but you're too terrified to be of any help

be afraid, be very afraid. But do it anyway 

A sermon on Moses' call

On my office door, I have a print of the Caravaggio painting, “The Calling of Saint Matthew.” It’s there as a bit of a wink. I encourage you to take a look at it sometime. Caravaggio was a true master. His paintings are famous for their realism. As well as their ability to capture a moment filled with action.

The Calling of Saint Matthew depicts such a scene, too. In the painting, Matthew is in a dusky room, bent over a table full of coins with a coterie of Italian dandies. Into this scene steps Jesus. And it’s impossible to tell if the light that’s bursting in around him comes from the open doorway, or Jesus himself.

This divine intrusion startles a few of Matthew’s associates out of their business, but not Matthew. No, Matthew’s too busy counting his money. At that very moment, while Matthew is still unaware, Jesus thrusts his hand forward. Motioning that he’s come for the very one who’s too engrossed in his dealings to notice what’s happening. One of the men in the room incredulously gestures toward Matthew. Doubtful that Jesus has the right guy with that scoundrel. 

It’s that very moment Caravaggio chose to freeze in his superb painting. I have this print on my office door as a playful nod to any of you who have ever felt like Matthew’s partner. Unsure if God had the right person in mind with the fellow who can often be found on the other side of that office door. 

I chose to begin this sermon with a description of Caravaggio’s masterpiece, though, because today’s passage tells of the first time ever in all of Scripture that someone is called by God! This call initiates a sequence that repeats itself over and over again throughout Scripture, too. And as Caravaggio captures so well, what’s most distinctive about this pattern is how it’s almost never what anyone bargained for…

And wouldn’t you know it, that includes you, too. You are here, right now, because you have been called. And if you’re casting about, trying to figure out what your call is, I would like to suggest that you’ve already brushed up against it! It’s just not what you anticipated.

Like Moses in today’s Scripture, God’s call for you never fits with your expectations. More than likely, it seems too big. But, it may also seem too small. What God has in mind for you probably strikes you as altogether too hard. Conversely, though, it may also strike you as all too easy. No matter what, though, God’s call for you is not what you had in mind. 

As it turns out, though, this mismatch serves a purpose. And it’s one that’s as unexpected as it is divine. 

…Of all the congregations the Apostle Paul founded, the one in Corinth had to have been the most troublesome. This was a congregation beset with just about every conflict imaginable. And some pretty unimaginable ones, too. Chief among them was the incessant infighting. The folks there were all too keen to stack themselves up against one another to see how each person measured up. 

Into this sorry state of affairs, Paul suggested the members do a little self-reflecting. “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters,” Paul writes, “not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” “But,” continues Paul. 

“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing the things that are…” (1 Cor. 1:26-31)

In other words, God’s call is always doing two things; undoing, and doing up. And Paul, like Moses, has experienced this for himself on his own Damascus Road experience. And this lesson taught him, the hard way, that this is how God always works. 

For those of us who are undone, God’s call is going to put you together. But those of us who think we can do it ourselves, God’s call is going to undo you. In the end, though, the purpose is all the same; that each and every last one of us might find ourselves under the gun of God’s divine action!

…One of my favorite details of The Calling of Saint Mathew is the homage Caravaggio has snuck into his painting. If you look closely, the gesture Jesus is making is an odd one. He’s not exactly pointing to Matthew. No, his hand is a little too cupped for that. 

What Caravaggio is doing is mimicking another master. Specifically, Michelangelo. And his depiction of the divine touch in his “ The Creation of Adam” at the Sistine Chapel! Caravaggio’s making a point! What we’re witnessing in each and every call is not just a summons to one project or another. No, rather, each and every one of God’s calls is an act of divine creation!

In fact, the word we use for calling is the same word we use to describe how God creates! God creates by speaking! By calling out! By the power pf the Word! Just like the creation of the very first atoms of light that sent the cosmos spinning into gear on that first day, whenever God speaks, creation happens! And so does calling! 

Just like that first day of creation, God’s call for you always comes in the midst of chaos and darkness. But, by the power of that word, light comes bursting in! But not just any light! No, the light of Jesus Christ himself, the light of the world! 

God’s call for you has been fully revealed in Jesus Christ, the “great I Am,” himself! And this call isn’t a summons. No, it’s a promise! And an eternal one at that! 

God has loved you into existence! And, in Jesus Christ, God’s never going to stop, either! What’s more, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that love is being breathed through you right now with a fire that blazes yet is not consumed!

That means the question for you today is not what do you have to do. It’s not even what do you want to do. No, the question is, in light of that divine light, Jesus himself, what are you going to do? 

Because you can sure Jesus’ love that’s burst in on you will touch every last aspect of your life! And by the power of this Word, your life will be transformed! Transformed from a never-ending list of obligations into an endless series of encounters! 

Encounters with the God you never expect. Encounters with the God whose Word makes the very ground you’re standing on right now holy. Encounters with the God who’s sending you into this world with a message of love that can still set the prisoners free!

I guess this means there is one last question, though, what are you waiting for?!?