Sunday 15 October 2017
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Exodus 32:1-14 (NRSV)
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel. The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
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Reading Exodus can be very frustrating! On the Sunday prior to the one when we hear this reading, we heard the giving of the Decalogue. The very first thing on the list of 10 words: no other gods. And now here they are breaking the commandment. I think here of the comment these days in the face of such amazing blunders: "You had one thing to do!" There is of course a reason why there is such a modern expression. The behavior of our spiritual ancestors is not forgotten in our day and generation. Perhaps today is a good day to review the Decalogue we heard last week and ask: "So how are we doing; how have we done this week?" And if we hear this in the homily, and actually engage that examination, how good it is that for us Episcopalians with Prayer Books in hands, confession and absolution are soon to come after the homily. We might be tempted to jump into it right away. If this feels heavy, note here also that God remains merciful and forgives. Yes, Moses might need to plead for his people, the very ones who time and time again ridiculed, attacked, and rejected him. And they will do so again. But Moses reminds God of God's nature to forgive, and God forgives even them. Thus we have the comfort of knowing God will forgive us also.
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Fr. Timothy Alleman
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