what if i told you they're all lying

& i love you for who you are right now the best

A sermon on that time we almost threw it away for papier-mâché

“I’ve been blessed,” he said. 

I knew I heard him. But then again, I needed to double-check, just to be sure. For one thing, we, sadly, don’t speak this way anymore. Do we? For another, I let myself in, and he was napping. Perhaps I started him. Or maybe he was speaking in response to something in a dream. 

But no, I had heard him right. Honestly, though, what he said was unexpected, given the circumstances. That’s why I let myself in. I don’t schedule visits. I just drop by. But typically, I knock first. Not this time, though. I let myself in because Bambi, Tim’s wife of nearly fifty years, had recently died. 

The death was so fresh that the hospital bed Bambi had mostly been confined to for years was still sitting against the East side of the living room wall. And it wasn’t just that Bambi had recently died, either. It was that the Alzheimer’s that kept Bambi in that bed also kept Tim in that living room, too. The only time Tim would excuse himself, mostly for chores, was when he had arranged for someone to come by and look after Bambi. And you know how we midwesterners hate to impose.

But no, I had heard him right. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” Tim added. He then proceeded to describe the highs and the lows of their many years together. And in his recounting, Tim listed many things many of us would change. Or, if not change, at least not choose for ourselves. Looking back on it all, though, Tim couldn’t help but admit he wouldn’t change a thing, even if he were given the chance.

This is a tough kind of blessing. It’s not easy to say you’ve been blessed after watching a loved one struggle with something like Alzheimer’s. However, it is a durable blessing. Isn’t it? And what’s more, it’s one I know many of you have experienced for yourself.

I know many of you have trudged that harrowing valley of the shadow of death. And although you didn’t come out the other side unscathed, you did come out saying something odd. Even though you wouldn’t have chosen that rough patch for yourself, you, like Tim, can’t help but admit you have been blessed. 

…Deep down, that’s what we all want. Isn’t it? We don’t want some cheap imitation blessing. No, we want the real thing. We want a blessing that’s as rugged as this rough and tumble ol’ world.

We want a blessing that evokes a love that doesn’t hold back. We want a blessing that steels a courage to do the right thing without hedging our bets. We want a blessing that stirs a willingness to throw ourselves into our callings without counting the cost. In other words, we want a blessing that’s up for life.

 But yet, for all that, we so often accept a disposable replica of God’s hard-won blessing. Don’t we? Instead of calling on God in the thick of it, we settle for a paper-thin life and an even flimsier ripoff of God’s blessing. And the stone-cold bummer is, we wind up being the ones to hold ourselves back from the life we want.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we do this on purpose. We don’t. In the pinch, we tend to panic. And in those moments, we don’t often act on our noblest impulses. Do we? As the Psalmist admits, “I said in my alarm, I have been cut off from the sight of God.”

This is what happened to the Israelites in today’s Scripture. At this point, God has spoken to Moses out of the bush, led the Israelites out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the wilderness, too. And here, at Sinai, God bids Moses up the mountain rattling with thunder and lightning and covered in thick clouds and smokey mist. And God summons Moses up that mountain to give him the Ten Commandments, God’s charter for freedom. 

The people don’t know that, though. Of course. All they know is, their leader, Moses, is absent. And after a while, the absence starts to wear on them. While they wait, the people start to imagine all the worst-case scenarios that could happen while their guide is in absentia. 

A side note: Thank God we never do that! Thank God we never act on our apprehensions. Thank God we never presume the worst. Right?

Wrong! I’m fooling! Obviously, we do this all the time! It’s one of our least favorite, favorite pastimes. Honestly, we even do it when things are relatively good!

Our fears don’t need a long leash. It doesn’t take much. Often, our anxiety comes unprovoked! It can be on a perfectly ordinary day, and then, for no good reason, before we know it, our worried minds are running disaster scenarios!

You know what happens next, too. You start making plans for those potential catastrophes. And then, next thing you know, you’re acting on them! When all is said and done, you’re living as if the disaster is as good as arrived, even though nothing’s gone wrong!

…If you want a case study, look no further than today’s passage. The Israelites don’t think they’re setting up a new religion. Go back and reread the passage if you don’t believe me. No, they’re just worried about Moses’ absence! And they hatch a plan to take care of that with some on-demand fill-in for God. 

On the one hand, this seems reasonable. 

I know you’re in church, so you think you have to pretend you’re more pious than the saints. Fine. But let’s just pretend. 

Let’s pretend you’ve sinned once before. I know it’s a stretch. But let’s pretend. And, just being hypothetical, let’s pretend you did it with good intentions, too. 

I know, I know. That never happens. But let’s just pretend. All right?

Ok. So, let’s pretend we’re anxious about God’s perceived absence. Let’s say we have what Martin Luther called a “hidden God.” And then, since we’re being so imaginative, let’s also say we decide God’s perceived absence is a problem we need to do something about. 

Now, given those suppositions, wouldn’t you say it’s reasonable to concoct some sort of stand-in for God? Don’t lie! Don’t lie, because the answer, clearly, is yes! Isn’t it?

And sure, it’s just as clearly a bad idea. Agreed. But that’s only if you already know better and have the privilege of hindsight, too. If you’re just looking at the situation as a problem to solve, the Israelites’ homemade god seems like a reasonable course of action. Why, Aaron even tries to gussy it up with the regalia of religion!

This is Satan’s oldest trick, by the way. The devil is never going to approach you with a blatant sin. That’s too obvious. No, the devil will always dress up his dastardly proffer as something good. 

And I don’t know about you, but that’s how it always goes for me. Before I do anything I know I shouldn’t, I’ve got to convince myself I’m doing it for a good reason first. And since I know you, too, share this same fallen flesh and blood, I can assume you’re no different. Can’t I?

Of course, that’s no defense. Not really. Just ask any lawyer; ignorance is no defense of the law. Or, Ignorantia juris non excusat. How’d I do, Jim?

The point being, it doesn’t really matter what you thought you were doing. No, what really matters is what you really did. And here’s the bitter pill: all our backups for God just put God in the backseat. Or worse! The Israelites didn’t think they were replacing God with their replacement deity. But that’s what they did!

…Now, perhaps you think you know better. After all, here you are. And I bet if we searched your home, we wouldn’t find any idols, either. Would we?

However, as a good Lutheran, you know that a god is whatever we fear, love, or trust. And that means we have lots of idols. Don’t we? Only now, they’re more subtle. But that just makes them all the more lethal.

Like the Israelites, in the absence of a real God, we fabricate all sorts of pretenders. But, as we’ll need to be the engine for these homespun gods, we will have to be very religious about them. We’ll have to be very religious about our substitute gods because we’ll have to make up for their inherent powerlessness! It’s why we’re all so worked up about, oh, I don’t know, politics. 

We’ve made politics into modern idols. Haven’t we? And sorry to say, but the Democrats can’t save you. And neither can the Republicans. And believing an ideology can deliver you is a surefire recipe for seeing other humans as faceless enemies! That’s what idolatry always does, too. It defaces the image of God. Idolatry, in any form, defaces the image of God.

But it’s not just politics. Is it? 

Although, right now, politics is a likely candidate. And if you want a simple test, just listen for words like “save” or “make.” Save or make. That’s what God does. God saves. God makes. And any program that promises to do that is actively trying to take God’s place!

But it’s not just politics. Is it? We’re also religious about our careers. We’re religious about our health. We’re religious about our retirement accounts. We’re religious about our looks. We’re religious about our families. Why, we’re even religious about our hobbies!

And. And. And! Without God, it never ends! And that’s not all, either! Making a religion out of life only ruins the best parts of religion and life!

This is a serious business, too. It’s a real soul-sucker. So, if you want to know where you’re most religious, just consider where you’re most tired. Those parts of life where you’re most tired are where you’re trying to make up for what your idol of choice is failing to deliver. 

…That means, if you’re here today feeling like your idolatry has just made a sacrifice out of you, you need to hear just two things! First of all, that’s what idols do! Idols demand! They only ask more and more until there’s nothing left of you. 

This is why idolatry always devolves into human sacrifice! Idols can’t deliver. They can only kill! And eventually, they’ll kill you? Ok?

Secondly, though, and this is the important part, although idols kill, God delivers! God raises the dead! Yes, you’re idolatry may be killing you, but God is at the ready to save you, raise you, and recreate you, too! Idolatry kills, but Christ lives! And because he lives, you shall live also!

And not someday, either! This isn’t going to happen on a week from some Tuesday. No, it’s happening right now! So, I hope you’re ready! I hope you’re ready because here we go!

Who’s that standing at our communion table right now? That’s right, Jesus Christ! And this is no artistic depiction, either! No, our window is nothing less than a window to heaven! It reveals what’s happening right now! 

Jesus is presiding at communion! And he’s offering himself, too! At the cross, Christ became the last and ultimate sacrifice! At the cross, Christ went down with that sinking ship of all our idolatry. 

And he did it for you! And he did it for me, too. Christ went to the cross to plant his flag at the dead-end of every one of your and my idolatries! Now, when you’re crushed under the weight of your idolatry, look up! Look up, because Christ is right there! As Jesus himself said, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh!” (Lk. 21:28)

This is the end of idolatry! It’s the end of idolatry and the beginning of religion, but true religion! Christ is the beginning of true religion because he takes matters into his own hands! Religion isn’t doing for God! No, it’s God doing Thyself to you! Religion is what happens when God happens! Let me say that again: true religion is what happens when God really happens!

That’s what worship is. Isn't it? Worship isn’t drumming up feelings for God. No, worship what Tim experienced. Worship is standing on the other side of God’s work! Worship is standing on the other side of God’s work that’s strong enough to take death itself and wrench a blessing out of it! 

That’s exactly what Christ did on that first Easter! And it’s what he does today, on this little Easter, too! Every time the church gathers around Christ’s table, he makes Easter happen all over again! And make no mistake, that includes this gathering, too! By the power of the Holy Spirit, Easter is really happening yet again, right here, right now, in real-time!

…What is Christ doing with his hands? That’s right, he’s holding them open. He’s holding them open for you, yes. But he’s also holding them open to carry all your burdens.

What else are our burdens except idols, all those ways we’ve tried to save ourselves? Christ holds his hands open to take all that onto himself. And he takes it all the way to its inevitable grave. And when he is buried, Christ buries all those worthless idols with him, too! But when he is raised, Christ leaves them there in the tomb forever!

Your idols never could save you! But now, they hold no power over you anymore! That deep-seated longing you have, it’s for the real thing! You don’t want a cheap imitation. No, you want God! And Christ is GOD for you, right here in the bread and wine! So, don’t quench the Spirit!

You don’t need to save yourself anymore! And you never did, either! God already took care of that from the foundation of the universe! And that means the rest is gravy! 

Now that your life is freed of idols, it all becomes sacred! Your life isn’t a problem to solve. And it’s not something just to survive, either! No, it’s the staging ground of God’s grace! Your life is the arena where God is working a blessing powerful enough to raise the dead, reclaim the wayward, and make saints out of you and me, too!

Not bad. Right? Go ahead and love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself! Speak the truth in love that’s more truthful than you ever imagined! Find your life in losing it! Let go of your death grip and feel your death and life, in that order, held safe and secure, come what may!

This isn’t a requirement, either! It’s a release! In Christ, you can actually do all that! And more, too!

In Christ, you have nothing to lose! It’s all in his hands! As he promised his Father, Christ will not lose a single one of us! His hands may be pierced for our transgressions, but he will not let go of me and you!

…At the cross, Christ made good on his word. And the cross is the stone that destroys idols and forges us together in the image of God, too! The cross is the end of idolatry. The cross is the end of idolatry, and it’s the beginning of that blessed, indefatigable, and joyful life in Christ! 

So, let us lift high the cross! Our Hymn of the Day is hymn number 660, Lift High the Cross. Hymn number 660, Lift High the Cross. Let’s sing!