St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church
3800 East Third Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47401
(812) 332-5252
Sermon for The Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost (October 1, 2006)
Liturgical Color: Green
Reverend Doctor Lyle E. McKee
"A Word for the Dispirited"
Grace to you and peace from our loving God, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This story from the wilderness wanderings of the people of Israel may sound familiar. Just eight weeks ago, we heard the prelude to this incident from Exodus 16. You may recall that the Exodus account records the childishness of the people just after they enter into Sinai. They receive the Ten Commandments and immediately fall into their grumblings about the lack of food:
The Israelites said (to Moses and Aaron), "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."...The Lord spoke to Moses and said, "I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.'" (Exodus 16:3,11-12)
The Restlessness Continues
Manna and quail were provided and the needs of this hungry people were amply satisfied. But now, even this gracious provision of God is the source of complaint:
The rabble among the people had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at"...
Now I admit to some mouth-watering even at the mention of such deductibles as melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. My own opinion is that food is hardly worth consuming, with few exceptions, unless it contains onions or garlic or both. And leeks. Well, they're as good as onions, if more subtle.
Still, this fuss, in the face of the apparent alternative of starvation, appears rather excessive. What nerve it must take to challenge the God who provides every need with a craving merely for the variety of what was once familiar.
The Struggle of Leadership
Moses heard the people weeping...the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord,"Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?...I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favor in your sight—and do not let me see my misery."
Ah, the joys of leadership! I think the author of the book of Numbers must have been lurking around St. Thomas over the last couple of weeks. It has been a madhouse! Although you don't see them, preparations for the capital campaign have created a flurry of activity around here. We've had unexpected developments with the process of hiring a new organist that had some of us nearly in straight jackets. Thank God that Andy Kotylo begins with us this coming Wednesday. Not to mention interviews of general contractors and continuing work with the architect-and the loss of our beloved Bob Warner. This place has been a zoo.
Or, perhaps that author has listened in on some of our "culture of conversation" sessions." A member I visited this week indicated his sympathy for me. He characterized what I do as pastor, saying, "You're herding cats!" Could be. But it is still a lot of fun. Nonetheless, there are those moments when some of us might identify with the author of Numbers. He describes the spirit of Moses and the people as at a low ebb. In the Exodus story, it was the people who wished they were dead; now it's Moses.
The Need to Become
So the Lord said to Moses, "Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel...bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you..."...Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied.
The burden of leadership is shared. Moses is not asked by God to shoulder the entire weight of the people alone. That is part of the genius of St. Thomas. We believe with great conviction, and have organized ourselves in such a way as to affirm, the priesthood of all believers. Leadership is not concentrated, nor ought it to be, in a single person or a small group of people. Leadership in the church is spread throughout the entire membership, with ultimate authority resting upon the whole gathered people of God, led by God's Word.
Power multiplied divides; power divided multiplies. The response of God to the over-burdening of Moses is to spread the weight among many. To do less would be contrary to how and for what God made us.
There is a line in a movie that speaks to this point. It has stuck with me for a number of years. The movie is "Speed," and if you have seen it, you may wonder at how it would ever be appropriate to a sermon, with its profane language and high level of violence. Nonetheless, here is the statement as I remember it:
The villain in the film, who is bent on destruction, is played by Dennis Hopper. He addresses Keanu Reeves (playing "Jack," a police officer trying to thwart Hoppers plans) as he speaks about his handiwork: "A bomb is made to explode, Jack. You are trying to keep a bomb from becoming. Do you know what a bomb that doesn't explode is, Jack? It's a cheap gold watch."
The theme of the movie centers on the criminal mind of the man played by Dennis Hopper, a retired policeman gone bad, with an expertise in bombs. He continually baits Reeves with challenges to his good cop persona in saving the lives of Hopper's intended bomb victims. Near the end, they repeat a face-to-face encounter that mirrors one early in the film, and Hopper does this bit of philosophizing about his evil craft.
"A bomb is made to explode, Jack. You're trying to keep a bomb from becoming."
Twisted logic though it is, it sounded a lot like a parable to me. "What shall we do with this fig tree that has not borne any fruit. Shall we cut it down?"
"By their fruits you shall know them."
"A master gave talents to his servants." And the one who did not put them to their intended use was stripped of what he had been given.
It is a strange interlude in a movie that moves at lightning speed from an elevator falling down a high-rise shaft, to a speeding bus that will blow up if the speed falls below 50 miles per hour, to a runaway subway train. Then, near the end, there is this talk about existence and purpose.
The reference to the gold watch is double-edged, alluding first to a decoy that Hopper had placed on one of his bombs that led to the death of Jack's partner. As the cheap token of his many years on the Atlanta police force, tragically ended by an injury sustained in the line of duty that resulted in the loss of one of his fingers, the watch for Hopper is also a symbol of what might have been. It is a reminder of his bitterness and self-pity at the loss of his own meaning. It also, of course, represents something of little or no value.
As he says, "Do you know what a bomb that doesn't explode is, Jack? It's a cheap gold watch." It does not become what it was made to become, even as he had not become what he intended—not a criminal, but a peace officer. The gold watch and his life are an incomplete shadow, a cheap imitation, of that for which they were created. In making brilliantly-designed bombs, he finds the vicarious satisfaction that at least something accomplishes its purpose, even if that purpose is destruction. Not to mention, in his case, extortion.
Scripture reminds us of who we are and why we were created. The Word of God lets us in on the essence of meaning that lies behind a surface that many would and do take to be meaningless. Human life, God claims, is granted that it may bear fruit. What stands in the way of that becoming is evil.
The Transformation of the Dispirited
Two men remained in the camp one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, "My lord Moses, stop them!" But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord's spirit be given to them all!"
God's spirit transforms the situation. God does not permit God's intent for the people of Israel or for Moses to be hindered. By the end of the struggle, Moses and the elders and the people are filled again with excitement and insight. The burden is shared as the spirit is shared, and both hope and vision are restored. As Moses concludes when the spirit is found in some unexpectedly, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!" The spirit blows where it wills.
That is my prayer for all of the leaders of St. Thomas, for all of the staff, and for every member. This story from Numbers gives witness to a story of resurrection many centuries before Good Friday and Easter. It reminds us that God's power is beyond our own, greater than our petty concerns, and calling us into a future of which we now only have faint hints and feelings.
In faith, we are assured, in the times that may feel more like Good Friday and that may make us whine like the Moses who asks for death that his misery may pass, that such times lead toward unexpected outpourings of the spirit and to resurrection. God will not permit God's purposes to be thwarted. The manna that we have may not be the feast that we desire, but coupled with the spirit of God, it is far more than we need.
God provides. God brings abundance. God makes a way for new life. Through tough days and through difficult challenges. May that be true for each of us in life's trials and for all of us in the upcoming capital campaign. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and
minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord unto eternal
life. Amen.
