WAITING ON TIPTOE FOR GOD TO APPEAR IN PERSON
(Scripture readings are embedded in the text)
Rev. Paul Wrightman 12/24/23
RACHEL NAOMI REMEN, M.D., WRITES:
“THE FIRST TIME I HEARD THE WORD MYSTERY
I DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANT.
AS AN AVID READER OF MYSTERY STORIES,
I HAD THE IDEA THAT SOMETHING IS A MYSTERY
ONLY BECAUSE ITS SOLUTION HAS NOT YET BEEN FOUND.
BUT THIS DETECTIVE NOVEL SORT OF MYSTERY,
MYSTERY WITH A SMALL ‘M’,
IS DIFFERENT FROM MYSTERY WITH A CAPITAL ‘M.’
BY ITS VERY NATURE MYSTERY WITH A CAPITAL ‘M’
CANNOT BE SOLVED. . .IT CAN ONLY BE LIVED.”
DR. REMEN CONTINUES:
“WE HAVE NOT BEEN RAISED TO CULTIVATE A SENSE OF MYSTERY.
WE MAY EVEN SEE THE UNKNOWN
AS AN INSULT TO OUR COMPETENCE, A PERSONAL FAILING.
SEEN THIS WAY, THE UNKNOWN BECOMES A CHALLENGE TO ACTION.
BUT MYSTERY WITH A CAPITAL ‘M’ DOES NOT REQUIRE ACTION.
IT REQUIRES OUR ATTENTION.
IT REQUIRES THAT WE LISTEN AND BECOME OPEN.
WHEN WE MEET WITH THE UNKNOWN IN THIS WAY,
WE CAN BE TOUCHED BY A WISDOM
THAT CAN TRANSFORM OUR LIVES.” (End Quote)
ONE OF THE GREAT MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLICAL TRADITION
IS HOW GOD,
WHO IS PORTRAYED AS THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE,
CAN AT THE SAME TIME BE PICTURED
IN HIGHLY ANTHROPOMORPHIC TERMS
MUCH LIKE ANY OTHER HUMAN BEING.
THE BIBLE NEVER DIRECTLY ANSWERS THE QUESTION
‘HOW CAN GOD BE IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH SIMULTANEOUSLY?’,
OR ‘HOW CAN GOD BE IN TWO DIFFERENT PLACES AT ONCE?’.
IT SIMPLY ASSUMES THAT GOD’S PRESENCE IS EVERYWHERE.
WITH THE ADVENT OF QUANTUM PHYSICS
IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY,
AND ITS CONCEPT OF ENTANGLEMENT,
OR RELATIONSHIP AT A DISTANCE,
WHICH HAS BEEN EXPERIMENTALLY VERIFIED,
WE NOW KNOW THAT QUANTUM PARTICLES
WHICH WERE CONNECTED AT THEIR CREATION
BUT AFTERWARDS SEPARATED,
WILL NEVERTHELESS ALWAYS BE CONNECTED,
ALWAYS BE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OTHER,
NO MATTER HOW GREAT THE DISTANCE OR THE TIME
THAT LIES BETWEEN THEM FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW.
EVEN THOUGH RELATIONSHIP AT A DISTANCE
HAS BEEN EXPERIMENTALLY VERIFIED,
ITS REALITY STILL LIES SOLIDLY IN THE REALM
OF PARADOX, OR MYSTERY WITH A CAPITAL ‘M.’
IT IS SOMETHING THAT WE MAY KNOW,
BUT AT THE SAME TIME ALSO SOMETHING
THAT WE CANNOT FULLY COMPREHEND.
MAKING THE LEAP FROM NUCLEAR PHYSICS TO GOD,
WE CAN SAY THAT GOD BEING IN TWO PLACES AT THE SAME TIME,
OR EVEN GOD AS CREATOR BEING IN ALL PLACES SIMULTANEOUSLY,
IS SOMETHING THAT WE MAY KNOW,
BUT ALSO SOMETHING THAT WE CANNOT FULLY COMPREHEND.
IT REMAINS IN THE REALM OF PARADOX OR MYSTERY.
A COMPLEMENTARY MYSTERY OF THE BIBLICAL TRADITION
IS HOW GOD, THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE,
IS PASSIONATE ABOUT BEING IN RELATIONSHIP
WITH THE HUMAN BEINGS THAT GOD HAS CREATED.
IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES,
THERE ARE SEVERAL EXAMPLES OF GOD
APPEARING TO PEOPLE IN AUDIBLE AND/OR VISIBLE FORM.
WE CAN SAY THAT SOMETHING REALLY HAPPENED
IN THESE ACCOUNTS, BUT WE CAN’T CAPTURE THE PROCESS
BY WHICH IT HAPPENED.
ABOUT THE BEST WE CAN DO IS TO STATE
THAT SINCE GOD WAS (AND IS) SO PASSIONATE
ABOUT BEING WITH PEOPLE THAT GOD SIMPLY “SHOWS UP.”
IN THE THIRD CHAPTER OF GENESIS, WE ARE TOLD THAT
“THE MAN AND HIS WIFE HEARD THE SOUND OF THE LORD GOD
AS HE WAS WALKING IN THE GARDEN IN THE COOL OF THE DAY.”
(Genesis 3:8)
IN GENESIS 18 WE ARE TOLD THAT
“THE LORD APPEARED TO ABRAHAM
NEAR THE GREAT TREES OF MAMRE
WHILE HE WAS SITTING AT THE ENTRANCE TO HIS TENT
IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY.
ABRAHAM LOOKED UP AND SAW THREE MEN STANDING NEARBY.”
(Genesis 18:1-2a)
IN GENESIS 32 WE FIND GOD APPEARING TO JACOB,
THIS TIME IN THE SHAPE-SHIFTING FORM OF ANGEL/HUMAN/GOD,
AND WRESTLING WITH JACOB
FROM DEPTH OF NIGHT TILL BREAK OF DAY.
RECALL OUR REPEATED SCRIPTURE TEXT THROUGHOUT ADVENT
FROM THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH:
“O THAT YOU WOULD TEAR OPEN THE HEAVENS AND COME DOWN!”
(Isaiah 64:1a)
EVEN THOUGH ISAIAH DID NOT UTTER THIS PROFOUND STATEMENT
OF ANGUISH AND YEARNING TILL ALMOST A THOUSAND YEARS
AFTER JACOB’S FATEFUL WRESTLING MATCH WITH GOD,
I THINK IT EXPRESSES PRECISELY WHAT JACOB WAS FEELING
AS HE PACES BACK AND FORTH ALL NIGHT WORRYING ABOUT
WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN HE MEETS
HIS ESTRANGED BROTHER ESAU IN THE MORNING.
GOD HEARD JACOB’S PRAYER, AND GOD DID “COME DOWN,”
TO MEET JACOB WHERE HE WAS IN HIS TIME OF NEED.
THE IMPLICATION IS THAT GOD WILL DO THE SAME FOR US.
IN THE THIRD CHAPTER OF EXODUS
WE FIND THE MOST WELL-KNOWN EXAMPLE
OF GOD’S APPEARANCES IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES.
GOD APPEARS TO MOSES IN THE FLAMES OF A BUSH
THAT IS BURNING YET NOT CONSUMED.
RESPONDING SPECIFICALLY TO THE COLLECTIVE CRY OF ANGUISH
VOICED BY THE HEBREW SLAVES IN EGYPT,
GOD TELLS MOSES THAT GOD HAS WITNESSED, HAS HEARD,
KNOWS WELL AND HAS COME DOWN.
AFTER GOD HAS APPOINTED HIM
AS LEADER OF THE UPCOMING LIBERATION FROM EGYPT,
MOSES COMPLAINS “WHO AM I THAT I SHOULD GO TO PHARAOH
AND BRING THE ISRAELITES OUT OF EGYPT?”
GOD’S FIRST RESPONSE TO MOSES IS A SIMPLE
“I WILL BE WITH YOU.”
MOSES IS STILL NOT SATISFIED,
AND PRESSES GOD FURTHER FOR A PROPER NAME.
ALL HE RECEIVES IS A PARADOX AND A MYSTERY:
“I AM WHO I AM,” SOMETIMES TRANSLATED AS
“I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.”
I THINK ONE OF THE THINGS GOING ON HERE
IS THAT GOD FLATLY TELLS MOSES
THAT GOD IS, AND WILL REMAIN,
INCOMPREHENSIBLE IN GOD’S ABSOLUTE NATURE.
BUT GOD HAS GIVEN MOSES AN UNPARALLED PROMISE:
“I WILL BE WITH YOU.”
AND GOD’S PROMISE TO MOSES IS UNCONDITIONAL:
“I WILL BE WITH YOU.” (Exodus 3:12)
“O THAT YOU WOULD TEAR OPEN THE HEAVENS AND COME DOWN!”
IS LIKE AN EMERGENCY 911 CALL FROM OUR HEARTS TO GOD.
THE IMPLICATION IS THAT GOD WILL BE WITH US
IN OUR TIMES OF NEED JUST AS GOD WAS WITH
THE HEBREW SLAVES IN THEIR TIMES OF NEED.
A FEW WEEKS AGO IN OUR ADVENT SERMON SERIES ON JOB,
WE SAW HOW JOB MAKES WHAT ON THE SURFACE
APPEARS TO BE A NONSENSE STATEMENT.
FEELING THAT HE IS CRITICALLY NEAR DEATH
BECAUSE OF ALL THE DISASTERS THAT HAVE BEFALLEN HIM,
JOB NEVERTHELESS MAKES ONE OF THE
GREATEST AFFIRMATIONS OF FAITH IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE.
CAUGHT UP IN A VISION OF GOD’S WITHNESS
THAT TRANSCENDS EVEN DEATH,
JOB SUDDENLY BREAKS FORTH INTO A SONG OF CELEBRATION:
“FOR I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES,
AND THAT AT THE LAST HE WILL STAND UPON THE EARTH;
AND AFTER MY FLESH HAS BEEN DESTROYED,
THEN IN MY FLESH I SHALL SEE GOD.” (Job 19:25-26)
HERE WE HAVE THE MOST POWERFUL EXAMPLE IN ALL THE BIBLE
OF THE IRREPRESSIBLE ANGUISH AND LONGING OF
“O THAT YOU WOULD TEAR OPEN THE HEAVENS AND COME DOWN!”
PUSHING AND FINALLY INSPIRING A PERSON
TO HANG ON TO GOD IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING.
“FOR I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES. . .”
WHO IS THIS REDEEMER?
WE ARE NOT TOLD.
AT THIS POINT THE IDENTITY OF THE REDEEMER
REMAINS IN THE REALM OF MYSTERY,
AS IT DOES IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL
IN THE STORY OF THE BABYLONIAN KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR
CASTING THREE JEWISH YOUNG MEN,
SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO, INTO THE FIERY FURNACE:
“THEN KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR LEAPED TO HIS FEET IN AMAZEMENT
AND ASKED HIS ADVISERS,
‘WEREN’T THERE THREE MEN THAT WE TIED UP
AND THREW INTO THE FIRE?’
THEY REPLIED, ‘CERTAINLY, YOUR MAJESTY.’
HE SAID, ‘LOOK! I SEE FOUR MEN WALKING AROUND IN THE FIRE,
UNBOUND AND UNHARMED,
AND THE FOURTH LOOKS LIKE A SON OF THE GODS.’”
(Daniel 3:24-25)
WHO IS THIS FOURTH MAN?
WE ARE NOT TOLD.
BUT LOOKING BACK OVER THIS COLLECTION
OF GOD’S APPEARANCES IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES,
WE SEE THAT THIS COLLECTION OF APPEARANCES
STRONGLY SUGGESTS THAT GOD IS SO RELATIONAL
THAT GOD SIMPLY CANNOT RESIST BECOMING
PERSONALLY INVOLVED WITH US IN OUR WORLD.
WE GET THE SENSE FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
AS A WHOLE THAT GOD IS GRADUALLY BECOMING
MORE AND MORE CONVINCED THAT THE GREATEST HELP
GOD COULD GIVE US AND OUR WORLD
WOULD BE TO SHOW UP IN PERSON AS A PERSON.
TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE READINGS
FROM THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH
SHOW US THE INTENSITY OF ISRAEL’S YEARNING
FOR A REDEEMER.
“O THAT YOU WOULD TEAR OPEN THE HEAVENS AND COME DOWN!”
--THAT YOU WOULD ACTUALLY COME TO THE EARTH
AS WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD,
EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE.
TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FROM THE GOSPEL OF LUKE
MAKE THE AWESOME CLAIM THAT GOD HAS COME DOWN
IN THE PERSON OF JESUS OF NAZARETH.
“O THAT YOU WOULD TEAR OPEN THE HEAVENS AND COME DOWN!”
HAS BECOME
“YOU HAVE TORN OPEN THE HEAVENS AND HAVE COME DOWN!”
WE ARE STILL IN THE REALM OF MYSTERY,
MYSTERY WITH A CAPITAL ‘M’.
IF ANYTHING, THE MYSTERY HAS INTENSIFIED
WITH THE CLAIM THAT GOD HAS BECOME A HUMAN BEING.
THE NATURE OF GOD’S LOVE HAS BECOME EVEN MORE MYSTERIOUS
GIVEN THE FACT THAT GOD – THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE –
DID NOT HESITATE TO BECOME ONE OF US
TO SHOW US HOW TO LIVE.
GOD’S ABSOLUTE NATURE
WILL ALWAYS REMAIN INACCESSIBLE TO US,
BUT HOW GOD WOULD LIKE US TO LIVE
HAS BECOME SHOCKINGLY CLEAR
SINCE JESUS OF NAZARETH
HAS WALKED ONTO THE STAGE.
GOD’S BECOMING A PERSON
IN THE PERSON OF JESUS OF NAZARETH
REVEALS TO US ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT:
GOD LOVES EACH PERSON EQUALLY AND UNCONDITIONALLY;
GOD’S STANDARD IS THE QUALITY OF OUR LOVE
FOR GOD AND NEIGHBOR,
NOT THE CORRECTNESS OF OUR DOCTRINE.
GOD SIDES WITH THOSE WHOM SOCIETY SNUBS –
THIS WAS TRUE FOR THE MANY IN JESUS’ DAY
WHO WERE OBJECTS OF CONTEMPT BECAUSE
OF POVERTY, ILLNESS, OR “IMPURITY;”
AND IT REMAINS TRUE FOR THE “REJECTS” OF TODAY –
THE POOR, IMMIGRANTS, PEOPLE OF COLOR,
THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY;
IF JESUS OF NAZARETH IS THE HUMAN FACE OF GOD,
WE CAN SEE THAT GOD’S WAY IS NEVER THE WAY OF VIOLENCE,
BUT ALWAYS THE WAY OF SACRIFICIAL LOVE.
THE LIST OF WHAT JESUS DEFINITIVELY REVEALS TO US
ABOUT GOD COULD GO ON AND ON,
BUT OUR SERVICE CAN’T,
SO I’LL DRAW THINGS TO A CLOSE.
JESUS TEACHES US HOW TO LIVE,
BUT HIS HISTORICAL REALITY ALSO INTENSIFIES
THE MYSTERY INHERENT IN GOD.
NOTHING COULD BE MORE MYSTERIOUS
THAN THE PERSON OF JESUS, WHO SAID,
“BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM,” (John 8:58)
AND WHO SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES,
“WHOEVER HAS SEEN ME HAS SEEN THE FATHER.” (John 14:9)
IT IS WISER TO SEE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS
AS SOMETHING TO BE LIVED, TO BE DWELLED IN,
RATHER THAN AS SOMETHING ONE HAS TO BELIEVE,
AND THEN TRY TO CAPTURE IN A MULTITUDE OF DOCTRINES.
THE EMPHASIS, FOR JESUS, IS SQUARELY ON
LOVE FOR GOD AND NEIGHBOR,
AND NOT IN TRYING TO FIGURE THEM OUT.
TO CONCLUDE AS WE BEGAN,
BY QUOTING RACHEL NAOMI REMEN:
“MYSTERY REQUIRES THAT WE RELINQUISH
AN ENDLESS SEARCH FOR ANSWERS
AND BECOME WILLING TO NOT UNDERSTAND. . .
AN ANSWER IS A PLACE WHERE WE CAN FALL ASLEEP
AS LIFE MOVES PAST US TO ITS NEXT QUESTION.
AFTER ALL THESE YEARS I HAVE BEGUN TO WONDER
IF THE SECRET OF LIVING WELL
IS NOT IN HAVING ALL THE ANSWERS
BUT IN PURSUING UNANSWERABLE QUESTIONS IN GOOD COMPANY.”
(End Quote)
WE CAN BE THANKFUL THAT WE’RE IN SUCH GOOD COMPANY
HERE AT COMMUNITY CHURCH.”
AMEN.