“The View From Mt. Nebo 2”
Deuteronomy 31:1-3; 7-7; 34:1-4; 9
Isaiah 43:1-3, 18-21
March 23, 2025
Chilmark Community Church
Vicky Hanjian
Isaiah 43:1
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
18 Do not remember the former things
or consider the things of old.
19 I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
20 The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
21the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.
Deuteronomy 31:1When Moses had finished speaking all[a] these words to all Israel, 2 he said to them, “I am now one hundred twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has told me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua also will cross over before you, as the Lord promised. 31:7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their ancestors to give them, and you will put them in possession of it.
Deuteronomy 34:1-4
34:1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. 4 The Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”
Deuteronomy 34:9
9 Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him, and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.
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SERMON
Quite a few years ago, actually more than I care to think about, on one of our trips to Israel, Armen and I landed first in Jordan, on the eastern side of the Jordan River. One of the early stops in our trip was a visit to Mt. Nebo. It was late in the afternoon and we were facing into the setting sun at the northern end of the Dead Sea – – looking out over the view that Moses must have seen as he reached the end of his journeys with the Israelites. We looked out over rugged hills and valleys toward the land that Israel was about to enter. The sunlight reflected golden off of the water in the distance. The air was chilly and quiet. It was a profound moment that stays in my memory – – standing on the spot where tradition says Moses looked over into the land that had been promised – – coming to terms with knowing he would not accompany the people as they crossed over.
There are lots of reasons buried in the tradition for why Moses didn’t ever get to the Promised Land. The predominant one is that he displeased God by striking a rock to get water for his thirsty people instead of simply speaking to the rock as God had commanded. The text also tells of Moses advanced age – he was 120 years old – that he was tired after 40 years of sojourning with the people and didn’t have the energy required to guide them through the conquest of the land of Canaan.
But there is another, perhaps more compelling, reason that catches one’s attention. This reasoning suggests that it took the entire 40 years of wandering for that first generation of slaves to Pharaoh to die off – – that generation who lived a constricted life in Egypt – a life in mitzrayim. Mitzrayim – the Hebrew name for Egypt. Mitzrayim means a narrow and confining space. The next generation would no longer think of themselves as limited to the that narrowness and to the limited ways of thinking and acting that it engendered. They were ready to take responsibility for themselves as free agents under God. And this, according to the story, required new leadership.
The story is a poignant one. It comes at the very end of Deuteronomy which is attributed to Moses as his farewell address to Israel. The Book of Deuteronomy rehearses the entire saga of the 40 years of wandering. It is no wonder that it sounds familiar and repetitious in so many places. It was calculated to remind the people of where they had been – – where they were going – – and the great Who it was that would lead them – – regardless of the person who was at the head of the line.
It’s a great story to contemplate at a time of transition to new leadership. We can get into murky waters if we take every word literally – – but if we can let the wisdom in the story inform us, then we are on pretty solid ground. And the wisdom here is that the people of God are always in the process of becoming. We are not a static people and God is not a static God.
This can take some getting used to if we have grown up with the idea that God is immutable and unchangeable – and possibly predictable. It can also take some getting used to if we grew up with a notion that God was malleable and could be manipulated somehow if we prayed hard enough – sort of like when I prayed hard to God as a child that God would make the sun shine on the day of my class trip. But God is none of that. The God of the scriptures and of the history of God’s people is a God of relationship and becoming.
So – -here we are on a Mt. Nebo of sorts. I couldn’t help thinking about our relationship with this congregation over the last 30 years – as members of congregation, sitting in the pew, as appointed pastors to fill in the gaps between official appointments and then as former pastors who could sort of watch with love and interest from the wings as the life of Chilmark Community Church continued to unfold. So it is a rare privilege to be able to stand here with you on this particular Mt. Nebo this morning to look across Jordan with you as you envision something of future – – moving forward under new leadership.
Envisioning and predicting with accuracy are two very different things. We are simply destined to live with a measure of uncertainty. As science tells us, we cannot predict the future any more than a few fractions of a second ahead of us. In moments of transition like this, we are drawn – – or maybe pushed or pulled kicking and screaming – – into a moment of absolute trust and faith in this God who chooses relationship with us – – who prefers the process of creating and becoming something new with us rather than some static and predictable outcome.
This is challenging. Maybe even uncomfortable at moments. Along with our ancestors on their way out of Mitzrayim – that limiting place of constriction – we might feel the inner whispers – “Living in Egypt wasn’t great, bit it was predictable.” “What will it be like without the person we have trusted to guide us this far?” “Are we sure this new leadership will be right for us?” “What will be expected of us?” “Moses stayed with us through thick and thin – what if Joshua loses patience with us?” “Will Joshua love us?”
I think we can intuit from the text that these are the murmurings of the people as they come to terms with the transition ahead of them. In Deuteronomy 31 the people are fearful of what they will encounter in the way of enemies as they cross over Jordan. Moses assures them with these words:
The Lord your God himself will cross over before you…Joshua also will cross over before you, as the Lord promised. Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread… because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; God will not fail you or forsake you.”
And in the hearing of the people Moses himself sanctions the change of leadership. He summons Joshua and says to him in the sight of all Israel, “(Joshua)…Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their ancestors to give them, and you will put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
We are rapidly approaching Lent and Easter not far behind. If we fast forward through the many generations from Moses to the days immediately following the resurrection of Jesus, we hear the same affirmation of the God Who Goes Before. Near the end of the Gospel of Matthew we hear the messenger telling the women at the tomb: Jesus has been raised from the dead, and , indeed, he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him. This is my message to you. (Matthew 28:7) The women begin running and they encounter Jesus in his Risen Nature who tells them: Do not be afraid. Tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. (Matthew 28:10)
Galilee is where it all began – the business of preaching God’s love, feeding the hungry, tending to the needs of the poor, healing the sick, learning the skills of forgiveness and reconciliation, seeking justice for those pushed to the margins of life.
In a sense, the crucifixion is a Mt. Nebo for Jesus and his followers. It is in crucifixion and resurrection that the relationship between Jesus and his followers changes. A new relationship is now there to be explored – the disciples learn that what was begun on one side of the cross will continue in another form on the other side of the cross.
So – here we are. An ending has happened. Rev. Charlotte is on her way to the unfolding mystery of a new life on the mainland. Rev. Janet Stoddard will be standing here among you next week.
It will be a full week given over to crossing Jordan into a new adventure – whatever shape that crossing takes as you move a new pastor into the parsonage.
Whether we think of it in terms of crossing Jordan into a new land or in terms of life on the other side of the cross, or the transition to a new minister, we can affirm the faith that we belong to a God who goes ahead of us – a dynamic God who seems to become evermore trustworthy the more we are able to place our trust in God. In the process, we become the people that God chooses every day to be the people who will make the crossing and buy into the adventure.
The Holy One has never been satisfied with a static and comfortable people. God seems to enjoy life with us – always unfolding – always changing – always in process. Indeed, even Jesus made his most significant encounters and teachings while he was on the move – – on the road. So we are all invited once again to move on, to sojourn, to live always in a state of being temporary.
One of the first books I read way back in seminary was a book titled “The Journey is Home” by Nelle Morton. The title says it all. We live and move and have our being in a God on the move. God is The Journey – – and The Journey is indeed our home. May God bless us on the way. AMEN