Mutual Love; Sermon on Exodus 19 & 20

Rev. George Miller
Oct 7, 2018
Exodus 19:3-7; 20:1-17

3 months. What do 3 months mean to you?

If you’re a student in Minnesota, 3 months is the length of a college quarter. If you’re pregnant, 3 months is the length of your first trimester. If you’re a party planner you’re one week behind in welcoming 2019.

3 months. That’s how long ago the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. 3 months is how long ago they were slaves in Egypt, serving the Pharaoh.

3 months have passed.

You would’ve thought things had become easier for the people after being set free, but nu-huh.

Just 3 days after crossing the Red Sea they had run out of drinkable water. A month later they ran out of food. 2 months later they began turning on one another with disputes and accusations.

God addressed the physical issues by giving them bread from heaven, quail at night, and sweet water from a rock.

Moses’ father-in-law addressed the personnel issue by creating a team of trusted leaders to deal with the petty arguments.

By the time we get to today’s reading the people have been wandering through countless wildernesses before arriving at Mt. Sinai in which they rest.

Take a moment to place yourself in their worn out shoes.

3 months of seemingly endless wandering with no clear sense of direction.

3 full moons come and go. The weather goes from Spring to Summer.

Imagine the stink.
The sweat stains.
The sunburned skin.
The flea and mosquito bites.

Imagine the dehydration; the thirst and hunger that never fully goes away.

If you’re a man think of the beard you would have grown with all the dust and dirt that would accumulate in it.

If you’re a woman who enjoys the cosmetic way of life, think of 3 months without being able to color or style your hair, apply make-up, paint your nails or find something nice at Beals.

Perhaps in the beginning you would try to do your best to look presentable, but after awhile most folk would give up as the beard grew in, the hairs turned grey and the nails cracked and chipped.

After 3 months of wandering the wilderness you’d start thinking about what you lost, what you left behind, what you miss, and who is no longer with you.

You’d miss your home. Miss your morning routine. Your favorite tree or place in the yard.

3 months of seemingly senseless wandering with nothing but bread, quail, and water would be difficult for anybody.

3 months after crossing the Red Sea and no wonder they look back and think that their time as slaves wasn’t so bad.

At least they had 3 hots and a cot. They had someone tell them what to do. They knew what to expect each day.

But now each day is different; each day they wake up and go to sleep in a brand new location.

And it’s not glamorous traveling. They are not doing this mobile-home style. They are not staying at a park where they can plug in their RV.

They do not have cell phone service. Or a laundry mat. There is no Popeye’s to pop off to, or Sonic’s to drive up to.

There is no 24-hour Walmarts or Publix 2-for-1 specials.

3 months of traveling by foot, cart or beast of burden, imagine the injuries they would have endured.

The uncertainties.

The infighting that stress causes full of he said/she said, finger pointing, emotional allegations, and inappropriate childish outbursts.

3 months. That is how much time has gone by since the people were set free and crossed the Red Sea.

3 months is also how much time went by before God decided to bestow upon them the 10 Commandments.

3 months is the time that God apparently felt was needed before moving to the next step of God’s relationship with the people, and what a stage it would be.

This relationship had first begun with Eve and Adam in the garden, continued with Noah in the ark, traveled with Sarah and Abraham, and even found its way into the jail cell of Joseph.

Now this Holy Love Affair was about to go to the next level, but in order for this relationship to go to that next place, a few things needed to happen.

First, there is the mutual meeting spot, Mt. Sinai.

God descends from the heavens onto the mountaintop, an experience of cosmic proportions in which thunder and lightning fill the skies; smoke surrounds the place, and trumpets blast.

Moses, on behalf of the people, journeys atop the quaking mountain, where he and God meet in the middle of heaven and earth.

God is ready to invite the people into a mutual relationship, not because God must, but because God may.

God comes from a place of true love. God does not coerce the people. God does not force their hands. God makes it very clear that in this relationship they have choices and can say “No” any step of the way.

But God also does not come to play. God comes to the relationship with certain expectations. After all, God has standards and certain expectations.

God has a Valentine for the people that Moses is to deliver. The message is this: “You know what I have done for you. You see how I care for you like a mother bird. If you want, you can be mine forever and I will treat you like the greatest treasure on earth.”

Though the people are tired, scared, hungry, unsure, they say “Yes, everything you say we will do.”

This makes God so happy. So God shares 10 simple things that God asks in order for the relationship to work.

1st- Be faithful.

2nd – Don’t seek out a younger, sleeker, better looking model when you get bored or grow older.

3rd- Don’t curse God out.

4th - Give God one day a week to chill out together where they can just sit on the couch or look at the sky together.

5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th: Do justice and love kindness by honoring your elders, and do not kill, cheat, steal, or lie.

And 10- be happy with what you got and don’t waste your energy or hurt your heart by trying to keep up with the Johnsons, the Ramirezes and the Goldbergs.

That’s it- put God first, be decent to others and be decent to yourself.

What we have here is a testimony to the truly relational nature of God, of how much God loves us, and how much God just wants to hang out with us.

We saw this when God was with Joseph in Potiphar’s house and in the jail and how God blessed Joseph so everyone else around him could be blessed.

We saw this with Noah, how in the midst of a flood God looked down and remembered Noah and his family.

Today’s story is another testimony to God’s relationship with us based on love, mutual love, like the kind Abraham had for Sarah.

Love that makes itself known through God’s actions and God’s gifts.

Mutual love that makes itself known as God is willing to meet the people half way and atop the mountain.

Mutual love that comes with an articulate expression of wants and requirements.

Mutual love in which both sides of the relationship could have said “No.”

This love that God expresses for the people is so pure, so uncomplicated, that at the end of chapter 20, God says-

“I only need a simple altar for your offerings and gifts, and if you choose to make me one of stone, the rocks don’t have to be fancy, or chiseled, or from Tiffany’s. I’m not that kind of God.”

“You can give me stones from the side of the mountain and weeds from the wilderness, and I’ll be happy.”

In conclusion, what we have here today is another step in our relationship with God, a love affair in which we are asked to be unafraid, to try our best to do what is right, and to leave the world a better place.

This is a story of faith, and ours is a faith based on love.

A love affair with God that is not forced, or coerced, not a drunken stupor at a frat party or a wedding held at shot gun.

But a love that is mutual. A love that is real. A love that comes with expectations and opportunities.

A love that is designed to be unbreakable and able to withstand the floods, the wildernesses, the jail cells, the seas of life.

Are you willing to accept God’s invitation; are you willing to accept God’s valentine and to say “Yes.”

If so, you will make God very, very happy.

Amen and amen.