Stephen
Terry, Director
Dealing
with Bad Decisions
Commentary
for the December 21, 2019 Sabbath School Lesson
"But if serving
the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the
gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15, NIV
During the waning weeks of winter in early 1836, a
pivotal battle between Americans, who had immigrated to the Mexican state of
Texas, and the Mexican armed forces under General Santa Anna took place at a
small mission station, where present-day San Antonio is located, known as the
Alamo. The Mexican government was divided over immigration. Allowing Americans
in would boost population density and serve as a bulwark against aggression by Native
American tribes, but Mexico was also opposed to the expansion of slavery into
the territory as those American immigrants often brought their slaves with
them. The Texans, many of them from slave states had developed the perspective
that their economy could not survive without slavery. Since Mexico was in opposition
to African slavery, the Texans sought to wrench Texas from Mexico and enter the
United States as a new slave state. Naturally, those southern senators and
congressmen in the United States Legislature favored the expansion of slavery
into Texas and were sympathetic to that agenda. It is perhaps not incidental
that the leaders of the Alamo's resistance against Mexico, William Travis, James
Bowie and David Crockett were all from slave-holding states that a few decades
later would rise up against the American Union in an attempt to maintain the
same slave-based economy that caused them to fight against Mexico. Of course,
the latter war did not find the success found earlier against the Mexicans.
In the Alamo, maybe 200-250 men, calling themselves "Texians,"
stood against an army of approximately nine times that number. During the siege,
while flight was still possible, Colonel Travis offered the chance to leave to
anyone who did not wish to engage in battle with the Mexican army. The legend
says that he used his sword to draw a line in the sand, asking that those who
would join him to come to his side of the line. All but one person did so. Hoping
for reinforcements that never arrived, the defenders desperately held out for a
week and a half before they were wiped out almost to a man. Santa Anna, having
had his troops driven from Texas earlier by these Texians, intended to make a
horrific example of the results of resistance to Mexican rule. Unfortunately,
instead of quashing any hope the Texians had for independence, he made martyrs
of the defenders of the Alamo. The cry of "Remember the Alamo!" was
on the lips of another Texian army under Sam Houston, another leader originally
from a southern slave state, as they rolled over the Mexican Army at the Battle
of San Jacinto, defeating Santa Anna's forces in less than half an hour, capturing
Santa Anna and winning independence for Texas. Eight years later, Texas was
admitted to the Union as the 28th state. Sixteen years after that
they were to secede and replace Old Glory with the Stars and Bars of the
Confederacy. In the end, the defense of slavery which precipitated the events
that led to the Alamo and the deaths that occurred there was a lost cause. But
even bad decisions can move us forward to a future we didn't anticipate and is
better than our lights would have allowed. Texas today is a bulwark of our
democracy and loyal in many ways to the principles of what it means to be
American.
In our lesson this week, Nehemiah also figuratively
draws a line in the sand. He states no one is allowed to be married to a
non-Jew. Those who are to join him on his side of the line must get rid of
their non-Jewish wives and children. Just as with Colonel Travis, all but a
handful come to Nehemiah's side. While the reason given in Nehemiah's account
is to be faithful to God, one cannot help but wonder at the motivations behind
such an action. Did some see this as an opportunity to escape difficult
marriages? Did others comply because of the threat of the loss of their
livelihood, such as priests being excluded from receiving their share of the
offerings for them and their families? Economic incentives can be very powerful
motivators. But a person coerced into obedience will often bolt when no one is
looking and in fact that did happen when some later took back the wives and
children they loved. Nehemiah equates this with sin, but love and compassion
are more likely the reason a man would sacrifice his standing for his family. Perhaps
because he wrote the narrative, we are not told of the level of suffering
endured by those families separated by Nehemiah's edict. That apparently was
not even a consideration to him. He believed in a harsh God that would punish his
people for marrying non-Jews. Yet that same God blessed the marriage of Salmon
and Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute. He also blessed Boaz's marriage to Ruth,
the Moabitess. It was through these marriages that God brought forth the
Messiah, Jesus. If Salmon and Boaz had followed the rules supporting Nehemiah's
draconian edict, would it have derailed the divinely arranged birth of Jesus? One
cannot help but wonder, if the Jews were God's ordained people, why did God
then go outside of Judaism in this way? Perhaps it is because the Jews had
forgotten that God was not the God of the Jews, but of the entire creation, including
all of mankind.
Sadly, Nehemiah's "reforms" resulted in an
obdurate nation, unwilling to open its doors to the very people God was trying
to save. This resulted in strong opposition from the leaders in Israel to the
ministry of Jesus. These leaders were walking in the traditions of Nehemiah
rather than in the character of God. Their harshness created burdens for others[i] just as Nehemiah's edicts
did for those families he tore apart. Jesus rebuked them for this. Built upon
this foundation of attempting to force themselves into obedience, the Jews
multiplied regulation upon regulation to hedge up any possibility of wandering
astray. They did not realize that in doing so they were also putting God into a
box so well-prepared that their minds could not even conceive of him operating
outside of. But God has often done exactly that. Not only in the cases of Rahab
and Ruth. He also brought the adulteress Bathsheba into the Messianic line, as
well as Solomon, her son, the egregious polygamist. Apparently, to the Nehemiahs
among us who cannot conceive of God doing anything outside the rule book, they
can no more accept such a free-wheeling God any more than the Jews then or now
can accept the idea of Jesus being the promised Messiah. But just like those
Texians at the Alamo who may have thought they were creating a world were
slavery was the norm, the fruit of all that opposition to compassion, mercy and
grace God can turn to something far greater than our limited vision can produce
on its own.
If we love others, including our families, God is far
more likely to bless us for that than if we "kick them to the curb"
for their failings like Nehemiah demanded. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
emphasized the need for compassion toward others, cautioning us to be more like
God who blesses both good and evil alike.[ii] Rulemaking is all about
perfectionism. We believe that if we follow enough rules we will be righteous
and therefore worthy of heaven. But the perfection that God requires is that we
be perfect in love toward one another. No amount of sacrificially giving up
things to be righteous will be sufficient, because God requires mercy, not
sacrifice.[iii] Sacrifice is depriving oneself
of something in order to be righteous. Mercy is filling the hand of the needy.
Sacrifice causes us to look down on others as unworthy who have not made it to
our level by making similar sacrifices. Mercy lifts others up to our level by
blessing them as God has blessed us. We cannot, like Nehemiah, exclude others
from God's blessing and call ourselves righteous. It would ring hollow. Serving
God is not a matter of building temples and walls that Jesus said would only be
torn down. It is a change of heart, recognizing how hard our hearts have been
and allowing the Holy Spirit to replace that hardness with a heart of compassion
for others. Too often, we have made our desire for heaven known while creating
a hell for one another here and now. We are too often selfish and worship
others who reflect our selfishness rather than the image of God, whose
compassion overwhelms the box we try to build for him and opens a way for all
who would seek his grace to find it. How wonderful if we could do the same.
