October 13, 2002

Commandment #2

Exodus 32:1-14

Rev. Michele L. Bagby

Let’s set the stage for that vivid and well-known, yet difficult and somewhat embarrassing story of the Golden Calf.

The Characters:

The LORD:            Main character, giver of the Torah, creator of all that is, and initiator of the covenant with the people.

Moses:             #1 prophet of the LORD, called to lead the people to the promised land and to communicate the covenant to the people.

Aaron:              #1 priest of the LORD, left to watch over the people while Moses converses with the LORD.

The People:      Stiff necked ones who have a tendency toward forgetfulness.  They have recently committed themselves to a covenant with the LORD by saying “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.”

The Setting:

            TWO STAGES, SIMULTANEOUSLY

Stage 1:            The mountain of God, where Moses has returned to talk with the LORD and to get a hard copy of the covenant.

Stage 2:            The valley below where Aaron struggles to keep the people occupied for 40 days while Moses is on the mountain.

Special Background Notes:

All of the human characters have been wandering in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan for some time and have overcome spectacular obstacles (with divine help).  They have escaped Egyptian brutality, crossed the Red Sea, survived wilderness living by dining on daily bread and meat.  They have received and agreed to a covenant (which includes what are later known as the 10 Commandments) with the LORD.

Stage 1 –

The LORD:      Moses, I know that you have had your hands full with these people for some years of wandering now, and you have done a fine job as my prophet.  However, take a look down the hill.  Wasn’t it just a month ago that you gave them my words?  I thought you said that they agreed to the covenant!  Wasn’t it just last year that I sustained your people with manna, and the year before that I gave them safe passage across the sea?  I am losing my patience with them, chosen long ago, or not.  See their stiff necks?  Their pride?  They have fashioned a graven image, when it was clear that “No Images” was commandment #2.  Also, they have quickly worshipped this golden calf, placing it above me and the covenant, clearly violating my first command.  The next thing you know, they will refer to that thing as me, trying to contain me and violating commandment #3.  Really, Moses, YOUR people infuriate me.  I’m ready to start again and redirect the covenant only to you and your direct descendants.  Enough of this stiff neckedness, and their incessant forgetfulness of my kindness and compassion for them.

(Moses looks on in disbelief.)

Stage 2 –

The People:      (With a nervous whining and persistent tone) Aaron, Moses has been gone for a really long time now.  We’re pretty sure he’s a goner.  Maybe the LORD consumed him.  No one is supposed to be strong enough to actually speak to the LORD, let alone remain in the Lord’s presence for such prolonged periods of time.  Give us something to do to deal with the boredom and fearfulness of this place.  Give us a smaller God, so that we won’t be so intimidated and so that we can move on from this place to the land of  milk and honey that we’ve heard so much about.

Aaron:              (Hesitantly)  Um, guys, I’m not so sure that this is a good idea, but if you’re looking for something to occupy your minds and time, I AM quite good at metal work.  Bring your family earrings and I can fashion a small cow for you.  Perhaps that will occupy you and me both until Moses returns.  (Speaking to himself) I hope he returns.  (Aaron’s voice trails off with his own insecurity and fear that Moses may never return, and then, he would be the one leading this forgetful mass of people through the wilderness.) 

Stage 1 –

Moses:             (Standing now on the mountain, hoping to change the LORD’s mind)

Now, LORD, this is a generous offer of yours to transfer the covenant to only my direct family line; however, after so much trouble to get the people this far, don’t you think you would look bad should the people not make it to the promised land?  With all the trouble you went to to get them out of Egypt, should they perish in the wilderness, the Egyptians would say that you lured them here for evil purposes.  And besides, didn’t you make promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their descendants would prosper and be numerous?  Please, LORD, have mercy.  Do not pour out your anger on YOUR people.  Yes, they are stiff necked, prideful and remarkably forgetful, but they are yours.  You claimed them forever.  The story shouldn’t end here.  It seems to me that it is just beginning.

The LORD:      Good point, Moses.  I knew there was a reason that I chose you as my #1 prophet.  I am a God of compassion, the one who heard the cries of the people when they were oppressed.  And while my infinite patience is wearing thin, I will give them yet another chance.  You had better go down the mountain quickly, though, and remind them who I AM, and who they are.

(Moses rushes down the mountain balancing covenant tablets and his own anger about the stiff-necked people below.)

            For today, the story ends here, and we are left holding our breath, wondering how the people will respond to Moses’ reminders and admonition.

            As is my custom, I sat at Starbucks yesterday contemplating the significance of this story of the Golden Calf.  And believe it or not, I met a man at Starbucks named Aaron.  And, not only was his first name Aaron, his last name was Sterling.  What are the odds of meeting Aaron Sterling when I am writing a sermon on the story of the Golden Calf.  Anyway, when Aaron saw that I was working on a sermon, we had a conversation about what may have been happening in the minds of the people below.  Aaron, the coffee drinker, made a case for his namesake, Aaron, the metal working priest.  “Perhaps the people were looking for something more tangible to worship,” he said.  “They needed a material of some sort to relate to, and in Moses’ absence, Aaron helped them out.”  With that thought, I ran out the door, inspired to consider what we, the people, are seeking in the valley.

            In Christian circles today, I have noticed that many people are looking for concrete religious answers.  “Tell me what to believe, how to live and act.  Tell me what will give me spiritual satisfaction or salvation.  Tell me what the scripture means.”  Many within and beyond Christian circles want the answers to the world’s problems.  “Just tell us how to achieve world peace (preferably yesterday), and how to protect our interests today.  I have noticed how many people within and beyond Christian circles attempt to offer one sided answers and claim their truth to the exclusion of all others.

            Now, I know that I am treading in somewhat treacherous waters.  Yet, I believe that Aaron, the coffee guy, made a keen observation that has brought this story home for me.  He reminded me that today’s scripture story is not about THEM, LONG AGO.  It is a story for and about US, HERE AND NOW.  It is a challenge and an invitation for us to look at where we are in our relationship with God.

            “Are we stiff necked?”

            “Are we the forgetful ones?”

            “Do we cling to the God of our own making?”

            “What Golden Calf have we fashioned in our impatience for God’s leading?”

            “What are you trying to say, Michele?” you may be asking.

            It is a challenging story to say the least, one that I’m sure many preachers avoid because it is an uncomfortable reminder of own forgetfulness in the face of God’s compassion and grace.

            Paul Tillich, noted theologian of the 20^th century, talks about idolatry as our attempt to make the infinite, finite, and the finite, infinite.  And while his words are often dense and require many readings from me, these words seem to make sense.  When we attempt to fashion God, the infinite, into the finite Golden Calf (whatever form it may take for us today), we may hear from my wise mentor in Murphys, “Ah, ah, ah (wag of the finger), classic #2.”  And when we pridefully claim that our own creations and truths are the LORD, we stand at the base of the mountain with stiff necks.

            Now, I don’t want to end this service or this sermon, with a congregation full of long faces thinking that they are just no good, stiff-necked ones who deserve God’s wrath.  Nor, do I want us to leave in denial, thinking that this story is for someone else who has a much stiffer neck than me.  This is the gift of scripture; that the story, no matter how difficult, is here to encourage us, and to be good news for us.  It is this scripture that encourages us to stretch, and to remember.

            So perhaps we should begin our stretching exercises now, by bowing our heads, and remembering with thanksgiving, the gifts that God has given to us.