Scripture reading: Judges 12:5-6
5Then the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. Whenever one of the fugitives of Ephraim said, ‘Let me go over’, the men of Gilead would say to him, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ When he said, ‘No’, 6they said to him, ‘Then say Shibboleth’, and he said, ‘Sibboleth’, for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites fell at that time.
Sermon Title: "DID I SEE YOU SPUTTER?" Sunday, May 4, 2008
PASTOR HUDSON: Our passage today is in
the Book of Judges. This was a
time in Israel's history of
confusion and disorder, a time when Israel was so
often falling into sin and judgment.
The Book of Judges at large is like a roller-coaster,
since everyone did that which was right in their own eyes, the
stories flow from excesses to failure, repentance to restoration,
and then the cycle began again. This particular account includes
an old folk story about being able to pronounce the word
"shibboleth."
It was a time of conflict between two tribes in
Israel, the Ephraimites and Gileadites. The
Gileadites had taken control of the ford crossing the
river that had been commonly used by all of the
tribes. They wanted to prevent the Ephraimites from
having access to it and fleeing. So the sentries came
up with a marvelous litmus test to tell who really was
a Gileadite and who was not.
The Gileadites and the Ephraimites had two
different dialectical ways of pronouncing the
next-to-the-last consonant in the Hebrew alphabet.
If you look at it, it kind of looks like a
three-pronged pitchfork. It's actually a double
consonant, and you pronounce it differently depending
upon whether a little dot is placed above either the
right or the left prong.
If you place it one way, the word is pronounced
with an "s-h" sound. If you place it the other way,
it's pronounced as a hard letter "s." The Ephraimites
tended to say "s." The Gileadites said "s-h." When
the Ephraimites tried to pronounce the letter with an
"s-h," they would sputter and struggle with the sound.
So when they would pronounce a word like "shibboleth,"
it came out "sibboleth," and that's where the litmus
test came in.
Now what does that tell us? Number one, we're
talking about the same people, same language, same
culture, same heritage, same values, same God, same
vocabulary, so much so that one consonant might represent all
the things they shared in common.
So when the Ephraimites tried to cross the river,
the Gileadites said, “You can cross if you can validate
your identity. Pronounce the word "shibboleth." As
hard as they could try, the Ephraimites couldn't get
"shibboleth" out. As a result, 42,000 were killed.
By focusing on the little dot, they separated themselves and
denied everything that was ultimately what they valued and shared
in common. Their story comes home when we realize that too often,
we live that way, whether we're talking about our democracy, or any
other kind of
setting, even in a church. It becomes a recipe for
conflict.
That's the question we're asking today. It has to
do with our life together as believers in the
household of God. What do we share in common and what do we allow
to divide us? We should never allow something
very small, like where the dot is placed on a letter,
to cause us to fail to see that what holds us together
is 10 times greater and larger and more significant
than what causes us to feel estranged or distant.
There is the old saying about not being able to
see the forest for the trees. In some sense of the
word, maybe that's a good analogy. We need to never
let something that is less significant cause us to
miss the crucial, simple truth of our relationship
together. As Wesley United Methodist Church, think
about the rich tapestry that is ours, our fellowship
in ministry, the things that we do as a congregation
that so profoundly affects and impacts lives.
One of the most common things that is a part of
my being pastor is receiving communications either by
email, or people stopping by saying, you know, I've
just about had it. I'm ready to check it in and just
resign, quit. There are too many complaints, too much stress
trying to do my task or ministry. It tells me that we are still
tempted to focus on the dot. It's so easy to focus on the dot and
lose the larger letter that represents everything that we
prize. We have missed the purpose of the kingdom of
God.
As we come to the table of the Lord for communion
this morning, we always say those who are in love and
charity with their neighbor and intend to lead a new
life according to the commandments of Christ, draw
near and take this holy sacrament to your comfort.
The truth of the matter is the experience of those
Israelites in the Book of Judges can be the experience
that you and I have in our church in 2008.
As the ancient Israelites experienced the
judgment of God to their own downfall, their own
correction and need for redemption, scripture also
defines that as we come to the table of Christ, we
need to examine ourselves. As our liturgy says, are
we in love and charity with our neighbor?
As we come to the table of Christ today, I would
encourage us to say, Lord, help us not to focus on
dots, but to focus on that greater reality that is our
kingdom relationship and our commonality in Jesus
Christ. Look past the minors in order to be able to
see the majors.
Forgive me, Lord, when there have been times when
I have looked at my brother or my sister, and even as I received
the cup and bread, I knew that I was not
fully in love and charity with my neighbor. I wasn't
yet at the point where I really felt like I was ready
to lead a new life. Meet me at the altar and let
grace be applied to me. Let's do that this day so
that we may reap that wonderful harvest of God's
ministry in our midst.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, amen.