Today’s Old Testament passage brings all sorts of images to mind. First, we are presented with a new moon. It is the third one the Israelites have seen on their journey, which means that they have been traveling together for at least three months. Next, we are reminded of Egypt in all its splendor and hardship. Then we hear of the route they have taken, and we see people trudging through the wilderness and emerging at the base of Mount Sinai, living in camps as they go. Finally, we see (and hear) Moses being called out by God to ascend the mountain.
We aren’t told whether it is a booming voice for all to hear, or if it is a still, small voice raised in the conscience of Moses, but this voice – and the images it offers – are all that we hear. The voice of God, however, we imagine it, instructs Moses to tell the people that they are to think of their flight from Israel as though it were as swift and strong as a bird of prey. The final image we are given is one of these refugee people becoming transformed into a nation set apart by God.
Can you imagine? Can you imagine what it was like for them? Their story has been re-imagined in films and storybooks for generations, but I’m not sure how much of it we really understand.
The retelling of this story is not for the sake of creating some grand image of the acts of God among groveling mortals. It is for the sake of reminding us of the covenant made between God and God’s people. What we have in our reading today is not just the image of an unknowable, all-powerful God. It is a collection of images – a gallery of sorts – that tell the story of God’s willingness to be in a contractual, covenant relationship with creation itself!
Exodus 19:1-6 is the preamble to that covenant, and it is followed by the agreement of the people to enter into this covenant. By the time we get to 20:1-2, where the actual covenant begins, Moses has come down and shared God’s desire with the elders. The people have consecrated themselves, and God has brought a great cloud over the mountain. At this point in the story, God is most certainly speaking with a booming voice (and apparently with trumpets)! It is still a little unclear how much of it they can understand, but the people are made aware that some pretty serious contract negotiations are going on up there.
Moses goes back up to hear what God has to say, and the conversation begins with an understanding of just who it is that is speaking to Moses. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
This is, of course, the beginning of the Ten Commandments. We’ll be looking further into these over the next few weeks, but today we start with an acknowledgment that – however, we might imagine God, or the gods – God established this covenant on the expectation that God is our liberator.
Establishing the character of God and relating it to God’s actions was an important place to start. There was a pantheon of regional gods and household deities that people prayed to during that time, and it was important to note that none of them had anything to do with their current situation. It may sound funny to say it, but in some ways that hasn’t changed. How else could there be a market for “parking lot angel” pins to put on your visor and guide you to open parking spaces near the door at the mall?
Most of us don’t think of it that way, but it is quite possible that we, too, need to hear these words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery.” Maybe you have never felt enslaved. Maybe even mentioning the idea of slavery is touchy.
According to Paul in Romans 8, we would all be enslaved to sin without the grace and mercy of God. The enslavement of sin is one that impacts everyone – whether we are the oppressed or the oppressor; whether we know the impact of our actions on others or simply do not care. Sin, as Paul describes it, is the condition of being so self-centered that we have forgotten how to be centered selves.
One might say that was the situation in the synagogue when the Pharisees and Sadducees were arguing with Jesus in Mark 12. Our reading begins with “One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another,” because they were arguing with Jesus about politics. One was concerned about paying taxes. The other was asking about personal responsibility after the resurrection. In both cases, you might say that Jesus’s response could be boiled down to, “What gives glory to God?” Then he answered the scribe with what we often call the “summary of the law.”
While it is a bit of a spoiler to give a summary before we explore the presentation of the Ten Commandments, Jesus’s answer makes it clear that the liberation we receive from God is not for our benefit alone. From the first step out of Egypt to the first phase of the covenant with Israel; to the first public statements of Jesus; to the last breath he breathed on the cross; to the breath, he breathed upon the disciples after his resurrection, the covenant God has made with all of creation is to redeem and restore it – and that includes you and me!
For those who follow the way of Jesus, this covenant is not a “one and done ticket to heaven.” It is an agreement to work with us, in us, and through us to restore those enslaved by the hunger for power; by the loss of resources; and by the expectation that God is anything less than the source of life and all of its meaning.
While you think about that, let me paint a slightly different picture in your mind. I’m going to borrow from the American Landscape Painter, Les Kouba, and I want you to imagine a field being plowed by horses instead of some great machine. It is mid-day and a flock of geese flies overhead. The farmer stops a minute to take it in.
Several rows have been plowed. There are several more yet to go. The farmer’s position is not relaxed. Moreso he holds a tension like a spring ready to move into action.
While I can’t imagine plowing anything in the heat of Summer in South Louisiana, I think that image resonates with the claim of God as a redeemer and the command of Christ to love God and neighbor with all that we have and all that we are. In one way I can see God as the farmer transforming the land. In another, I see each of us taking a moment to rest and recharge before moving into the task of being the church.
Regardless of where you see yourself, or God, in that scenario, the covenant that God has established with us as God’s people starts with God’s character as liberator and redeemer and requires our response as creatures created in the image of God.
If we truly love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (just as God loves us), then we will love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. It’s just that simple, and it’s just that hard. It’s also ok to rest on the plow a bit – but there is still work to be done. That’s a good thing because it means that the God of Jacob and Israel is the God of First Presbyterian and all the other congregations in this town and so many others! It means that the one true God who offers liberation and hope is at work – even here, even now – and to God be the glory for that. Amen!
We aren’t told whether it is a booming voice for all to hear, or if it is a still, small voice raised in the conscience of Moses, but this voice – and the images it offers – are all that we hear. The voice of God, however, we imagine it, instructs Moses to tell the people that they are to think of their flight from Israel as though it were as swift and strong as a bird of prey. The final image we are given is one of these refugee people becoming transformed into a nation set apart by God.
Can you imagine? Can you imagine what it was like for them? Their story has been re-imagined in films and storybooks for generations, but I’m not sure how much of it we really understand.
The retelling of this story is not for the sake of creating some grand image of the acts of God among groveling mortals. It is for the sake of reminding us of the covenant made between God and God’s people. What we have in our reading today is not just the image of an unknowable, all-powerful God. It is a collection of images – a gallery of sorts – that tell the story of God’s willingness to be in a contractual, covenant relationship with creation itself!
Exodus 19:1-6 is the preamble to that covenant, and it is followed by the agreement of the people to enter into this covenant. By the time we get to 20:1-2, where the actual covenant begins, Moses has come down and shared God’s desire with the elders. The people have consecrated themselves, and God has brought a great cloud over the mountain. At this point in the story, God is most certainly speaking with a booming voice (and apparently with trumpets)! It is still a little unclear how much of it they can understand, but the people are made aware that some pretty serious contract negotiations are going on up there.
Moses goes back up to hear what God has to say, and the conversation begins with an understanding of just who it is that is speaking to Moses. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
This is, of course, the beginning of the Ten Commandments. We’ll be looking further into these over the next few weeks, but today we start with an acknowledgment that – however, we might imagine God, or the gods – God established this covenant on the expectation that God is our liberator.
Establishing the character of God and relating it to God’s actions was an important place to start. There was a pantheon of regional gods and household deities that people prayed to during that time, and it was important to note that none of them had anything to do with their current situation. It may sound funny to say it, but in some ways that hasn’t changed. How else could there be a market for “parking lot angel” pins to put on your visor and guide you to open parking spaces near the door at the mall?
Most of us don’t think of it that way, but it is quite possible that we, too, need to hear these words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery.” Maybe you have never felt enslaved. Maybe even mentioning the idea of slavery is touchy.
According to Paul in Romans 8, we would all be enslaved to sin without the grace and mercy of God. The enslavement of sin is one that impacts everyone – whether we are the oppressed or the oppressor; whether we know the impact of our actions on others or simply do not care. Sin, as Paul describes it, is the condition of being so self-centered that we have forgotten how to be centered selves.
One might say that was the situation in the synagogue when the Pharisees and Sadducees were arguing with Jesus in Mark 12. Our reading begins with “One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another,” because they were arguing with Jesus about politics. One was concerned about paying taxes. The other was asking about personal responsibility after the resurrection. In both cases, you might say that Jesus’s response could be boiled down to, “What gives glory to God?” Then he answered the scribe with what we often call the “summary of the law.”
While it is a bit of a spoiler to give a summary before we explore the presentation of the Ten Commandments, Jesus’s answer makes it clear that the liberation we receive from God is not for our benefit alone. From the first step out of Egypt to the first phase of the covenant with Israel; to the first public statements of Jesus; to the last breath he breathed on the cross; to the breath, he breathed upon the disciples after his resurrection, the covenant God has made with all of creation is to redeem and restore it – and that includes you and me!
For those who follow the way of Jesus, this covenant is not a “one and done ticket to heaven.” It is an agreement to work with us, in us, and through us to restore those enslaved by the hunger for power; by the loss of resources; and by the expectation that God is anything less than the source of life and all of its meaning.
While you think about that, let me paint a slightly different picture in your mind. I’m going to borrow from the American Landscape Painter, Les Kouba, and I want you to imagine a field being plowed by horses instead of some great machine. It is mid-day and a flock of geese flies overhead. The farmer stops a minute to take it in.
Several rows have been plowed. There are several more yet to go. The farmer’s position is not relaxed. Moreso he holds a tension like a spring ready to move into action.
While I can’t imagine plowing anything in the heat of Summer in South Louisiana, I think that image resonates with the claim of God as a redeemer and the command of Christ to love God and neighbor with all that we have and all that we are. In one way I can see God as the farmer transforming the land. In another, I see each of us taking a moment to rest and recharge before moving into the task of being the church.
Regardless of where you see yourself, or God, in that scenario, the covenant that God has established with us as God’s people starts with God’s character as liberator and redeemer and requires our response as creatures created in the image of God.
If we truly love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (just as God loves us), then we will love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. It’s just that simple, and it’s just that hard. It’s also ok to rest on the plow a bit – but there is still work to be done. That’s a good thing because it means that the God of Jacob and Israel is the God of First Presbyterian and all the other congregations in this town and so many others! It means that the one true God who offers liberation and hope is at work – even here, even now – and to God be the glory for that. Amen!
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