Forty Days

Exodus 24:15-18

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

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On the road for forty days,
Last night in Little Rock
Put me in a haze.

"We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad

There's an interesting thing about the number forty in the bible. When talking about a length of time like forty days or forty years. Saying "forty days" didn't necessarily mean 960 hours. It didn't necessarily mean 57,600 seconds. Sometimes it was just an expression meaning "a long time."

This isn't a heresy or a reason to doubt scripture, we have expressions like this in English too. When we talk about a "month of Sundays" we aren't talking about 30 Sundays. It would take seven-and-a-half months to get that many Sundays, so we don't mean it literally. I once heard the expression "a handful of months." The guy who used it meant "four or five." How many fingers are there in a full hand? Four, five with the thumb. That's also what he meant by "a handful of months," four or five.

In all of these examples, the number spoke to the people who said it originally. While forty days could mean forty truly calendar days, it could also mean a long, long time.

On the road for forty days... You gotta imagine that to a band that was making its musical bones in the late 60's and early 70's, forty days seemed like a sex and drug razed eternity on the road. If you've ever been to Little Rock in the midst of a huge tour, it would put you in a haze too.

Moses spent forty days on the mountain in the midst of the glory of the Lord. To the people in the valley, those Moses left behind, it appeared like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain. How glorious is that? Your representative, the man who stood between you and Pharaoh is now in the glory of the fire of the Lord.

Here's the problem... It appeared to them like a devouring fire, so how did they know Moses was not devoured. The voice of the Lord did not cry out to the people "No sweat, everything's fine in here." There was no reassurance. While they were blamed for not waiting upon the Lord, their fears were understandable. Misplaced, but understandable.

Moses entered the cloud. GFR went to Omaha. The nation went to the land of milk and honey. The band went home. While there is a lot of history for both Israel and Three Dog Night, let's leave it at this: after a long forty days, they finally went home. Isn't that what all of us really want?

Go and Make Disciples

Matthew 28:18-20 (NRSV)

Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

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You don't know me but I'm your brother
I was raised here in this living hell
You don't know my kind in your world
Fairly soon the time will tell
You, telling me the things you're gonna do for me
I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see

Takin' it to the streets

"Takin' It to the Streets" by Michael McDonald from "Best of the Doobies" 1976

In grammar, there are actually verbs that act like nouns, they're called participles. The reason they exist is to describe action, not be the main actions themselves.

In Matthew's Great Commission, there are glorious participles--baptizing and teaching. These are things Christians are called to do. But these aren't the main verbs in the passage. The main verbs are go and make, specifically "go and make disciples." Why is this so important?

Often Christians get tied up in the baptizing and teaching where what we are supposed to get tied up doing is "to go and make." Baptizing and teaching are important elements of "to go and make," that's why they get the big mention as a part of the Great Commission. But the first thing we are to do go and then make.

The Great Commission is not a cry for everyone to go to Africa or Asia and be missionaries. But it is a cry for us to get off of our couches and take it to the streets. The world is filled with people who do not know the grace and peace of the Lord. Sure, people are always to talk about death and hell-the sort of heavenly fire insurance. But if that were all there was to being a Christian it would be a sorry wait for death.

No, we are called to take the faith out into the world. Michael McDonald wrote, "I was raised here in this living hell; You don't know my kind in your world." We were all born into a world that is damaged, a world that is in shock and pain. This world reacts like a wounded animal. We were born into this living hell, but by God's grace we are saved through faith. The world does not know the Lord, nor does it really know the Lord's children.

Take the faith. Take it to the streets. Take it to the people who are still living in hell. Take it to those who need justice. Show it to those who persecute the innocent. Feed the hungry. Shelter the impoverished. Seek justice. Love kindness.

Do this not because it will buy fire insurance, but because the Lord lives. Do it because the Lord is alive in your life. Do this as a response to the freely given gift of grace you have received.

Who Can It Be Now?

Luke 11:9-10 (NRSV)

So I say to you, "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."

Revelation 3:20 (NRSV)

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.

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It's not the future that I can see,
It's just my fantasy

Oh...Who can it be now?

Men at Work, "Who Can It Be Now?" from "Business as Usual" 1981

This piece from Luke contains the promise that when we knock the door will be opened. Revelation reveals to us that Jesus is the one at the door knocking, and when we answer He will come and eat with us.

Who can it be knocking at my door? Scripture tells us that we are supposed to knock. We are supposed to pray for the coming of the Lord in our lives. We are promised that those who ask will receive and those who seek will find. What's funny about this is that we are not promised that we will be given what we ask nor will we find what we sought.

Scripture promises that when we ask and seek we will receive and find things which benefit us. Since no parent will give a child gifts that are bad for them, "how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" With apologies to Janis Joplin, we are not promised we will get a Mercedes Benz.It is rather as The Rolling Stones promised, you can't always get what you want but you just might find you get what you need.

This is the future, this is the fantasy which is available to us all. Jesus knocks upon the doors of our lives. To receive all of the joy of a Christian life, we need to answer the door. When we do and when Jesus enters; he will come and eat with us and us with him. We are told we will partake of a banquet with the Messiah.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

It All Begins with a Celebration!

Exodus 5:1

Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.’ ”

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I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah, another day of living, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of livin', yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of life

"I Just Want to Celebrate" by Rare Earth

So that's how it all begins. Yes, Israel is oppressed in Egypt. Yes, Egypt is in fear of Israel and their sheer numbers. Yes, there is one to set free the nation, Moses. Yes, there is one who stands in his way, Pharaoh.

Moses shows up and says "Let my people go, we just want to celebrate another day of life." Well, I'm not going to go into the entire Exodus to make a tremendous theological point, I want to make a smaller wonderful point instead.

The Lord wants us to celebrate! The Lord wants us to celebrate our worship! How often is worship truly a celebration? There's a continuum here. Worship can be drier than leather left to cure in the desert for a full summer, and worship can be so over the top that it's entertainment instead of celebration. These extremes are just that. One binds people (while trying to bind the Holy Spirit) and the other tries to be so "relevant" that it means nothing.

Maybe Moses and Rare Earth have something together. Moses calls for a celebration to worship the Lord. Rare Earth celebrates another day of living. Let us celebrate living in the light of the Lord and let's do it one day at a time. Each day, every day.

Beware the extremes, because the Lord is the most extreme God we can ever celebrate. Our additions are just gilding the lily.

Faithful Friends

Luke 5:18-20

Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”

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I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cuz you're there for me too...

"I'll Be There for You" written by Phil Solem and Danny Wilde, recorded by The Rembrandts. This song served as the theme to the NBC television series "Friends."

Jesus was in town healing the people. The scene could be described as a melodrama-there's the good guy-Jesus, the bad guys-the Scribes and Pharisees who will describe Jesus as blasphemous, and even the femme fatale-the sick and injured who needed healing. Melodrama also has one more important character, the crowd. The audience provides dramatic punctuation to the proceedings--and this crowd fulfilled that qualification.

So a group of men bring their friend to be healed. They rip a hole in the roof to lower their paralyzed friend into Jesus' lap. Jesus was so impressed with the friend's faith that he had to do something. When the rain starts to pour, when the roof begins to crash in, when stricken with paralysis-good friends are hard to find, but they were there for him.

So he forgave the man's sins. He didn't heal him, he forgave him his sins. Suddenly the crowd is in shock. They've seen healings before, but never did it turn into absolution of sin! Is that even possible?

Jesus calls the man "friend." What a friend we have in Jesus. A friend who will be there when the world crashes all around us. When the rain starts to pour, when the roof begins to crash in, when stricken with paralysis-a friend who is able to forgive our sins. Thanks be to God Jesus is there for us.

Jesus is there for us, let us be there for Jesus too.