“The Golden Calf” Exodus 32: 1-14

I have a fear when it comes to exploring this text together. That fear was captured so well in one of the Kindergarten Sunday school classes I taught in college. We were talking about the Golden Calf and how the Israelites took their gold and made a statue to worship and one of the little boys asked, “why in the world would they do that?” My fear is that we won’t be able to put ourselves into this story. My fear is that we never understand why in the world the ancient Israelites would do this, and as a result we will be unable to examine our own hearts as well. I’m hoping that by naming that particular fear and laying it out before you, that we can ask God to open up our hearts as we explore this text and show us those areas that we need to turn from as well. With all of that said - the story of the Golden Calf. For a prolonged time, the people of Israel have been in the wilderness and they have come to trust the leadership of Moses. Now, they may not often act like it. They may tell Moses that things looked a lot better back in Egypt, but they still followed him. They still trusted him to bring them a word from the Lord. They still looked at him for leadership and guidance. But now, Moses has went off to the mountain to commune with God, and the people are looking around and don’t see an earthly leader. At least not an earthly leader like Moses. Fear starts to grip at their hearts and they start to wonder who they can trust. Who will bring them a word from the Lord. Who will lead them. So they turn to the second in command, Moses’s brother Aaron, and start to beg him to make them a god. Something to worship. Something to follow. Something they could see to put their trust in. Aaron gets a lot of criticism for this moment, and perhaps rightly so, but the truth it that he was thrust into a position that he was unprepared for. People were looking to him to lead in a way that he never had experienced before and it is almost as if he froze. Almost as if all he could do was give in and give the people what they wanted. What they were demanding. Aaron starts collecting the peoples gold and forming them into an image of a calf. Imagine how frightened the people of Israel must have been to give up what they were adorned with. Maybe something of value to them or to their family. And just handing it over to Aaron to be formed into something else. Aaron then not only said that this golden calf was their new God, but said that it was the God that brought them out of the land of Egypt. And that they would offer sacrifices to this new calf-god. Ironically, Moses is up communing with God and receiving the 10 commandments - these markers of what the new nation of Israel would be guided by and known for. One of which is have no other Gods before me. And down below that is exactly what the people were doing - forming another god - with a small letter ‘g’. God demands the Moses go and stop what is happening. While it may be hard for us to think about handing over our jewelry in order to form a new god in the shape of an animal - the truth is, like the Israelites, we turn away from God when we get fearful more than we would like to admit. For some folks, when the going gets tough, the first place they turn isn’t God, but their bank accounts. Or their 401ks. Or their job. Or their relationships. Think back to a few months ago when we were in the thick of the COVID-19 crisis. I think some of you know that pastors are expected to serve in some way, shape, or form with the larger denominations, because that is where our membership lies. Where we live into our vows. For me, that service comes in the form of being the chair of the Board of Pension and Health Benefits for the annual conference. In that crisis moment, I don’t know how many meetings I had about pensions. People were afraid. Afraid that nothing was going to be left for them. It’s that same type of fear that lead people to buy more food at the grocery store than they could ever need, toilet paper for a stock pile. Some would say this was thinking ahead, but when I looked at that situation, I saw folks putting their faith in things. As if when they would accumulate enough of a certain item, then they would be protected. Now am I saying that those things aren’t good. No. They are good gifts from God. But we get in trouble when we try to give the gift priority in our lives over the gift giver. When we put our hope and faith and trust not in God, but instead make things and people into mini-gods in our lives. And these certainly aren’t the only idols we have seen over the last few months. Or the idol of putting ourselves ahead of others. Of thinking that we are more important than another person’s life, so our desires must be met first. Me and mine. Or the idol of testing God. Or saying that your ways are God’s ways. Or… or…. Or…. I was reading a book this week that put this issue into a new perspective for me. It was a picture challenge relating to the 10-commandments, in which people were asked to take pictures of the things that they had made into idols in their lives. What struck me most was the wording. It’s not if you made something into an idol in your life, because the truth is that we all make idols from time to time. But this challenge was a call to search your heart, acknowledge it, and repent as you handed it over to God. Part of human nature is that we crave security. We crave someone or something to put our trust in. But if we are people of the Word, then the only one we should be putting our trust in is God alone. Only sometimes we fall short. Sometimes like the ancient Israelites impatience and fear take over and we stray from God. We start to look for our security elsewhere. Remember that fear that I stated at the beginning of this sermon - that we wouldn’t be able to put ourselves into this story. I hope now as we approach the end, that fear is unfounded. I hope that we take time in the coming hours and days to reflect on what draws us away from God and what we put our hope and trust in, in God’s place. Friends, none of us are immune. None of us is any better or worse than those ancient Israelites long ago. I’m going to invite us now to take time to reflect on the idols in our own lives. Come and confess before the Lord. Amen.