“Carried by Others, Buried in God”

Have you ever stood on a mountain top and looked into a promised land knowing you would not cross over and live there?

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For the past nine Sundays, in our readings from the Hebrew Scriptures, we have followed the life of Moses. Today we conclude with the story of his mountain top vision of the promised land, his inability to enter, and his death outside.

Hearing this story from the Book of Deuteronomy transports me to a different time and place, to another prophet. April 3, 1968. A rainy Wednesday night in Memphis, Tennessee. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in town to support striking city sanitation workers. Feeling poorly enough that he planned not to preach, Dr. King eventually relented, stepped into the pulpit of Mason Memorial Church of God in Christ, and delivered his “Mountaintop” speech. It was the final public address of his life, for Dr. King was shot to death the next day on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. The sermon ends with these familiar words:

“And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

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The final chapter of Moses’ life is every bit as uncanny as Martin Luther King’s last words. Today’s first reading testifies to Moses’ greatness both as leader and as mystic. “Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10). Moses may have been refused a vision of the full divine glory (remember last week’s story), but God does relate to Moses directly and with great intimacy. “He was unequalled,” our reading continues, “for all the signs and wonders,…the mighty deeds and…displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel” (34:11-12). Which explains why the people wept so bitterly for Moses at his death; against all odds, he liberated them from bondage in Egypt and sustained them in the wilderness.

Then there is the wonder of his mountain top experience itself. From the summit of Pisgah, God showed Moses the whole promised land. “This is the land,” God reminds Moses, “which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendents,’” even though it had been 400 years since any of their sons or daughters had lived in the land (34:4). A puzzling part of the story follows. God says to Moses, “I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” Why not? The Hebrew Bible offers two answers: first, for an act of disobedience at Meribah, Moses is being punished (see Numbers 20:9-13 and 27:12-23); or, more intriguing, Moses cannot enter the promised land because he vicariously bears the sins of all Israel, allowing his people to enter free from their burden (see Deuteronomy 2:34-40 and 3:24-28). And so, even though Moses’ whole life, from the little baby in the basket on the river, his encounter with God in the burning bush and his negotiations in the court of Pharaoh, to the Passover and miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea, aimed at this one goal, the fulfillment of his aspirations and those of his peoples, he dies outside, still in exile, on foreign soil in Moab. Moses will not feel the land of his ancestors under his feet or taste its milk and honey. From the mountain top he has seen the promised land, but Joshua, Moses’ successor, will be the one to carry Israel home.

Finally, the mysterious circumstances of Moses’ death. “Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the LORD’s command. He was buried in a valley…opposite Beth-Peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day” (5-6). The greatest prophet ever and yet his burial place remains unknown! No shrine can be built for Moses. Instead, the rabbis tell us, Moses’ legacy is enshrined in the Torah, the Law, whose 613 commandments define and set Israel apart as a distinct people. Most enigmatic of all, the Hebrew text of Deuteronomy suggests no human can know the location of Moses’ burial place because no human being buried Moses – literally, it reads: Moses died at the LORD’s command and “He buried him,” the LORD God buried Moses. Like the later prophet Elijah taken to heaven directly by God in a fiery chariot, the LORD extends extraordinary care to Moses. God takes it upon Godself to catch up and hold on to Moses and the mystery of his life and the power of his deeds. Moses was buried by God, which means Moses’ experience, Moses’ aspirations, Moses’ work, Moses’ legacy, all were buried in God, preserved there lovingly forever.

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I wonder if you have stood on a mountain top and looked into a promised land knowing in your bones or in the pit of your stomach that you would never cross over there. Have you seen, are you seeing today, a fullness, an accomplishment, the fulfillment of an aspiration, but from a great distance, across a barrier that has proven too tall, too wide, too strong?. Does the promised land you glimpse involve a relationship with someone, a partner, a child, a parent; a relationship so fraught with guilt or resentment, simple illness or sheer inertia, as to be irreparable? Is your promised land a role, a position, a career in an organization whose priorities and values have shifted and you find yourself on the outside looking in? Do you harbor a dream or a cause or an ideal, a vision for life in this city, this country, this world, which entrenched power and hardened attitudes resist with all-mighty success? I wonder what your promised land might be.

Where do you, where do I go, from such a mountain top? How do we continue on knowing we will not enter that promised land? Not just at the end of our lives, like Moses and Dr. King, but this year, this month, this day, this moment, as they pass away. And not just in our aspirations, but even in our genuine accomplishments, which so quickly cease being our own possessions.

Hear the good news today’s story of Moses proclaims: our life and our work may be carried by others and most certainly are buried in God; carried by others, buried in God. A relationship, a career, a cause carried into fulfillment not by me or you, but by that granddaughter who doesn’t even look like you, my quiet, aloof student sitting in the back row of the classroom, our unlikely ally across town or across the world. And even if there is no human Joshua to carry on, our life and our work are buried in God. They find their final, hidden resting place – unknown to others, even those closest to us, perhaps – in God, the God who knows me, knows you, knows us all, face to face and never at a distance. For we are the Lord’s possession.

Jesus singles out this same good news in today’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew. When asked which commandment in the law of Moses is the greatest, Jesus responds: “Love the Lord your God with all with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment” (Matthew 22:37). Buried in God. “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (22:39). Carried by others.

And this gospel held Martin Luther King, Jr., fast the night of April 3, 1968 in Memphis and allowed him to let go. We as a people will get to the promised land, even if I may not get there with you: loving neighbor as self. I’m not concerned about longevity now, I just want to do God’s will. I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything: loving God heart, soul, and mind.

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Again: are you looking at a distant promised land from a mountain top?

The memorial to The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the National Mall in Washington, DC, was dedicated this past Sunday – delayed two months by Hurricane Irene. It represents the first shrine on the Mall to a nonwhite individual and to someone who had not served as President of these United States. The inscription on the base of the massive granite sculpture reads: “Out of the Mountain of Despair / A Stone of Hope.” His dream, his lifework, and ours, carried by others and buried in God.

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