EXODUS 32:1-14

32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods 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.”

2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden (1) calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”

6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden 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!’”

9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

11 But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

14 And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

Never let them see you sweat. There’s no crying in baseball and what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.  These days it’s important to be strong; physically, mentally and emotionally strong.  The worst thing you can do is look like you’re weak and vulnerable.  That was certainly true for a New York City teenager who showed incredible courage one night.  The teenager was walking home when he was confronted by a mugger. The mugger shouted,  “Give me your wallet.”  The teenager replied, “No way.” Again the mugger shouted, “Give me your wallet!”  Again the teenager said, “No way!”  “Look,” the mugger said, “I’ve got a gun.  Give me your wallet!”  “I don’t care,” the teenager said. “I’m not going to give you my wallet!”   At that point the mugger gave up and ran away.  Later when the teenager told his father what had happened the father was horrified.  “You could have been killed,” the father said. “Why didn’t you just give him your wallet?”  “Because,” the teenager said, “My learner’s permit was in that wallet.”

These days it’s almost a sin to be weak and vulnerable.  After all if you’re weak and vulnerable it means you’re not in control.  It means you might be looked upon as a failure.  It means someone might take advantage of you and all kinds of bad things might happen to you. If you’re like most people you don’t like to feel weak and vulnerable.  Right?

Well, that’s the way the Israelites felt out there at the foot of Mount Sinai.  They were feeling weak and vulnerable.   Why? Because they were in the middle of a hot and hostile dessert.  No food…no water and now Moses, their fearless leader, was missing.   They knew he was somewhere on the mountain talking to God but why was it taking him so long?  They hadn’t seen or heard from him in several days.  Maybe he had abandoned them or even worse.  Maybe he was dead!  If so, what were they going to do now?

The Israelites were feeling weak and vulnerable.  So, what did they do?  They ran to Aaron and begged him to make them a golden calf. “Up,” they said, “make us gods 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.”  So Aaron took the gold from their rings and their ears and made them a golden calf.  Then the people held a feast with singing and dancing and they worshipped their golden calf.   God, of course, wasn’t pleased with their lack of faith and decides to put an end to them.  Fortunately, Moses intervenes and convinces God to give them another change. 

Moses says to God, “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

People do strange things when they’re feeling weak and vulnerable. It happens all the time.   It’s like the pastor who left a copy of his sermon in the pulpit one day after the Sunday service was over.   The next day the custodian found the sermon and discovered that the pastor had written all kinds of instructions in the margins.  For example, “Pause here for effect.”  Then later on, “Shake your head and raise your arms to heaven.”  Then at the end of the sermon he wrote these words, “Argument here is weak.  Pound the pulpit with your fist and yell with all your might.”

When you’re feeling weak and vulnerable the temptation is always there to go on the offensive.   If your argument is weak you attack and yell.  If you’ve done something wrong you blame it on the other person.   If someone hurts your feelings you give them a taste of their own medicine.  If you get in over your head you fill yourself up with pride and pretend that everything is just fine. 

Is that really the best thing to do when you’re feeling weak and vulnerable?  Consider if you will the grace filled moment that Wade Boggs, the baseball player, experienced many years ago.   When Wade Boggs was with the Red Sox he hated playing in Yankee Stadium because of one particular fan.  This particular fan had a box seat right next to the dugout and when the Red Sox came to town he would hurl all kinds of insults and profanities at Boggs.  Now there may be no crying in baseball but hearing all those insults and profanities has to hurt a little.  So, one day before the game Boggs decided that enough was enough.   He walked over to the fan and said, “Are you the guy who’s always yelling at me?”   “Yeah,” the fan said defiantly. “What are you going to do about it?”   At that point Boggs took a baseball out of his pocket…and autographed it.  Then he tossed it to the fan and went back to the batting cage.  That fan never yelled at Boggs again and actually became one of his biggest fans.

Sometimes allowing yourself to be  being weak and vulnerable is all it takes to experience a wonderful grace filled moment. All you have to do is say, “I was wrong and I’m sorry.”  Or how about this?  All you have to do is say, “I can’t do this by myself. Can you please help me?” Or “I know I don’t say this often enough but I love you.”     Or, “I really need you LORD.   The world out there is a scary place in which to live.   All of the peer pressure and the expectations and the uncertainty.   I need You to help me find my way through all of the trials and the temptations and the tribulations.”

Over the years I have discovered that I am often at my best as a minister when I allow myself to be weak and vulnerable.

I learned that lesson many years ago when I was still in seminary.  I learned it one day while visiting a man who was dying of cancer.  Unfortunately, the man was in denial.  He couldn’t accept the fact that he was dying .  As the cancer continued to ravage his body though he became more and more frightened.  One day I went in to see him in the hospital and he asked me to sit down on the side of the bed.  I could tell that he wanted to tell me something but he couldn’t quite bring himself say what was on his mind. As the minutes went by the situation became more and more awkward.  I began to get angry at myself.  I said to myself, “You’re the one who’s going to seminary.  You should know what to do here.  You should know what to say here.”  Then the man said something that really threw me for a loop.  The man said, “I’m frightened” and that’s when God took over.  I know that God took over because the words that came out of my mouth didn’t come from me.  You see instead of saying something wise and profound all I said was, “I know your frightened, and I’m frightened too because I want to help you and I don’t know how.”  As soon as I said that you could feel God’s grace in the room and what happened next can only be described as a death bed confession.   The man shared something with me that had been troubling him for many, many years and by sharing it with me he was sharing it with God.  It was a confession that finally made it possible for him to let go of his guilt and to allow himself to be loved again by God.  The next day when I went in to see him I asked him how he was feeling.  “Yesterday you said you were frightened,” I said, “How are you feeling today?”  The man looked up at me and said, “I’m all right now.  I’m at peace.”  And that’s how he died two days later.

Yes, there’s something to be said about allowing yourself to be weak and vulnerable.  Sometimes God does His best work when you allow yourself to be weak and vulnerable. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

October, 9, 2011