In our first reading we hear about God calling Moses and speaking to him. What is the voice of God? How does it sound? In the 1956 movie The Ten Commandments Charlton Heston provided the voice of God at the burning bush. The actor Morgan Freeman spoke as God in two other movies. If only we were so lucky to hear those deep, comforting voices when God speaks to us.
On the other hand, I’d pick Robin Williams because he’d speak to me, crack a joke, and share a laugh with me. No gloom and doom baritone voice for me. As an alternate I’d pick Aretha Franklin considered to be the female artist with the most beautiful voice. I’d rather have God sweetly sing to me, rather than lecture me.
In fact, we need a God with a good sense of humor. We can hearken to that voice. God shouldn’t be so stern. Many of us envision God with arms folded across the chest, glaring at us, and saying: “Don’t do that!”
If God had arms they would be outstretched and welcoming to offer love and mercy. After all Jesus commanded for us to love one another. He said: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” And why not? God is about love according to John.
In his first letter John said: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” Now, that’s straightforward thinking and speaks to us of how we describe God as the Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – a threesome in a loving relationship.
So, let’s choose our own appealing voice of God, one to which we will listen to help us keep God’s covenant with us. We need not climb any mountain to hear that voice. God speaks to all of us whenever and wherever we are. Some might call that voice our conscience. Some might say it’s the voice of a loved one, a child asking us to play with her or him, or a spouse telling us he or she needs help and love. God also speaks to us through the beauty and wonders of creation and through the Bible where we read and hear “The Word of the Lord.”
Our second reading is from Paul’s letter to the Romans (5:6-11). Once again, we speak of love. It reads: “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” This is a foundational belief of our faith. Therefore, each and every one of us has an unpaid debt to Christ – our sacrificial victim. Why? Because we always miss the mark; we always sin in one way or another.
Our debts to Jesus are past-due, and Christ requires payment in the form of our giving love, sharing love, and our receiving love. It’s a simple payment not requiring a credit card or the internet. We simply must stop judging, lying, being hypocritical, and hating to wipe out our debts at least temporality because we big spenders always run up a balance of more sins.
God needs us to promote love. Our Gospel reading from Matthew highlights that need. Jesus gave his12 disciples – his apostles – authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. This formidable task was given to Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, another James, Thaddeus, Simon, and Judas. Through our baptisms all of us have had our names added to that list because we must drive out unclean spirits by promoting truth over lies and deception. We must cure every disease such as racism and prejudice. We must cure every illness we call anger, jealousy, and fear. This is all within our power with our love being the antidote.
When we listen to God’s voice, perhaps we might hear God tell us this story:
A monk’s donkey died on his way to town. When he arrived, he asked the stable keeper if he had any donkeys for sale.
The keeper replied, "Sorry, I only have one left.” The monk saw it had matted, mangy hair, a deranged, glazed-over look in his eye and a stiff, motionless stance that made him look more like a taxidermy mount rather than a living animal.
"How much?” the monk asked.
The stable keeper shook his head. "Trust me. You do NOT want that donkey. I got him from a shady-looking deacon. I don't know what that man did to him, but all I know is that donkey isn’t right."
The monk insisted, and out of a guilty conscience the keeper let him have the donkey for free. Before sending him on his way, the keeper gave the monk some instructions: "This donkey is completely unresponsive to everything except for two specific sentences. To make him go, you have to say: 'Thank you Jesus!' To make him stop, you say 'Hallelujah!' In all honesty I can only hope the Lord is riding with you tonight, because otherwise... Well... Just be careful, okay?"
The monk hopped on his new donkey and rode off into town. Remembering what the old stable keeper told him, he shouted "Thank you, Jesus!" and instantly the donkey went from standing to top speed in a second, nearly giving the monk whiplash!
In his panic the monk forgot which phrase made the horse stop. Then, to his horror, he realized that the horse was heading full-speed off the edge of an incredibly steep cliff. The monk began frantically pulling on the reins, screaming all the religious words and phrases he could think of to halt the beast, but to no avail. Suddenly, when all hope seemed lost, he remembered at the last minute: "Hallelujah!!!"
Instantly the donkey froze, a single inch away from the edge of the cliff. The monk was trembling and drenched in sweat. He had never been so close to certain doom. With a sigh of relief, he wiped his brow, looked up to the heavens and said: "Thank you, Jesus!"
Yes, God does have a sense of humor. However, that humor is lost when we church-goers piously shout “Hallelujah” but are frozen in place and not moved with pity, mercy, and love for those troubled and abandoned. Jesus was moved, and so should we.
Finally, we all come to the edge of steep cliffs in our lives, and we remain frozen – unsure of what we should do, and we are afraid. One cliff that stops us in our tracks is being unable to forgive those who have trespassed against us – for hurting us. We must repay Jesus by forgiving them by jumping off that cliff while shouting: “Thank you Jesus!”
Deacon David Pierce
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