December 14, 2012
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God’s messenger
The Advent and Christmas stories are full of messengers ofGod. There is John the Baptist and theangel Gabriel. There are also the HebrewTestament prophets Isaiah and Zephaniah. Angels are commonly understood to be messengers of God. Spiritual leaders often refer to themselvesas God’s messengers or being called to preach God’s word. God warns those who preach and teach in God’sname that they will be held accountable for what they say and do. We commonly hold those who are messengers ofGod to a higher standard and it is probably reasonable that we do so. However, we are all messengers of God. We all carry a spark of God within us and weare all called to share with others what they spark of God inspires in us.
I am frustrated particularly at this time of year by thesweet images of angels that abound on Christmas cards, ornaments, and treetoppers. Angels in the early church wereconsidered to be God’s army. Theyactively defended God’s people and they spoke harshly, they wrestled withpeople, they were warriors. In theMessage Bible, Eugene Peterson uses the term God of the Angel Armies. The human messengers of God were also notparticularly sweet people. Isaiah andZephaniah along with the other prophets were as likely to be chastising theirlisteners as to be comforting them. Johnthe Baptist was downright confrontational. He spoke directly and harshly to those who came out to the wildernessseeking baptism. This week I used aharsh word in a Facebook post and some people took offense because it is a vulgarword for what should be a tender and intimate act. I grant the word is harsh, I would have somedisagreement with vulgar but that is not the point here. When John called the people vipers, he wasbeing harsh and offensive. He was alsospeaking out of his strong conviction that the people had lost their compassionand were seeking a cosmetic cleansing without making any actual change in theirbehavior. John was speaking out of thelong tradition of God’s messengers to deal directly and honestly with those whosought to hear God’s word for them. Am Ijustifying my use of an offensive word in a post by claiming some John theBaptist link? No. My choice of words was my own and I acceptthe impact of the words even though my intent was to express outrage notoffense. I am saying, being a messengerof God is not to always be polite and comforting. Sometimes God’s message is intended todiscomfort us, to challenge us out of our complacency. Some messages of God are hard to hear andhard to share. Just read some of theprophetic words of the Hebrew scriptures or spend a little time in the book ofRevelation. Even the words of Jesus weresometimes discomforting. His challengeto the rich young man to sell all he had and give it to the poor, or his demandthat we leave behind mother and father to follow him. And, if taken seriously, his challenge to usto pick up our cross and follow him to Golgotha is not a comfortingthought. Sometimes, as God’s messenger,we must speak directly and confrontationally to others and to power.
Another challenge to messengers of God is not to lose trackof the truth that it is not our message but God’s that we are called toshare. The sacred texts and the historyof spiritual leaders is littered with messengers who lost sight of the sourceof the message and began speaking for their own gain. Moses did well while he followed God but gotimpatient and lost his right to enter the promised land, David was a personafter God’s heart and then got carried away with his own importance and was humbledbecause of his arrogance. We are allpainfully aware of good people who started ministries in God’s name and didgood things and then they succumbed to the lure of power and wealth and theirmessage lost all Godliness. Some sayoutrages things they claim came from God just to keep their names and facesprominent. Pat Robertson may have at onetime had a prophetic voice but he now he speaks such nonsense that whateverconnection he had with God is lost. Inlight of the tragedy in Newtown, CT. Mike Huckabee and Bryan Fisher both saidGod allowed the killing of children and school staff to happen because we havelegislated God out of our schools. Really, God would abandon those children and adults out of some tempertantrum over not having mandated prayer and Bible reading in our public schools? I cannot accept that God would prefer thatteachers and other school personnel teach our children how to pray and what theBible means. I have to believe Godintended for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, Godparents, Sunday schoolteachers, and clergy to guide children in their understanding of God and whatsacred texts mean. As I understand God,God is present everywhere and God does not judge our worthiness based on theactions of our government or even our immediate families. God is with us through all things. God did not condone or plan the tragedy at SandyHook Elementary School but God was certainly present there and was standingwith those who were killed, injured, and all those who have been so deeply scarredbut what happened there. God was evenwith the tormented man who lashed out so violently for whatever reason. God does not dole out grace and love based onour worthiness and anyone who says otherwise is not a messenger of God.
It would be tempting at this point to say Jesus was theperfect messenger of God but he wasn’t. Jesus wasn’t a messenger, Jesus was the Word of God made flesh. Jesus didn’t have to get a message from Godand the speak it out to us, with all the risk of getting it wrong or not rememberingall of it, or adding his own spin to it. Jesus was the message. Jesuslived out in his words, actions, and life the message of God’s grace and lovefor us. It was in his love for theunloveable, his advocacy for the marginalized, and his forgiveness for thosewho did violence against him that we are to understand God’s desire for each ofus. This brings me back to my outburstof anger for those who justify violence as means to end violence and I knowthat my words only added to the ugliness of the situation for some and this isnot the answer to the problem. I was not,at that moment a messenger of God. I amhowever, a recipient of God’s grace, love and forgiveness. Amen.
