Journeying from No to Yes

For millions of years, the rock stood silent, unmercifully baked by the Sinai sun.  Each day it murmured No and sat, motionless and lifeless.  Then, one day, a fellow named Moses comes along and smacks the rock in our story with a staff, and after a million million times of saying No, the rock springs to life, shouts Yes, and gushes life-giving water.  Will you pray with me?  “God you are our well-spring.  Be living water to us today.  Amen.”

Our biblical testaments are age-old love stories between God and humankind.  And like all love stories, the biblical stories are filled with love language and metaphor trying to explain the soaring relationships between humanity and God.  Our story from Exodus today is about an every-day miracle of provision and grace.  Just like our human love stories use metaphors to express love and passion and devotion, our biblical stories are also full of the language of love and joy.  But let’s unfold this love story a bit more.

How many of you have ever been to the Sinai peninsula?  I have walked in and flown many times over the Sinai.  Hot, dusty, uninviting, totally uninhabitable.  But the Israelites impossibly survived there for 40 years.  You cannot survive in the Sinai for 40 years, or 40 months, or 40 days or even 40 hours without food and water.  Last week we read the story of God’s provision of food, and this week God provides water from a rock.  Somehow, the Israelites survived, which means somehow, they either found or were provided food and water.  Their survival on this journey is a miracle, and the stories of how food and water were provided to them are stories of the miracle of God’s grace provision.  Our manna today may come from the supermarket, and our water may gush from a tap, but it’s appearance really is miraculous.  Almost one billion people on this earth, one out of six human beings, do not have access to potable water.  Any sort of clean water would be a living miracle to them.  So imagine for a moment how this story of clean drinkable water sounds differently to those many people without good water.  Clean water is a miracle.

The Israelites cried out that they were thirsty, and God responded Yes.  In a culture and society where we are so often told No, a graceful Yes is startling.  No, you are not thin enough.  No, you are not pretty enough.  No, you are not smart enough, or No, you are not good enough.  But God hears the complaining Israelites, and instead of No, water flows.  Just like the water that had been held back when they escaped the Pharaoh’s armies or when Joseph had predicted famine.  Water is a metaphor for the provision of God.  Step across the water of the Jordan into the promised land.

And then we hear this parable about Two sons, one who says Yes, and does nothing, and one who says No, but acts anyway.  Jesus emphasizes that the one who says No but acts anyway did the will of the father.  Actions speak louder than words, Jesus teaches.  This parable, and the two that follow, are in response to the Pharisee’s questions about where Jesus gets his authority.  The Pharisees question Jesus’ authority, and Jesus forces them to reveal that they are more concerned about saving their hides than they are about the truth.  If they had answered Jesus question to the Pharisees about the source of John’s authority by saying that John’s authority was from God, Jesus would have then asked them why they did not believe John’s message.  And if they said John was not speaking from God’s authority, it would have angered the crowds.  The Pharisees, realizing  Jesus had turned their deception right back at them, took the cowardly way out, and said they did not know in whose authority John spoke.  And Jesus  demonstrated that they were duplicitous. 

Now to be clear, sometimes it is honorable to say, “I don’t know.”  In our lively sermon talk-back last Sunday, we came to several places where we said, “We don’t know, let’s explore this together.”  But the Pharisees here feigned not-knowing to avoid responsibility and culpability.  They were trying to trap Jesus by saying one thing and really intending another.  It backfired, and their two-faced motives were exposed.  In this parable about the Yes Son and the No Son, Jesus fires right back at the Pharisees by saying they are the son who says Yes to save face, but do not follow through in action.  Ever know anybody like this?

Of course, folks are still doing what Jesus accuses the Pharisees of doing here.  Saying Yes to avoid conflict, but really meaning No.  As in our parable, a superficial Yes when you really mean No is dishonorable in God’s Realm. I have been to churches that say, “All are welcome” but what they really mean is everyone who believes like they do are welcome.  They say Yes like the Pharisees, but they really mean No. 

But how does saying No or Yes address the question of authority?  Watch what people do, how they act, Jesus says, in this way, you can discern whether someone is telling you a true or false gospel.  If they say they love everyone as Jesus teaches, but then their lives are full of exclusion or judgment, then they are saying Yes but living No.  Sometimes watching in silence is also saying No when we need to act by living Yes.  You can discern the authority of a person by watching what they do Jesus says, not just listening to what they say.  So here is an example:
A group of wise folks made this statement way back in 1997.  They said, We Believe:
• That God knows, cares for and loves all persons regardless of the differences that set us apart.
• That God forgives and reconciles all persons through Jesus Christ.
• That God sustains and empowers all persons though the Holy Spirit.
• That every person brings unique, god-given gifts that the Christian community can affirm.
• That the common commitment to Jesus Christ binds us into a caring community of persons of diverse gifts, backgrounds, needs, and life situations.
• That the church is in need of forgiveness whenever it fails to affirm the full humanity of any person or group.

Their statement continues: Why do we need a statement like this?
Many congregations feel they are already open to everyone.  Yet the history of the church has included times when public statements have been made judging and excluding some people from the community of faith.  At other times, the Church has been silent and therefore complicit in society’s prejudices. By naming ourselves an Open and Affirming church, we are saying that our doors and hearts are open to all God’s people.”

Of course, we all know a synonym for Yes is ‘Affirming,’ and this is your Open and Affirming, or Yes, statement.  So let’s use our passage today to test its authority.   Does this congregation live this statement into action, or are these just words?   Do you know any folks that have been welcomed here as a result of this welcoming position of your heart?  I certainly stand before you as a living testament to the truth of your words in action.  You are living Open and Affirming faith lives, Open and Yes-saying lives.  Thanks be to God that you are living the true gospel of love, and not just saying the words.

So to me, Spring Glen Church has embodied the Gospel by living Yes.  Together, we are beginning a journey of Yes together.  This is not going on a trip.  A trip returns back to where you began.  Instead, this is beginning of a journey of Yes together, where, like the Israelites, we travel out into the wilderness, and depend upon God for spiritual food and graceful water not knowing our final destination.  Our journey together is a journey and pilgrimage to places unknown, like Abraham’s journey into the wilderness.  We do not know our destination, but we have faith that we are called to journey towards Christ together.  You have dared to say Yes when the terrified world seems so often to say No.  But you are not just saying Yes, but you are living Yes in so many ways.  Those who seek and journey toward God by living Yes will usher in God’s Realm on this earth.  I am so honored and proud to join you on our journey of Yes.

You are living Yes in discipleship, yes in stewardship.  Yes in service.  Yes in justice and compassion.  You are living Yes in peace.  Yes in inclusion.  Yes in love.  You are faithfully smacking the rock and very foundation of our faith, and Yes is gushing out.  Thanks be to God!  Say Yes with me!  Yes, Yes, and Amen.