About three thousand years ago there was a succession crisis in the Kingdom of Israel. Whilst our monarchy is probably around 1,200 years old, the kingdom of Israel was very young. It had only come into being about 50 years previously, and there had only been three Kings. The first, Saul, was a bad lot, and was replaced by King David, him of Goliath the giant defeating fame. When David died, King Solomon, renowned for his wisdom, took up the reins.
But now Solomon has died and there is a split in the kingdom. Of the twelve original tribes, two remain loyal to Solomon’s son Rehoboam to form the new southern Kingdom of Judah, and ten decide to follow one of Solomon’s officials, Jeroboam, to form the northern Kingdom of Israel.
This is where we picked up the story in our first reading, with a problem that Jeroboam had. The problem was this. The capital of the southern kingdom was Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem was the Temple. The place of the presence of God, the place of worship, the central place for the people of God and their faith, the place they had to keep going to for pilgrimage, for sacrifice, for worship. Jeroboam wasn’t daft. He knew that if the people from his new kingdom kept going back to Jerusalem to worship then they would keep being reminded that he wasn’t really king, that there was another king in Jerusalem who had a claim to their loyalty.
So, Jeroboam had a little think. He had a chat with some of his advisors. And he came up with a plan. He had craftspeople make two golden statues of calves. I’m not sure why calves, it seems a bit odd to me, but there you go. He had them set up in two of the cities – Bethel and Dan, and he issued instructions to the people that they didn’t need to go down to Jerusalem any more to worship there, they could worship at these new worship centres.
Adding insult to injury he even claimed that the works that God had done in bringing the people of God out of slavery in Egypt had been done by these golden calves. “These are your Gods who brought you up out of Egypt.” Clever Calves.
He set up other places of sacrifice and worship on the high places, and instituted a calendar of festivals at the same time as the ones that were taking place in Jerusalem.
It was all a completely cynical piece of politicking to defend the new king’s fragile rule. And, heartbreakingly, it worked.
A whole load of history happened, and about a thousand years later a man called Jesus was sat by a well in the area that had once been ruled over by Jeroboam, now called Samaria. As he sat by that well, a woman came to draw water. That woman’s story is a whole other thing, but for this morning, we’re going to listen in on just a part of their conversation, from our second reading, the part about worship.
The woman says, “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
This statement is testimony to how effective Jeroboam’s strategy was. Even a thousand years later, this division over places of worship was still remembered, and was still having an impact on the relationship between Jews and Samaritans. Those high places that Jeroboam had set up to stop his people going to Jerusalem were the mountain that this woman is talking about.
Jesus, though, isn’t interesting in looking back and trying to adjudicate on a thousand year old dispute. He is looking forward to a time when the place won’t matter – mountain or Jerusalem, what will matter is the heart. And at the heart of true worship is the Spirit and truth.
I’ve been using this word, “worship” quite a lot, but what does it actually mean? What do we think of when we hear that word? Do we ever use that word ourselves? Perhaps when we’re describing a particularly loving relationship, when someone is completely devoted to someone else we might say, “He worshipped the ground she walked on.”
In the context of faith this kind of love is expressed through things like singing, prayer, loving other people, reading the Bible, listening to God. But here’s the thing. Worship isn’t those things. They are only some of the ways that worship is expressed. Music and singing might help us to express our worship, but they aren’t worship themselves. We can sing the songs, but if there is no true heart of love for God, then there isn’t any worship.
Worship is a loving giving of honour and glory to God, the one who created and sustains us, who frees from all the pain and nonsense we get ourselves caught up and trapped in.
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent, the period of time we spend preparing for Easter. As we look ahead to spending time reflecting on Jesus’ betrayal, death, and resurrection, we have an opportunity to examine our own hearts and consciences. We are invited to spend time asking the Holy Spirit to show us any habits, ways of thinking and behaving, that are wrong. Each week in Lent we are exploring a different area of life, focussing on the asking God to set us free from the things that restrict our life, so that we can live more fruitfully and flourish more abundantly.
Part of getting free of these things is to recognise that they are having an effect on us. During the baptism part of the service, Theo and Elouise’s parents and Godparents made some declarations on their behalf. They said. “We repent of our sins.” “We renounce evil.” Those of us who are baptised will have said these things ourselves, or had them said on our behalf.
To repent means to recognise that something is wrong, and turn away from it, to ask for forgiveness for it. To renounce means to say that we want nothing to do with something, in this case evil.
They are powerful and important words, but they are a bit general.
This Lent we are invited to get specific, and this morning we are thinking particularly about those things that can prevent us from being free to worship God in Spirit and in truth.
To be honest, I suspect that in our case it’s not going to be two golden calves.
But the thing is, it wasn’t really the two golden calves for the ancient Israelites either. It was what those idols represented. They were big shiny things that distracted people’s attention from the true God and that took the credit for things that God had done.
I wonder what big shiny things might distract our attention from God? They might not be big shiny things that we’ve already got, they might be big shiny things that other people have got that we want. We envy the people who have them, we covet them for ourselves. We expend our time and energy on getting them. They are the focus of our thoughts and our lives. All distracting us from God.
I wonder what we credit for the things that God has done in our lives? As we look around at the beauty and wonder of creation, I wonder what we give the credit to? As we reflect on our own lives, our achievements, the blessings we have received, I wonder who or what we give credit to? Is there a pride in ourselves that excludes gratitude to God?
These questions aren’t intended to send us on a guilt trip or to make us feel condemned. They may be uncomfortable, and we might feel our defences rising, but that’s ok. That discomfort is a sign that our consciences are working, that the Holy Spirit is nudging us. Because the great news is that Jesus came to set us free from all these things.
All we have to do is recognise that sin ourselves, say sorry to God, and receive God’s forgiveness. It is that easy, and that hard.
Sometimes it’s the work of a moment, sometimes it takes a lifetime, but it is the only way to life and life in all its fulness in which we can celebrate our own achievements, without unhelpful pride, giving glory to God, and being thankful for what we have received.
We can be content with what we have, and be happy for other people for what they have, and live free of those crushing burdens of envy and jealousy. We can ignore the big shiny things, and be free to focus on what’s really important. We can be free to worship God in Spirit and truth.