In Exodus 20, God was with Israel. The people gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai. The Lord appeared to them in a thick cloud with lightning, thunder, and fire. He spoke with Moses in their hearing. This frightened the people so bad they told Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die” (verse 19). The passage tells us the people were afraid and trembled.
Why was that? They had a long history with different gods and goddesses. The Bible even tells us they brought some idolatrous objects with them when they were delivered from Egypt. Later, while Moses was doing as they requested—talking to God on the mountain to bring them His instructions—they demanded that Aaron create new gods for them. Aaron did as they requested and gave them the golden calf. However, he told them this calf was the one who brought them out of Egypt, and that they would feast unto the Lord (YHWH, the God Moses was talking to on the mountain). This shows us the people replacing the mighty God who created the universe with a comfortable god (notice the lower case).
Such a god needed the people. They had to make his idol. They could carry him where they wanted to go. They could even kill the idol by breaking off its hands and head, thus limiting the god’s power. One could call this a “tame god.” They did not want a God who spoke from a flaming mountain and had expectations of them. They wanted a pocket god they could carry about and who would have no expectations beyond a few rituals. This reminds me of Queequeg’s god in Moby Dick.
We see this today as well. People are happy with Jesus, who said, “Judge not.” They are happy with the Jesus who spoke of love. They forget that in the same passage where Jesus said not to judge, he gave us many things to judge. They forget that he who spoke of love made a whip to drive people out of the temple when they should not have been there. The Jesus whom people assume would never offend, spoke very offensively at times—You whitewashed tombs; you brood of vipers.
The world today is happy with the tame Jesus. They don’t want the real one. “Tell us how much he loves us. Don’t set standards for us or insist that we obey his commands. Let us remake him in our image. We don’t want God-in-the-flesh. We want Mr. Rogers in sandals.”
We serve the king! We hear his commands and obey. Obedience is not an option. Obedience will offend many. Obedience will divide. So be it. The world will not like us when we obey. Jesus told us this was true and that we should expect it.