| A
Thick-Skinned People |
| (God said to Moses) So come, I
will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites,
out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am
I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites
out of Egypt?" He said, "I will be with you;
and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent
you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you
shall worship God on this mountain." |
| But Moses said to God, "If
I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of
your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What
is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said
to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further,
"Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has
sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Thus
you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of
your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': This is my
name forever, and this my title for all generations. |
|
| Exodus 3:10-15 |
| Let love be genuine; hate what
is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with
mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in
prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend
hospitality to strangers. |
| Bless those who persecute you;
bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice,
weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another;
do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not
claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil
for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight
of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you,
live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves,
but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written,
"Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they
are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing
this you will heap burning coals on their heads."
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. |
|
| Romans 12:9-21 |
| I wonder how we are ever supposed to make it through Paul’s
list without passing out from exhaustion? Paul’s many
exhortations to us seem like a bad case of over stimulation.
Maybe he had too much caffeine. It took me a long time to simply
come up with a reading of this text that might even keep your
attention till the end. I become dazed and confused reading
all the imperatives, infinitives and participles. Who could
ever uphold this entire charge? It is hard work to focus our
lives on fulfilling just one of its lines. Some of the most
difficult tenets of Christian living come up. “Let love
be genuine.” “Bless those who persecute you.”
“Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good…do
not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” |
| One commentator on this text noted in regards to loving enemies
and blessing our persecutors, “Paul stands firmly with
Jesus and the entire early Christian tradition against all other
traditions know to us” during Paul’s time. (1)
These exhortations are counter cultural for a Jew of Paul’s
day. Paul knew he was called to follow the Prince of Peace,
a man who let himself be crucified! So Paul made Jesus’
teachings and his obedience to God’s will the basis for
this passage about Christian living. If they had heard them
the rest of the world during Paul’s time would have thought
these exhortations were insane. No, this is living done in light
of the mercy of God as we are continually transformed and molded
into living new lives in Jesus Christ. |
| I don’t believe much has changed between what the world
thought then and today about Paul’s list. More people
claim the Christian faith than in Paul’s day, but most
of us still have trouble accepting Paul’s entire list.
Paul’s imperatives run counter to human inclinations because
living in Christ means abiding in God’s will and way instead
of our own. The list is a way for us to live that shows forth
God’s love, which is so radically different from our own
romantic love, that Paul’s list holds the power to continually
take us by surprise as we read it and ponder applying it to
our lives. Paul’s list is a calling. The calling of every
Christian, whether we want the call or not. |
| You have to have pretty thick skin to have the guts to live
out this list today! There would be backlash; there always is
when someone tries to love their enemy or show hospitality to
a total stranger. She’s a lightweight, he’s a sucker—you’ve
heard the critiques. That man takes too many risks inviting
that homeless guy into his house time and time again. Thick
skin takes time to grow. It might develop naturally over time,
but it seems to grow best with intentional development like
our inquiring after God by desiring to know God’s history
with the world, God’s promises, God’s nature. |
| Moses’ calling from God out of the burning bush to “bring
my people out of Egypt” probably seemed to him as difficult
to grasp and live out as the exhortations Paul calls us to in
our Romans text. His skin thickened on that hot desert sand,
not just because of the long walk! God’s revelation, I
AM WHO I AM, the God of his Ancestors, built up the layers of
Moses’ skin to assure him of God’s presence with
him in facing Pharaoh. |
| I am always struck by the part where Moses is told God’s
name forever, God’s title for all generations! God’s
name is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (we would do well
to add Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel). To us today this statement
is pretty passive. We’ve heard it all before in the Bible.
But to Moses this meant that the God of his ancestors, the God
the Hebrew people trusted but thought was gone, was alive! Knowing
God’s name meant knowing God’s promises, renewed
hope that God was with them always, forever, for all generations.
God was with him and Moses knew God’s history, so despite
the radical nature of the call Moses went to Egypt. |
| Knowing God’s names, God’s history and God’s
presence with us helps us to discern God’s will and follow
Paul’s exhortations in a world that might not agree with
them. It is impossible to follow in the way of God if we barely
know God’s story with the world! God’s names alone
are incredible and give us clues to God’s presence. Sovereign
One, Holy of Holies, El, our Rock, Mother Hen, Creator, Eagle,
Messiah, Spirit, Mother nursing, Father who welcomes the prodigal
home, Wonderful Counselor, Lord, Wisdom, Woman who found a lost
coin, Jesus, Abba, Grace, and God of our Ancestors barely begin
the list. The comfort of following a wondrous God in a confusing
world comes as our faith and biblical knowledge grow together. |
| We have to be a pretty thick-skinned people to follow God’s
call these days. God’s people always have had thick skin
though. The people Israel found God’s comfort and hope
in exile, in plenty, in desert wandering and in waiting for
God’s promise to become reality. The skin on their feet
grew thick as they walked hard roads. They did not walk those
roads alone. There was manna in the desert, quail and water,
the cloud over the tent in which the holy of holies lay. All
were provided out of God’s grace. Grace aided the thickening
of their skin as they followed God. As we learn the history
of God with God’s people faith in God becomes comfort
instead of seeming like perpetual challenge. |
| By faith we can trust each other and our God given discerning
capacities enough to meet at tables and talk about God together.
It takes thick skin to sit at table and learn about God with
a group of diverse people! Our tough linings will be thickened
to face the day ahead of us as we open our Bibles and learn
of God with us. So when that first car cuts us off or our teenagers
get their first speeding ticket, we won’t forget that
our love is supposed to be genuine. Then when the hard work
of Christian life hits and we are called upon to bless those
who persecute us we will have a foundation of faith and knowledge
to stand on when the questions come from those around us. It
is not easy to live in this world with an alternate worldview
focused on God’s reign. A wise commentator said about
our calling to follow Jesus, “There will be times when
the world will not understand the points at which Christian
standards will not permit those who hold them to go along with
the ways of the world.” (2) Our alternate point
of view is only possible as we allow ourselves to be nourished
by grace and challenged by God and one another to live in this
world as God’s people. |
| My father in Arizona is part of a group that works for more
human borders along the US and Mexico. Once a month he drives
a truck down from Tempe to the middle of the desert to refill
and clean up one desert site that has water to aid desert travelers,
mostly people trying to find a better life in the US. Hundreds
and hundreds of people die from dehydration and starvation trying
to cross our borders each year. My dad and his group meet lots
of different people on their trips into the desert to the sites
our government has approved to have the water available at.
Many of the locals surprisingly approve of my father’s
work even though they would like tougher border restrictions
and controls. They may want more legislation around border issues,
but at the same time, they are not willing to let someone die
in the desert. As one woman told my father, “At the same
time I want tighter borders, every time an illegal comes to
my mobile home door, I open it and feed them. They are usually
about to starve and need water. No one is going to starve on
my watch. It is now illegal for me to feed people on this land
because of new laws, but I don’t care! I do it by faith.
Nobody’s starving because I was scared to give them a
meal.” |
| We are given the opportunity to live in the assurances of
God, which set us free from our fears through the Spirit and
Christ and opens us to following God instead of our human nature.
It’s a complex world. God has empowered us to make decisions
about how we will live in this world based on our faith. |
| Love, hold fast, show honor, be ardent in spirit, rejoice,
serve, suffer, persevere, contribute, extend hospitality, bless
persecutors…and on and on. All these must be held in light
of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, poured freely upon us.
Grace WILL SUSTAIN US in Christian living. Becoming a thick-skinned
people by broadening our knowledge of God and God’s word,
sure would aid in our growth. |
| Amen |
| Beth E. Godfrey - August 28, 2005 |
| Central Presbyterian Church, Geneseo, New
York |
| (1) N.T. Wright, “The Letter to the Romans,”
New Interpreter’s Bible: a commentary in twelve volumes.
(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002) 713. |
| (2) ibid, 714 |
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