Success Signs

Is success a sign for us?

Moses is told that the arrival of the Hebrew people at the mountain again (his return to the same place with them) for worship will be a sign that God had sent him on his mission to deliver the Israelite captives from Egypt. What are our after-the-fact signs that God has sent us on our mission? What is the sign that we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews)? Is it our unity? (John 17)

Exodus 3:1-12

One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is the one where Moses encounters the bush "that burns but is not consumed." The classic scene portrays Moses with his sheep near Mount Horeb, catching sight of the burning bush: immediately Moses is both attracted to the sight and a little apprehensive.

(Image source, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/CofSBurningBushLogo.JPG)

[Both the the Church of Scotland and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the roots of our own Scotch-Irish Presbyterian churches in the USA, have in their seals and logos this burning bush. It is a symbol of the kirk. The motto of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is Ardens sed Virens, "burning but flourishing."]

(Image source, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/Pci_burningbush.PNG)

(Image source, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/Presbyterian_church_in_ireland_logo.png)

Perhaps Moses knew the reputation of the place. After all, this was Mt. Horeb, "the mountain of God." Perhaps Moses experienced something like the attraction that children in an old black and white haunted house movie do, who peer through the wrought-iron fence toward an old house that exercises their imaginations. They pass the ever-growing reputation of the place back and forth among themselves in whispers, while daring one another to trespass onto the estate and perhaps even to spend a whole night inside the house. Sooner or later, they see a light shining in a window or out on the grounds, and they are drawn reluctantly but inexorably inside.

(Image source, http://www.cyberhomes.com/CONTENT/Libraries/Blog_Pictures/Haunted_House.sflb)

While Moses has been inspecting the attractive-repulsive phenomenon of the burning bush, God has also been taking stock of Moses. And when Moses gets close enough, God calls out to remind Moses to mind his manners. Moses is not in his own home; he's at God's place. But God's invitation also means that Moses has finally arrived back at home; until now, in Pharaoh's court and in Egypt, Moses has not felt at home or connected to family. Now he is welcomed with a gesture of familiarity and a certain amount of intimacy. Taking off your shoes as a guest in someone else's home meant both that you honored your host--that you would follow the host's rules while you were in their home, receiving their hospitality--but also that you felt comfortable enough (un-threatened, at ease) to accept the familiarity and intimacy of removing your footwear and leaving it at the door.

(Image source, http://wordincarnate.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/burning_bush.jpg)

The more usual scene in classical artwork has Moses closer to the bush, engaged with God, but with his sandals removed and his face covered/shielded, and/or his eyes averted from looking directly at God.

(Image source, http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/07/01-07/shoes-ath-001.JPG)

For weeks now we've been talking about the need for hospitality--both receiving and offering hospitality--for life as a disciple of Jesus. Today, somewhat unexpectedly, the first thing we run into is another sign of the importance God attaches to what we might consider small acts of welcome and respect. The invitation to take off your shoes is at once both a sign of respect for God's holiness (no need to track up God's floor with the accumulated dirt of our living) and an invitation to make ourselves at home. It is a small act of intimacy (something that strangers, the uninvited, and the unwelcome are not invited to do) that shows respect for someone else's home.

(Image source, http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/la/102709shoes-01.jpg)

Although Moses would appear to be alone at Mt. Horeb, enjoying a one-on-one visit with God at home--this friendly, cozy scene is disrupted by the return of a vision shared between God and Moses of "the misery" of Hebrew slaves in Egypt, making bricks for the Pharaoh.

(Image source, http://www.mitchellteachers.net/WorldHistory/AncientEgyptNearEastUnit/Images/EgyptDailyLife/AncientEgyptDailyLifeHousingPic_large.jpg)

(Image source, http://www.bible.ca/archeology/archeology-TT100-tomb-of-rekhmire-vizier-thutmosisIII-hebrews-making-mud-bricks-thebes-luxor.jpg)

God comes quickly to the point of the visit:

I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." (Exodus 3:7-10, NRSV)

In other words, God wants to bring his people home to himself and to Canaan.

Moses objects strenuously. He agrees that the work needs to be done, but he objects to the idea that he, Moses, is qualified to do it. (Exodus 3:11) He anticipates that the Israelites will be reluctant to follow. (Exodus 4:1) Moses recognizes his own lack of eloquence. (Exodus 4:10) He even asks God to send someone else. (Exodus 4:13)

God responds directly to each of Moses' objections, providing assurance that the mission is indeed possible with God's help. Though much could be said about each of these assurances, I want to focus on one that most often gets overlooked, the assurance in the interim that he is on the right track, that he has indeed heard the Word of the Lord. That assurance comes as a promise that Moses will return to this very place, and when he does he will not return alone.

(Image source, http://awtravelogues.com/RegionsOfTheWorld/MiddleEast/Exodus%20Photos/MtSinaiValley.jpg)

In other words, God's house, Mt. Horeb, is a place very much on-the-way and in-between slavery in Egypt and life in Canaan. It is an oasis, a way station, a half-way house. It is not Canaan, their final destination, a land "flowing with milk and honey." But it is the mountain of God, Mt. Horeb; it is the place of burning bush and flourishing people. It is a place of escape and regrouping for the next part of their journey with God. They will stay for a little while at the very spot where the burning bush once stood, so that Moses and the people may be reassured that God is the author of their journey and the one who will bring them safely to its conclusion.

Hebrews 12:18-29

The writer of the book of Hebrews refers directly to the Exodus experience. The scene is one of modern worship and service with our shoes off, our eyes averted, and our faces hid from the presence of God. The writer of Hebrews (a preacher of long sermons) compares his readers (listeners) favorably to the Hebrews of the Exodus, but he also notes a significant difference. The burning bush and smoking mountain were physical realities at Mt. Horeb (the intermediate mountain, the mountain on-the-way to the promised land) in the Old Testament. The mountain to which we repair (come) is symbolized as Mt. Zion (the final destination, the promised land). This mountain is not physical, it is invisible. But the God we serve is no less alive than the fire that burned in the bush, and Jesus still offers himself to us, even from his place of ascension (heaven). It we refuse this offer, our world will be shaken. All that we know and cherish is temporal, fading, and subject to entropy. It will soon be gone. The only thing that will remain is his kingdom and our investment in it by his grace. So, heed the call to find those places near to Mt. Zion, places of acceptance, thanksgiving, offering, worship, reverence and awe. For our God too is a consuming fire.

John 17:20-26

Jesus prays for a different kind of proximity to God--and different signs of mission success--for his followers. Instead of returning to camp near a holy mountain (either Horeb or Zion), Jesus prays that his disciples will take up permanent residence "in" God and God take up residence "in" them. He prays that they may immerse themselves completely in this Burning-Fire-of-a-God through the passion of their love for one another. By doing this, they become the holy mountain and the burning bush for others, creating a holy place known as "unity" toward which others are attracted to see this strange sight.

Exponential Hospitality

Acts 11:1–18

Peter's Defense

Peter, who is back "home" in Jerusalem with his friends and relatives, the other "apostles" and the "circumcised believers," now has to defend his actions in baptizing and welcoming Cornelius, a centurion, to the Way. Luke is careful to describe Cornelius as an "upright" and "God-fearing" person, but the only characteristic of Cornelius that the Jewish church leaders can see is that he is "uncircumcised," and therefore "unclean." The real question for Peter is, "Why did you eat with them?" (Acts 11:2)

Peter, whose temporary address "in Joppa, with Simon the tanner by the sea" we discussed last week,

© Copyright 2010 by Debbie Rockey. Peter at Simon the Tanner's House, Acts 9:43. Image rights available ($2.50) for church use.

takes his friends through the journey step-by-step. Like a scientist or mathematician explaining a complicated formula or a coach diagramming a complicated play, Peter recounts the journey from Dorcas to Simon's house to the house of Cornelius. He tells how he was praying (he leaves out the part this time about being up on Simon the Tanner's roof and hungry) when he fell into a trance and saw a vision.

© Copyright 2010 by Debbie Rockey. Peter's Vision of a Large Sheet, filled with unclean animals, four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds of the air, Acts 10:11. Image rights available ($2.50) for church use.

One of the details that stands out in Acts 10 (and in the shortened re-telling in Acts 11) is Luke's focused attention on hospitality:

• Arrival of the Needy. Acts 10:17 (retold in 11:11). "Real men" don't ask for directions, especially when they can just follow their noses! But these men, who were sent (apestalmenoi) by Cornelius, arrive at the right place by asking about the location of the house. These ambassadors arrive "at the gate" (pulona, Greek; Vulgate, ianua, door; see Luke 16:20, where Lazarus is laid at the "gate" of Dives).

  
  (Image source, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Meister_des_Codex_Aureus_Epternacensis_001.jpg/410px-Meister_des_Codex_Aureus_Epternacensis_001.jpg)

  Their arrival on the threshold demands a response of hospitality.
  

• Multiplication of Hospitality: The Power of Exponential Growth. Acts 10:22-23 (retold in 11:13).
  --Summoning a Good-News-Speaker. Cornelius is instructed by an angel to "send for" Peter. (metapempo, a compound used only by Luke in the New Testament, also used of Felix summoning Paul to "listen to him speak about faith in Christ," Acts 24:24.) Cornelius brings Peter "into his house" (something done also by Jairus to Jesus in Luke 8:41), so that Cornelius may hear what Peter has to say (rhemata para sou). The Greek word rhema, like the Hebrew word dabar, may take on specialized meanings according to context. The basic meaning is "word, saying, expression, or statement of any kind" (BDAG), but it can mean prophecy, prediction, commandment (as in the Ten Commandments, "words"). In this case it probably means preaching or teaching. It appears in some well known sayings, such as "Nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37, more woodenly and literally translated: "For every word [rhema, thing] will not be impossible with God.") In other words, what God says is true, and comes true (Luke 1:38, 2:15, 17, 19, etc.). Divine words spoken will be realized. Divine words will become real things, events, objects, matter--just as the world itself was "spoken" or commanded into existence.

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  (Image source, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQlU_IcGeNqLSvAk6mPnTmrjEdGWRwjcyuS9ERrzZ4by4-yGlcEdWI8LeS5beL7hxstyLrur_9Qf-9EnuI-KwjF8TQ3IKpOLavK7Gc2lRSxhKYWsyMjVLULFagBSD84A_oc7HDpcvZKqU/s1600/Peter-teaches-Cornelius'-household.jpg)

  --The Recipient of Hospitality Offers Hospitality. Peter, a guest himself with Simon the Tanner, offers the new arrivals hospitality--which will also be reciprocated by Cornelius when Peter arrives at his house. Luke tells us first that Peter is "staying with" (xenizo, receiving hospitality from, being entertained as a guest by) Simon the Tanner (Acts 10:6; also 10:32). Then, as we've said, that the men asked if this is the house where Peter is "staying" (Acts 10:18). And, finally, that Peter invites the men to "stay" with him at Simon the Tanner's house. (Acts 10:23) Luke uses this word xenizo advisedly. Luke is pointing out that Peter is staying as a "stranger" in Simon the Tanner's house, and that Peter is entertaining people he has not previously met in the house of someone he does not know. What's more, Peter will speak words that are "strangers" to their ears, as Paul did to the people of Athens in the Areopagus (Acts 17:19-20).

  
  (Image source, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23580/23580-h/images/illus373.jpg)

  According to Luke, Peter and Simon the Tanner and Cornelius are all heeding the as-yet-unwritten admonition of the writer of the book of Hebrews: "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13:2, NRSV)
  

• Entertaining Angels, literally! Acts 10:30 At first glance this verse has no other import (as if it needed any more) than to indicated the means by which (a divine messenger) Cornelius was directed to Peter. However, the messenger's "fine clothes" (en estheti lampra) are an indicator of high social class, wealth, and prominence. We know that Cornelius, a Roman centurion, will welcome someone who is well-dressed to his home, but will he also welcome Peter, whose clothes still reek of Simon the Tanner's profession?
  

  My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favouritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4, NIB)

  The whole of James 2 is a condemnation of any sort of favoritism. Favoritism negates the good of our hospitality as a demonstration of faith. So the question becomes whether Cornelius will take the angel's advice to seek out Peter, a man he doesn't know, whose address at the smelly home of Simon the Tanner who lives by the sea. (Acts 10:32)
  
• Responding Well by Doing Good and Being Present. Acts 10:33. Cornelius commends Peter (kalos epoiesas, "you did well") for making the right choice to respond to the summons and demonstrates his own response both in sending for Peter and in gathering his house (enopion theou, "before God") to hear the strange words that Peter brings ("whatever the Lord has commanded you to say," panta + prostasso).
  
• Staying. Acts 10:48. The sort of work that is done by the rhema has both its immediate results (reception, initiation, baptism) and its longer-term effects. God's initiative in this sequence of events is clear to Peter, in the vision of the lowered sheet, in the knock of strangers at the door, in the visit of an angel to Cornelius, in the receptivity of Cornelius and his family to the Word of faith, and in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit "just as on us at first." For the Word to take root and grow in Cornelius and his family, however, Peter cannot be a "hit and run evangelist." Peter must remain ("abide") for a few days with these new gentile disciples, eating and drinking with them. The work begun is too important to leave immediately. Peter is an instrument of the word proclaimed, it is God who has begun and will complete this good work in them.
  

John 13:31–35, 36-38

The scene is the table for the Lord's Supper after communion is over (bread mostly eaten, cup mostly empty), Judas is leaving or has just left to betray Jesus. Jesus gives the disciples a "new" commandment that they love one another just as he has loved them. He promises that this love will be their identifying mark as disciples of Jesus in the world. The shadow of the cross of Jesus falls heavily in anticipation across the scene. It falls across Jesus and the disciples, including Peter. (Peter vows that he will follow Jesus to the death. Jesus' response makes me wonder whether we can relate the three times Peter denied to the three times the sheet was lowered and the three men who arrive at the same moment from Cornelius' house.) The scene of the foot-washing is a preview of the sort of sacrifice required to form the sort of community God desires, full of the sort of love that engenders hospitality for the stranger and fellowship without partiality. The growth of the kingdom is based on this deep love, hospitality and fellowship.

Peter Greenaway has created a 'son et lumiere' of Leonardo's Last Supper, http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/arts-reviews/leonardos-last-supper/2009/10/12/1255195742166.html?page=fullpage. (Image source, http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ffximage/2009/10/14/supper_narrowweb__300x446,0.jpg)

Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. Who is my neighbor? My neighbor is the stranger who offers me hospitality in his stinky house, the people who show up on my doorstep, people with whom I have major disagreements and minor squabbles, people whom I cannot stand but for the grace of God. In order for the wind (Spirit) to continue blowing as it did at first, love must continue strong among the disciples of Jesus.