September 28, 2003; 16 Pentecost B
Readings: Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; James 4:7-5:6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48; Psalm 19:7-14.

The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith

Good News?

Imagine that you have wandered into this service knowing nothing of the Christian faith. You hear the beautiful music. You see the prayer with the children. Then we have some additional prayers, more singing, and then... we get to the readings, hmmm. We have some intense readings today.

In the gospel, we hear Jesus say, "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, to the unquenchable fire." As the reading continues, we hear more about cutting off body parts, more about hell, fire, and something about a worm (that can't be good!). Then we say, "The gospel of the Lord." As you know, gospel means good news, and we may ask, "how can this be good?"

What does Jesus mean? First of all, this is metaphor and not to be taken literally. These words are meant to get our attention. The images are striking. The theological point is clear: nothing is as important as following Jesus. Now, that doesn't mean that other things don't matter. It just means that everything else is secondary to God. Everything else finds its importance -- its significance -- as it relates to one's primary love -- the love of God. Our love for God -- our commitment to God -- is what shapes our lives and determines our future.

God calls us into the future. We are to follow as God leads. For the people of God, today is more about the future than it is about the past. That is good news. But you really have to take the leap of faith to believe it, don't you? It takes faith because the past is what we know and think that we understand. The past can have a powerful grip on us, but it too is secondary to God's call.

In our Old Testament reading, we find the Israelites longing for the past. "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish that we used to eat in Egypt...but...now there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." Yes, the Israelites are going through some hardships in the desert. The past is looking good. They remember the food that they used to have. I heard a preacher say once that it took God one night to get the Israelites out of Egypt, but it took forty years to get Egypt out of the Israelites. They were holding on to the past, even though they had been slaves in Egypt. God answered their prayers and delivered them from slavery. God gave them manna to eat in the desert. The people had enough food to sustain them, but, still, they complained bitterly about their situation.

The Israelites are experiencing the stress of a community on the move. And no one is experiencing that stress more than Moses. Moses felt the pressure of leadership. He cries out to God: "did I conceive all these people?" "Did I give birth to them?" Moses, of all people, had reason to trust God. He had been touched by the power of God. Yet, even Moses gets so burned-out and fed-up with the people that he says to God: "If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once...and do not let me see my misery."

Strong words. Not very polite to God. It's not polite, but it is honest. This is Moses' prayer of lament. We find other prayers of lament in the Old Testament, such as in the book of psalms. Ellen Davis, in her book, Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering God in the Old Testament, tells us that the psalms do not try to avoid the emotions of anger, sadness, and despair. Davis states: "These cries of anguish and rage would seem to violate all the rules of Christian prayer...the psalmists focus so much on themselves...these prayers are not polite (Davis, p. 14)." The Bible encourages us to be honest with God in prayer. Sharing our difficult feelings with God helps us to move out of the past and into the future.

Moses expresses his true feelings with God and God meets him where he is. One of the key theological issues in Numbers is: how faithful is God? God proves to be faithful. God responds to Moses and the journey continues. The community grows to include other leaders to help Moses.

God is still faithful. We, like the Israelites, are on a journey. We step into the future knowing that God is calling us to this future. O God, may our love for you lead us to where you would have us go. Amen.