Exodus 33:12-23
Matthew 22:15-22
So we return to the story of Exodus. Last week, you may remember, there was that episode with the golden calf. Moses was conversing with God on the mountain. Their session went a little longer than expected and the Israelites grew anxious. They grabbed Aaron by the collar and frantically said, you must make us another god – one that will go before us! And so Aaron did.
It’s interesting to remember how he came to be Moses’ right-hand man. Way back in the beginning, when the Lord called to him from the burning bush, Moses was awkward and resistant; As he heard God’s intentions for him, he was full of buts: but I don’t really know you; but the people won’t listen to me, and even if they do they won’t believe me; but I am slow of speech, slow of tongue. God answered every one of his “buts” and at the last one said, here, take Aaron with you. He’s a good talker.
Good talker though he may be, it becomes painfully apparent by now that Aaron lacks leadership skills. The people make these ridiculous demands and Aaron just gives them what they want. Then, when Moses turns to Aaron for an explanation, Aaron says: Hey, I took the gold, I threw it in the fire, and out came this calf!” That is, literally, what he said.
Aaron couldn’t maintain order and discipline in any way. Moses took this golden calf, put it back into the fire, ground it into powder and scattered it in the water.
This golden calf was a very serious offense and there were very serious consequences. Some paid the ultimate price. And the rest of them were sort of put in time-out.
Now Moses starts meeting with the Lord in a special tent called the tent of meeting, A way off from the camp, but still at ground-level. No more traveling up to the mountaintop – who knows what might happen while he was gone. Moses would enter the tent and a pillar of cloud would descend before the tent. The people would stand and bow, although they did not venture near.
Moses is feeling the weight of this responsibility God has put on his shoulders. It is very clear that the people he is charged with leading are more than a handful. They are anxious, they are bewildered, they are afraid. And even Moses is still concerned about how well he knows the Lord, which goes back to the very first concern he expressed in his very first encounter with God. Now, during his meetings with God in the tent, he voiced this concern again. Moses feels he needs to know more if he is to effectively lead the people in the way God desires him to. He needs to know more about where God is leading them, and he also needs to know more about the nature of this God.
He makes his arguments successfully. God tells him that, while it would be impossible for Moses, or any human, to look at God in all God’s glory, there is a way. God will cover Moses with God’s hand. God will tuck him in the cleft of the rock, then shelter him with the palm of God’s hand, so Moses will only see the backside of the Lord.
It is irresistible to picture this scene of God having human features. God’s large hand, gently holding Moses as God walks by, and then uncovering him, when Moses sees God’s backside. God’s behind. But let’s not do that.
Perhaps, if we need an image, we can think of the sun. It is too dangerous for the human eye to gaze at the sun. In fact, even in the case of a partial eclipse, when there is the strong temptation to stare at it, it is important to shield our eyes, to protect them from the sun’s brilliance. So it is with the glory of God.
But here is the important thing to take from this story: Moses is not left alone to protect himself, to find some dark sunglasses, to know when and how to look. God takes care of Moses. God lets Moses see just enough, and not more than he can handle, by holding Moses in the palm of God’s hand (figuratively speaking).
It is something that we see all over the scriptures: that God wants us to walk in the ways God leads us, and God carries us through it all. God expects us to think and act and do the right thing, and God is the wisdom and the power and the goodness that carries us through it all. God says to us, Do this. And God does it.
It is not contradictory. Again, we see that in the realm of God it is not a zero-sum situation. In the realm of God, the answers can be yes, and yes. Yes, you are responsible, and yes, God will provide all you need. Yes, you must get out there and do something. And yes, God will hold you in the palm of God’s hand.
And again, in the Gospel, we see it. When the Pharisees and the Herodians try to entrap Jesus with a trick question – yes or no, Jesus, what is your answer? – Jesus doesn’t fall into their mode of thinking. It is not yes or no; it is yes and yes.
Yes, you need to give to the emperor all the things that the emperor demands, all that he is owed. And yes, you must give to God all that belongs to God.
Yes, you live in the empire. You must pay your taxes because you use the roads the Empire has built; you take the jobs that the Empire provides. You live in this system and so you pay what is your debt. This much is true.
But, by the same token, you live in God’s world. Every day you wake up and breathe the air God created, see by the sunlight God created, eat the fruit of the earth God created. This much is true.
The powerful Empire created everything that makes up the system; Caesar holds everything in his fist. And at the same time, everything that makes up the system, including Caesar, is being held in the palm of God’s hand.
Everything that is owed to the Empire is also owed to God. How is that possible?
Listen. Moses wanted to know just who this God is; well, this is who God is: God is limitless and, therefore, not bound by the limits of our imaginations. Although we cannot understand it, we are still bound to acknowledge, to hold this mystery, even if it is uncomfortable for us.
This is God’s call and claim on us. And for us, this has many implications. For example:
We cannot scoff at the notion of peace for Israel and her neighbors simply because we cannot imagine it. God can imagine it.
We cannot shrug our shoulders at the notion of the eradication of poverty simply because we cannot imagine it. God can imagine it.
We cannot wash our hands of the notion of the end to all wars simply because we cannot imagine it. God can imagine it.
God can imagine all this and more. Jesus gives us hope for all this and more. Beloved, this is who God is: the one who makes this world, loves this world, and holds all this world in the palm of God’s hand.
After Jesus finished speaking, the ones who questioned him were amazed. And I am too.
