I thought about calling this sermon “Denial is a river in Egypt” but decided after considerable struggle that it was just a little bit TOO clever. Just because you forgive most of my puns doesn’t mean that I have a permanent free pass. But denial is a big part of what this passage is about, and of course even though the Israelites have left Egypt by this time they keep looking back. But it was a temptation. And, incidentally, temptation is also part of what this passage is about.
But denial... It’s a very big part of our culture. Just to give you a flavor of what I’m talking about, let me share with you a couple of tidbits from John Leo’s column in U.S. News and World Report called “The Top Ten Victims.”
Jeremy Strohmeyer went on 20/20 after being convicted of the rape-murder of a 7-year-old girl in a Las Vegas Casino, and portrayed himself as an unloved, abused, whacked-out, drugged-out alcoholic who should really not be blamed for his crime. At his trial he blamed the following: a therapist, a former girlfriend, Los Angeles County adoption officials, his friend David Cash, for not intervening to stop the murder, and the casino.
Harold Crall, a Kentucky gynecologist, surrendered his medical license in 1994 after having what he called “inappropriate contact with female patients.” The licensing board let him resume practicing medicine, but only if he worked for the state corrections department and never saw another female patient. Now Crall claims he is a victim of sexual addiction and is suing his insurance company for $8,700/month in disability benefits.
Blaine Gamble, a Canadian Indian, was charged with bank robbery in Pennsylvania. He told the court he was a victim of cultural insanity, due to “unwarranted exposure, victimization, and repetitive confrontation with white racism.”
Well, that’s only 3 out of the 10, and of course we could cite dozens more instances of people denying responsibility for their behavior. But it’s only one kind of the denial that pervades our society. We deny the reality of aging and death, warehousing unwanted seniors and advocating - first assisted suicide, and all too soon that slides into euthanasia. We deny truth by putting our perceptions and preferences at the center of our moral decisions.
Denial of death, denial of truth, denial of responsibility... when you say it too often it stops making any sense, doesn’t it? But what it all boils down to is attempt after attempt to avoid facing unpleasant realities. And it can work, for a time.
Today’s passage contains three kinds of unpleasant reality, and three different ways of facing it - or, to be more precise, one way of facing it, and two ways of avoiding it.
The first adverse situation comes right at the very beginning.
Seven chapters before this one, Moses disappears. The last verse of Chapter 24 reads, “Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.” [Ex 24:18] That’s a long time, over a month. And the people begin to worry. There they were, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by enemies, and the only man who knew where they were going had vanished. So they decided to take matters into their own hands.
They went to Moses’ deputy, Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." [Ex 32:1]
There are a lot of things wrong with this scenario. How many can you think of, right off the top of your head?
First, 40 days wasn’t really all that long. It was the typical length of time for a ritual purification, a solemn occasion like a period of fasting.
Second, Moses hadn’t just disappeared. He told the elders where he was going and why, and said, "Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them." [Ex24:14] He was expecting to come back, and he hadn’t let them down yet, had he?
Third, the Israelites knew better. They all knew how powerful YHWH God was, and how much to be feared. They had seen what he had done in Pharaoh’s court, they had seen what had happened to Pharaoh’s armies. They had followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. God had fed them and led them and protected them. And he had spoken to them, as well, giving very specific instructions about how they were to worship. After Moses gave them the ten commandments,
"... all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, 'You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.' Moses said... 'Don’t be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.' Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. YHWH said... 'You have seen for yourselves that I spoke with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver alongside me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold..'" [Ex 20:18-23]
Fourth and last, the people - all 12 tribes - had made a promise, a sacred oath, sealed in blood. Before had left to go up Mr. Sinai to spend time with YHWH God, he had given them the Ten Commandments - listen to what happened:
"Moses came and told the people all the words of YHWH and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, 'All the words that YHWH has spoken we will do.' And Moses wrote down all the words of YHWH. He rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to YHWH. Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, 'All that YHWH has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.' Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, 'See the blood of the covenant that YHWH has made with you in accordance with all these words.'" [Ex 24:3-8]
This was not something Moses had gotten them into without their consent, that with Moses gone no longer bound them. They were all parties to the agreement. It was theirs, too. They were accountable.They weren’t under that much pressure. They knew what they were supposed to do, and, more importantly, they knew what they weren’t supposed to do. And they knew what would happen to them if they did it. And it was something they had agreed to in the first place. What can they be thinking of?
The second tough spot faced - or rather not faced - comes when Aaron responds to the peoples’ demands. Even more than the rest of the people, Aaron should know better. He’s second in command, for goodness’ sake. He saw everything the rest of the people did, and from closer up. He had been Moses’s right-hand man and confidant from the very beginning. Moses trusted him to make decisions for the people in his absence. This is when leadership really counts for something. And yet at the very first challenge he folds up like an accordion. Aaron may have had the gift of gab, but he didn’t have much of a backbone. As far as we can tell, he didn’t even try to talk the people out of it. "Getting nervous? Need a little something to take your mind off your problems? You want an idol? Coming right up!” The man’s a born politician. No focus groups, no polls, just a quick glance to see what side his bread is buttered on and the decision is made. It reminds me of another column in the same U.S. News & World Report that I got the other stories out of ... on Al Gore’s campaign. “Sure, he wants to save Medicare. But he claims he can expand your benefits without having you pay more. And while we’re on the subject, he can also save your Social Security without asking you to put off your retirement. Gotta love the guy.” No hard choices here, just promise the people whatever they want and worry about the consequences later. But be sure to make it sound good! Whoever said the Old Testament isn’t relevant today hasn’t read it lately.
Anyway, that’s just what Aaron does. He does everything the people ask him to, without so much as a murmur, and then - as if putting the right spin on it will somehow make his actions acceptable, he declares: "Tomorrow shall be a festival to YHWH." [Ex 32:3] I don’t know which is more offensive: building the calf in the first place, or thinking that YHWH God is so gullible that he’ll hear the worship words but not notice what they’re doing. Does Aaron really think they’re going to get away with it?
The third unpleasant reality in this passage comes when God tells Moses what’s been going on and what he’s going to do about it.
"YHWH said to Moses, 'Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!' YHWH said to Moses, 'I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.'" [Ex 32:7-10]
Do you hear that? God is saying, “Your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt,” not ”My people, whom I brought up out of Egypt.” Sort of like when Mom says to Dad (or vice versa), “Your son (or daughter)” instead of “Our son” - you know there’s trouble coming. Moses isn’t stupid. He could just step out of the way and let God get on with it. After all, did you hear how God ended up? “... I will make a great nation of you." Such a deal! I mean, they are a stiff-necked bunch, and Moses has had his hands full with them. God could start over, and Moses could be the patriarch as well as the law-giver and prophet. But Moses doesn’t take the easy way out. But he doesn’t do it.
Moses pleads their case with God, instead. He doesn’t make excuses for them, doesn’t downplay what they have done. Instead, he appeals to God’s character. It wasn’t that the Israelites don’t deserve to be punished. They do. It’s that God’s reputation as a savior and promise-keeper is at stake. What made Moses stick his neck out like that?
Three tough situations, three different responses.
In the first instance, as soon as the going gets tough and the future looks uncertain and the people have to think for themselves instead of following Moses, they clutch at the nearest familiar object to make them feel better - regardless of the long-term consequences. They indulge their craving for security, even though the solution they come up with to make them feel better will kill them in the end. And to justify themselves, they blame Moses, saying it’s his fault for having been gone so long. But the truth is that they’re not really sure they want the challenge of this new God, an invisible God with impossibly high standards who can strike people dead in an instant. The old gods were content with offerings and holidays and let you alone the rest of the time. It was a lot easier.
And then Aaron... Aaron wants to be liked. He’s a people-pleaser. And I have to confess that I am more like Aaron than I really like to admit... My guess is that he made a good mouthpiece for Moses because he didn’t have any strong opinions of his own. He’ll bend whichever way the wind blows, and then use his gift of gab to make it sound good. Maybe he’ll be able to talk his way out of it... and it wasn’t really his fault anyway, how could he stand against the will of the people? “I’m not like you, Moses,” I can almost hear him say, “I was raised to obey orders and stay out of trouble, you can’t expect me to change overnight, can you?”
What made Moses different? Why didn’t Moses take the easy way out? It’s not even the fact that God was with Moses that gave him courage; after all, the easy out would have been to agree with God.
I think the difference is long-term thinking versus short-term thinking.
Too many of us live our lives just reacting to circumstances. Sort of like Pavlov’s dogs with stimulus and response, you know? We avoid the behavior that will get us a shock and repeat the behavior that will get us a treat. Find ourselves in a hot spot, and we jump for the nearest exit.
But the truth is that we can all stand a whole lot more heat than we really want to. And often the reason God has us on the grill in the first place is to melt out the impurities and mold us into something beautiful and useful. Remember what Moses said back in chapter 20... "God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin."
This was a test... but a test with very high stakes, and the people failed. “How can you expect us to be faithful when times are hard, God, when things aren’t going our way, when our peers are putting pressure on us?” they cry. But he does expect us to be faithful. And his turning up the heat doesn’t make us unfaithful, it just shows whether our faith is real or counterfeit, whether we really believe in God’s promises for eternity or not.
Think about circumstances you have found yourself in, perhaps a time when you needed something from God and felt forgotten, wanted something from God and got turned down, didn’t like where God had put you and wondered if perhaps he hadn’t made a mistake. How do you respond? Do you renew your vows and seek God’s wisdom, or do you run frantically around medicating your discomfort with short-term solutions, with things and entertainment? Think about a time when someone has tried to push you into something you knew was wrong, or a time when you should have stood up against injustice but we’re afraid to stick your neck out. Have you been able to say no, or have you gone along? And have you ever been tempted to get even with someone who really deserved it, or rejoiced in the misfortune of someone who blew it and deserved whatever they got? It’s awfully easy, when someone who’s done something really rotten gets their comeuppance, to think “Yes! God got ’em!” But that’s not our call, is it. Think instead of Moses, and how he defended the indefensible, just because they were his charge, dumb sheep who needed their shepherd.
The Lord spoke to the remnant who came back from exile in Babylon, “...one-third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, "They are my people"; and they will say, "The LORD is our God." [Zech 13:8-9]
There are only two ways out of the frying pan. One gets you into more trouble than you were already in, and the other puts you face to face with God. The only safe thing to do, when the heat turns up, is leap for the arms of Jesus.
What do you do?
