When my family and I lived on Air Force bases, I was always known as Wes’ son. My dad was involved in so much, both in and outside of work, that everyone knew him or knew of him. Everywhere we went, it was always Wes Cain and his family. Then, when we moved back to Burnet, where my mom’s family has lived for years, things changed. We became known as Mary Bird’s family. This drove my dad crazy, not because he had to be the center of attention or anything of the sort, but because we were not by our actual names anymore. We were identified by Mom’s maiden name, not by our family name. People would stop me in the store and ask if I was Mary Bird’s son, and I’d usually answer that I was Wes and Mary Cain’s son, just to be a little insolent.
But that identity just would not leave us. Even in our church, where Dad was lay leader and we were all so active, we were always “Mary Bird’s family.” It was how people recognized us. It was how we were tied into their memory and how they placed us in the community. How were you known growing up? Was there a certain type of identity by which everyone placed you? How are you known now? Has that identifying trait changed over the years? Have you grown into your own identity that has out-shined your older one? Or have you found that you have grown into an identity you have had all these years?
Our Scripture reading today is a psalm that was written by a group of people who stepped into a previous identity, grounding themselves in the stories of the past, the stories of their people. This is a psalm written by the “Sons of Korah.” Now, we do not know much about this group. I searched commentary after commentary to see if I could glean some knowledge of who they were or when they lived. I had no luck, though. The only way that we have to identify them is through the name they adopted for their group. It is a name that shares so much of who these people were, even if we cannot find any other information on them.
Now do any of you know who Korah is, or why it is so important that they have taken the title as a child of this person? With a name like Korah, I imagine that this person is a war hero or something; a master warrior who helped deliver his people from captivity. Or maybe one of the great prophets of old, someone who was so in tune with God that people likened him to Moses. Let’s look at Korah’s story in Scripture. Turn with me in your Bibles to Numbers 16. We’re going to read verses 1-11 and then jump ahead a little and read verses 19-33.
Korah was not the kind of person that I was expecting. He was a rebel, someone who “became insolent” and led a group of 250 Levites against Moses and Aaron, the two people that God had appointed to lead the Israelites. God had set these Levites, including Aaron, aside for a special purpose. They were the priests of the people of God. They worked in the Tabernacle, the place of worship, God’s dwelling place among the Israelites. Korah did not like that Moses and Aaron were running the show. Pride got the better of him and he sparked a rebellion. He tried in this way to wrench the leadership of the Israelite peoples out of Moses and Aaron’s hands. As punishment for rising up against God, God opens up the ground under the tents of Korah, and he along with his entire household are swallowed up, never to be seen again.
So what does it mean, then, to be a son or daughter of Korah? It does not mean that these people are the descendants of the man, for his entire family died that night, completely cutting off his bloodline. No, these people were not related to Korah in any way. Instead, they were a group of people who saw themselves falling prey to the same sin that gripped Korah—pride. To be a son or daughter of Korah, then, is to be one who realizes one’s sin and then repents of it. It is to be one who humbles him- or herself before God and others. It is to be one who accepts the burden of one’s actions and owns up to one’s past wrongdoings. To be a son or daughter of Korah is to recognize that you have allowed pride to infest your life and to fall before the Almighty and beg forgiveness for your sins.
Now, what does this have to do with Psalm 84, today’s Scripture lesson? What does it mean for us if the Sons of Korah wrote and sang this psalm? If you would, turn back in your Bibles to Psalm 84. Let’s take a closer look at verse 10: “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”
The Psalmist is humbling himself, taking up his rightful place as a servant of the Lord. No longer will he dwell in Korah’s tents, in his father’s tents, and aspire to take more than God gives him; he will serve as the Levites were called to serve: as priests in the Tabernacle, God’s holy house.
This psalm and the identification as a son of Korah was generated after the writer spent some intentional time looking at himself and his sins. After this time of introspection, he is able to truly own up to himself and own up to his God. Friends, this is what the time of Lent is truly about: coming to better know yourself and your God. Owning up to yourself, presenting yourself broken and sinful before God and exposing your hidden self and hidden sins to the world.
And here is the amazing thing: like this psalmist, we receive grace before our God and are loved and accepted just as we are. With all of our brokenness and sins laid bare, God wraps us in a big hug and whispers words of love and comfort into our hearts.
So are you ready to accept the title of a son or daughter of Korah? Are you ready to expose your sinful self, your broken self, to God and lay it all at His feet? Are you ready to be amazed at the grace and love that falls upon you at the very moment that this happens? I hope so. And I pray that God changes your identity again during this season of Lent from a son or daughter of Korah, a broken, sinful identity, to a son or daughter of God, a whole, grace-filled identity.
Let us pray.
No comments:
Post a Comment