Where Your Treasure Is
Exodus 32:7-14
The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
The incident with the golden calf recounted in Exodus 32 represents perhaps the lowest point of the Israelites’ wilderness journey. It seems to be a clear case of idolatry, worshipping an image as if it were a god. Yet, when Aaron calls for the celebration he declared it would be ‘a festival to the Lord’ (i.e. Israel’s God). Whatever the case, the Israelites were certainly not worshipping rightly, and something seriously wrong had taken place.
The people had exchanged trust in God for trust in their own efforts, taking matters into their own hands and creating the calf. Idolatry in the strict sense might not seem much of an issue for us in the present day, but if we consider the idea more broadly, we might find ourselves a bit more convicted. Idolatry is in a sense about misplaced priorities— of valuing things of this earth and human creation more than God and God’s intention for us. If we are really truthful with ourselves and assess what most motivates our actions and what commands our attention, love, and desire, we might begin to recognize idols at work in our own lives—be that wealth, material possessions, status, renown, or any of the other trappings of this world.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches, ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’ (Matthew 6:21). Seeking after the transitory things of this world will never satisfy but only generate an unending craving and striving after more. Lent is a time for us to get real about our priorities, to really examine and be truthful about what we value. It also offers us the opportunity to turn from the things of this world that cannot quench our deepest longings toward those things that shall endure. For Jesus speaks truth that is worthy of our continual contemplation, ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’
prayer
Almighty and most merciful God, drive from us all weakness of body, mind, and spirit; that, being restored to wholeness, we may with free hearts become what you intend us to be and accomplish what you want us to do; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 2006, p. 53)