BIG Questions

You would think doing a 45-60 minute weekly Bible Study, our little group of 9-10 people would only have time to read the three readings coming on Sunday, touch on some semantics in interpretation, clarify some confusing passages, comment briefly on connections between the Old and New Testaments and Gospel, and say good bye as we refill our travel coffee mugs.

Yet, it seems as each week goes by, we keep layering on deeper and deeper questions. These questions have no answer, and even if they did, each of our answers would be very personal. We keep coming back to them again and again. "If God called me to His service, what would I say?" "If I encountered God, would I know Him? And what would my reaction be?"

There all kinds of little stories about these questions. There's the man drowning in the sea, praying to God to save him. A boat comes by to offer help, but he doesn't take it. The same thing happens again. He finally drowns and dies and goes to heaven. When he gets there, he asks God, "Why didn't You save me?" And God asks him back, "Why didn't you get into one of the two boats I sent?"

There's a song along these lines too, that Jesus is the carpenter on the roof, the woman begging for food on the street. Stories like this abound, but they are like any other cliches in our lives. They are so overused they are meaningless, or close to that. So when we ask these questions in our Bible Study, really ask them, we all sit silently. Someone might say something about reacting the way most of the people in the Bible do, saying they aren't worthy, that they aren't the right person for God's work.
For example, Moses, when God comes to him on the mountain, says he can't do His work, and doesn't feel okay with things until God says He'll be there to help him, and will give him the right words. Isaiah doesn't think he's worthy of God's work until the seraphim touch his lips to cleanse him of his foul words and thoughts. There are more stories like this of people saying they aren't worthy, and not feeling good about God's calling until they are reassured by God. But there's also the story of Jesus telling the rich man to sell his belongings, leave his home, and come follow Christ. And the man can't bring himself to do it. Where would we be in these stories? What would it take to convince us?

This coming Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, and the Gospel reading is from John, retelling the story of Jesus meeting Moses and Elija on the mountain, and Peter and two other disciples see the three men in their blinding glory. Peter says to Jesus that they should make three tents for the men to stay in, and as he speaking, a cloud comes over them, and God tells them, "This is my son. Listen to him." This is as close to a Stooge-esque slap on the back of the head as Peter gets. It's not like Peter didn't see Jesus walk on water, cure the blind, make ten loaves and fishes into hundreds. But even this late in the game, Peter has to be reminded there's a plan, and Peter needs to shut up and listen. So even when we decide to follow Christ, sometimes we forget who's doing the leading. And we manage to make mistakes and speak without thinking.

So what if seraphim come to me one Sunday as I sit praying in church with their strange triple sets of wings? What if I'm out for a hike at Starved Rock and a cloud comes over me and I hear God command me to do something for him? What if I meet Christ on the street, or my office, or he darts in front of my car? My tendency is to say that none of this will happen.

But then again, I know God has asked me to reconnect with Him and rescheudle my life around His call to me. And I've done it. He has called me to teach, and I'm doing it. He has asked me to love people that I find very challenging at times, and I keep working at it. Every year, He sends students my way that I have a hard time seeing any trace of Christ in their hearts, but I look and look again. I am not transfigured into a glowing white creature like Moses was, so bright that people asked him to cover his face with a cloth so they could be around him. I probably am more like impetuous Peter who says the dumbest things without thinking about them, or rushes out of the boat to follow Christ onto the lake, and then panics in Wile E. Coyote fashion and sinks.

I think most of us are there. We strive to be the best we can be, and find we fall short. We listen and listen for God's call, but sometimes we don't like what we hear, or we're listening for what we want to hear. Again and again the Bible tells us people are like children and sheep. Tell a four year old you might take her to Dairy Queen, and an hour later, she'll claim, "You promised!" Ask a ten year old boy to clean up his room, and it's like you've spoken to a wall. Sheep are great at following, but left ot their own devices, they will eat things that aren't food and make themselves sick, get lost, get stuck in bushes and rock outcroppings and hurt themselves.

Thank goodness God knows our nature and loves us anyway. He knows he's like a parent who has to say things over a thousand times before it sinks into our heads. He knows he has to ask, and ask, and ask, and ask, and maybe He'll get from us the answer He so wants.