Dear Friends:
He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it (Ex 32:20).
So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is my true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me” (Jn 6:53-59).
“You are what you eat,” is a saying with many attributions. Its truth is undeniable. What we eat directly affects our physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
God called Moses to commune with him on Mount Sinai. The people wouldn’t come with him, afraid they would die if they drew near to God. “You go find out what God wants and then speak to us and we will listen.”
So Moses hiked up alone and the first thing God told him on that trip up the mountain was “You should not make gods of silver along side me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold” (Ex 20:18-23).
When Moses came back he told the people all the instructions for them that God had given on the mountain. He described the terms of God’s covenant with them and the requirements for worshipful obedience.
The people unanimously responded, “All the words the Lord has spoken, we will do” (Ex 24:3).
Moses took Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and seventy elders up the mountain and “they saw the God of Israel” and enjoyed a sacred meal with him, nourishing their bodies and souls (Ex 24:9-11).
The Lord then called Moses back up the mountain and he stayed there talking with the Lord for forty days and nights. The glory of the Lord shone like a fire on that mountain all that time (Ex 24:15-18).
Much of what the Lord told Moses during that time concerned Aaron, the Lord’s choice for high priest. The Lord told Moses what he intended for the worship of Israel. Among many specific details, it included Aaron’s leadership, the use of gold, an altar, festivals, offerings, and eating and drinking in the tabernacle that Moses was to build so the Lord could dwell with and among his people (Ex 28-30).
Down below, the people grew restive. They had chosen not to go near the Lord, giving way to fear over intimacy. Now, Moses’ return was overdue in their thinking. Who really knew what Moses was up to on the mountain or if he was dead? Asking the Lord about his will and Moses’ fate apparently never occurred to them.
The people surrounded Aaron, their priest. “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us,” they pressed him (Ex 32:1).
Why not? People need a god they can see and handle, don’t they?
Aaron faced the temptation that every spiritual leader faces. Do I give the people the God of the Word or do I give them a god relevant to their lifestyles and equal to their means? Will we worship God or will we worship the worship and praise the praise. Why not bring them along and encourage them by molding a god to their expectations and felt needs?
So Aaron obliged the people’s demand without question or protest. He asked them for their gold jewelry and molded for them the iconic golden calf, the symbol ever since of the idolatry of human wealth and well-being. Aaron then told them that he gave them what they wanted. He declared a festival and after feasting and their “sacrifices of well being,” the dancing began around the golden calf.
The Lord was angry and asked Moses to leave his side so that the Lord could pour out his wrath against the people for their proud apostasy. Moses implored the Lord not to stain his reputation as a gracious Deliverer by destroying his people after redeeming them from Egypt. He bravely argued with the Lord that his vengeance would break his word to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to multiply their descendants and give them the promised land.
The Lord accepted Moses’ intercession. Granted this grace, Moses turned and returned down the mountain with two tablets of commandments engraved by the Lord’s own finger (Ex 32:7-14).
At the bottom of the mountain, Moses found that the elements that God intended for his worship had been perverted by the people. Aaron’s leadership, the gold of the people, an altar, a festival, offerings, eating and drinking had all become the instruments of self-indulgent revelry (Ex 32:17-19). The leader who argued with the Lord for mercy for his people, now was enraged himself by their fickle blasphemy.
“Moses anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it” (Ex 32:19-20).
Consuming gold in liquid form was not likely to hurt the people. Gold is sometimes used as a therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. In excess, it might damage the kidneys, but that is unlikely.
Gold leaf is sometimes used as an edible accent on elaborate desserts. The Serendipity 3 restaurant in New York offers the “Golden Opulence Sundae” for $1,000.00, gratuity extra. The dessert consists of five-scoops of Tahitian vanilla bean ice-cream infused with Madagascar vanilla, covered in 23-carat edible gold leaf, rare Amedei Porcelana and Chuao chocolate, American golden caviar, passion fruit, orange, Armagnac brandy, candied fruits and marzipan cherries, real gold dragees (tiny decorative balls), served in a baccarat crystal goblet with an 18-karat gold spoon.
There is something “golden-calf-like” about the Golden Opulence Sundae and consuming it would likely make me sick, but not because of the gold leaf. Moses, who had spent his youth in the luxurious, but decadent court of the Pharaoh might have seen gold consumed before. It does not seem that Moses was looking to make the people ill to punish them. He was teaching them a profound truth.
Gold taken in liquid form will generally pass through the body and be eliminated within 24 hours. Could that have been Moses’ point?
There, dissipating in the desert sands, was the object of their worship. The best of their possessions and aspirations turned out to be no more than human waste. That was a truth they had to face.
The people were pressuring Jesus for bread on the day that he told them, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6:51).
This caused a huge controversy among his disciples who were disgusted and disillusioned by the idea that Jesus literally had to become their life. Why couldn’t he just give them what they wanted? “This teaching is difficult who could accept it?” they asked each other (Jn 7:60).
Jesus heard their complaints and argued against their blind literalism. He was not talking about cannibalism.
Jesus asked the disciples, “Does this offend you? . . It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe. . . For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father” (Jn 7:61-66).
Many of the disciples left him for good after he said these things. If salvation came down to Jesus alone, they wanted no part of it.
It is devastating to know our good motives and best efforts won’t secure our salvation. If “the flesh is useless,” what can we do? That’s pride talking. We want to be useful.
More than that, we want God on our own terms. We pout like the spoiled children that we are when reminded that God and God alone, manifest to us in Christ, is the only source of light and life for us. Our gold means nothing. Our feelings are untrustworthy. Our efforts fall short from their inception.
God calls us to commune with him on the mountain. We decline his invitation because we’d rather dance around a substitute of our own in a desert.
Jesus tells us that his life for our lives is the deal for salvation! We reply, “No thank you, we would rather do it ourselves, or at least go in halves with you on this, Jesus.”
We are a mess and he knows it–knows that we have more failure and sin in us than we expect of ourselves. He knows that every time we take our eyes off of him, we are looking for a golden calf of our own, even if it is our own pride of self. We are spiritual incompetents, but there is no such thing as spiritual competence. There is only Jesus. He is our spiritual competence (1 Cor 1:30).
Our other choice is the golden calf. It is not some caricature of ancient paganism. Anytime we say, “Our way to eternal life is Jesus plus . . .,” or, “Yes, it is Jesus, but . . .” we are fingering our hoard of gold and thinking “golden calf.” A golden calf is anything, no matter how spiritual, that takes our attention from Jesus or which we demand in place of a walking, talking relationship with him.
Moses took drastic measures to show the people that there was no life in the gold. Jesus took drastic measures to show us that his broken bleeding body on the cross was the bread of life for us.
“You are what you eat” is a spiritual truth. “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Ps 34:8).
Under the mercy of Christ,
Kent
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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.
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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.
Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.
Kent and his beloved Patricia are enjoying their 31st year of marriage. They are the proud parents of Andrew, a college student.