NO OTHER GODS

 
We don’t have the reading of the Decalogue today, but we do have the results of not following it.  Jeremiah is clearest:  cursed is anyone who trusts (turns into their ‘god’) in human beings (or anything other than God).
 
“You shall have no other ‘gods’ before me” (Exodus 20:1-3; Deuteronomy 5:6-7).   Why?  Scripture puts it that the LORD is “a jealous God,” but it’s more fundamental than that:  it’s because, in the long run, it’s a recipe for failure and disaster, and it will bring you grief and suffering.
 
When I think of this commandment, I think of one of the great theological teachers of the past century:  Charles Schultz.  Consider his group of “Peanuts”—
Linus is let down over and over for his trust in “The Great Pumpkin.”
Lucy is let down over and over for her infatuation with Schroeder.
Charlie Brown is let down over and over for trusting that Lucy will actually hold the ball for him to kick.
Snoopy is let down over and over in his attempts to defeat the Red Baron.
 
It’s the story of our lives, isn’t it?  We all too often trust so implicitly and ultimately in someone or something that we are convinced will be the source of happiness and blessedness, and then we are let down.  Sometimes we think our idols have “feet of clay” (Daniel 2:31-37), but that’s not always the case:  at least as often it is simply that they were not (and could never be) ‘gods’ at all—for us or anyone else.  And we learned that to our own sorrow.
 
Jesus is saying the same thing with the “woes” portion of Luke’s setting of the Beatitudes:  don’t depend on being rich or being gluttonous or amused or of good repute:   it won’t last, and it won’t bring happiness, and it can turn inside out in a heartbeat (think of the parables in Luke 12:16-21 and 16:19-31).  
 
I’m thinking now of 2 sayings that I believe are pertinent:  one is from “The Philippian Fragment,” by Calvin Miller (which I’d referenced a few weeks ago in a homily)—“Better to heal with promises than to promise healing.”  The other comes from Proverbs 15:17–“Better a dish of herbs where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it.”  Why?   Because, after all, God IS love (I John 4:8)—not a false god, but the one, true God of love.  The bottom line, to me, is the caption of an image of Jesus Christ that you can see in the office of Jan and Tina:  Amigo que nunca falla (the Friend that never fails you).  Jesus Himself says, “Come to Me…” (Matthew 11:25-30).   I (and none other) will truly give you rest.