Herding Some Stray Thoughts

I use something called the lectionary to help me decide scripture readings each Sunday. It’s a three-year cycle that gives me a few different options each week for the purpose of preaching. Since we only do two readings in worship each week, there are some that end up on the cutting room floor. Often times, those are passages that need too much context for me to make sense of them in a sermon. But sometimes, the decision comes down to whichever one feels right to me. For this week, one of the readings that we will not use in worship is Exodus 32:7-14. While we’re not reading it in church, I feel compelled to share the passage with you all here:

The Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation."

But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"

And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Some quick observations that I feel like each contains a different sermon.

1) It’s really weird that God asked Moses to leave God alone to be angry. It makes it sound like God’s pouting and just wants to listen to some loud music and cry for a while. What does it mean that God wanted to be left alone? That seems really weird.

2) Moses makes an excellent point in verse 12. God just parted the seas and brought the Israelites to safety on the other side, leaving uncountable Egyptians at the bottom of the Red Sea. It would be a pretty uncool thing for God to kill all of those Egyptians just so that God could kill the Israelites on the other side of a lake. There is something I want to say here about the way in which we need to seek new solutions to a cycle of violence.

3) The last sentence in the passage is an absolute stunner, “And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.” Can we just hear that one again? “And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.” If God can change God’s mind, then what’s our problem?

Such a cool passage. So much going on here.

Peace,

Jeff

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Come be part of our community this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. for a meaningful time of worship and togetherness. We’ll continue exploring how God’s story invites us to wrestle with big questions and to grow in faith together. Whether you’re curious, seeking, or simply in need of a place to belong, there’s a seat saved for you! Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church is located at 1200 S. Winton Road in Brighton, NY. We look forward to seeing you!