The Great Stone Face
There is a famous short story
titled, The Great Stone Face,
written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the story there is a rock formation imagined
to resemble the shape and features of a human face. There is a prophecy,
alleged to descend from the Native Americans, that some day a hero would be
born in that town whose features would resemble the Great Stone Face. So the
people are expectantly waiting for the hero. There is a boy whose name is Ernest. He is very inspired by this
prophecy. He himself is expectantly waiting. As time passes, one by one the
heroes who claim themselves “I am the one” visit the town and seek public
recognition. First, a very successful business man, Mr. Gathergold visits, then charismatic veteran, General Old Blood-and-Thunder, and then
presidential candidate, Mr. Old Stony
Phiz. Each of them enjoys being recognized for the time being, but later it
is found that all of them have character flaws that prevent them from
fulfilling the prophecy. As time passes by, Ernest has become an aged man. He
used to be a hill farmer, but now he is a local lay preacher. One evening, he
delivers the message outside where the worshipers can see the Great Stone Face
high above. His words have power, because they harmonize with the life which he
has always lived. They are the words of life. After the message, the people
realize and shout, “Behold! Behold! Ernest is himself the likeness of the Great
Stone Face!” But, Ernest walked slowly homeward, knowing that he did fall short
of greatness, and still hoping that some wiser and better person than himself
would by and by appear.
Life of Moses
In this story Ernest is an ordinary
person, who struggles with the temptations of money, power, fame, but at the
same time pursues greatness and truth. In today’s passage we meet another
ordinary person whose name is Moses. D. L. Moody sums up 120 years of Moses’
life in this way: “Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; then he spent forty years on the backside of the desert
realizing he was nobody; finally, he
spent the last forty years of his life learning what God can do with a nobody!”
From somebody to nobody, then to God’s
body. Although each life journey is unique, I think somehow we can resonate
with Moses’ journey. Moses is you,
Moses is me, Moses is us – We are somebody, we are nobody, we
are God’s body. Where are you on your journey?
Today’s passage tells us a story
about how Moses has become God’s body. It tells us how God calls Moses and
prepares him to live out his calling. Henry Blackaby in his book Experiencing
God shares with us seven realities of experiencing God from the life of
Moses.
1. God is always at work around you. (It was not Moses, but God who found him and called him from the burning bush.)
2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal. (“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”)
3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work. (“Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt.”)
4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways. (This reality is taken from the Bible as a whole, not just from Moses’ story.)
5. God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action. (Moses had to say either “Yes, I will go,” or “No, I don’t want to go.” There is no in between.)
6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing. (Moses had to leave his place, his career, his family and face the giant, Pharaoh.)
7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you. (God spoke with Moses face-to-face, as one speaks to a friend.)
Reality 5
In particular, I want to draw your
attention to the reality 5:
“God’s invitation for you to
work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and
action.”
When God called Moses, what was his response?
“Who am I that I should go to
Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (3:11)
“What if they ask me your name?”
(3:13)
“O my Lord, I have never been
eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your
servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” (4:10)
Perhaps Moses thought that God
would fix his weakness. Perhaps he expected that God would give him a new
ability to speak eloquently. But still Moses didn’t talk well. He was not good
at words even after he was called. He still stuttered and stammered. That
didn’t change. God didn’t give him a magic wand. Instead, he promised his
presence, asking him, “What is that in your hand?” (4:2) Moses relied, “A
staff.” God said, “Now go, I will be with you… Take in your hand this staff,
with which you shall perform the signs” (vv. 12, 17). For Moses, that was a
crisis of belief that required faith and action.
I don’t know about you, but for me
I see myself in Moses. Public speaking is not my strong suit. Making new
friends is not my strong suit. When I was called to ministry, I expected that
God would give me a new ability to speak well. I expected that God would make
me a more social person. But nothing changed. Preparing and delivering message
has never been easy for me. Every week basically I go through birth pangs.
Every time I visit parishioners or meet new people, I need to prepare myself. But
because I know that I am not good at words and people, that makes me pray more,
depend on God more, and seek God’s presence all the more. In this regard, when
I am weak, I am strong.
Broken and Beloved
There once lived a water carrier in
India. He used two large pots for his task. One of the pots had a big crack in
it while the other pot was perfect. The perfect pot always delivered a full
portion of water from the stream to the master’s house, while the cracked pot
arrived only half full each day. For two years this water carrier made the same
journey. The perfect pot became proud, while the cracked pot felt ashamed.
Finally, one day by the stream, the cracked pot spoke to his owner, “I am
ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize that I have only been able to
deliver half my water to your house.” Then the water carrier replied, smiling,
“As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers
along the path.” On that trip from the stream, the cracked pot looked around.
“Did you notice there are flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the
other pot’s side?” the water carrier commented. “That’s because I have always
known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted seeds on your side
of the path, and every day while we passed these spots, you watered them.
Without you being just the way you are, I would not have this beauty to grace
my master’s house.”[1]
In Japanese, this
cracked pot in the picture is called Kintsugi, meaning “to join with
gold.” It’s the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together
with gold. This restoration process usually takes up to three months. The
fragments are carefully glued together, left to dry for a few weeks and then
adorned with gold running along its cracks. This art of repair is built on the
idea that in embracing “scars” as a part of the design, we can create an even
more beautiful piece of art. If we use Kintsugi as a metaphor for our journey,
God’s grace is like “gold” in this restoration process. God’s grace – his
presence and his power in our lives – turns our scars into stars. God’s
grace turns our weakness and brokenness into something more unique, beautiful
and resilient. So not in spite of our weakness, but because of it, God’s
power is made perfect. “We ourselves are like fragile clay jars
containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is
from God, not from ourselves” (2 Cor 4:7, NLT).
Sisters and brothers in Christ, God
is always at work in our lives. God is real and personal. He is reaching out to
us, calling us, inviting us to join him in his work. You may feel that you are
not ready. You may feel that you are not equipped. But you are called as just
you are. Do you hear God calling you today? May the Lord open our eyes to see
and open our ears to hear. May we say “Yes” to his great invitation today. And
we will come to know God face to face and become a beautifully broken pot,
kintsugi, proclaiming God’s great power in our weakness. Amen.
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