Deuteronomy 34:1-12
John 19:28-30
|
Scripture Reading
(Deuteronomy 34:1-12)
1Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab
to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed
him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, 2all of Naphtali,
the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as
far as the western sea, 3the Negev and the whole region
from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.
4Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land I
promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will
give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your
eyes, but you will not cross over into it."
5And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab,
as the LORD had said. 6He buried him in Moab, in the
valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his
grave is. 7Moses was a hundred and twenty years old
when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.
8The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab
thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.
9Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of
wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites
listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.
10Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like
Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11who did all
those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in
Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.
12For no one has ever shown the mighty power or
performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all
Israel.
(John 19:28-30)
28Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so
that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said,
"I am thirsty." 29A jar of
wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the
sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus'
lips. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said,
"It is finished." With that, he bowed
his head and gave up his spirit.
|
|
|
SERMON
Robert Dallek wrote a fine biography of John F. Kennedy entitled
An Unfinished Life. When asked his opinion of the many
conspiracy theories surrounding JFK's assassination, Dallek replied that
the Warren Commission Report, although not perfect, largely got it
right. Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, who acted alone out of
deep rage and pathology. That appeared to be the simple fact of the
matter.
Dallek was then asked why there persist to this day any number of
theories that claim it was the Mafia, or the military-industrial
complex, or Castro, or the Soviets, or even Vice-President Lyndon
Johnson who actually used Oswald as their fall guy? Dallek said he is
convinced it's because we simply will not accept the idea that the most
powerful man in the world, the president of the United States, could be
cut down by no more than a common thug. Kennedy had been so full of
life. The image of Camelot that he and Jackie projected charmed people,
as did the Kennedy confidence. So it was simply inconceivable that he
could be killed by a nobody. The same thing happened in Britain when
Princess Diana was killed in a car accident. She was too lofty, too
beautiful, to die in such an ordinary way. So conspiracy theories
abound.
Leaders hold great sway over our imaginations. When they die we seek to
imbue their lives and even their deaths with something more – something
that will make their passing seem different than what happens to all the
ordinary folks whose names you read in the obituary column every day.
Something like that happened surrounding the death of Moses as well.
There had never been anyone like him. Despite his obvious faults and
weaknesses, Moses' stature in Israel was unassailable. The story of his
rescue from the Nile River by Pharaoh's daughter, his epic battles with
Pharaoh and those amazing plagues that God worked through the hand of
Moses, those are the stuff of high drama. When Moses stretched forth his
hand, the Red Sea split open. When he withdrew his hand, the waters
rushed back over the horse and rider of Egypt. It was Moses' voice that
spoke to the people the very words of God. It was Moses who did all the
amazing things that happened in the wilderness.
Of course on reflection, the people knew it was God who actually did
those things. Moses was just the channel of God's power, and he would
have been the first to make that clear. Had Moses detected even a whiff
of hero worship being directed his way, he would have fallen on his face
and begged God to forgive the people their foolishness.
Still, the human heart cannot help but esteem the leader through whom
God works. And even when we're finished throwing in all the necessary
caveats, the fact is that it was Moses' face the people had grown
accustomed to seeing. So when Moses looked calm they were calm. When
Moses looked troubled they got nervous. When Moses looked angry they
shook in their sandals awaiting God's judgment. It was Moses' voice that
had been the voice of God. What's more, the people knew Moses was that
rare kind of person whom God himself loved enough to speak to directly.
And afterwards, when Moses' face shone like the sun, it was the
afterglow of God's own glory they saw. How could the people not
reverence the man?
Then one day he was just gone. He went up into the mountains and never
came back. It was obvious he was dead, but there could be no funeral.
Apparently God himself had buried Moses, and Deuteronomy 34 makes it
clear that no one ever did find out where. Maybe it was a good thing
because had the site of Moses' grave been known, it would have been very
tempting to establish a shrine there. You'll remember how even the
bronze serpent on a pole that Moses had raised up became an idol to
which people later offered sacrifices. You can only imagine the
spiritual nonsense that could have been associated with Moses' grave had
the people known where it was. So God wrapped it in mystery.
But just as the human heart resists believing that a strong figure like
JFK could be mowed down by a scrawny thug, so Israel eventually could
not resist the urge to make of Moses' death something more epic. So in
the apocryphal books of the Old Testament (the books that didn't make it
into the final edition) you can read the story of what is called "The
Assumption of Moses." It's one of the very few apocryphal stories to
which reference is made in our Bible. Look in the New Testament at Jude
9-10 and you will find a cryptic reference to the story. After Moses
died on Mount Nebo, the archangel Michael was given the task of
spiriting away Moses' body and burying it. The devil made some kind of
challenge to Michael and attempted to steal Moses away. According to the
story, Michael rebuked the devil in the name of God and that was the end
of that.
Now, that's quite a story, and we can guess why someone came up with it.
Anyone as grand and holy and famous as Moses couldn't simply wander into
the mountains one day, never to be seen again. If the people couldn't
hold a proper funeral for Moses, if they had no sacred gravesite to
venerate in future generations, they could at least embellish the story
of his death with more drama than you find in Deuteronomy 34. The first
five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, is unquestionably the most
seminal set of scriptures for Jews past and present. Yet when we come to
the end of the Books of Moses in Deuteronomy 34, the whole thing just
fizzles out. So at some point in history, some well-meaning author
rounded the tale out with a bit more angelic and demonic razzle-dazzle
worthy of the man.
But if we are not going to believe that apocryphal story, then all we
are left with at the end of the Pentateuch is this rather brief account
in which Moses doesn't speak a single word. He was just gone. He never
quite made it to the Promised Land toward which his whole life had been
heading. As we begin this Holy Week, there may be something of value for
us to learn from that very fact. I say that because I suspect we are all
concerned that we, too, will live unfinished lives – with a lot of loose
ends. How about you? Will your life have some ultimate purpose, a
satisfying destination? Or will it just sort of fizzle out – not with a
bang but a whimper?
Whenever Hollywood wants to make a movie involving Moses, they
inevitably cast someone like Charlton Heston for the part. They glue
some fake whiskers on the strapping actor's face and then have him
deliver all his lines in a big, booming voice that sounds like the
living inner sanctum itself. I suspect, however, that the real Moses
looked less like a bronzed southern Californian with sculpted muscles
and rugged good looks and more like the corner grocer. From the start
Moses had been a stutterer – and there's no indication he was very good
looking.
But no matter how he may have looked when he went head to head with
Pharaoh way back when, after all that time wandering in the wilderness
I'm sure Moses looked thoroughly worn down. After all, for better than
forty years Moses had been running himself ragged. The complaint box was
always stuffed with notes. The Israelites were sick to death of the same
old, same old every day – and what was Moses going to do about it! And
as if that weren't bad enough, every once in a while the people did
something so downright stupid that Moses had to engage in some serious
spiritual brinkmanship just to keep God from wiping out the whole lot
and starting from scratch. If Moses wasn't holding the hands of his
perpetually whiny people, he was staying the hand of no less than the
Almighty himself.
He must have been worn out. Yet in the end, for reasons never made quite
clear, this man who worked harder for God than anyone else was told he
would not enter that land of rest toward which he had been leading the
people from the start. Sometimes that's just the way it goes: the leader
cannot arrive at the destination to which he had led the people. The
same was true for Abraham. The day Abraham died, the only piece of the
Promised Land to which he could claim clear title was the little plot he
had purchased to bury the love of his life, Sarah. That was it.
Something similar happened to David. To his mind, the crowning
achievement of all he had accomplished as king over Israel would have
been building God a glorious Temple. But God told David, "No – you
need to leave that to your son Solomon." Abraham, Moses, David, and
a host of others never quite made it to the place toward which their
lives had been heading. As Hebrews 11 puts it: "All these people were
still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things
promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance." In
the end, they died as they had lived – by faith in a promise.
But I can't help wondering if it wasn't frustrating for them. It may
have been. But it's also frustrating to us who read their stories.
Perhaps like the person who invented the story about the archangel and
the devil disputing over Moses' body, we wish we could round out the
narrative with a happier ending. But deep inside we know that simply
editing the end of the story isn't going to satisfy.
In the long run, it took something more for anyone to make it to what
had been all along their life's destination. It took something more, or
more accurately, it took someone more. It took the One whose own life
seemed to come to a dead end. If ever someone appeared to die as a
failure, it was Jesus. To this day there are scholars who claim that
after all his glowing talk about a kingdom, Jesus himself must have died
with an overwhelming sense of disappointment. Talk about missing the
mark and not fulfilling your career goals! In the end Jesus was
literally crossed-out by the Romans. A big black X got scrawled over top
of his name. With that double-stroke of a quill, Jesus of Nazareth was
stricken from the census rolls. Like so many before him – like Moses
himself – Jesus had had a good run for a while, but in the end he simply
fell short. It was such a shame. It's always heartbreaking to see dreams
shattered and hopes dashed.
Yet I'm here to tell you that in this Holy Week, of all the things we
will think about Jesus, of all the words we will sing and say,
sentiments of failure will not be among them. I may be filled with lots
of feelings when I survey the wondrous cross, but disappointment won't
be among them. We don't look at the cross and say that Jesus had an
unfinished life, that the cross spells the end of anything worthwhile he
might have done. If your favorite team loses the playoffs, or if the
stock in which you invested a lot of capital tanks, you might get angry,
you might hang your head, and in disappointment blurt out some
expletive. But that is not what you will hear from Christians this
coming Friday.
No, we'll look at Jesus and see the only one who ever really did make
it. Against all odds and expectations, Jesus is the One who made it to
that far country. And Easter morning is not only the proof that this is
so; it is also an invitation that the way to follow him is now wide open
for us. Of course, cynics will say that the tale of the resurrection is
right up there with those conspiracy theories about JFK or that story
about the assumption of Moses. They'll argue that we just couldn't deal
with the death of our leader, so we invented the resurrection to make
the story turn out in a happier way.
I can understand why people without the gift of faith would say that.
But by faith we can see something else. We see in Christ Jesus our Lord
the fitting ending for all our stories, including all those lives that
seemed so unfinished, that seemed to fall short of the goal and just shy
of the visions of glory that so many people had harbored in their heart
of hearts all along. The truth is that without Jesus we would all lead
unfinished lives. But with Jesus things are very different.
On the day our Lord was suspended between heaven and earth on a cross,
it must have looked utterly hopeless. But then Jesus rasped out, "It
is finished!" Notice – he didn't say, "I am
finished." In his final words on the cross Jesus was saying that the
whole story of creation, from first to last, is now accomplished –
completed. And when he said, "It is finished," he was telling us
that in him we are finished, too. We have no reason to fear the end of
our lives. Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, Abraham and
Moses and David and you and I are on our way to that Promised Land which
we've only been able to see and welcome from a distance. There is no
need to try to round out Moses' story or your story or anyone else's
story to make the ending more acceptable, because in Jesus Christ it is
finished. You have His Word on it.
|
