Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
Dunbar UCC
May 27, 2007
John 14:8-17
God’s Face
- When Moses encountered God in the burning bush on Mt. Horeb, he covered his eyes because he was afraid to look. God also told Moses not to come too close. But after knowing God many years, Moses wanted to see God. So he said, “Show me your glory.” And God said to him: “I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you...but you may not see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
- Fifteen hundred years later, Jesus was born, and for the first time ever there was the human face of God for all people to see. The Gospel of Mark says that Jesus’ mother was Mary, but doesn’t mention his father. Jesus had four brothers: James, Joseph, Judas and Simon, and sisters, but we don’t know their names, or how many. When Jesus preached at the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth, the congregation rejected him. The leaders of Israel were already planning to kill him. So by our standards, as a teacher and a preacher, Jesus was failing. And yet, he said : “Whoever has seen me has seen the father.” Jesus claimed to be the face of God, but the people wanted a different God.
- God didn’t let Moses see his face. And when God finally allowed people to see it -- they didn’t like it. They wanted a king’s face -- a powerful and wealthy face -- not the face of a peasant. God said, “Here I am, look at me,” and the people said, “We don’t want you. We wish you were dead.”
- And that hasen’t changed. Today, most of the world still rejects the face of God that Jesus revealed to us. Why? Why don’t we like it? Because -- It’s a face that tells us that the poor are blessed, and we don’t like the poor. We put the poor in ghettos. We build prisons for the poor, and then fill them up and build more. We use the poor to fight our wars because they can’t find any other work. We arrest the poor when they come over our borders from other countries, then we ship them back to their poor countries. But Jesus calls them blessed and says that they’ll see heaven before us. No wonder we don’t like his face. It’s a face that says the peacemakers are blessed. But we are a people of war, not peace. Our economy is built around the fighting of wars -- we need war to keep our standard of living. It was easy for our president and his staff to lie and bring our nation to war because we wanted it. We waved our flags, like fans at a football game rooting for their team. It was exciting, with bombs exploding in air and fireworks and shock and awe and grand displays of power. But Jesus blessed the peacemakers, not the warlords. So we reject him.
- But the worst thing that Jesus ever said is that we must love our enemies. We are inclined to despise our enemies and kill rather than love them. And yet, Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” To love Jesus is to love the poor, seek peace, and love our enemies.