Church of the Holy City

Challenging God

Challenging God
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 28, 2014

Exodus 17:1-7 Matthew 21:23-32 Psalm 25
Our readings this morning speak of putting God to the test. In our Old Testament reading this is a little hard to see. At least it is for me. The Israelites are wandering in the desert wilderness. They complain to Moses that there is no water to drink. This seems reasonable to me, because they are in the middle of the desert! But the Bible says that they were putting God to the test. Moses asks the people, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” I suppose that asking God to give the people water in the middle of the desert is a test of God’s power. The place is named Massah, which means “testing.” But there is a heartfelt spiritual question here. The place is named Massah because the Israelites asked, “Is the Lord among us or not?” In the New Testament, the theme of testing is clearer. The chief priests ask Jesus by what authority He does the things He does. This is a clear test of Jesus’ authority. The issue becomes one of authentic spirituality versus acting spirituality for show.
I think that it is a natural question to ask if God is with us. We go through trials and difficulties and at times it seems as if we are left to our own devices. In the depths of our despair, we cry out, “God, are you out there? Do you care about me?” This issue reminds me of a Frost poem entitled, THE RUNAWAY. A young colt is out in the wild in the first snowfall of the season. The young colt is terrified. Soon the narrator realizes that the colt is alone in the wild. He asks,
I doubt if even his mother could tell him, “Sakes,
It’s only weather.” He’d think she didn’t know!
Where is his mother? He can’t be out alone.’
This poem then takes on spiritual resonances. We see that it is about all those times when we seem alone in life, when innocence appears abandoned by God. In a voice filled with bitterness and judgment on life and God’s presence in life, the narrator declaims,
Whoever it is that leaves him out so late,
When other creatures have gone to stall and bin,
Ought to be told to come and take him in.
It seems as though God leaves us to our own devices. We want answers when things look desperate. And it is when answers don’t come that we put God to the test and question His divine providence. These are the times when we call out and say that whoever it is who leaves innocent creatures out in the wild affairs of life, ought to be told to protect them, and take them into shelter.
This is the despair of the Israelites. They have been liberated from Egyptian bondage. But now they despair of their present situation. “Why have you liberated us from Egypt only to let us die in the desert?” they ask. They can’t see the future, when they will live in a land of their own, governed by a confederation of their tribes. They see only the immediate present. And it doesn’t look good.
This is the place we all have experienced. We do not have a telescope into the future. We can only see where we are now. And when that is a difficult place, we question God. We may even doubt if God is out there. So in the Frost poem, we don’t hear the narrator say, “Why does God leave him out so late?” No, we get the very vague, “Whoever it is . . . ”
Perhaps that issue comes up when we look at the present state of religion in the world. It has lost influence in society. The numbers of those who go to church are falling. Church doors are closing. And this is happening across denominational lines. I spoke to a group from a Jewish synagogue. They said that in order for their Bible to be opened, they need ten people present. And they confided in me that sometimes they have difficulty getting even that ten present to open the Bible. This may make us wonder what God has in mind. This may make us wonder what the big picture is in this.
This brings me to the New Testament story. The leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem challenge Jesus. They ask Him by what authority He does the things He does. Jesus answers them with a question that exposes their hypocrisy. He asks them about John the Baptist. Was John’s baptism of heaven or merely of men? The priests think only about how they will appear if they answer in different ways. If they answer that John’s authority came from heaven, they know Jesus will ask why they didn’t believe him. Then if they say that John was only a man acting from men’s power, they feared the people. John had a huge following and the priests were afraid of how they would appear in the eyes of the people. So we see that they were afraid for their own reputation as spiritual leaders. Their concern was not for the truth, but for how they would look.
Jesus then says something shocking about the temple priests, “Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Matthew 21:31). People who outwardly appear wicked are ahead of those who only outwardly appear holy like the temple priests and elders in Jerusalem. This posture of Jesus in favor of the social outcasts appears in many places in the New Testament. We can’t ignore it. In fact there is another line in Matthew that confirms this attitude of Jesus toward social outcasts.
John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon.” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” But wisdom is proved right by her actions (Matthew 11:18-19).
I think that Jesus found more humility and sincerity among the social outcasts than He did among the spiritual leaders. There is that short parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector.
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)
When people are broken by life’s events, they seem more humble and open to God’s help. This is a place we all need to come to one way or another. And when we are broken, we may most question God’s presence. That is when we may put God to the test. When we emerge from these trials, we are more humane, more gentle, more forgiving of others, and more loving.
Returning to the question of the church in today’s society. People who come to church seem to really want to be here. No longer is it for show. This is because society at large doesn’t care if a person is a church-goer or not. In Swedenborg’s day, one could gain a good reputation for learning doctrines and scriptures. People would do this for show, as did the priests and elders in our New Testament story. Spirituality, I think, is more genuine now. We certainly gain no great reputation for being religious—in fact, sometimes and in some situations, quite the opposite.
And churches these days are much more tolerant and accepting of each other. Movements like the National Council of Churches and the Interfaith Centre, of which I am an enthusiastic member, see each other’s denomination and faith as fellows in the quest for God. In Swedenborg’s day the religious hostilities were pronounced. In fact, one generation before his birth Europe went through one of its most destructive wars which we call the 30 Years’ War. This horrible conflict was directly caused by religion. For good or for bad, religion has so little influence in the west today that the idea of society warring on the basis of religion is unthinkable.
We don’t have access to the grand scheme of things. There are times and there are situations when we may doubt God’s presence and power. But we will see later in life, or in the next life, just why we felt alone or abandoned by God. I can certainly assure you now, though, that God is with us, always has been with us, and will continue to be with us forever.

PRAYER

Lord, we give you thanks for always being there for us. There are times when we doubt your presence. There are times when we doubt your governance of the affairs of this world. There are times when we cry out to you, thinking you absent. And yet you forgive us our doubts. You are always with us–in our joys and in our despair. We may not always understand your ways. We may not always understand why events unfold as they do. We may not always understand our place in the big picture. But we trust that all is under your divine care and providence. Even the hairs on our head are numbered. We trust that all is unfolding in a world you watch over and guide toward heaven on earth.

And Lord, we pray for the sick. May they experience the power of your healing love. Fill them with the grace of your healing power. Comfort their family and friends. We pray for the grace of your healing power for all who are ailing in body or soul.