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February 3, 2008
MapQuest
Matthew 17:1-9
From the Hasidic Jewish tradition comes a story from several centuries ago of a rabbi who lived in a small Russian town...after twenty years of pondering the very deepest religious questions and spiritual issues in life, he finally come to the conclusion that when he got right down to it, ultimately he just did not know the answers to most questions.
Shortly after reaching that conclusion, he was walking across the village square on his way to the synagogue to pray. The Cossack, or the town Police Chief, was in a bad mood that morning and thought he would take it out on the rabbi. He yelled, “Hey, Rabbi, where do you think you're going?”
The rabbi answered, “I don't know.”
This infuriated the Cossack even more. “What do you mean you don't know where you are going?” he exclaimed in outrage. “Every morning at eleven o'clock you have crossed this village square on the way to the synagogue to pray, and here it is eleven o'clock in the morning and you're going in the direction of the synagogue and you try to tell me you don't know where you're going. You're trying to make some kind of fool out of me and I'll teach you not to do that.”
So the Cossack grabbed the rabbi and took him off to the local jail. And just as he was about to throw him into the cell, the rabbi turned to him and commented, “You see, I didn't know....”
These days, when we don't know where we are going, we have that wonderful internet tool called MapQuest. It can be a life-saver, most of the time. You just enter in an address that you are seeking, and then put in the address of the place you are at the moment, and MapQuest will give you step by step directions on how to get from one to the other.
Alice was following a path through the forest in Wonderland when it divided in two directions. Standing irresolute, she inquired of the Cheshire Cat, which had suddenly appeared in a nearby tree, which path she should take. “Where do you want to go? asked the Cat. “I don't know,” said Alice. “Then,” said the Cat, “it really doesn't matter does it?”
Part of figuring out where you are going, is knowing what questions to ask. If you don't ask directions with the right parameters (MapQuest needs an exact address) you may not understand the answer you receive. Early on in my experience of Cedar Rapids, I was trying to find a location for a community meeting. It was the 100 block of 2 nd Avenue and I wandered around for 15 minutes without luck until I realized that I had forgotten to tell MapQuest that it was 2 nd Ave. South West instead of South East. In those moments of utter frustration, it is not uncommon for us simple folks to call on the name of the Lord, in one way or another, ask “What's going on!” God rarely answers in person, yet there are a few occasions in the Bible when God does. These Epiphanies are few and far between, but one of the most dramatic is in the book of Exodus when God summoned Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses found himself surrounded by the glory of the Lord. I could not have come at a better time.
Moses” assignment was not going particularly well. In the midst of their wandering, the Hebrews so recently released from slavery in Egypt, were not happy. At that point their wandering was literally in circles. Figuratively, they were without a clue as well. Why are we here? Why did we leave Egypt? How long are we going to have to eat manna and quails? What's the point? Where are we going? That's when they melted all their gold together and made a precious figurine to worship – an idol that could draw their attention away from their troubles. The Golden Calf objectified their indecision – at least it made them feel like they were doing something for themselves – now at least, there was a “thing” to point at and say, “What's up?”
GPS (Global Positioning System) is another little gadget that is supposed to tell you where you are going – it even talks to you. For the most part it gives good directions. A couple of weeks ago, however, while going to Betsy Kutter's house for a breakfast meeting of a committee, I put my faith in the gadget and forgot to pay attention to my own good judgment. It said turn right – I knew better, but did it anyway and ended up driving in circles for ten minutes before I finally called Betsy to admit I was lost.
Moses was six days on the mountain; God spoke out of a cloud and Moses face shone. He came down to the people with the 10 Commandments in his hand. In the middle of a long and difficult wilderness experience, Moses got the word – “I know where you are.” Moreover, God said, “You matter to me! I am paying attention. I want you to be my people.” At a time of not knowing which way to go, God said they mattered and provided the vision and some rules and said, “Ok, now, take it from here.” That kind of confidence gave the people the will to continue toward home.
This last Sunday of Epiphany is usually the day on which we read this other story of God showing up…this time on the Mountain of Transfiguration somewhere on the board of Galilee and Judea. Up to this point in Jesus' ministry, as it is described by Matthew, he has been travelling in and around the home territory – Galilee, for about two years. His preaching and his ministry of healing has gotten notice, but for the most part, the disciples seem mostly to be playing catch-up. They are not particularly clear about what is going on and the novelty is beginning to wear off.
Walking along the road with his disciples, Jesus asked them, who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16: 13-28) “What is your understanding of where we are going and what we are up to?” is what his question meant...how do you put together my presence with you and your understanding of the world? Ok, they answered clearly with little unanimity or consensus. “You are Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “You are John the Baptist come again.” Peter said, you are the Anointed One, the Christ, the son of the living God.
Almost in a way to test that confession, Jesus, it says, “began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed.
“If any would come after me, they must deny themselves, take up a cross and follow.” The first response of the disciples, of course, is to resist that message. “Surely you are not going to suffer.” “Surely you don't mean we are in danger too.”
It is in the context of these lessons that the disciples who are closest to Jesus accompany him to the top of a mountain and experience a vision of the Lord radiant and newly transformed...walking in the company of the heroes of the faith, (and incidentally two of the very few who have had their own Epiphany experiences themselves) Elijah and Moses. It is a story repeated in all three Gospels.
In each case it comes immediately after the confession of Peter and the first prediction of the passion of Jesus. It is not so placed to dilute the injunctions to bear our own cross...but is rather, a confirmation of the truth of the passion and the cross by assuring the disciples that Jesus is not an accidental victim of history, but as the Son of God is proceeding according to the will of God.
“This is my Son, Listen to Him!” Just as the disciples had choices, so do we, about which way to go and where the road is going to lead us. Epiphanies don't literally put their subject on the right path, they don't suddenly make one wise, but they do provide the equipment for taking the next steps…they lay out the choices and the vision and then leave the option open. “Listen to him,” God said about Jesus – even when his message seems awfully hard to accept, when it seems to be describing a route to life which is more challenging than we might want or ask for. When it is all over, Jesus touches them and says, “Get up, and don't be afraid.”
Several years ago, a New England college president wrote in an article 1 about a young woman who had confessed to cheating on an exam. “She came to my office to say that she didn't think that she should be suspended because she did not mean any harm.”
“Mary, there's not an awful lot I can do about it. The institution has certain standards, and I would have thought that you did too.”
She replied: “I'm sure I have standards. I just don't know what they are.”
“Who do people say that I am?” asked Jesus. “Who do you say that I am?” Second hand religion is a way of being religious based on believing what one has heard from others. It consists of thinking that the Christian life is about believing what the Bible says or what the doctrines of the church say. As long as the issue which confronts our life is one that is in the Bible or some catechism or another, then living with standards is not so difficult. You either do what it says, or you don't.
But, most of the issues which confound us are not part of the rules. MapQuest doesn't have a screen which will take us there. Finding our way, then, requires more than buying a package of directions for life. When the going is real tough there is only the relationship which we have developed with the spirit of Jesus Christ – with the Holy Spirit – that can speak to us then. That is first hand religion the God we know through our own struggles and prayers and questions.
Bible Scholar and Theologian, Marcus Borg, talks about transforming moments in our lives… moments when we see, at last, clearly, for ourselves what had only been talked about before. “The way of Jesus...invites us to move from “secondhand religion” to firsthand religion.
“Get up, and don't be afraid” said Jesus. “The gospel of Jesus, the good news of Jesus” own message, is that there is a way of being that moves beyond both secular and religious conventional wisdom. The path of transformation of which Jesus spoke leads from a life of requirements and measuring up (whether to culture or to God) to a life of relationship with God. It leads from a life of anxiety to a life of peace and trust. It leads from the bondage of self-preoccupation to the freedom of self-forgetfulness. It leads from life centered in culture to life centered in God.” 2
This Lenten season, we will be asking about the way – asking of Jesus “Where are you going?” Looking for transformation in our own lives – we ask a lot of God. There is never too much we can ask…the only rule is, as the voice on the mountaintop made clear, once we ask then we must “Listen to him!” then “Get up and don't be afraid.” Amen.
1 I found a note about this article in my own notes dated 1998 – no other source available. Go Back
2 Marcus Borg develops these ideas in several of his books. I am referring here to Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time , Harper San Francisco, 1994 Go Back
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