Models of God; March 7, 2021; YLLC: Pastor Rebecca Ellenson
If you close your eyes, what images come to mind when I say, “The 10 Commandments?” If you were a pastor, like me, you might see in your mind’s eye the line of confirmands, through the years of ministry, who sat in front of you, reciting their memory work from Luther’s Small Catechism on the commandments. “What does this mean? We are to fear love and trust in God above all things.”
Depending on your age you might see the scene from the 1956 Cecil B. De Mille production of The Ten Commandments, the one on the mountain top, Moses with his white hair and a long beard, a flowing rusty orange and black striped robe. You may see the movie set of craggy mountains with the swirling orange pillar of fire burning the words into the tablets of stone as the deep stern voice of God speaks the words of the law.
Or, if you’re like my husband, you might think instead of the scene from the 1981 movie called, The History of the World, Part 1, where Mel Brooks emerges from the crevice in the rocks, a replica of the other movie set, dressed in a copy of the robe Charlton Heston wore, juggling in his arms three apparently heavy stone tablets, saying, “Lord, I shall give these laws unto thy people.” As he makes his way forward, he declares to the people below in a loud voice “Hear me, O hear me. All take heed. The Lord Jehovah hath given unto you these fifteen…” and he trips on the hem of his robe, dropping one of the tablets, “Oi” he mutters, looking down at the broken stone at his feet. Shifting the remaining two more comfortably he goes on, “these Ten, Ten Commandments for all to obey.”
One of the most basic images of God rises out of our Old Testament lesson for today. While ideas like those in Luther’s catechism or teachings in modern theological books can influence our thinking about God, our beliefs and convictions are mostly carried in images not ideas. Oh, we may recite creeds that convey concepts about God and about doctrines. But how we see the character of God comes mostly from the images we hold in our minds and hearts. The scriptures provide us with so many images or metaphors: God is a King, a rock, a judge, a shepherd, a father, occasionally a mother, a lover, a potter, a warrior, an eagle, a mother hen just to name a few.
Sallie McFague, wrote an excellent book called, Models of God in 1987. In that book she defined a model of God as a sort of grouping of metaphors or images, a kind of constellation of pictures that has real staying power. She identified two primary models of God that have dominated Jewish and Christian traditions through the years and showed how the various biblical images gravitate toward one model or the other. Both models have been present throughout history and both are alive in the church today. They are so different from one another, however, that they practically create two separate religions even as they use the same language.
The most widely held model of God is strongly linked to our Old Testament lesson for today. Dr. McFague calls it the Monarchical Model. In this view, people see God through the lens of Mt. Sinai–God as the law-giver, the King, the Judge. In this view, God loves creation but is powerful, far-off, all booming deep voice and swirling orange pillar of fire. Many of us grew up with that model. It is probably the most common view. God sits as judge on a throne and will hold all people to account for their actions. Oh, God loves God’s people, but people aren’t very good at keeping the law, so in the Old Testament there were accommodations available. Sacrifices and offerings could be made to satisfy the law. There were cleansings and rituals and practices to maintain the relationship with God. Then, in New Testament times God sent Jesus to be the once and for all sacrifice, to forgive our sins, to stand in our place, to take the judgment for the world.
The Old Testament lessons during this Lenten season move us through several stories of God making Covenants with God’s people. God makes promises and invites a response from Noah, from Abraham, from Moses and the Israelites, and through the prophet Jeremiah promises a new covenant written not in stone but in the people’s hearts. Each of these stories follow the pattern for covenants or contracts in the ancient world. God’s part of these agreements follows the pattern for a king’s or an emperor’s part of a covenant. The people’s part of these agreement follows the pattern for a vassal or a lesser partner. Let me explain.
Let’s say the Pharoah in Egypt conquered a small tribe or nation. He would make an agreement saying, I am the emperor, here’s my offer. I will be your protector and you will offer me tribute. In these biblical covenant passages God is the king, and the people are the subjects. God says, I will be your God, here’s what I will do for you: To Noah: I will put my bow in the sky and promise not to destroy you; or to Abraham: I will make you a great nation and give you a land and descendants; or to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness I brought you out of bondage in Egypt, fed you and cared for you, and give you laws to guide you. You will be my people. Then God, the ruler, the king, the judge outlines the expectations in response. As I said, God loves God’s people, but there are expectations.
When we are in relationship to God the lawgiver and judge what is our role? We are the defendant, the subject. Our life is about getting it right and doing what is expected of us. That might mean holding the right belief or performing the right behavior or a mixture of both those things. This model of God suggests that the life of faith is about measuring up, doing or believing what is expected of us, confessing and receiving forgiveness when we don’t.
This way of understanding God leads to an insider and outsider distinction. The people who ask you if you’ve accepted Jesus as your personal savior or if you’ve been saved are asking from this perspective.
This model carries the idea of punishment or reward- judgment day looms either after death or at a second coming.
Rather than freeing us from our self-absorption to focus on loving others this model zeros in on our own salvation—on making sure we have been forgiven and done or believed or prayed the right way.
I think most of us can recognize this model of God as something we heard, seen or believed. It’s a sort of lens through which we can see and understand the scriptures and our own lives.
But there is another model too. The other model images God’s character as the Divine Lover. This way of seeing is also deeply rooted in scripture. We find it in the prophets and in the poetry of the Bible. The prophets often speak of God’s loving kindness, tender compassion, mercy. Isaiah 43 for example portrays God speaking with gentle love saying, “You are precious in my eyes and honored and I love you. Do not be afraid.” The Song of Solomon depicts God as the Lover and God’s people as the Beloved.
And we see this model in the figure of Jesus Christ. John 3: 16 says what? God so loved the world! Jesus is the embodiment of divine love.
As the Father has loved me, so I love you, love one another.
I call you friends.
The law and the prophets are summed up in this, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
There was a man who had two sons, that father ran with joy to welcome the prodigal home.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Those who love not, know not God for GOD IS LOVE. Beloved, let us love one another!
Roberta Bondi, a theologian at Emory University says that “God is besotted with us!” Isn’t that marvelous? What would it mean for you to really know that? God is head over heels in love with you! God yearns for you, wants to shower you with cherishing love.
It’s quite a different model from the Monarchical view isn’t it? God as judge, king, and law-giver puts us on guard, outlines the rewards and punishments. God the Divine Lover isn’t the one we are obligated to, the one whose expectations we must meet with good deeds, repentance and belief. God the lover is passionate about us, each of us, and calls us to love extravagantly after the model of Christ.
As I said, both models of God are firmly grounded in Scripture. The difference comes in the perspective we bring to the texts. For example, we can look at the Ten Commandments from either perspective. It’s easy to see which lens Cecil B DeMille used in that classic movie that shaped so many Americans through it’s annual broadcast on TV on the Saturday before Easter. God the Law-Giver is firmly etched into our brains thanks in part to Hollywood. But, if we turn to the pages of Scripture instead of the silver screen we can see the other model of God speaking to us.
Which model do you suppose the psalmist had when our psalm for today, Psalm 19, was written? The law of the Lord is perfect reviving the heart. The decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine Gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
We can choose to see God as the stern Father, the Disciplinarian who brings the whole nation of Israel out into the wilderness for a time out, to teach them a lesson. We can envision the wag of the divine finger and deep booming voice of disappointment and the threat of punishment. We can believe these ten words were given because the people of God proved unworthy, fell short of the ideal of who they could be, who they were intended to be. The law of the Lord can be read as restriction. Take your medicine, you won’t like it, but it’ll be good for you in the long run.
Or is there something else going on here? What if we come from the Divine Lover model? We can see the law as more to be desired than much fine gold and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. The context of the giving of the law is God’s liberation of a nation of slaves, God’s deliverance and provision. The Jewish people see the law as a gift, not as limitations but as definitions. We can looked at this moment in the history of the people of God not as punishment for less than stellar behavior, but as a gift because of a greater than imagined love.
The ten words are not so much commandments that we ought to follow reluctantly or else, as they are descriptions of the kind of people we can choose to be. We can define ourselves by them as Jesus did, as the people who love God and who love neighbor. One Hebrew language teacher said we should retranslate them not as “Thou shall” or “Thou shall not” but as description, “You are the people who have one God” and “You are not the people who kill and steal and bear false witness.” That is just who we are and who we are not. God doesn’t say, “Jump through these hoops and I will love you.” Instead, God says, “My love for you will shape you into these kinds of people, this kind of community.”
I choose to operate from the Divine Lover model of God, following the Christ who summed up the law this way, Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul strength and mind and your neighbor as yourself. That frees us from fear and empowers us to live for others, to let love be our guide. As we embrace our identity as the ones God is besotted with we start to view each and every part of God’s creation as cherished. Our call is to love this earth, to love other people, and to love God extravagantly, freely, knowing that God is love, that in loving we are born of God and know God, for God is love. Beloved, let us love one another. Amen.
