Remember the Sabbath

Exodus 20:8-11

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

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Monday morning feels so bad,
Ev'rybody seems to nag me
Coming tuesday I feel better,
Even my old man looks good,
Wednesday just don't go,
Thursday goes too slow,
I've got Friday on my mind

"Friday on My Mind" by The Easybeats

Scholars say the Ten Commandments can be broken down in to three groups. The first is how we relate to God, the second is how we relate to creation, and the third is how we relate to each other.

The first division is easy to find. Starting with "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me" makes that pretty obvious. The Lord is our God and that's that. The Lord has saved us before and continues to save us. What's better than that?

The final third is easy to pick out too. You shall not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, or covet are pretty obvious to what we have to do to have a civil society. When these obvious sins break into society, creation has hit the downward skids.

How we deal with creation is more nuanced. To keep something holy is to set it aside for a specific purpose. Scripture calls us to set aside the Sabbath. The Lord made the Sabbath so that we may rest. The Lord made the Sabbath so that the beasts of burden can rest. The Lord made the Sabbath and the Jubilee so that the land can rest. This is how we are called to relate to creation. Sabbath worship is our response to God's good gifts including creation and rest.

We are to be active, God creates and we are to follow God in what was created. But God rested too. Jesus took time from around his disciples to go and to be on his own to pray, rest, recover, and rejuvenate. God calls us to follow this example in the Sabbath. We are called to take time in the midst and presence of God to rest and recover.

Sabbath isn't the time to go out and party. It's a time to be with God and God's people. It's a time of prayer. It's a time to worship. Further, it's a time to anticipate with joy. Even all week long we should wait with joy for the Sabbath to come together as the community of God. It's good to have Friday on our minds.

Looking for Signs

Mark 8:11-13

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

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If God was here he'd tell you to your face,
Man, you're some kinda sinner

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

"Signs" originally written and recorded by the Five Man Electrical Band, this version by Tesla

Signs, everybody wants a sign. Thomas doubted the stories of the resurrection. He wanted to see Jesus. Not only did he see the Lord, he saw his hands and side and put his hand in the holes. Granted, he just wanted to see what the other apostles had seen, but still, he's not taking anybody's word for it, he just wants to see it for himself.

The Discovery Channel made stars out of the hosts of "Mythbusters." One of the myths they debunked was "we never landed on the moon." Still, people won't believe until they see astronaut lunar debris for themselves and will still say "they brought this stuff six months before opening the moon for tourism."

Americans have always been a skeptical people. It probably began with the revolution. It's reflected in the Bill or Rights. After all, the main articles define governmental rights, but where are the rights of the common man? That's right, the Bill or Rights. It probably turned the corner from skeptical to cynicism during Watergate. Where all governments have their shady actions, President Nixon took this to new extremes.

So the Pharisees want their signs. Jesus tells them that their generation will receive no sign.

In truth, Jesus had shown them a sign, the incarnation. Emmanuel, God with us is the sign sent to this generation. God with us is the sign sent to all generations. It was first seen in the person of the Father in the Garden of Eden, it was seen again in the person of the Son in the Garden of Gethsemane, and is seen in our own gardens in the divine wind that blows across all creation, the Holy Spirit.

We all want signs, it's only human. The glory and the joy of God is that the signs of God in the world are found all around us. We find them in a hand from a neighbor. We find them in the hugs and kisses of a loved one. We find them in the warmth of the sun and the refreshing breezes of our own gardens.

What stands between us and this glorious revelation, let me tell it to your face, it's sin. Sin will be in our way until Christ comes again. In the meantime, Christ breaks into our world every day in every moment. Live intentionally and see that Christ is in the world. Those are the signs worth seeing. Those are the signs worth following.

Well Respected Men About Town

Matthew 23:5-7

They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.

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'Cause he gets up in the morning,
And he goes to work at nine,
And he comes back home at five-thirty,
Gets the same train every time.
'Cause his world is built 'round punctuality,
It never fails.

And he's oh, so good,
And he's oh, so fine,
And he's oh, so healthy,
In his body and his mind.
He's a well respected man about town,
Doing the best things so conservatively.

"Well Respected Man About Town" by The Kinks

There is something noble to be said for doing the right things the right way. It's a principle of business popularized by W. Edwards Deming in his business dealings in Japan after World War II. At this time "Made in Japan" meant shoddy where today it means high and consistent in quality. It was Deming who brought this mindset to the Japanese, after his concepts were rejected by American business.

If there is one thing wrong with doing the right things the right way it's that it allows for only slight incremental improvement. It doesn't move toward great leaps of innovation. While both are important, it would be like making cars a little more cost effective while Star Trek transporters are being invented and developed. No matter how much more improved the car becomes, it will become nothing when transporting takes hold.

The Pharisees knew their faith. The Pharisees knew the ways of the Law and the Prophets. The Pharisees were the Sons of Moses. They were the heirs of Abraham. Their God was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In this, they took to the trappings of their station. They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.

Their world built on everything that was oh so good and oh so right was about to come to an end. Their faith that never fails built on punctuality of ritual cleanliness and blood sacrifice was about to become obsolete. They built their faith on the trappings and requirements of God, not on God's own self. They kept the law without keeping the one who created the Law.

God was about to reveal something new and their faith would not recognize it. This is something we face daily. God revealed himself new in Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus who was the Messiah. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to see and participate in God's work on earth. We must take this seriously. Not because God is changing, but because God continues to create. Through the Holy Spirit we recognize how God reveals himself everyday. If like the Pharisees we hold the law like a gate post, we will never follow the guide posts God places along the way. This is the way of new life in Christ.

Hard Hearted

Exodus 7:1-5

The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”

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I'm gonna harden my heart
I'm gonna swallow my tears
I'm gonna turn and leave you here

"Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash

Pharaoh, what a guy. Earlier in Exodus we learn that there is nobody now alive who remembers what Joseph had done for the nation of Egypt. By interpreting Pharaoh's dreams and administering the national's wealth wisely he had saved Egypt from certain death. Of course when everything is dandy, who remembers when times were hard. Joseph was forgotten.

Israel was now a nation of slaves in the kingdom of Egypt, and life is never good for slaves. Moses has been called by the Lord God to bring his people out of Egypt. Of course, like so many of God's prophets Moses will be reluctant. Since the fate of prophets is well known, maybe caution is a good trait. The Lord God answers Moses' questions and objections, and so he is sent, along with his brother Aaron to bring the word of God to Pharaoh.

Nominally, the God's request is that the nation worship the Lord in the wilderness. In the end, the result will be so much more. But as we well know, Pharaoh will not listen to Moses. The Lord will harden Pharaoh's heart against the nation and Israel will only be released and free when God's hand is stretched out against Egypt. Only under harsh discipline and great acts of judgement will Pharaoh know the Lord is God.

Pharaoh echoed Quarterflash. He hardened his heart. When his nation suffered under the hand of God he swallowed his tears. His plan was to turn his back on Moses and Aaron and the Lord and leave them all to rot under the harsh slavery of labor. This until the Lord would be mocked no more. This until the final plague.

The plagues of Egypt were many, after each Pharaoh's heart was hardened, until the last. Even after the final plague of Passover Pharaoh chased the nation with horse and chariot, only to be lost in the sea.

Here is an important point, as with yesterday's reading, God was patient with Moses waiting for the right time to call, commission, and consecrate him for service. So too, the story of the release of the nation begins with chapter three and doesn't end until chapter fourteen of Exodus. This takes the nation from the Call of Moses to escape at the Red Sea. This before forty years in the wilderness.

Freedom is great and glorious, but it is never as quick as we desire. Freedom comes only from God; and only after he breaks our hard hearts.

Where Next?

Exodus 3:1-2

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.

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Another year has passed me by
Still I look a myself and cry
What kind of man have I become?
All of the years I've spent in search of myself
And I'm still in the dark
'Cause I can't seem to find the light alone

"Man in the Wilderness" by Styx

Before Moses was a man of God, his life was quite different. He was born under Pharaoh's edict of death. He survived because Pharaoh's daughter found him in the bulrushes. He survived because his sister Miriam persuaded Pharaoh's daughter to let her find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. It was no accident that it was the baby's own mother who nursed Moses.

Raised as a son of Pharaoh's daughter, he knew the best of life. He knew justice. It was "justice" and impetuousness that caused Moses to murder an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave. It was fear that this same justice could befall him that he left Egypt the next day. It was justice that made him defend the daughters of Jethro against the men at the well. It was justice that pushed Moses.

Moses married Jethro's daughter and settled in Jethro's tent. Moses knew his people, Moses knew his heritage. Moses knew his place in the world. He knew this until the Lord God called him from Mount Horeb. Then everything Moses knew was changed.

Moses was once a very important young man who came to live a life of quiet desperation. Nothing says Moses was unhappy with his lot. He had a family-wife and children. He was a good son-in-law. He was a good man. Perhaps he wondered what kind of man he had become. Son of Pharaoh's daughter becomes a shepherd. To any man, it would seem like a long fall.

Moses was in the dark, but the light showed itself. The light came to life. The light of the bush that blazed but was not burned called Moses to new life. The light that he could not find alone presented itself to Moses when it was time. It seemed a long time coming, but it did come. The son of Pharaoh's daughter becomes the messenger of God, the bringer of the Law.

The light burns and it burns bright. Maybe the lesson is that when we quit looking all over for the light we see that it shines in our own backyard.

Soldiers

Joshua 2:1

Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there.

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I am just a new boy,
Stranger in this town.
Where are all the good times?
Who's gonna show this stranger around?
Ooooh, I need a dirty woman.
Ooooh, I need a dirty girl.

"Young Lust" by Pink Floyd By Roger Waters and David Gilmour

The land of Israel was open for business, but not quite yet. The Israelites knew that to receive the land the Lord promised them they would have to follow the Lord into the land and, well, displace its current residents. So to prepare for the migration, Joshua sent spies to check out the land.

They went to the home of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there. When the king of Jericho went to Rahab's home seeking the spies, she said they had left and if the army followed quickly they could catch up. She kept Joshua's men safe from the men of Jericho.

She is a soldier in the army of the Lord. For this she is remembered in the Psalms. For this she is remembered in the book of Hebrews as a hero of the faith. You know, we want our daughters to be remembered as heroes of the faith, but we don't want them to come home from Career Day at school with information on becoming a prostitute. So how do we use this lesson?

This is important, God will use us, each and every one of us, as fits every purpose under heaven. God saved Rahab and her family from the destruction of Jericho because she participated in the Israelite migration. She was a good soldier. She is a hero of the faith.

Still to those who judge a book by the cover, it is the Lord who writes the words in the pages of the book of our lives. And sometimes we need someone to show a stranger around. God uses all of us, even the dirty woman.

Tell Me Something Good

Matthew 11:2-6

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

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Tell me something good
(tell me, tell me, tell me)
Tell me that you love me

"Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus

Tell me something good! The cry of the ages. People wait for news. People wait stateside while their husbands and wives, sons and daughters are overseas in the military. People wait in hallways and side rooms in hospitals. People wait on hold. People wait for messages, people wait for any news. All along our prayer is "tell me something good."

We pray to hear of new life, the birth of a son or daughter. We pray that new life is healthy and happy. We pray our sons and daughters grow strong and faithful. We pray they find love and happiness. All along our prayer is "tell me something good."

John the Baptist was in prison. He would soon be murdered, assassinated as a prize in a dance contest, but he had heard what the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples with a very simple question: Are you he? Jesus lets his actions speak for themselves.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought. In their own way, John's disciples were poor and this was the good news. Jesus lives. The Messiah lives. The Christ lives.

John is about to be murdered, assassinated as a prize in a dance contest, and John needed good news. He needed to hear the good news that the Jesus is the Messiah. He needed to know that what he heard was true. He needed to know that God's work was continuing on earth. He found his good news. He found that the weak and the poor were being tended and healed. The needy were being uplifted. The mourners were comforted. Now John knows the fruit of him ministry will not die on the vine. There is more. Jesus lives. The Messiah lives. The Christ lives.

Just like John, the world wants to hear the Good News of the Living Christ, our Lord Jesus. Go, and tell them something good.