Night on Bald Mountain?

C Lectionary 21 – August 25, 2013

Text: Hebrews 12:18-29

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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May grace be yours, from God our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today’s lesson from Hebrews is a little on the dramatic side. It’s got a little bit of everything for us: “a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet,” along with a mountain so terrifying that Moses says he is trembling with fear.

It reminds me of one of the scenes from the 1940 Disney movie, “Fantasia.” This movie is a collection of cartoon shorts set to different classical music pieces. One of them uses Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” and the movie scene depicts a terrifying mountain. It’s a chilling scene, with a giant monster sitting atop the dark mountain, and bombastic music driving these images of death as they swirl around the screen.

The dramatic scene described by the author of Hebrews actually comes from Exodus 19. Moses and the Israelites have escaped from slavery in Egypt – they are journeying in the wilderness of Sinai, and when they reach Mount Sinai, Moses has an appointment with God. He goes up to the top of the mountain to meet with God and receive instructions – for God is doing something new among them: God is wishing to establish another covenant relationship with them.

And on the day the covenant is made, God appears in a dense cloud, and there is thunder and lightning, and the blast of a trumpet – and the mountain upon which God is appearing is so holy that no one but Moses and Aaron may touch it. No one but Moses and Aaron may come near it. And there is smoke because there is fire, and the ground shakes from an earthquake, and the people are there, consumed by the power and holiness of God. This is when they receive the Ten Commandments and so many of the other laws that will dictate their lives as together, they live as the people of God.

The author of Hebrews reminds his readers of this scene before showing them the new thing that God is doing among them: he says, “…you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant…”

Remember that he is writing to Jewish Christians and so the scene from Sinai is a part of their corporate history – it is history they share and find meaning in together, and so what he is doing here is giving them what will be the next chapter of their corporate history – telling them about Mount Zion, which represents the joy and peace that come from Christ. He describes a scene that is glorious, not terrifying: heaven, filled with angels and the communion of saints, and Jesus, mediating between God and humanity.

And just in case his readers think that what they have seen around them is all that there is –he reminds them that, there are things which are only temporary – there are things that will be shaken. But, he says that we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken – it cannot be shaken because its very foundation is Jesus Christ. We rely upon this strong foundation of Jesus Christ – who came and lived among us; who died on a cross; who rose again from the dead so that we, too, can receive new life – forgiven, and covered by the grace of God.

The author of Hebrews gives us one final image of God, and it is a poignant one: God as a “consuming fire.” I call it “poignant” because it was not too long ago that parts of our state were consumed by fire – destructive fire – fire that would not be contained, no matter how much we threw at it. The fires consumed homes and businesses and life and property – the skies were darkened by smoke and people lived in terror.

To me, what is really incredible about wildfires is the new life that emerges after they consume everything. New life springs up through the ashes – and it is nourished, in fact, by those ashes.

Our God is a consuming God – he reaches into every area and each day of our lives and he does something new among us. We come to Jesus, leaning over and unable to stand up straight, similar to the woman in today’s gospel lesson. Whatever our ailment: physical, emotional, spiritual – Jesus reaches out to us with the healing that only God can offer, and gives us his peace. And it is out of this healing and because of this peace that we are then able to reach out to others with God’s love.

Later on in the service, we will bless our students, teachers, administrators, and parents before you return to the busy-ness of another school year. The year will be a full one – schedules will be jam-packed – lockers will be full of books and – hopefully – brains will be filling with knowledge.

But may you – may we all – also remember the God that consumes us and everything we do – the God that covers us fully with his grace – the God who wants us to share his love with the world. God is doing a new thing among us – as we go back to school, as we begin Fall programming and celebrate twenty-five years of ministry here at ORLC – but each and every day, too. Each and every day, God does a new thing among us through the healing and forgiveness offered because of Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord.

Amen.

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