Face to Face

Deut 34: 1-12
Matthew 22: 34-46

I was speaking with someone the other day and the fact that Moses never made it to the Promised Land really seemed to disturb them. I remember them saying something like, “Well, that doesn’t seem fair!”. It becomes even more disturbing when a person continues to read the rest of the passage and notices that the author says there was never again a prophet like Moses, one that had spoken to God face to face.

The story pretty much moves on from there with Joshua being the new leader and Moses buried outside the Promised Land. The more we ponder this passage, the more irritated we might become. God let’s Moses SEE the Promised Land with his own eyes, but then tells him he will never enter, and sure enough Moses passes away.

This is a man who for forty years, has put up with some serious crap from the people and some serious tests by God. Moses had to deal with the stress of getting the Hebrews together in Egypt, convincing them to leave all they have ever known and once he gets them on board, then he has to face down a pharaoh. This is not just any leader of a nation – this is a man considered a God to his people and telling a God anything is asking to be killed. But Moses does it and God backs him up with the ten plagues.

Then, once he gets the Hebrews free to head out into the wilderness, the Pharaoh sends out soldiers to get them back. Can you imagine the ridicule Moses would have endured when he tells them that his staff is going to part the waters so they can cross? Now they are across, the soldiers are dead and the Hebrews start complaining that without food or water, they will die out here. Moses goes to God and I can just hear him saying, “Look, they have a point. I trust you, I do, but they are scared for their families. Can you throw us a bone? Preferably one with meat on it!”

So God gives them manna and dew to drink in the mornings, and quail to eat at night. Then they get to Mount Sinai and while Moses is up on top of the mountain speaking to God and receiving the Ten Commandments, the Hebrews have begged Aaron to create for them a new god to worship since it was taking too long for this one to come through for them. Moses comes down, lugging these heavy, beautiful stone tablets to see a glittering calf being worshiped. In a fit of anger, he breaks the tablets and throws a huge temper tantrum. Think of this, once he has calmed down, realizing what he has done, he knows he has to go back up the mountain and say to God, “Um.. so.. the tablets got broken, because I broke them when I was angry… and um.. can we have some new ones please?”

Moses was a mediator. He had to constantly mediate between the Hebrews and God. One would do something the other didn’t understand and Moses would have to interpret it to the other. Moses led a hard life, and every now and then his anger got the best of him. The moment where God had had enough of Moses’ temper was with the water and the rock. The Hebrews were very thirsty and once again complaining about God not taking care of them (because apparently 40 years of food and water from heaven just wasn’t enough to convince them).

God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would gush forth. Moses, being angry at the Hebrews’ lack of faith, frustrated with God about how long it was taking to get to the Promised Land, struck the rock twice and water gushed forth. But because of how he disobeyed God, God told Moses that he would never enter the Promised Land. While God appreciated all that Moses had done, God was tired of Moses’ anger and the way he lashed out when his temper was up.

But when you look at all that Moses had done for so very many years – it still seems like if anyone earned the Promised Land- it was Moses! But this character flaw of his continually got the better of him. So are you as disturbed by the way Moses’ life ends as I was? What can we learn from Moses’ story?

This was a man like no other, blessed like no other and yet, even he was not able to please God fully. I was reading a book the other day where the author told a story about her mother asking her who her favorite biblical character was and she refused to tell her. She said that at 8 years old her favorite character was Moses because he always managed to disobey God and not get into trouble. But of course she didn’t want to tell her mother that! The sad truth is that Moses did get into trouble. He was shown the goal he had worked forty long years for, but he was never allowed to fully obtain it. Moses died with regrets even as he would have been proud of all he had accomplished.

Now, I know what we can learn from this story. How many of us let character flaws continually drag us back to our old ways? How often do we say we will never do that again, whatever it is that we know is wrong, but then somehow we find ourselves doing it anyway? Perhaps you are quick to anger like Moses and you do and say things you regret when you’ve calmed down. Perhaps you tend to worry too much about things you cannot fix, and allow that worry to control your life. Perhaps you depend on alcohol or drugs when you should be depending on God. Perhaps you spend too much time working and not enough time with your family. Perhaps you like to overeat when you’re feeling especially emotional. Perhaps you have moments of such sadness that no matter what is happening around you, no one can reach you. Whatever it is, we all have a character flaw, we all have a thorn in our side that continually plagues us throughout our life.

It is our presiding sin, the one that seems to trip us up and prevent us from making it to the Promised Land on our own just like Moses. We wonder how we will overcome it and we worry and stress about how we are not good enough to get to heaven because we cannot seem to get over this lifelong sin.

Moses may not have made it to the earthly Promised Land, but God certainly had a table prepared for him in heaven. Moses was given his heavenly reward by being faithful to God even though he got angry. God does not ask us to be perfect and without sin. That was Jesus’ job description because God knew none of us could do it. If not even Moses, the one person that got to speak to God face to face could do it, God knew no one else could live a life free of sin either.

It doesn’t mean we ever stop trying. As Christians, we are called to spread the good news and be faithful to God through our love of Jesus Christ. Being faithful takes effort – just ask Moses! Sometimes we stumble along the path, but we get through our hardship, we get through those moments of weakness knowing that Jesus is walking this path with us. This journey through the desert is not one made alone – Moses knew that and we know it too.

If we hold on to our faith, if we hold onto our love for Jesus and our love for our fellow human beings, God will be able to forgive us those character flaws. God will be able to forgive us our sins when we continually come back with red cheeks and downcast eyes. The journey we take is not an easy one, and sometimes our deserts last a good, long while and we become disheartened. But the one reassurance I can give to you is that no matter where you are in your journey you are not alone. You have never been alone. Jesus stays close to you and even when you are at your darkest hour, the light of his love will get you to the Promised Land. It may not be on your terms, it may not be on your time schedule, but Jesus will help you get there.

Amen.