The Golden Calf - by Revd Charmaine

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The Golden Calf
Sunday 19th October, 2008
by Revd. Charmaine Braatvedt
Exodus 32: 1 – 14. and Matthew 22: 1 - 14

At present we are following the journey of the Hebrew people from Egypt to the Promised Land as described in the book of Exodus.

Throughout this journey, God’s presence is revealed through his generous provision for his people .

As we follow the story we learn that

God provided manna and quail when they were hungry.
He provided living water when they were thirsty.
He provided a pillar of fire and a cloud to guide them like a compass when they were lost.
He provided them with the wisdom of the 10 Commandments when they needed moral guidance and
he provided them with an epiphanal experience of his presence on Mount Sinai when they felt abandoned by him.

In return God expected of them to trust in his love and provision and to live according to his laws and values.

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” Exodus 19: 5

It is interesting to note the way in which God leads and guides his people in the story.

At every turn he uses Moses and Aaron’s leadership to provide for his people and to inform, guide and direct their course.

In doing so God once again demonstrates the Biblical pattern of using the one he has chosen as leader to be the agent of his grace, to provide for the spiritual, emotional and physical care of his people.

Clearly, the efficacy of working this way in the Exodus narrative, is very much dependant on Moses and Aaron’s willingness to be used by God and on their integrity and commitment to doing what is right in the sight of God.

We can learn much about leadership from this passage which shows Moses’ leadership in a good light, while Aaron seems to come off rather badly in the leadership stakes.

Aaron’s great sin was that his commitment to doing what he knew was right in the sight of God slipped and he allowed himself to be influenced by the clamour of the crowd, and so he led the people into the sin of idolatory by making for them a golden calf.

Perhaps he did so because of his self interest,

he wanted to remain popular with them,

perhaps he lacked courage and was fearful about what they might do to him if he did not indulge them,
perhaps he had became distracted, wondering what had happened to Moses and felt abandoned by him.

Whichever, his leadership proved to be fatally flawed when the testing time came.

On his return from Mount Sinai, Moses judged Aaron for allowing the fear and hysteria of the crowd to get to him and for allowing them to get out of control and go down a path that led them away from God.

“What did these people do to you that you led them into such great sin?” he asks Aaron in verse 21

Aaron replies in Verse 22:

“Do not be angry my Lord, you know how prone these people are to evil.”

Aaron’s defence is almost laughable especially as he goes on to say:

“they gave me the gold and I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.”

There seems to be echoes of the Garden of Eden and Adam blaming Eve for their decision to eat of the forbidden fruit.

It wasn’t my fault!

On the other hand the story shows Moses’ true leadership qualities. Here is a man who has caught the vision, understands the direction in which God is calling his people and has the strength of character to do what is right. It falls to Moses to bring the people back on track.

On the mountain, he displays great courage and selflessness when he takes the enormous risk of pleading the case of the people he has been called to lead and successfully enlists God’s mercy.

Then Moses comes down into the valley and proceeds to make a series of hard calls which bring the people back on track. He does so with scant regard for his own popularity and instead applies excellent leadership skills and good judgement to the task of doing the right thing.

So here we have two leaders. Both had great potential. One, Aaron, however was more interested in being popular and looking after his own safety and so when crunch time came he was unable to make the hard calls of good leadership and instead led the people astray.

The other was Moses. He proved to be a man of integrity and good judgement. It was Moses’ leadership that brought the people of God back into line and onto the right track and this is why he is remembered as one of the greatest leaders of the people of God.

As I reflected on this story in the context of the present day here in Aotearoa New Zealand, I did so against a political backdrop of the pending general election on 11^th November.

I began to wonder how many of our political leaders have the metal to make the hard calls and to do the right thing even when the odds are stacked against their own personal interests.

Presently our newspapers and TV‘s are full of slogans which promise to meet the needs of a disgruntled people. Slogans promising Tax cuts, the lower interest rates and a get tough on criminals policy.

Billboards with portraits of politicians with big gleaming white smiles line the streets and add to the election hype.

One wonders which of these aspiring leaders would be prepared to do the right thing as Moses did and truly use the powers we give them on election day to be mediators of God’s truth and his justice and his grace?

Which of them would be prepared to risk unpopularity to make the hard calls that will keep this nation on track, as a country whose people live according to God honouring principles of doing the right thing?

You and I are in a place where as the people of God, as Christians we need to exercise discernment in trying to decide who to vote for.

With such an array of convincing orators, how do we discern who is right?

Bishop Richard Randeson in his article, ‘Should the Church get involved in politics?” offers us some very helpful advice.

He suggests that instead of asking questions like “who do we like?” as so many of the gallup polls encourage us to ask or “who is right?”, we as God’s people, as Christ’s hands and feet in the world, should first ask “What is right in the sight of God?”

In other words our party votes should be exercised on the basis of which party or politician’s policies are most compatible with and support the lifestyle and value system that God expects us to adopt and espouse as his people.

These include

1. living by God honouring values and morals as summarised in the 10 Commandments;

2. addressing the needs and aspirations of the whole of society not just those of a select few and

3. living up to the responsibilities of being privileged human beings . These include being good stewards of all of creation.

Translating such principles into how we vote in the general election means asking some very pertinent questions of our politicians and their parties.

When deciding who to vote for we might ask:

Does this person or party have the integrity to do what is right in the eyes of God regardless of what it might do to their popularity?

Does this person or party have the commitment and compassion to address the needs and aspirations of all the people who make up our society including the marginalised, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged?

In the parable set for today we see that the king encouraged his servants to be inclusive, to go out into the streets and to gather all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good to fill the king’s banqueting chamber.

Does this person or party promote a principled vision of what might be good for the whole of creation rather than appeal to the self-interest of a select few? This includes an agenda to protect the natural environment.

For too long the church has been silent about the way in which humanity has abused the privileged position it holds as stewards of creation.

Does a party’s policies address environmental issues and matters of climate change with an urgency appropriate to the seriousness of the planet’s condition?

Now I think we can safely assume that there are political leaders of great integrity in all the political parties standing in these elections. Our task is to seek them out.

I am not advocating that all Christians need vote for the same party, hold the same political views or support the same political candidates.

It is far better for Christians to draw on the wisdom of the biblical stories and principles within our tradition which teach us

to value God’s truth, justice and love in our world;
to preserve God’s creation so that it is able to continue to meet the needs of his people and
to offer people of all social and economic classes opportunities to exercise their gifts.

And then to actively and intentionally identify leaders who will work within the parameters of this wisdom as they lead our nation.

On Tuesday night there is a forum to meet the electoral candidates at the Depot in Clarence Street and on Friday 24^th again at Stanley Bay Bowling Club. Here is a chance to come up close and gauge their metal.

We have been given the story of Moses, Aaron and the golden calf. Let’s use its wisdom to spur us on to actively seek out our modern day Moses, those leaders who will lead us down God honouring ways and let us pray for discernment to identify who they might be at this time and in this context, as we prepare to cast our vote come November.

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