To Whom Does the Glory Belong?

At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgement. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, "The LORD the God of Israel, commands you, 'Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand." Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go." And she said, "I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." - Judges 4:4-10a

While chapters 4 and 5 of Judges in the Old Testament lift up two women, Deborah and Jael, as women of faith and the downfall of King Jabin of Canaan and his army, a theme of glory and honor weaves through the text. Deborah, a well-respected judge and prophetess, commands Barak to gather an army of Israelites to do battle with the King of Canann who had oppressed the Israelites for many years. Well aware of his people's history of being freed from bondage by God after hearing the pleas of the people, Barak wavers a bit in his response. "If you go with me, I will go," he bargains with Deborah. Sensing his hesitation, Deborah agrees to head to war with him. However, the final part of her affirmative response gets at the heart of the story. "Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory."

Ouch! Her words had to have stung. Barak is going to lead ten thousand men into battle against an army with hundreds of iron chariots and overthrow the Canannites; yet, he will not be the one to whom everyone gives glory or credit for this amazing feat. He is going to be the one at the front of the charge, the one calling all the shots, the one who will subdue his people's oppressor. "The Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." What? The general of the Canannite army will elude Barak and be brought down by some woman? Regardless of all the thoughts running through his head, Barak gathers ten thousand men and heads off for battle.

As Deborah prophesies, the Israelites destroy the king of Canaan and his entire army. The men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun give their all, trusting in the promises given to them by Deborah after she heard the word of the Lord. In the midst of this brutal confrontation, Sisera escapes. Seeking refuge with a family that had isolated themselves from the rest of their people, Sisera is convinced that because of his power and renown, he will be kept safe until his soldiers can take him back home. Playing on his ego, Jael pampers him with attention, food and drink until he falls sound asleep. Not needing any reassurance from anyone else, she knows what she needs to do to be faithful to God. She drives a tent peg into Sisera's skull, killing him while he slept.

Unlike Barak, Sisera or even Sisera's mother who hopes her son will shower her with gifts he stole after winning, Jael honors the LORD and does not ask or expect any type of reward or acknowledgment. She considers what is the best thing for her people, what is just for all parties involved in the conflict between the various nations and tribes. When Barak arrives at her tent, she shows him the lifeless body of Sisera. She doesn't ask to be congratulated or for some payment for her deed. Rather, she in essence tells Barak the fight for freedom is done, victory is ours, now let's move on and not become the oppressors.

For Jael, and also for Deborah, their reward is knowing that they have done God's will. The one to be praised and glorified is the LORD, who heard the pleas of the people and answered their prayers. The women understand that they are mere instruments of God's saving work in the world. Their stories may live on, as they do in the Bible, but they are only a small snippet of God's redeeming activities. TAll glory belongs to God who does not desire for anyone to suffer. Instead God desires to be in communion with creation, which includes us human beings. When we stay focused on ourselves, we become oppressors and lose sight of what is truly important. When we glorify ourselves, we forget that God created us to be part of a community where every relationship flourishes in love.

With Whom I Am Well Pleased

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." - Matthew 3:13-17

While I have many questions about how John the Baptism and his cousin Jesus felt and understood about the day John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, the final verse grabs my attention today. "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." The text does not tell us who heard the voice, whether it was the entire crowd clamoring to be baptized by the man wearing camel hair, John and Jesus or just Jesus. While God publicly announces Jesus to be the Son of God, the one that God loves beyond measure, the second half of the proclamation reveals something more powerful.

God states that God is well pleased with Jesus, end of statement. This short declaration comes with no additional comments, no justifications for God's opinion. "...I am well pleased." Period. End of statement. God's delight and pleasure comes not from things Jesus has done or accomplished, not because Jesus convinced his slightly older cousin (by only a few months) to baptism him, and not for things that Jesus will later do in his lifetime. Rather, God bold claims that God is well pleased with Jesus, just as he is.

The same message that God announced that day holds true today when God looks at each and every one of us. "I am well pleased with you. I love you beyond your imagination. You are perfect in my sight, just the way you are." Wow. We are talking about complete acceptance, unconditional love that will not let anything change God's mind. Think about that warm embrace and fidelity for a minute.

Instead of looking at our faults and failings, how many times we fall down or anything else that would put us in a negative light, God sees the beauty within us. We belong to the One who created and formed us before we were even conceived in our mother's womb, even before our ancestors existed. God's eyes brim with delight in looking at the perfect creation we are and will be.

Does it break God's heart when we walk away from God, the one who wants to be in full communion with us? Yes. Does it break God's heart when we show disrespect and harm God's creation through our thoughts and actions. Yes. Does it break God's heart when we place ourselves at the center of everything instead of seeing ourselves as part of a larger community and creation. But whenever we do these things, does it prevent God from loving us? No, by no means!

In giving us the freedom to make our own decisions and decide what is most important to us, God realizes that we may and likely will make choices not in sync with God's desires for us. However, in creating us, in shaping us in God's own image, our Maker promises to always love us, to always be ready to welcome us back when we stray from what God desires for us. Nothing we can ever do can stop God from remembering the delight in creating us, remembering every detail about us, from our eye color to the freckles on our face, from the beauty of our different skin tones to the precious sound of our laughter. Even when God's wrath against us reaches its height, God promises not to destroy all of creation, but to redeem and love it, helping build the path back to communion with one another.

As we feel the water pour over us in our baptism, we remember that in God we are made clean and pure, like newborn children who long to be held by the parents and kept safe. All of our guilt, our mistakes that we will make in our lives are washed away. While we might not see the Spirit of God descend on us as a dove like Jesus did, we can be assured that God seals us with the Holy Spirit and proclaims that we are God's Beloved, with whom God is and will be forever pleased.