This is the text of the message I prepared for proclamation at Stawell Uniting Church for Sunday 1st October 2023, the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost in Year-A.
Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16; Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done.
If you ever get to have a turn at preaching from up here, there’s a great opening paragraph for you to use: Psalm 78:1-4 makes it plain that the job given to the one asked to bring proclamation is an honourable responsibility. “Oi, listen up youse mob, I’m going to tell you an old story to remind you about God’s faithfulness to us,” doesn’t quite carry the same sense of majesty, but it makes the same point: the old stories of God bear telling and retelling over and over again. The way that Asaph writes here it’s more like he’s writing for Proverbs or Ecclesiastes than for Psalms, this is a story of wisdom and not just of history: what can we know about God and ourselves when we remember what God did for our ancestors? In this Psalm, and the rest of Asaph’s mighty song-slash-sermon-slash-proverbalism, we know that we Israelites are a whinging mob, and we know that as hard as we have at it whining God goes even harder at it in answering us with faithfulness; faithful to our sustenance needs (water in the desert) and faithful to our need for liberty (get us further away from Egypt).
So, yes, water in the desert, In our story from the Hebrew Traditions today and Exodus 17 we meet the Hebrews journeying by stages (following God’s itinerary from place to place) and once again they are having a massive sook about it. God has saved the Hebrews from Egypt: they have exited (exodused?) so completely that they have even walked across a dry seabed and then seen the sea return and flood both the valley and the pursuing armies therein. (Presumably, an army consisting of Egypt’s finest younger sons and second-best stallions since the eldest didn’t make it out of Passover night alive.) The Hebrews have eaten quail and manna every day since they first suggested to The LORD that foraging in a desert wasn’t going to work for an entre nation on the march. (Yeah, as if The LORD were unaware and hadn’t made provision for a journey beyond the wilderness.) So in a scene that does not surprise anyone, the people whinge. This time Moses seems to be on his own as the target of their anger (he had Aaron with him when the food ran out) and he feels threatened, so he goes to God.
The commentaries I made use of this week all point out that the language used by the Hebrews, or at least by the later editors who wrote down this story as part of Exodus, are making use of lawsuit language. They have not only put God “to the test”, this is a “test case”, a case that The LORD is called upon to answer. And, as Asaph has already told us today, God does answer. So, is God with us: water running out of a rock says yes. Are we with God: whinging running out of our stony faces says no.
What strikes me as a leader, and also as a reader and a bit of a language-lover, is that we are told in Exodus 17:6 that Moses did this (struck the rock) in the sight of the elders of Israel. Here’s the thing, having first obeyed God’s instruction to pass before the people…and the staff with which you struck the Nile take in your hand and go (Exodus 17:5 Alter), Moses actually walks right past the stone-heavy mob, so that everyone can see that God has given Moses the authority to act, and that when Moses does act he does so with God’s power and authority. Remember that all of this happens at Horeb, the mountain of The LORD which is beyond the wilderness as we heard last month from Exodus 3:1. Moses, now with all of Israel with him, is back at the place where he first heard God’s name and was then instructed to repeat it to the Hebrews as a sign that he carried God-given authority and responsibility. Today this is the place where Moses feels threatened with stoning, (Exodus 17:4): today God again makes it clear that Moses has the lead here, personally and directly appointed by I AM Godself, and carrying in his hand the staff with which [he] struck the Nile and which sent Pharaoh home to think again. Maybe the Hebrews need to work on their remembering, things that we have heard and known, but not that our ancestors have told us, but which they personally witnessed only a few months earlier.
Our story from the Jesus Traditions occurs during holy week, probably Monday the day after Palm Sunday. On the previous day Jesus has entered Jerusalem in triumph, and then overturned the temple. This morning and on his way in from Bethany Jesus has cursed a fig tree (it withered at once), and now he has entered the temple again. Yesterday he left it messy, today he has come ready to teach; and immediately the religious leadership ask him for his leadership credentials. Jesus immediately throws the question back at them, pointing to John the Baptiser and his reputation as a prophet (who was assumed to have authority from God, the same claim Jesus is making in a round-about way). So no, Jesus does not derive his authority from them (the hierarchy), or from the temple system, which is the point that they are trying to make. But Jesus rejects the idea entirely, and makes plain that his authority comes (as did John’s, and Moses’) directly from God. Jesus’ authority was established in time and conferred upon him in action, and his ministry inaugurated beyond the wilderness beside (beneath) the Jordan River as he underwent John’s baptism and then stepped out of the water; not from some rabbinic ordination in Jerusalem. You’re right, says Jesus, you haven’t given me permission to do this, but then I wasn’t asking you.
In the parable of the two sons, Jesus offers a second answer to the question, and a challenge to the questioners, offering that while Jesus himself is neither of these sons (he says yes immediately and he obeys immediately) the behaviour which best fits the chief priests and elders of the people so far is that of the second son who talks a big game but doesn’t do any work. Jesus is the true son, and the tax collectors and the marginalised people who first heeded John’s call to repentance and baptism, and are now sitting around Jesus’ feet, who are entering the kingdom at his invitation, are like the first son. In telling this story Jesus points out that these quarrelsome religious elites have entirely missed the plot, the point, and are in danger of missing the boat too. Jesus has effectively abolished the temple, so when the temple powers-that-be come to speak to him in the different situations it is remarkable. They are calculating and populist (Matthew 21:25b-27a), not really concerned with truth but with expediency. Jesus response, in the story has shown up the faithlessness of the wordy elites and the faithfulness of the actively repenting and attentive common people of Israel.
Jesus, even as he is The Christ, is a humble persona. Similarly (but far less so) we look at Paul himself as he writes to the church in Philippi from gaol. There isn’t agreement among scholars where Paul was imprisoned at the time, but all agree that he was in gaol somewhere, and we can agree that that is not a place of honour and prestige. So Paul is in gaol, and he is concerned by the news he has received of infighting in the Philippian local church. His first concern is the potentially divisive message of several visiting leaders, men who were not proclaiming the gospel as it was understood by Paul, and who, like the temple leaders who confronted Jesus, are preaching their own opinions and agenda in wordy and self-aggrandising ways rather than holding faith with the message and example of the humble Jesus. Paul’s second concern is with the disputes he has heard are breaking out within the congregation, and the cliques being formed around two vocal women. Be of the same mind says Paul, reminding us of Jesus own words from Matthew 18 that we heard a few weeks ago, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind…do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit (Philippians 2:2-3) and let the same mind be in you, that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5).
So with Paul in gaol, and remembering how both Moses and Jesus were confronted to their faces by argumentative community leaders, we read today’s call to unity beneath Christ’s leadership. From his gaol cell we hear an apostle tell us about the lordship of the most humble man, Jesus, who is Christ the LORD Godself. With many different opinions scurrying around Philippi, and many little groups forming, look at what Paul says about his desire for the local church.
- Show unity through setting your mind on the same thing.
- Act out of humility and obedience.
- Hold the needs and interests of others in high regard.
And why does Paul say that’s the best way? Because according to Philippians 2:5 that’s Jesus’ own way.
Jesus always had the purpose of God foremost in his mind: Jesus and the Father were united in this way. Jesus did not have to prove himself, indeed he actually shrugged the benefits of Godhood from his being so that he could preach more effectively: this is both the nature and the will of God. There was nothing grandiose about Jesus, nothing about him was inflated because almost everything about him was hidden. Jesus knew that people needed God to be accessible if they were going to be saved, so he made himself as friendly and approachable as possible. Jesus could have come as the cloud of fire seen over Sinai, or as The LORD of Eternity riding across the clouds on a great white stallion, but his work was better suited to the one in dusty sandals in small villages. That is also how you are supposed to be, says Paul.
Today I am not interested whether this scripture points to trinitarian ideas about God; a co-equal Son with The Father, I don’t think Paul was trying to make that point anyway. I certainly don’t think the way to read this is “if you are humble like Christ then you will be exalted like Christ” because that also goes against what Paul is saying. What I read today is that the most effective way for Christians inside a local church to behave is for each person to show the humility of Christ toward one another. The unity of Christ and the Father is to be seen in all that we say and do as Christians together; and we are reminded in Philippians 2:13 that God is at work, the work of personal renewal and community reconciliation, of makarrata, is not only taking place amongst us but within us.
At St Matthews we are in a time of transition. I and you are getting to know and understand each other better, and there have already been some scratches caused by rough edges as we seek to come together and find a fit. But not only do you have a new minister who is different in some ways from the previous one, (and she was here for a very long time), you yourselves are moving and having your being in tectonic ways of living, rubbing against each other with no involvement from me. We are growing, moving forward and moving outward; pilgrims on a journey and companions on the road.
The LORD is amongst us; but The LORD is here quietly and patiently, feeding and guiding us in the every day. There is no need to complain because God knows what we need and God is already here to provide it for us, for you. As God waited for Moses and the elders at Horeb so God waits for us to obey the command to come and see and trust and worship: and when we come then we do see. In Christian humility and pastoral authority I commend you, people of St Matthews; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done. Remember what The LORD has done for you, come and see, then go and tell.
Amen.
damienwrites 