Lenten blog | March 9, 2024

Anticipating Jesus' uncomfortable light

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for March 9th:  Numbers 20:22-29; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; and John 3:1-13.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

In the passage from Numbers, we read of the death of Aaron.  Aaron was Moses’ brother and Israel’s first priest.  Both Moses and Aaron belong to the tribe of Levi.  When the people of Israel thought that Moses had died on the top of Mount Sinai, Aaron took upon himself the task of reassuring them by creating a graven image, maybe something to help the people better envision the unseen God.  Aaron created the idol as a symbol of Yahweh, but it was still sacrilegious. 

Aaron told the people, “‘Tomorrow shall be a festival to Yahweh,’” (Exodus 32:5) but Yahweh warns, “‘Your people, whom you [Moses] brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely …’” (32:7)  Did you notice that Yahweh does not say “My people.”  Rather, it is “Your people”?  They have deserted God and broken the covenant before the covenant was even shared with them.  This is symbolized only a few verses later:  “As soon as [Moses] came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.” (32:19) 

Maybe it was because Aaron saw the golden calf as a representation of Yahweh while the others saw it as an idol of a new god, but for some reason Aaron survived the blood-letting that followed.  The tribe of Levi gathered around Moses and they were sanctioned to seek vengeance against the other tribes for having abandoned God.  They were ordered to “‘kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor.’”  And 3,000 were murdered that day at the base of Mount Sinai.  It is from this act of religious slaughter that the tribe of Levi is set aside “‘for the service of the Lord.’” (32:29)  Aaron’s descendants are the priests and the tribe of Levi are the ones charged with the care of Yahweh’s sanctuaries.

Into this religious culture, we then read, “Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp.  He called it the Tent of Meeting.” (Exodus 33:7)  The Tabernacle, the sanctuary that would be the cultic base of Israel, was Aaron’s domain.  This would be the place of ritual and liturgy and priests, and it existed at the center of the people’s gathering.  The Tent of Meeting, the place of prophecy, stood outside of camp and separated from the sanctuary.

With the passage of generations, as we see in the biblical text, this separation was erased.  Prophecy and cult came together under one roof, that of the sanctuary.  As the story began, prophecy had its own legitimacy as a vehicle of God’s revelation.  Eventually, however, the tension between the unregulated prophetic voice was too much to bear by the established cult, and the cult domesticated prophecy so that it stood for whatever the cult endorsed.

The prophetic books are often of those voices that break this agreement, but the establishment will always seek to coopt the enthusiasm of prophecy.  And this is not limited to the Old Testament people of Israel. 

Jesus is a prophetic voice.  The established cult could not control Him.  And during Lent we concentrate on what the repercussions are.  Tomorrow at church we pick-up where today’s Gospel leaves off.  I will be preaching on the idea of Jesus’ unpleasant light, that the light came into the world and we thought it uncomfortable.  Do we continue to silence or to at least domesticate the radical prophecy that is Jesus and the gospel?  I invite you to come and join us as we ask this question tomorrow.  Whoever you are, you are welcome at worship with us.  If you cannot make it in person, please send an email to [email protected] and I will send you the Zoom login.
​
If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.