Sermon preached by the Reverend Canon Richard Tombaugh

St. Paul’s on the Green, Norwalk, Connecticut

16^th Sunday after Pentecost - September 16, 2007

Many of us will remember today’s Old Testament lesson about the worship of the golden calf from our days in Sunday school. The story is indeed memorable. The Israelites have successfully escaped from their slavery in Egypt and are about half way along on their trek through the desert to the land of milk and honey which God has promised them. They have been complaining, kvetching, ever since the beginning. In response God had patiently provided first water and then manna and birds to ease their thirst and hunger. The people’s salvation from Egypt and also their maintenance in the wilderness had been entirely the work of God’s gracious love. Along the way, shortly before today’s story begins, Moses had been instrumental in establishing a covenant between God and the people of Israel. The covenant was an agreement. God would continue to guide and protect the people of Israel, if the people would be obedient to God’s laws, as represented by 10 Commandments. The people had agreed saying “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient.”

As our story begins the people of Israel are camped at the base of Mount Sinai waiting for Moses, who has gone up the mountain to meet with God and to get a hard copy of the 10 Commandments. What we have today is a split screen image of the people and Aaron, Moses’ brother, at the bottom of the mountain and Moses and God at the top.

At the bottom the people are frightened and bored. They are whining because Moses has been gone for some time and is now presumed to be dead. They want Moses replaced with another leader. Aaron, whom you will remember has long been the spokesman for Moses, who apparently had a speech impediment, has been left in charge; but Aaron has no real authority. So Aaron suggests they give him their golden rings and he makes them golden image of a calf and encourages them to worship this image: “And they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”

You want disobedience! This is disobedience in capital letters. It is an attempt to control God by worshiping something created locally: Hear again the 2^nd Commandment; “You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.” This golden calf idea was a very bad maneuver, as we can see as the story shifts to the top of the mountain. The Lord is so angry that He wants to call it quits with the people of Israel and transfer the covenant relation from them to Moses and his heirs only.

As we tune into the scene at the top of the mountain, Moses doesn’t sound like the tongue-tied fellow we knew earlier: “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 get them out of Egypt, should they perish in the wilderness, the Egyptians would say that you lured them out here for evil purposes. And besides, didn’t you make promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that there descendents 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 the beginning.”

And God replies: “Nice point, Moses. I knew there was a reason I chose you as my number one 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.”

It doesn’t seem fair that our story today ends here, leaving us to wonder what will happen next, so I will complete the story. When Moses came down the mountain and heard all the singing and dancing before the golden calf, he simply lost it. He threw down and broke the stone tablets with the 10 Commandments, signifying the breaking of the covenant. He threw the golden calf into the fire, ground it into a power, threw the powder into the water and then made the people drink it. Moses then ordered those men who had remained loyal to God to kill the others who had worshipped the golden calf. I told you the golden calf was a bad idea.

The next day Moses returned to the top of the mountain to atone for the apostasy of his people, offering his own life, if that were necessary. The Lord accepted Moses plea, reasserted his confidence in Moses’ leadership and ordered the people to continue their journey to the Promised Land. Somewhat later Moses received a second set of tablets with the 10 Commandments. The people renewed their covenant with God, and entered the Promised Land.

In this story Moses becomes more than a prophet. He becomes a mediator of the covenant by virtue of his faithfulness and his perfect obedience to God. This is the first story in the Bible about forgiveness after disobedience. It defines the character of Moses and it stands as an early sign of the forgiveness that will later be made available to all of us through the faithfulness and perfect obedience of Jesus.

The urge to fashion a golden calf, something more tangible to worship than a mysterious, infinite, demanding yet deeply compassionate God, runs through our entire history. When we feel lost in the contemporary wilderness; when we are bored with life; when we feel uneasy about our future; when we forget the loving kindness that others have showered upon us; when we uncritically follow popular clamor; when we suffer from the lack of competent leadership; when we lose our sense of purpose, it is very easy to yearn for a god we can see and touch. It is the religious equivalent of comfort food – soft, familiar, not demanding and easily digested.

Over the years we human beings have been quite creative about different kinds of golden calves, as we have tended to forget God’s compassion and grace. We have always liked the gold part, so worshipping wealth remains as an attractive kind of idolatry. Addiction is another popular calf, especially if we remember that drugs or alcohol are only the popular leaders in a long, long list of possible addictions.

Even in some Christian circles we can discern that same yearning for something more tangible: How often have you heard: “Tell me what to believe and how to act,” or “Tell me what will give me spiritual satisfaction or salvation.” or “Tell me what scripture means?” The search for comforting certainty always runs the risk of idolatry. Any time we attempt to make the infinite finite, any time we try to make God easily accessible without the challenge of obedience to His law of love, we are in the golden calf business. Any time we pride-fully claim that our own creations and truths are the Lord; we are standing like the people of Israel at the base of a mountain, as the Bible says, with stiff necks.

Our story today is like spiritual yoga. It is here to encourage us to stretch and to remember the love of God who continually creates, sanctifies and redeems us. The story suggests that the first stretching exercise that will addresses the problem of a stiff neck is to bow our heads in thanksgiving for all the gifts God has given us.