What we seek is to be pacified, placated, assuaged, bought off until the next time. Life was created to be lived from the center outward, to be in balance, yet we live weighted by so many competing interests. All of which virtually guarantees the perpetual existence of the temporary reality of the church, as a place for confession, for atonement and absolution. There is nothing in the whole of the Old Testament or the Gospels which describes the need for Church. Among all of Creation, there were to be believers, who through their actions, their lives would inspire and call others to believe in God. Creation was formed incomplete, with creatures able to choose to believe, and our role, our purpose was to bring about the belief of others until all the world trusted God. More than questions of the existence of Heaven and Hell, or judgement as to which a person is going, the most frequently asked question of Clergy is whether we believe in Free Will or God's Plan. Either, we are accountable for our decisions, able to make choices of good and evil in life, OR God is all powerful and God has a divine plan. When a virus like Ebola is able to be transported from South Africa to West Africa, and through one individual kill thousands of others, we want and need to believe in an all powerful, ultimately good God. When Adolph Hitlers, Saddam Husseins, and Osama Ben Ladens strike, we want to believe in the ultimate good of God's plan that will not allow those horrors to succeed. But when given choice between alternatives, we want to believe we are in control, free and able to choose to win. When I was about five, my Grandmother taught me to play Solitaire with the hope and expectation that against the unknown shuffle of fate you could by skill, by intelligence, by experience, win! But she also taught me how to peak under the piles for what is hidden where, and how to reshuffle the deck during play, my Grandmother taught me to allow myself to cheat in order to win. We compromise, we compartmentalize, we pacify, that we will allow ourselves one piece of chocolate, if no one sees and we can dispose of the wrapper. We can have a cookie if no one hears the cookie jar. The speed limit does not apply to us because we are in a hurry, unless we get caught and then it was because it was a speed trap. Everything in the Biblical books of Genesis and Exodus, from the Creation of the Universe and everything therein, through Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Egypt's Pharaohs, the 10 Plagues and Crossing of the Red Sea, Manna from Heaven, and Water from solid rock have led to the climax of the story of God, that up on top of Mt. Sinai the mountaintop of God, hidden within a cloud, surrounded by fire, thunder and lightning, Moses received the 10 Commandments from God. Had God only given to Moses those 10 Commandments, he could have brought these to the people and they could have lived according to the Law, BUT at the same time God gave to Moses instruction for building the tabernacle as a place to worship God, with instruction for creation of the Altar, the tools for sacrifice, the robes of priests, when and how to worship. By the time Moses came down the mountain with Commandments from God, the people had created the golden calf to worship. The problem of the Golden Calf was not that they did not believe in God, but that the people wanted something tangible, they wanted to see for themselves the invisible God. The people sought Spiritual Pacifying, they did not want to respond to God, they wanted to have god in a particular place to worship when and how they wanted to worship God. Their sin was wanting to have God on their terms, to make ourselves God in order to have it all. The people were afraid to go up the mountain with Moses, afraid that they were unworthy to see the glory and purity of God, but still they wanted to peak, they wanted to see the invisible. Recall those moments in life, when you know you have to make amends, when you have to apologize to those who have been wronged. Imagine being Moses, having to hike back up Mount Sinai, Moses who led the people, who received the 10 Commandments, who now needs to apologize to God for the sin of the people. The immediate response of God is “Let's do another Noah!” Destroy this people and begin with Moses, as one person of faith. It was good enough for Abram, for Isaac, for Jacob, why not for Moses alone? If not, if this people are allowed to live, then they can go their way and God will go the way of God. Have you ever imagined saying “Enough!” I do not want to believe in God anymore. But does that mean God no longer exists? Moses recognizes the people of God are only escaped slaves in the wilderness, and the wilderness is a dangerous place, life is hard enough with God, who could survive without God. Listening to Moses, God yields, God repents from wanting to destroy. So you are Moses, you have been chosen by God! You have beaten Pharaoh! You have stood on the mountain top with God and held in your hands the 10 Commandments! You have apologized to God for the people and atoned for the wrongs of the world. You have stood toe to toe with God arguing the case of humanity! What do you do now? While Moses is all of this, Moses is also a man. Moses sought his own spiritual pacification. Moses asked for what the people had wanted. He asked to be able to see God. In Hebrew, looking someone in the face, looking them eye to eye, is about seeing the whole person, knowing and fully understanding who the other is. God responds, “But Moses, you are a Man.” So, you may stand in the presence of God and see where God has been, but not to see where God is going, not stare into the face of God. The irony of this is that God is a God of the Living, all that matters is where God is and where God is going. Consulting Ouija Boards and Seances, and Fortune Tellers, is communicating with the Walking Dead, the past, not knowing the meaning of the present or the outcome of the future. Ultimately, an autopsy tells you the scientific causes of death, the weight of organs, but not the meaning of why. Compartmentalizing. Pacifying. The Saducees did not believe in the resurrection. The Scribes believed in a literalistic interpretation of the Law. The Herodians were the political party supporting King Herod The Pharisees trying to entrap Jesus between these many different groups, posed a legal question about paying taxes to the Roman Emperor, recognize that this is being asked while standing in the Temple at Jerusalem, the holiest place in the City of David. But who created the Laws of the Roman Empire? Who minted the coins of Rome? Civilization costs, armies, boots on the ground, infrastructure of roads and bridges and clean water are paid for by taxes. The Roman Empire imposed Village, County, State and Federal Taxes, Property taxes, Business Taxes, Personal and Worship taxes. But Rome was also the occupying military power, so the coins and currency for taxes not only bore the likeness of the Emperor, they bore inscription. We have come to know people as having first and last names, so Jesus Christ and Julius Caesar, or Augustus Caesar, when identification of Caesar meant “Absolute Military Authority and Power of Domination.” August meant “Divine, Son of God.” The Roman coin called an eichon from which we in English get the word icon, was worth a laborer's wage for one day, and both made an image of God, and worshipped a false God. Having the coins in our pockets, particularly when in the Temple was perceived as being owned by the Empire. Recognizing the Trap, Jesus claimed to have no coins and asked for a coin from their pockets. The real irony would have been if the Pharisees had asked the question the other way. “Is it right to give to God what belongs to God?” Just as Laws and Taxes and Currency are the creation of Empires, Righteous belongs to God, righteousness is not about holiness or Good versus evil, righteousness means being in right relationship with God. So of course it is right to give God what belongs to God. Often, we look over our estates, our checkbooks and determine that after paying for housing and cars, entertainment and gifts, we have only so much left to give away. What if instead, our first priority was God. Not paying taxes. Not giving to Charity. But making an investment of ourselves and our priorities in God, because we are in God's image, trusting that everything else will work itself out.