The
Gift of Hindsight
October
19, 2014
When I was a little girl I had
a very strange bedtime prayer ritual – I am not sure how it evolved or even how
I came to understand God in such a way but for a few months, before I went to
sleep, I would perform this strange little ceremony.
Now remember that I am only
eight or nine at the time, so judge the story accordingly– my mom would come
and kiss me good night, tuck me in, and tell me she loved me, turn off the
light and I would be alone in my room. I
would wait until I could hear that she was in the living room and then I would
get up and stand next to the wall and I would pray – different words each night
depending on what went on in my day but at the end of the prayer, I would kiss
the wall representing a kiss for all the people I loved, I would kiss the wall for
God, and for my parents, and sister I would kiss the wall for my grandparents,
I would kiss the wall for the dogs … and when I had kissed the wall for as many
people or pets I could think of that evening I would then take my Koala bear
stuffed animal, and kiss it and place it under the bed and make yet one more
plea with God that over the night the bear could be turned into a real
baby. Then I would get back into bed and
go to sleep. During that time in my
life, this strange ritual made me feel closer to God. It was a turbulent time in my life; we had
just moved yet again, I was already going to my third school, my Grandma Davies
who had lived with our family all of my life had just died. I was probably lonely and afraid and confused
and looking for a deeper relationship with God to take away my fears and confusion
although I was totally unable to express that as an nine year old child, when I
kissed the wall I was, I think I actually believing that I was kissing God goodnight,
like I kissed my mom and dad.
Longing for intimacy with God
is a very common thing, ever since there have been human beings on this earth,
we have been searching for finding ways to interact with our gods, through
rituals and ceremonies, prayers songs and sacrifices. There is something inherently human to want
to know our God deeply and intimately.
Moses is seeking God presence in the Exodus passage this morning. He is longing for a intimate relationship
with his Creator. As
the leader of the Hebrew people, Moses knew that their survival depended on God’s
presence, and the identity of the people was found in God, God was their
unifying force, their sense of purpose, their identity – for is they were not
the people of God what were they? A
group of escaped slaves lost in a desert – it was God who gave them co-hesion,
it was God who gave them purpose, it was God who gave the a sense of who they
were. So Moses request to see and feel and experience
the presence of God on that mountain was also spoken on behalf of the people
And,
as is no surprise, God responds in a
selfless way. God extends grace, mercy, and assures the promise of a holy
presence and a commitment to the Hebrew community.
So,
God takes Moses, and he puts him in a little crack in a rock atop a mountain.
God was going to pass by Moses, and God wanted to let Moses catch a glimpse of
Him.
So
God passed by – but Moses wasn’t allowed to look yet. He wasn’t able to look
until God had already passed. And then… Moses was able to see the place… Where
God had just been.
Our
English texts usually say that Moses could “see his back,” but that’s an
inaccurate translation. Moses caught no sight of the “body” of God.
He
saw the place where God just was.
(this
is) how I often experience God. In the busyness of life, I’m not anywhere near
aware or awake enough to see God’s Presence. I’m answering emails, making
visits, writing sermons, picking up kids from school, washing the dishes,
spending time with a friend, sitting on a park bench watching the leaves fall
down…
But,
when I look back over my day, with intention, I can see God’s Presence so much
easier. When I am in the thick of things, I am focused on what is going on
around me, that the presence of God goes unnoticed, but when I take the time at
the end of the day to reflect on my day, often God is found. What is it about hindsight that makes
everything so much clearer? But this is
one of the ways that we get to see God, and feel God’s presence – through
hindsight
Have
you heard of the prayer practice called an examin? An Examin is a prayer, usually prayed at the
end of a day, where you intentionally recall your day, and all of the events
that happened, your part in it as well as the emotions you experienced, and how
you handled things it often includes your failures, but also always it includes
God’s little gifts of grace through the day. It is amazing to me that every day
when examined through the lens of an examen – through hindsight – God’s
presence is revealed.
Here’s
the thing, though: if I don’t take the time to look, I almost always miss it. If
I want to know where God is in my life I must find that little crack in a rock,
and sit in it. Open my eyes, and see the place in my life where God just
was.”[1]
So
how do we hear the voice of God? Our Ignition brothers give us four answers to
that question, First we perceive the Divine in Creation, in the rock and the
trees and skies and the seas, in the majesty of a mountain vista and the
intricacies of a 1000 legged centipede. Second,
we hear God’s voice in the Scriptures, in this book we call “the word of
God.” We hear it in the stories of people just like us who struggle to live
well in the world, and in the moments when God intervened in their lives. Third, we hear God in our faith communities –
where a group of people gather to pray together, work together for the kindom,
share their faith stories, support each other and intentionally listen to the
voice of God, all in an accountable and committed environment, this is the
living tradition of our believing community. Finally, we hear God by attending
to our experience, and interpreting it in the light of all those other ways of
hearing the divine voice–through creation, the Bible, and the living tradition
of the community. This is hindsight –
when we live through something, take a look back and then say – ohhhhh, there
is where we saw the presence of God, and didn’t our hearts burn…., when we
spent time with a friend, or reading a story goodnight, or hearing the sound of
the rain on the roof, or in that long line of traffic when someone stopped to
let you in so that you could get to where you were going …you get the idea,
those moments that in and of themselves that are ordinary, but something happened
and when they are re-examined and the ordinary becomes extraordinary and the
mundane becomes sacred, and God got into our lives when we were least expecting
it.
The people the Jesus story today are doing the same thing,
they are looking for God, trying to find that place where God gets in, the problem
seems to be that their egos and ways of seeing God are not open enough to
recognize that right in front of them they have a new way, a different
understanding, that does not threaten who they are and what they believe but
instead enhances it. For the Pharisees and
the Herodians, their notions of who God is and how God comes, is restricted and
they are unable or unwilling to see in Jesus and his teachings anything of God.
So, Jesus is in the temple
courtyard, teaching: A quick refresher
on the time line. The day before, Jesus
entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey with psalms waving and shouts of
Hosanna. He went to the temple and drove
out the money changers, saying “my house shall be called a house of prayer, but
you are making it a den of robbers!”
Then he left Jerusalem to spend the night in Bethany. The next morning, Jesus returns to Jerusalem
to the temple, where the scribes and Pharisees are waiting for an explanation
on just who Jesus thinks he is and where he gets off upsetting the temple
commerce.
The debate ensues.
Jesus asks them first to tell
him if John the Baptizer was acting on God’s authority. They decline to answer and Jesus tells them the
parable of two sons, one who told his father he would work and didn’t and the
other who said no to the father, but then went out to work. Then Jesus told the parable of the wicked
tenants who would not give the produce to the landowner and killed his son. Finally, Jesus tells the parable of the
wedding banquet, where the ones who were invited refused to attend and the
banquet was opened up to everyone.
Our gospel readings for the
last 3 weeks and today are all part of this one conversation – it’s no wonder
the powers that be want to trap Jesus.
He is making them feel very uncomfortable – and they are looking very
silly and inept in front of the people.
So they come to him with a
‘gotcha’ question. This is a no-win for
Jesus. If he says, yes it’s lawful to
pay taxes, he can be labeled a Roman collaborator and the crowds will hate
him. If he says, no, you shouldn’t pay
taxes to Caesar, then he can be accused of treason and hauled off to
Pilate. Either way, their problem is
solved.
David
Lose helps us understand a little better from his blog, In the Meantime
and he writes: “A little background will
help. We should be clear, it’s not simply taxes in general that are up for
debate here, but a particular tax. Jews in first century Palestine, you see,
paid numerous taxes: Temple taxes, land taxes, and customs taxes, just to name
three. The tax in question was a particular – and particularly onerous – one.
It was the Imperial tax paid as tribute to Rome to support the Roman occupation
of Israel. That’s right: first-century Jews were required to pay their
oppressors a denarius a year to support their own oppression.
Not
that everyone saw it this way, however. Those put in power by the Romans,
represented in this passage by the Herodians, advocated supporting Roman
“governance” of Israel. Nationalists opposed to Rome, perhaps comprising much
of the crowd, found the tax offensive as it was a constant reminder of their
humiliation. And the religiously devout, represented by the disciples of the
Pharisees, had to pay the tax with a coin engraved with a picture of Caesar
Tiberius and a proclamation of his divinity, forcing them to break the first
two Commandments,” [2]
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make idols.
It is a no win question, so Jesus
refuses to play their game. He makes a
simple request – let’s see the money. And
with that request, he changes everything.
Give to Caesar what is Caesar
and give to God what is Gods.”
Jesus just changed the
rules. This is not about taxes or
politics. No, this is not even about religion,
it is about relationship with God. It’s
about who God is and who you name as God, and what that means for you. It is about what you value, and what is
important in your life. It is about what
occupies your heart and mind. It is
about an up close and personal examination of where your loyalties lie.
The emperor’s image is on the
coin and the implication is that the coin belongs to the emperor. So the question becomes what then bears the
image of God? And the answer - We do.
Therein
lies the connection to our first reading – this divine presence witnessed by
Moses from the crevice – this God that was willing to pass by and be fully
present to Moses – this God that was willing to forgive the Hebrew people for
the golden calf debacle and uphold the covenant, and continue the journey with
the people - this God that was willing to dwell among us and share our human
story, even the parts of the human story that are most painful as we witnessed
in the Good Friday story where God entered our pain and loss and death so
deeply and took all of it into God’s own self so that we might know who God
really is.
“Jesus
raises important questions here, but notice that he doesn’t give pat answers.
There are elements of our lives that are, indeed, part of the world order and
should be “rendered to Caesar.” But those are elements – our deepest person and
self is God’s, and if we remember that, all of life takes on greater focus and
meaning. And when I say that – that our deepest self is God’s – I actually
don’t mean that in the sense of putting more obligations on us: behave
yourself, God is watching! Rather, I mean that as a reminder that no matter
what we may do or say, no matter where we may go, no matter what may happen to
us, yet we are first, foremost, and forever God’s own beloved child. And that
identity will, in turn, shape our behavior, urging and aiding us to be the
persons we have been called to be.[3] We are first and foremost God’s beloved
children – and the water that we poured onto Clara’s forehead a few minutes ago
reminds us of that, we all belong to God, our God is a God of intimate relationship
revealing Godself in so many ways – being present to us in our times of joy and
times of sorrow, walking with us in our challenges and waiting patiently for us
when we wander away – our God, Moses God, Jesus God, Clara’s God, your God
longs to love you beloved child….Amen.
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