“Come, Let Us”
Genesis 11:1-9
May 31, 2020 anno Domini – Redeemer
Three times in the Old Testament reading spoke their desires with “Come, let us.” Three times they failed. God spoke once and succeeded.
The people of God stopped moving and decided to settle down in the plain of Shinar. “Come, let us make bricks. Come, let us build ourselves a city. Come, let us make a name for ourselves.” Is there something wrong with being a brick layer? Is it sinful to live in a city? What was so evil that the Triune God had to say, “Come, let us go down” to fix this.
When Noah and his family finally disembarked from the ark they were all the people left on earth – 8 souls. God gave them the same command He gave to Adam and Eve. He spoke it twice because sinners are hard of hearing God’s Word, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (Gen 8:17, 9:1).
What happened in the plane of Shinar was that the descendants of Noah stopped filling the earth. They quit thinking about God’s will and started thinking of their own, “Come let us make a name for ourselves.” They didn’t want to dwell where God would lead them. They wanted to stop “multiplying” and “filling the earth” in order to make a name for themselves.
Learn from the rubble and babble of Shinar.
Fallen humans will never build an enduring home here. That is as evident as the evening news. Our cities are on fire. Hundreds of businesses are destroyed either by violence or government shut-downs. Daily the death toll rises and morning, noon, and night we are told what do to and not to do if we want to live. Sadly, when it comes to the pandemic you’re not hearing about all the deaths. On average 45,000 people commit suicide every year in the United States. This year the same experts who are predicting virus deaths predict 18,000 additional suicides and 22,000 additional drug overdose deaths because of the stay at home orders. The Federal Emergency Hotline for Mental Health saw a 1000% increase in calls during April alone. (Washington Post) Our best human wisdom in dealing with this pandemic might prolong some lives, but it is also shortening many others. Loneliness is a killer (that’s why God made Eve for Adam and why He told them be fruitful and multiply). Sin is a killer and we learn from Shinar that we can undo neither.
Some of you were alone before this pandemic ever happened because death took away your wife or husband. You know the isolation of a solitary meal and the void of silence because you can’t share a funny joke or a story from your day. Some of you parents are alone because you’ve lost a child. God blessed your marriage with children, but then you suffered the curse of sin when your child died – sometimes before birth, sometimes after. The joy and gift of creating a human life, of participating with God in the miracle of conception and birth, is now bittersweet at best and devastating at worst. We could go on – the marriages ripped apart by divorce, the woman who dearly wants to be married, but isn’t, the addictions that torture not just the individual but the entire family, the child who rebels and disbelieves. Don’t try what they did in Shinar. Don’t be fooled by your desires to say, “Come, let us” or as we might translate “I know what I’ll do to really live.”
They tried that at Shinar and God scattered them by confusing their languages. Suddenly the foreman started speaking German and the workers only understood Swedish and immediately the Germans and Swedes didn’t like each other, and separated. The Swedes went one way, the Germans another, and the Swahili speakers another. The people finally did what God commanded – they were fruitful, they multiplied, and filled the earth, but their sin brought the confusion of languages. Their sin brought division and distrust and destruction. If you don’t sound like me and look like me I’m suspicious of you as you are of me.
A one world language or government would not solve our problems. They tried that at Shinar. Only God can give us a lasting home and only God can unite us. He gives us a common speech by giving us the Word of Jesus.
The Lord said, “Come, let us go down” at Shinar and that prophecy was completed when the Father spoke His Word in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth. In today’s Gospel reading Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my Word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.” To keep the Father’s Word is to believe what the Father says. To keep the Father’s Word is to confess that you’ve done damage to your home, to your marriage, to your children, that you’ve tried to make a name for yourself at the expense of those around you. To keep the Father’s Word is to cling to the truth that the Father sent His Son to carry your sins. The Father put all our discord, division, and destruction on Jesus. The Father divided His house to make a home for you. He divorced His Son on the cross – cut off His beloved as the punishment for our sins. To keep the Father’s Word is to believe the front door to heaven is wide open for you in Christ and a room in the heavenly mansion has your name on it. To keep the Father’s Word is to love your neighbor, not because he is lovely, but because you love the Father for loving you and making a home with you in Jesus.
The Father and the Son said, “Come, let us go down” and the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son to give what you have received this morning. The forgiveness of sins was delivered to you by the Spirit through the Word. The prophet Moses, Luke and John the Evangelists spoke to you by inspiration of the Spirit. He gave them the Words you needed to hear to receive Jesus. In a little while we will gather at our Lord’s table where the Spirit will work through His Word to bring you Christ’s own living, risen body and blood under the bread and wine.
This is home, the Lord’s house, where the Triune God comes down to dwell with you. Here Jesus gives you peace the world cannot give. The world says “Do what I want” and we’ll be at peace. Jesus says, “You’re forgiven. Be at peace.” The world says, “Come, let us alleviate all trouble and death so we can have peace.” Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. I have overcome the world and by winning your forgiveness I will pry the lid of your casket on the last day” When the world is burning down around you, when your home is torn asunder, when sickness and death are circling your block, believe God came down,. The Father sent His Son. The Father and Son sent their Spirit to love you with forgiveness, to make a perfect home with you, and to grant you peace. In the name of Jesus. Amen.