Exodus 33:18-23; Matthew 22: 20,21, 22

Is anything holy anymore?

Last week there was a soccer match between the Republic of Serbia and Albania.  These regions or countries have never liked each other.  A mini helicopter with an Albanian flag on it was flown into the stadium, brought in by an extreme nationalist group.  Immediately a row broke out without the players and the game had to be cancelled.  The conflict between Christian Orthodox Serbians and Southeastern European Muslims from Kosovo and Albania dates back at least 500 years and involves the history of the Ottoman empire.  Holiness and hatred have been passed on from generation to generation, all mixed together, with holy sites and remembered massacres holding some of the same ground.

            Sometimes what makes our beliefs sacred is what makes others profane. The holier our traditions, the more despicable we consider the traditions of others to be.  This is what we see in Syria and Iraq.  Isis is hated and feared by Sunnis but not as much the Shiites, for their religion traditions diverged from the Sunni traditions for more than a thousand years, with each vile act remembered over and over again, from generation to generation.  Sunnis cannot identify with the holiness of the Shiites and vice versa. This is partly what keeps the Turkish army out of the conflict even though some of their units can see battles in Syria from its territory.

            Friends, what we consider holy is a fickle thing.  For some people their national flag is a holy thing, like Albanians and …. Some Americans.  We, by the way, keep the flag here in the church not because of that, but as an acknowledgment that we are allowed to worship courtesy of this nation’s commitment to religious freedom.  It’s kind of like flying the flag of the country where you dock your boat. But I think to many American Christians anything happening to an American flag will make people a lot more upset than something happening to a Bible. 

            Let us summarize what our texts tell us today.  In Exodus 33 we find a passage of such great beauty that it is stunning. Moses wants to see God’s glory, but that is a no no, for God is too holy to behold. But there is also a sense of intimacy, of God wanting to be present to God’s beloved servant.  So Moses is to stand in the cleft of a rock and God passes by him.  All Moses is allowed to see is a part of God’s glory.  This passage expresses holiness like almost no other in the Bible, but also intimacy.  Then in Matthew we see the opposite.  There is no holiness there.  Just a coin with the image of the emperor on it.  Jesus is put in a trick position again. He has to choose between being a Jewish nationalist and hater of the Romans or as respectful of Roman authority.  Once again Jesus skillfully evades the issue.  “give to Caesar hat belongs to Caesar.”  In a way he devalues the coin by saying God does not care about it.  It is a worldly thing.  This is not what it is about.  The idea of taxes to the emperor becomes a footnote to the conversation.  The coin is not holy.

            Victoria Osteen, wife of hugely successful tv preacher Joel Osteen might beg to differ. She said recently:” When you come to church, when you worship ‘Him,’ you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy.”  (The Christian Century, October 15, 2014,p.9)  In other words,  it’s all about you and you being about you is what makes God happy.  Just like the Osteens say God wants You to be materially successful. It is a bit shocking that one of the biggest churches in the world preaches that worship to God is all about us and our material success.  It does not seem to go with any of these passages. 

Friends, our idea of holiness is so messed up.  We talk about the sacredness of life, but when it comes down to it, is the life of an Ebola victim in Liberia really as holy as the life of a US victim?  We watch violence between Israelis and Palestinians for years on end, but are we really valuing the lives of the Palestinians as much as the life of the Israelis?  Or is one holier than the others?  Have we become immune to the sight of wailing Arab mothers that they have just become part of a background reel to our lives? Is what is holy in our lives the same as what the TV channels choose to present to us?

What do we consider holy? This is a question we can direct to our lives also.  What is holy in our lives? What are the priorities? Has fun become holy?  Has entertainment become holy?  I mentioned the book about E.O. Wilson, entitled the Meaning of Human Existence.  He talks about altruism in the animal world.  But he is a practical biologist. I don’t think he would say anything is holy, beautiful maybe, but not holy.  I think you and I need to think about the holy in our lives.  I believe that deep inside we are tired of the God everyone is fighting about and making definitive statements about, we long for the God of Moses, the Pure One Whose love and Whose holiness are all wrapped up together.  Totally holy, totally love.  May we rediscover that image of God and live our lives in gratitude, with God’s help.