"I Don't Get It..."
By Rev. William Dohle
Have you ever told a joke that...bombed?? Something you found extremely funny? Something that touched your heart? You shared it with someone and then they just looked at you funny.
"Huh..." they said. "Okay..."
The more you tried to explain it, the more they just didn't get it.
That's what I think of God's humor sometime. We just don't get it.
Parts of the Bible are written to be extremely funny. They're hilarious in fact. But we, with our "take it all too serious" nature just don't get it. We don't understand it. And we wind up just looking at it and going... "Huh..."
Take Moses for instance. Moses has just been called by God to lead the people of Israel out of the way. Only he doesn't want to do it. He's come up with every excuse in the book and strangely God doesn't listen. Instead, God has told him... "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help you both to speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him."
Now all the movies that depict Moses have him speaking to Pharaoh. They have him talking well in fact. In the Ten Commandments, he's boldly walking up to Pharaoh. In The Prince of Egypt he does the same. None of them really understand what's going on here in the text.... Namely... MOSES ISN'T TALKING!
That's right. He's not talking to Pharaoh. Not really. Like some crazy game of telephone, where one person whispers in the ear of another, God is whispering in Moses' ear, Moses is whispering in Aaron's ear, and AARON IS SPEAKING! Aaron is doing the work!
It's like some divine joke! Instead of getting somebody who knew what they were doing. Instead of getting some great orator or some mighty man like we picture in the movies, God chose Moses, a man who couldn't even speak! A man who had to whisper in Aaron's ear and have Aaron play telephone with Pharaoh.
Can you imagine it! Here they go, walking up to Pharaoh. Pharaoh asks, "Why are you here?"
Moses whispers in Aaron's ear. And Aaron says: "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: "Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness."
Pharaoh looks puzzled. "Uh... what?" Or, more precisely in the text, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go."
Moses whispers in Aaron's ear again. "The God of the Hebrews has met with us."
No wonder Pharaoh refused. He was probably rolling with laughter! He probably thought this was some dumb joke! "Get back to work!" he tells them with a laugh.
And when it turned out that it wasn't a joke...Pharaoh got even more angry! This wasn't some mighty man coming to him demanding his rights. It was a criminal! A shepherd! An outcast! True Moses might have grown up in the Pharaoh's home, but that was a long time ago! And to think that this man was playing some joke on him. It was absurd!
We too find ourselves in Pharaoh's shoes...not really understanding God's sense of humor. We think that he should send the mighty, the proud, the powerful, the rich, and the strong to save the day. Instead, God sends the weak and the frail, the poor and the downtrodden. God sends us! And he does so in a way that doesn't make sense to the world. He does so in a way that is, in fact, rather humorous!
God whispers in the ear of pastors and teachers, friends and family, and we, in turn like Aaron, relay that message to others. We pass it on. Sometimes its clear as a bell. Sometimes we pass on what God is trying to say. But other times we do not. Other times our own agenda gets in the way and we think "God couldn't possibly have meant that!"
But still God whispers to our hearts and acts...not in the mighty way we'd think of truths and principles, but in the subtle way of humor and laughter. Like Aaron, we carry the message to a people who look at us puzzled. It doesn't make sense to the world...but that is God's humor at work after all. Is it any wonder that we remember the things that make us laugh more than anything? Let us remember that God invented laughter and invites us to laugh with him, in joy and hope throughout time!
God, I just don't get your humor sometimes. I just don't understand how you could choose the foolish and the weak like me, but you did. Give me confidence in your calling and trust in your grace, in Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
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