Exodus 17:1-7; Matthew 21:23-32; Philippians 2:1-13

Sigh. Well, isn’t this is getting to be a bit of a habit. Once again, we find Moses having to deal with the quarrelsome people of Israel; only this time they need water. God has already got them out of Egypt, leaving dead Egyptian sons behind.  Then God got them across the sea, leaving dead Egyptian soldiers behind. Then God fed them manna and quail every day, except the Sabbath, leaving no dead anybody behind. Now Moses is asked to provide water, as if the tears of one and a half million sooky Israelites aren’t provision enough. I mean, what’s a prophet gotta do to get some respect around here? The problem seems to be that Israel believes that Moses is their saviour, not God; but if Moses is a man like them, even if in several remarkable ways he is not a man like them, the people believe that Moses needs reminding of his job as leader. After all, isn’t it the work of the congregation to tell the leadership what they’re doing wrong? Of course it is, which is why in today’s story we read how the Israelites very helpfully point out to Moses that they are in a desert and there isn’t any water near the place where God directed them to make camp. In response Moses names the place “test” (Massah) and “quarrel” (Meribah) because the people asked whether The LORD was among them or not.  In other words, this is the location, to be known for all of time, where the quarrelsome people put God to the test.

When in later times the editors of Exodus named the place “Rephidim”, which means both “refresh” and “support”; they believed that God was indeed among the people, and that the one among the people was The LORD. For many reasons I am encouraged by the thought that there were editors in later times, and one of those reasons is because it means that the story had kept on being told. In Psalm 78, as has been the case in Psalm 105 which was set for reading last week, and on two Sundays in August, the story of God’s provision and companionship with Israel in the hard days of the wilderness is remembered to the people. God The LORD is the true leader of Israel and God always displays goodness in doing that leading.

In today’s Christian story, Paul writes to the church in Philippi from gaol. There isn’t agreement among scholars where Paul was imprisoned at the time, but all agree that he was in gaol somewhere. Even from gaol Paul is concerned by the news of infighting in the congregation around two sources; the potentially divisive message of several visiting leaders who were not proclaiming the gospel as it was understood by Paul but were instead preaching their own opinions and agenda, and disputes within the congregation and the cliques being formed around two vocal women. With that background we read with added insight today’s call to unity beneath the leadership of Christ; Christ the humblest man and Christ the LORD Godself. With many different opinions going around, and many little groups forming, look at what Paul says about his desire for the church.

1. Show unity through setting your mind on the same thing.
2. Act out of humility and obedience.
3. Hold the needs and interests of others in high regard.

Why does Paul say that’s the best way: because according to Philippians 2:5 that’s the Jesus way

Jesus always had the purpose of God foremost in his mind; Jesus and the Father were united in this way. Jesus did not have to prove himself, indeed he actually shrugged the Godness from his being so that he could preach more effectively: this is both the nature and the will of God. There was nothing grandiose about Jesus, nothing about him was inflated, because almost everything about him was hidden. Jesus knew that people needed God to be accessible if they were going to be saved, so he made himself as friendly and approachable as possible. Jesus could have come like the cloud of fire seen over Mt Horeb, or as the Lord of Eternity riding across the clouds on a white stallion; but his work was better suited to a man in dusty sandals quietly walking through small villages. That’s how you’re supposed to be, says Paul, reminding us of the same message from two weeks ago not to scare the rocks and oceans to tears just because you were fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image and likeness.

This Philippians passage is a well-known one, and as such it has had many interpreters and scholars pay very close attention to it. I am not interested today as to whether this scripture points to trinitarian ideas about God; I don’t think Paul was trying to make that point anyway. I certainly don’t think the way to read this is “if you are humble like Christ then you will be exalted like Christ” because that also goes against what Paul is saying. What I read today is that the most effective way for Christians inside a local church to behave, is for each person to show the humility of Christ toward one another, and the unity of Christ and the Father in all that they say and do as Christians together. We are reminded in Philippians 2:13 that God is at work; that work is not only taking place amongst us but within us. You heard a bit about that from Irene and Julie last week

Each of the synoptic gospels record an episode where the question of Jesus’ authority to teach was raised by the Pharisees, the recognised religious and legal leaders and scholars. In part it is a question of patronage, and in part it is a question of academic integrity: “whose model of teaching are you following”, they ask, “we don’t know of any substantial scholarship which supports your interpretation of the scriptures and our traditions”. In straightforward language they ask Jesus, “who allowed to preach, and who allowed to preach what you are preaching”. There isn’t much humility there is there; they’re feeling threatened.

Jesus answers their question with another question: “you tell me first,” Jesus says, “who allowed John the Baptiser to preach, and who allowed him to preach the message which he preached?”  It is the same question, but it is a loaded question since John was held in high regard by the crowds: the Pharisees see the trap and deftly step out of it. “Um, dunno” they say, it probably sounds better in Hebrew, but basically they shrug their shoulders at Jesus. Jesus shrugs back and says, “well if you ‘dunno’, then I’m not the one to tell you.”

The question of authority is an important one when change is taking place. Eighteen years ago, as I have told you before. I worked in a prison. As an employee of HM Prison Service I carried authority in the prison even though I was on the bottom rung of the ranks of uniformed women and men; and my authority was indicated by two things:

1. I wore the Queen’s uniform, which was plain black and white and bore a “crown” logo on it in various places.
2. I carried keys.

Most people in prisons in England and Wales are not allowed to carry keys within the prison. Some people in prisons in England and Wales are not allowed to wear plain black and white clothes. The fact that I was allowed, indeed expected, to do both was a sign of my authority.

Yet, like my authority in this church, my authority in prison was delegated to me.  Ultimately, I was a representative of HM The Queen, via the Governor of the Prison, the Duty Governor (Victor-2), the Duty Principal Officer (Oscar-1) and the Duty Officer in the Gatehouse. If I asked a prisoner, a visitor, or a civilian employee of the prison to do something, and they wished to question who I was to ask what I was asking the answer was obvious: I am wearing the Queen’s uniform and I am carrying keys. You go (or don’t go) where I tell you, and you go (or don’t go) when I tell you. I remember one episode where a builder brought his truck in to do some maintenance work in the prison and I was his escort. Once he had parked his truck he gave me the keys from the ignition, which was protocol. When we went to leave, we discovered that his truck had become bogged, and after a short period of failed extraction, he said to me, “I have another appointment so I’ll need you to give me back my keys and let me out of the yard to walk back and make a phone call.” I told him, politely yet firmly, that he was going nowhere without an escort, and that I was going nowhere without that truck. (You don’t just leave motor vehicles abandoned inside a prison, mate.) In the end, he had to wait until a tractor was brought in to tow him out of the bog, and for me to accompany the truck back to the gate.

Jesus spoke the Father’s message with the Father’s authority, and Jesus pointed to John the Baptiser having done the same. Like the driver of that truck in my gaol, the Pharisees might have wanted to question Jesus’ right to express authority, and the form of the authority he expressed; but ultimately Jesus was a servant of God, even as I was an officer of the Queen, and with that in mind Jesus was authorised by God to speak and to speak what he spoke, when he spoke it. We should always pay attention to the one whom John 1:1 calls the Word [who is] God.

The LORD The Word is among us. Yet The LORD in all of God’s LORD-ness is quiet and patient, feeding and guiding us unhurriedly in the everyday. Whether you identify with the Pharisee seeking clarity in wisdom, or the Hebrew seeking drinkability in the desert water, there is no need to complain. God knows what you need, God knows that it’s God you need it from, and God is already here and at work providing for you through the work of Holy Spirit and the attention of the Elders. As God waited for Moses and the tribal elders at Horeb, so God waits for us to obey the command to come and see. If we come, we see; if we refuse to listen, we won’t hear. Amen.