October 15 – The Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
Zane Scarlett
The King and I. This is a phrase that speaks to relationship. THE king and I. Could be the sub-title for the Bible, couldn’t it. But it was the title of a Broadway musical and lasts in our minds as the movie made in 1956. The story is of the mid-19th century King of Siam who had a lot of children. The progressive king wanted his children taught in modern Western learning, so he hired a school teacher from Victorian England, named Anna. Anna taught the children, and the king, about science and, most importantly, about relationships. One of the songs from the show is “getting to know you, getting to know all about you; getting to like you, getting to hope you like me.” In a famous scene from the movie, Yul Brenner, barefoot, with his royal Siamese finery, gold trimmed and star studded harem pants, dances with the proper English Deborah Kerr, in her Victorian English finery “shall we dance?1,2,3.” The Lord God got Moses to teach his children. And I can see Moses and the Lord dancing as Moses sings “getting to know you.”
Seven weeks ago, we began our journey through the book of Exodus. Our first reading from Exodus began “there arose a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph.” If we don’t know about our past, we can have trouble with our present. So we read about how the Lord God was revealed to the Hebrew people so that we can understand better our own relationship with God.
We heard about THESE women. Those amazing women who, by hook or crook, were able to protect the Hebrew male children. And those amazing women who were able to save the baby Moses. Moses was raised as an Egyptian, but knew he was different. As an adult, he fled Egypt, married the priest’s daughter, and lived in the land of Midian. For forty years, as the priest’s son-in-law, he learned about the Lord God; and in the wilderness, he received his call when he met YEWEH, the Lord, in a fiery scene that demonstrated to him something of the sacredness and power of the Lord, and changed his life. Moses learned that the Lord would be with him just as the Lord had been with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was the same Lord the Hebrew people had heard of, but thought had been left behind in the land of Canaan. Moses was to go back to Egypt and help the Hebrew people learn who the Lord is. Getting to know you. The people were taught about reverence and remembrance through the ritual of the Passover, and that the Lord would set them free from whatever was their bondage. Getting to like you. The people were shown at the Red Sea that the Lord would be with them and help them pass through the evils of life even when it appeared hopeless. They were fed in the wilderness with quail and manna that came from heaven. Our daily bread is provided because the Lord knows we need it. Getting to hope you like me. Water came from the rock in the wilderness and taught the people that their hard hearts should produce life-giving love just as the Lord had loved them. And the Lord gave the people the Ten Commandments so they would understand that the Lord was their God, and that the people should act in a way that indicated that they understood this relationship. The Hebrew people were taught by events and actions that they remembered and told to each other in stories, but they came to associate Moses with their care and protection. Moses was the face of the Lord to them.
Meanwhile, Moses was getting closer to the Lord. He went up on the mountain to get closer to the Lord and the Lord met with Moses for a long time. The Lord was instructing Moses on the plans for their future together. Plans for how to worship. And Moses is on the mountain so long that the people think he isn’t coming back. Moses is getting to know the Lord. But as Moses grows in closer relationship to the Lord, his relationship with the people suffers. The people give up on him. They have not been getting to know the Lord. Their hearts are still back in Egypt. And just last week in our reading from the Ten Commandments, we heard that the Lord God is a jealous god; and that the Covenant People shall have no other gods and make no graven images. Now when Moses is away, when teacher isn’t looking, they want to fall back into their old, comfortable ways of acting. They wanted a god that they could touch and, most importantly, they could control. They wanted to be able to play by their own rules.
In our gospel reading, Jesus tells that the kingdom of heaven is like a king who throws a wedding feast for his son. Those who are invited don’t want to attend. Who turns down an invitation from the king to attend a feast he is giving? Who are these people? These people are the Hebrew people who were tired of waiting for Moses and decided to throw their own feast. These people are all around us today, you know many of them. The greatest feast ever is offered to us, and many would rather not be bothered to put in the effort to attend. But others are invited to the king’s feast and are glad to come. One guest comes, but doesn’t think it is a very big deal to come to the feast given by the king. He just comes for the cake and punch. His heart isn’t really in it, and the king throws him out. If you come to the feast, you should be REALLY, REALLY glad about it, you have to be present in the moment; your heart must be in it.
Getting to know you, getting to like you, getting to hope you like me. As we get to know the Lord as our God, we need to remember that the Lord God is a jealous god. Whatever part of your heart that isn’t there for the Lord is there for something else. That part is the part of your heart that belongs to another god. “You shall have no other gods before me.” If you want to dance, you have to know the steps, or you are not worthy to attend the feast. Harsh! Too harsh.
But the Hebrew people had an intercessor. Moses pled that his people be given another chance to learn the dance. “Getting to hope you like me.” And we have an intercessor. Jesus loves you and wants to dance with you. You have been given another chance, and you will be given another chance. For as long as it takes. Jesus died on a cross and is resurrected so that he can intervene for you. If you give the Lord your heart. Give the Lord your whole heart.
Jesus finished his parable with “Many are called, but few are chosen.” I believe that we are all called, and WE are the ones who do the choosing. We all must choose our dance partner. I have made my choice, and, because you are here this morning, I believe that you have made your choice also. The King and I are doing our dance. Will you join us? “Shall we dance 1,2,3?”