November 2nd,
2014 “Bittersweet
Ending” Rev. Heather Jepsen
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
This morning’s reading was in the
lectionary to be read last week but I wanted to save it for today because I
wanted to finish out the Moses cycle together with you. Also, it is a perfect reading for our All
Saint’s celebration as this is basically the obituary for our friend Moses.
We have spent two and a half months
here in worship telling the story of Moses.
We began with his very beginning, a small baby floating in the reeds; a
kernel of hope for the people of Israel.
We studied Moses’ call, as the voice from a burning bush promised to
save the people of Israel. We marveled
at the Red Sea, and wondered on what a gift it is to have friends beside us as
we travel on our own wilderness journeys.
We have faced stories that made us uncomfortable like the death of the
innocents at Passover, and the swift and bloody justice for the sin of the
golden calf. We have also marveled at
the love of God; expressed in the sustaining gifts of manna and water, as well
as in the grace of a gentle shielding as the glory of the Lord passed by.
It has been a wonderful and beautiful
journey, full of ups and downs along the way, and today the journey comes to an
end. Today the life of Moses is
over. God calls upon Moses one last
time, telling him to ascend Mount Nebo to view the Promised Land. The Lord grants a vision to Moses, enabling
him to see beyond the reach of normal human sight. From corner to corner, North to South, East
to West; Moses is able to see the entire spread of the land of promise, all of the
hills and vales that the Lord God is granting to the people of Israel. From the sweet land of Gilead to the palm
trees of Jericho, Moses sees it all.
But, there is a catch. And here is the rub of the story, the part
that makes us uncomfortable and even sad.
Moses sees the entire Promised Land but he will not enter it. God grants him the vision, and then tells
Moses that though he has seen it, he shall not cross over to it. The time has come for Moses to die, and it is
undeniably a disappointment. Here the
faithful servant of the Lord, the one who has led the people of Israel for so
long, comes right to the edge of his dream and mission, and seems to die
unfulfilled.
At least that’s the way the story
looks to us. Unlike us though, Moses
does not appear to have difficulty with this news; at least there is none
recorded in the text. It appears from
the text that Moses is able to accept this news without great trauma. Moses seems
to be at peace. To accept his own death, here on the edge of the Promised Land,
is a true act of serenity and grace. In
the famous words of Frozen’s Elsa,
Moses is simply able to “Let it go.”
Of course, the vision that Moses had
for the people lives on. Those of us
that read the book Dare to Dream by Mike
Slaughter this summer are familiar with this idea. Although Moses died, his vision as a leader
remained strong. That is how Mike
understands verse seven where it says “His sight was unimpaired and his vigor
had not abated.” The vision that Moses
had for his life and for the people of Israel is carried on through the
leadership of Joshua. Even the text
tells us that Moses had laid hands on Joshua so he is now full of the spirit of
wisdom. Moses had passed on the mantel
of leadership. Though Moses has died,
the dream to enter the Promised Land did not die with him.
The people of Israel are
understandably saddened at the death of their great leader. Readers of the story know that Moses will go
down in Biblical history as the greatest leader, prophet, and hero of all time second
only to Jesus the Christ. As the writer
of the text reminds us, “He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that
the Lord sent him.”
The people are heartbroken, and they
gather together to mourn and weep. They
share in the ritual time of grief, thirty days, and then the people of Israel
do something amazing. The people of
Israel, literally, move on. They leave
behind the unmarked grave of their leader Moses, and they move on into the Promised
Land under the leadership of Joshua. It
truly is a miracle.
This is a wonderful reading for us
today as we gather to remember and celebrate those friends that this church
community has lost over the past year.
This has been a hard year for us, with deep grief and loss. We have said goodbye to wonderful mothers,
aunts, wives, and grandmothers. We have
even had to say goodbye to a child. From
watching the onward march of cancer, to reeling with the sorrow of adolescent
suicide, this has been a year of trauma and pain, and we have been a
congregation in mourning.
This reading, this obituary for the
prophet Moses, has many a profound message for us. Like all of our own stories, the story of
Moses is a bittersweet one. There were
wonderful times, when the love of God worked through this man and the world was
a place of joy and beauty. And there
were hard times, when the Lord was angry and vengeful and Moses found himself
trapped between a disappointed God and a stiff-necked people. And then there is this bittersweet ending,
where Moses views the Promised Land but is not allowed to enter.
So too are the stories of our lives,
and the stories of the lives of those that we love. All of us have periods of great height and
wonder; from that first moment when we held our child, to those wonderful
vacation days that truly are just perfect.
We have moments when we feel the presence of God and all is right with
the world. We also have horrible
moments; when we face death and injustice, when we suffer injury and illness,
and when we experience loss beyond measure.
We have days which are simply dark and dismal and we feel utterly
alone. And like Moses, all of us die
without entering a promised land. All of
us will leave this earth before we get the chance to do that one last thing; be
it to see the face of a grandbaby or to take that trip of a lifetime. There will be promised lands that elude us,
it is guaranteed to happen.
But, of course, though Moses did not
enter the Promised Land here on earth, the physical land from Dan to Zoar,
Moses did enter that other land of promise, the eternal kingdom of heaven. So also have our loved ones that have died
this year. They too have gone before us
into the kingdom of our Lord. For that
is what we gather here to celebrate today, this All Saints’ day. We gather to celebrate the promise that all believers
will gather together in the kingdom of heaven, all people of faith will enter
into that final land of promise. That is
the hope to which we cling when we read this story of death, the same as so
many stories of death in our own time and place.
As those who have been left behind it
is important for us to remember the actions of the people of Israel. “The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains
of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.” The people rise from their sorrow and follow
Joshua into the land that the Lord their God was giving them. They mourn, and then they move on.
The mourning time will be different
for each of us, depending on our loss and depending on our grief. But at some point, at some time, the period
of mourning for our loved one must end.
At some time we must go on, into those promised lands this side of heaven. We don’t move on without hurt and sorrow, but
we do move on, gathering up the courage to live forward into each day. This is the story of Moses and the
Israelites, and this is our own story, a cycle of grief and loss. We suffer, we weep, and then we pick
ourselves up and move on. Life
continues, and God has plans for us which extend beyond our moments of grief.
The Israelites were able to let Moses
go because they knew that he had gone to be with God. So too, we are able to release our own
precious loved ones into the hands of our creator. We know that someday, all of us will gather
in that land of promise, all of us will be together again in the kingdom of our
Lord. That is the blessing which we
believe in. That is the hope that
sustains us. That is the vision that
keeps us going, right up to the very end of our own lives.
Today, on All Saints’ Sunday, we
remember and honor those that we love who have died this year and in years
past. We remember that all of our loved
ones are gathered together, with our friend Moses, in the kingdom of
heaven. Though all of the endings in
life are bittersweet, we rejoice in the promise of God’s love and grace. Though there are bound to be promised lands
that we are unable to enter on this side of life, there is one true land of
promise where we will all gather in the age to come. May God bless us today as we mourn our loved
ones, and may God guide us into that Promised Land when our own day comes. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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