Excuses

“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharoah to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:10-11)

Yoda really doesn’t want to take on Luke’s training when the kid shows up on Dagobah looking to become a Jedi. For starters, he is too impatient - he can’t even sit and enjoy a meal first.
“He will learn patience,” comes the disembodied voice of Ben Kenobi’s Force ghost.
“Much anger in him, like his father,” is Yoda’s next argument.
“Was I any different when you taught me?” says Ben.
“He is not ready.”
Luke himself valiantly protests this one, though it is hard to argue with someone who has been training Jedi for 800 years.

After a brief tirade in which he accuses Luke of being a daydreamer and adventure-seeker (“A Jedi craves not these things,” you know), Yoda comes up with a new item for his list: “You are reckless.”
Ben steps in once again: “So was I, if you’ll remember.”
“He is too old to being the training.” Yoda is grasping at straws at this point, trying to come up with any excuse to get out of doing this task that he clearly does not want to do.

Yoda’s list of excuses reminds me a lot of a similar list that Moses made when God asked him to go back to Egypt and free the Israelites. He didn’t really want to go back - he had found a wife and a good job tending his father-in-law’s flocks there in Midian. Not even hearing the voice of God coming from a burning bush inspired enough awe to obey without questioning.
“What makes me special enough to do this job?” Moses asks.
“I will be with you.”
“Well, what if the Israelites ask me what I’m doing here? Who do I tell them sent me?”
“Tell them I AM…” and God proceeds to give a list of other descriptors Moses can use as well. In fact, he gives Moses an entire script to follow when speaking to the elders and a fairly detailed description of what will happen.
“But, but, but...what if they don’t listen to me?” asks Moses, at which point God gives him three signs involving his staff, a snake, leprosy, water from the Nile, and blood that he can perform for any doubters.

Now Moses is grasping at straws: “But I’m just not a good speaker - I have this lisp and I never know what I should say until I’ve already said something stupid. You really need to send someone else.”
“Fine,” says God, who is now fed up with Moses’s backtalk. “Your brother Aaron will go with you and speak for you. No more excuses. Now go!”

Both Yoda and Moses remind me of myself sometimes when I’m asked to do something I just plain don’t want to do. But what if, instead, I think of Luke who, despite his immaturity and whininess, really does want to learn? Or the Israelites oppressed in Egypt who would be happy for anyone to come along and be their champion, however imperfect? In the face of that, those excuses seem mighty small and petty. I pray I may remember to look at the bigger picture the next time I’m tempted to start my own list.

Everyday Heroes

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!" (Isaiah 6:8)

One of the great themes of science fiction and fantasy (and indeed, literature in general) is the hero's quest. Usually, the main character is an ordinary person who finds himself or herself called to complete a seemingly impossible task, but thanks to the help of many friends along the way and previously hidden reserves of inner strength, the task is accomplished and the proverbial day is saved.

Two of my favorite examples of questing heroes come from the pen of J.R.R. Tolkien: the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his nephew Frodo. In The Hobbit, Bilbo is mistaken for a burglar and hired by a band of dwarves to help them steal back their treasure from Smaug the dragon. Frodo, whose story we read in the Lord of the Rings books, must carry the One Ring of power into the heart of it's evil creator's domain in order to destroy it and prevent Sauron's further domination. Although their neighbors might think both of them a little strange and remark upon their "Tookish" tendencies towards travel and adventures, each hobbit considers himself quite ordinary and quite unsuited for the important task placed upon his shoulders. However, each hobbit also agrees to go and attempt the quest despite much self-doubt and many misgivings.

Tolkien didn't come up with anything new here. In fact, the same theme occurs numerous times throughout the Bible. Moses makes excuse after excuse as to why he's not the right one to lead the enslaved Hebrew people out of Egypt. Isaiah declares himself to be "a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5) when God asks him to deliver His messages - both of judgement and of hope - to the people of Judah. Jonah went so far as to run clear in the other direction when God asked him to take a warning message to the people of Ninevah. Ordinary people, with utterly human weaknesses, flaws, and failings, yet that's never the end of the story!

Bilbo, despite his bumbling, becomes the burglar that Gandalf knew he could be from the moment the "Burglar Lives Here" mark was made on the hobbit hole door. He helps the dwarves out of a number of scrapes and is instrumental in vanquishing the dragon and reclaiming the treasure. Assisted by both his friends and his enemies, Frodo manages to keep plodding along despite great weariness and danger until the One Ring is destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, thus saving all of Middle Earth from certain destruction. God counters every one of Moses's arguments, appoints his brother Aaron to speak for him, and through him releases the Israelites from bondage. With a burning coal from the altar in the hands of a Seraph, Isaiah's unclean lips are purified and he steps forward to take God's message to His people. After enduring much trouble brought on by his own stubbornness, including 3 days in not-so-deluxe sub-marine accommodations, Jonah finally arrives in Ninevah and finds the people there receptive to God's message and willing to repent.

It doesn't stop there, either! Simon Peter, the bumbling fisherman whose ego writes checks that the rest of him can't cash, becomes one of the great leaders of the early Christian church. Saul, proud persecutor of Christians, does an about-face on the Damascus road and becomes the first great missionary in church history. I could go on and on....

All of these heroes have two things in common: they were all ordinary, imperfect people, and they all said "yes" to the call (however reluctantly). In addition, although they could have made excuses and refused the mission, they all trusted the call-er to know what he was doing and to have faith in their ability to do the job.

I am an ordinary person, but I too can do great things. All I have to do is say "yes" and trust the One who Calls to take care of the rest.