March 7, 2021
/The Third Sunday in Lent
Exodus 20: 1-7; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22
The Rev. James M. L. Grace
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” Exodus, chapter 20, verse 4.
I remember years ago in seminary; I had an exam in my old testament class. The exam covered that first five books of the bible, of which today’s reading from the book of Exodus, is one. I did not prepare for this exam as well as I should have, and certainly was not prepared for one of the questions on the exam which asked me to list, in order, all ten of the commandments.
You would think that I would have known them, memorized them, committed them to my heart. Alas, I could only name 6 of the 10. That commandment about not making an idol. I could not remember that one. In one of my many less-than-astounding seminary moments, I received a 77 on that exam. Not one of my better moments!
Some twenty years later, I recall that moment because of its irony: one of the commandments I could not remember to name on my exam (do not make for yourself an idol) was the same commandment I broke upon receiving my average exam grade. How might I have broken a commandment, you ask? It is simple.
You see, back then, like now, there were many idols to which I would willingly bow down to. In seminary, an obvious one was academic excellence. I wanted all A’s. There is nothing wrong with that, you might be thinking, that is what all students should want. Heck that is what I hope my own kids get on their report cards.
There is nothing wrong with good grades, of course, but there is something wrong with them when they become idolatrous, when they begin to matter more than God. In seminary, had I spent as much time in prayer as I did in study or worry about grades, then this would not have been a problem. But it was. And it was even more problematic because I could not see it.
I got carried away with the competitive side of seminary – who gets the best grades, who gets placed in the best congregations, who gets the best hospitals to do their chaplaincy work. “You shall not make for yourself an idol.” Oh, the many idols I had.
Oh, the many idols we have. We carry so many idols around with us, that even with limited seating in the church it is a sheer miracle all of us can fit in here with all the idols we bring in here with us. I will just name a few to get us thinking about them. How about the idol of your political leanings – how your views are right, and those who disagree with you are wrong? How about the idol of your certainty – how right you are, and how knowledgeable and important you are?
People of course aren’t the only ones with idols. Churches have plenty of them, too. A very common church idol is tradition – not that tradition is necessarily bad – it isn’t. But when a church is unable to turn its head from the past in order to engage the future, then that church suffers from idolatry of its history. Do you know what the last seven words are of a dying church? “We have always done it this way.”
I will share one of my idols, and it is the idol of need for agreement. I sometimes feel that a true sign that God is active in my life is if I am in agreement with others. Of course this is not true. Agreement becomes an idol to me when I assume agreement is necessary for progress. It isn’t. You and I can disagree and progress can still be made.
On most weeks, I meet with a close friend who has very little in common with me. We come from different ethnic backgrounds, our political views completely opposite from one another, and we of course both know that. What I appreciate about spending time with this person is that in our conversation, I learn from him about his beliefs, he learns from me. And it is not always easy. He will say some things and I quietly think to myself “do you really believe that?” He probably feels the same. But as different as we both are – he reached out his hand to help me during a time of need. I love this man.
The point is – talking with people who think differently reminds me to not craft idols out of my beliefs. As we move into the third week of Lent, I invite you to write down a list of three idols in your life that place above God. If you are honest, that should not take very much time at all to do. Pick one of those idols. Offer that idol to God in your prayer. Ask God for the strength and the courage to give it up, or at the very least to give you eyes to see it for what it is – an impediment, a crutch, something you do not need any more. AMEN.