Sunday
10/11/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Aaron
or John Belushi?”
(“Exodus: The People of the Covenant” Series: Part 6 of 7)
Old Testament Scripture: Exodus 32:1-14
New Testament Scripture: Philippians 4:1-9
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 22:1-14
Welcome again my friends, brothers, and sisters, on this the Nineteenth
Sunday after Pentecost. Nineteen Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved on the day
of Pentecost, nearly two-thousand years ago. On this day of holy fire and great
faith, the Christian Church was born. We who are here today are part of that
great legacy in Jesus Christ.
In diving right in this morning to our
sermon series that we have had on the book of Exodus, today we have the sixth installment
of this seven-week series. So far, we have discussed that God spoke to Moses
through a burning bush, telling Moses that would deliver the Israelite people from
slavery in Egypt.
The Egypt Pharaoh refused to let Moses
take his people, the Israelites, or the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. As a
result, a series of ten-plagues ensued, whereby finally the Egyptian Pharaoh
lets Moses take his people to freedom.
At this point, God uses Moses to part
the Red Sea, and then he leads the Israelites or the Jews to freedom on the
other side. Food then becomes scarce and the people rebel and against God and
Moses. God then provides the Israelite people with manna from heaven and quail
for meat, every day, as they wander the wilderness for forty-years. As a result,
the people are reconciled with God and Moses, until they run out of water like
they did two weeks ago in this sermon series. Again, the Israelites turn of God
and are ready to kill Moses. God uses Moses to strike a rock with his staff,
bring forth abundant water for all the people and their animals. They are again
reconciled to God and Moses.
Last week in Exodus 20, God gave Moses
the 10-Commandments. God will then proceed to give Moses more Laws or rules as
part of this covenant from Exodus 20-31. These laws have to do with proper
worship and other things. I believe there were 52 others given, and in the
first five books of the Old Testament or the Torah, there are 613 laws. These
laws will continue to be revealed to the Israelite people in the years to come,
from where they are this day in Book of Exodus. Devout Jews even to this day,
follow all 613 of these laws.
These laws explain a variety of expectations
on living, eating, worship, and so on. As I said last Sunday though, we are
under grace through Jesus Christ, not the Old Testament Law. Yet, we should
still follow the 10 Commandments and other moral laws. If it is an Old Testament
Law connected to loving and respecting others, then we should do it. As far as
the others law in the Torah of the Old Testament, we are not bound to them, as
we are under grace, not the Law.
In having discussed the 10-Commandments
last Sunday, this Sunday Moses after being on the top of Mount Sinai with God
for 40-days, comes down. Forty-days is a very biblical number, as is 7.
The reason that Moses goes down the mountain
this morning though, is that God tells him that the Israelite or the Jewish
people are doing very sinful and bad things. Moses has been listening to and communing
with God for 40-days on the mountain top, receiving God’s law, and drawing
closer to God. While Moses is away, the Israelites grow restless, weary, and
yet again turn away from God and Moses. Remember what I said, “When the cat is
away, the mice play”. So, let us look once again at our reading from the Book
of Exodus for this morning. Once again it says:
“32 When the
people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people
gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, 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 Aaron
said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your
sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all
the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to
Aaron. 4 He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and
cast an image of a 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 proclamation and said,
“Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” 6 They
rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of
well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel” (Ex. 32:1-6, NRSV).
While Moses was on the
top of Mount Sinai with God for 40-days, he left his brother Aaron in charge. As
I just re-read, clearly leaving Aaron in charge was not a good idea. How bad of
an idea was it? Well when Moses didn’t come back in time, Aaron allowed the Israelite
people to melt down all of their gold, form a golden calf, worship it as there god,
and have what appeared to be a wild and drunken party.
God tells Moses
that he is angry at the people for this. Moses pleads with God to be gracious
and forgiving, and then Moses heads down the mountain to the fiasco that his
brother Aaron has allowed to ensue. Later in Exodus
32 when Moses comes down Mount Sinai, so angry is Moses than he literally
smashes the 10-Commandments at the bottom of the mountain. Moses then burns and
grinds the golden calf into power, puts it in water, and makes the people drink
this bitter water (Ex 32:15-35, NRSV).
The Israelite or Jewish people will
repent though, and then Moses will get new 10-Commandment tablets, and the
covenant between God and the Israelite people will be reestablished. This cycle
of running to and from God will continue all throughout the Old Testament.
With all of this said, you might have
noticed that my sermon title for this morning is called “Aaron or John Belushi?”
I do not know why, but when I think of Moses’ brother Aaron, I think of John
Belushi in the 1978 movie Animal House. For those of you that have seen the
movie “Animal House” you know that the character that John Belushi played John "Bluto"
Blutarsky was a wild guy. A heavy drinking, crazy, irresponsible, fraternity
guy. How much so, well here is a picture in this morning’s PowerPoint slides of
“John Blutarsky” in the university’s academic dean’s office with pencils in his
nose.
Clearly
Moses’ brother Aaron was incredibly irresponsible this morning with the Golden
Calf stunt. In the same way that I call Moses Charlton Heston, because Charlton
Heston played the role of Moses in the 1956 movie the 10-Commandments, I think of
Moses’ brother Aaron as John Belushi. The character that John Belushi portrayed
in the 1978 movie “Animal House” was clearly the type of guy that probably be
ok with a wild party and the worship of a Golden Calf. For those that have seen
the movie “Animal House” I wonder if Moses’ brother had been John Belushi or “John
Blutarsky” how this morning’s scripture reading would have turned out
different? Maybe it would have been better, or maybe it would have been much
worse!
I think
that who we put in positions of leadership matters, as clearly Moses leaving
his brother Aaron in charge this morning was not a good idea. I also do not
think that John Blutarsky would have been a good person to put in charge this
morning either.
I
remember hearing stories when I was in high school and in college about how some
people’s parents were away for the weekend. They were entrusted with there parents
house and told to keep everything in good order. Yet, for some of these folks,
as soon as their parents left, they decided to throw a wild party. If their
parents found out, I would guess that their parents would have reacted the way
that Moses did this morning. So, who we put in positions of leadership matters.
In
fact, the Apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:1 for this morning that:
“1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved” (Phil. 4:1, NRSV).
Stand
firm in the faith, and do not allow “Aaron or John Belushi” to turn the church into
a wild idol worshiping party.
In
looking briefly at our gospel of Matthew reading for this morning once again,
which is the story or the parable of the Wedding Banquet, Jesus says that a
king sent his slaves to tell his people to come to his son’s wedding banquet feast.
The king’s people did not come, and some of his slaves sent as inviters were mistreated,
harmed, and even killed. The king in his anger to his ungrateful subjects, had
the city burned and the killers destroyed.
The
king then told his slaves to go and invite anyone that they can, from the
street, and invite them all. For the king’s own people would not come, and were
found unworthy by the king, so the king will invite anyone that he can.
Many people end up
coming to the king’s son’s wedding banquet feast, but one man in attendance had
no robe, and clearly did not appreciate being in the presence of the king or
his son. This man was bound and thrown out. We should always appreciate God and
his son Jesus.
A
big takeaway from this parable of the Wedding Feast, is that the king or God
invites us all. Yet if we reject God, if reject the chance to be with God’s son
Jesus at his wedding banquet feast, then others will come in our stead. God expects
us to follow him and be loyal to him.
This
morning in our book of Exodus reading, yet again, the Israelite or Jewish
people sin against God, or do not show up for the wedding banquet feast, as to compare
our Book of Exodus reading to our gospel of Matthew reading for this morning.
There is price to pay when we sin against God if we are unrepentant.
In the
parable of the Wedding Feast however, the fault was not in the inviters to the
king’s son’s wedding banquet, instead the fault was in the rejection of the
invitees or the king’s subjects. Not only this, but the king’s subjects also
did terrible things to the king’s inviters, for which the king’s subjects were
punished.
This
morning in our Book of Exodus reading however, the Israelites or the Jews are
certainly responsible for sinning against and disobeying God, yet the difference
in the Book of Exodus for this morning, is that one of the key leaders, Aaron,
allowed this to happen. In the parable of the Wedding Feast, neither the king
or his son promoted disobedience and bad behavior. Yet, Moses’ brother Aaron
did just that. So much so in fact, that when I was preparing the write this
sermon for this morning, when I thought of Aaron, I thought of John Belushi in
Animal House.
The
people that we put in charge therefore, matters. Who gets the reins of power matters.
I do not know about you, but I do not want a church or anything serious to be
put into the hands of Aaron or John Blutarsky. In fact, I do not know if I would
put either of those two in charge of an Ant Farm!
All of this being said though, I wonder I just wonder what would have happened this morning if instead of Moses’ brother Aaron being in charge with the Golden Calf, if John Blutarsky, played by John Belushi was in charge this morning? Thus “Aaron or John Belushi?” Amen.
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