Chossing Christ
"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Exodus)
With these words the book of Exodus begins to unfold the text of the Ten Commandments brought by Moses from Mount Sinai. “You shall have no other gods before me.” Simple and straightforward, we are to have fidelity to one God alone. But who or what is this God? Can we explain God and be sure we have the right and only idea? I can’t. It’s beyond me. I’m just not sure what or who calls for my fidelity.
One of my favorite cartoons shows God, the God of the flowing beard, sitting at his computer. He is scowling as he watches some people on the earth below. His finger is poised over a large button on his keyboard: smite.
Is God the angry, arbitrary old man with the flowing beard who is just as likely to smite us as to love us? Or is God someone or something far more encompassing and breathtaking than our limited imaginations can explain? Does God reveal God’s self in different ways at different times? Are multiple answers acceptable?
No matter what or whom we describe as God, people over place and time share the draw toward God, the yearning for personal contact, a meeting of our souls with that boundless, inexplicable force. The strange thing is, though we struggle to put the experience of God into words, we know when we are in contact and we know when we are not. We know the fulfillment of being within the brilliant laser light that is God, and we know when we are in the darkness of isolation.
By the point of today’s reading, Joshua has become a very old man. He is having an extended exchange with his people, perhaps as a last testament of the essentials of their faith. They are in the Promised Land. That embarrassing episode of the golden calf is far behind them. Many of them had not yet been born when Aaron crafted that idol. Moses’ public disobedience to God over the spring in the rock is behind them. Moses himself is behind them, banned from the Promised Land by his actions. He didn’t speak to the rock as God had told him. Instead he struck it twice with his rod, and even took credit for the miracle of the water. Doing it his way instead of God’s way, Moses broke his long-term and remarkable contact with God. Moses’ own will was the idol Moses placed before God.
Joshua asks if his people are truly willing to follow these first two commandments. Are they willing to put aside all foreign gods? Yes, they insist. Yes, they are sure they will do so. This time it will be different. This time they will be different.
Joshua has heard their promises before. No wonder he has doubts.
Doesn’t it seem obvious that keeping idols in your belongings is a bad
idea? Doesn’t everyone know that worshiping a false god is a problem?
It’s pretty easy to take potshots at the Israelites, commenting on their
willful behavior. Yet our actions, like theirs, are our own worst enemies.
We, too, yearn for that contact with our Higher Powers. We yearn for it simply because we are drawn to it. We yearn for it all the more because the world is a difficult place. We are afraid of ourselves and afraid of people who are different from us. We are afraid about the future of the earth and the resources we are depleting. We are afraid of global warming and of melting polar ice caps. Of illness caused by the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the actions we choose. We want our connection with God to encompass us and to save us from all these fears.
Our fears show us where our idols are today. We replace our God with the idols of alcohol, drugs, and other compulsions, and take refuge in them. We actively pursue these substances and quickly separate ourselves from God and our communities. We work obsessively, perhaps to amass wealth, but perhaps just for its own sake. It comes between us and God as well as between us and God’s people. We covet and crave the very possessions and substances and actions that destroy our lives and our relationships and our environments. God does not need to smite us; our actions can be life threatening in themselves. Like the Israelites, we promise that we are good people and that we will worship no one but the true God. And we mean it. And we try. And then we find another idol to lure us from God.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains how we can replace such painful ruptures and reestablish the spiritual connection we crave. He explains how we can put our idols aside and unite ourselves with grace. Jesus offers himself as the bread that will feed us. He compares himself to the manna given to the Israelites, sustaining them in their greatest need.
A number of the disciples are hoping that Jesus will destroy the Romans, but instead he offers himself as food. Some are disgusted by the image. They have been taught their lives long that drinking blood of any kind is forbidden. They are repulsed and leave Jesus in their dust.
Jesus knows their thoughts. He knows that they completely missed the point. He says, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? [What does it take to explain this to you people?] It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is useless. These words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Jesus offers us spirit and life, forgiveness and acceptance of us as we are. He offers second chances if we will only choose them. Later, accepts the offer, saying, “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the holy one of God.”
Whenever we can make the same choice we see that Jesus is the one who fills our voids. He is the one who joins us to God and heals the rifts we create with God through our own actions. He offers spirit, life, and hope. He replaces isolation and despair. He mends our rupture. He heals us. All for a simple choice we can make at any time and without limit. May we continue to set aside our idols and choose Christ.