Let us pray: May the words that I speak and the actions these words inspire be faithful to your way, O God. Amen.

Come on God, this is getting more and more difficult. I mean you can hardly blame the people. Many of them have been saying all along that things weren't so bad in Egypt. Sure it was oppressive, but at least there was food and water. You know how it is God, as time passes they seem to forget all the bad stuff and can only think of the ways that their current problems weren't a problem in those so-called “good old days”. You and I know that if there was some way for us to go back to Egypt that they would soon remember the reasons why we needed to leave. But right now, they are really having a hard time trusting me when I tell them that this is the path you have asked us to follow. They are starting to really question all this stuff about being “chosen”. As you know, that situation with the “golden calf” was a troubling sign – and yes, I get why that upset you so much, but I need you to work with me on this one. My reassurances that you are with us, is starting to lose some of its power, as you well know. I'm tired, just so tired. It's so hard to be the one who has to hold the hopes and dreams of everyone. It's like a big weight on my shoulders, and combined with all the trouble we've been having in this wilderness, it's getting to be just a bit much. You know I've been your constant champion, but just like everyone else, I've been hungry, I've been thirsty, I've been wondering when we will ever get to that land you've promised to us. Just give me a sign – just prove to me that it's really you. I think if you can make things more clear for me, then I will find more resolve to keep up the cheerleading with the people.

Well, as you've heard, that's some speculation on the behind the scenes negotiation that went on between God and Moses. It's a fascinating conversation. There's a lot of mutuality in this dialogue, a lot of give and take – much more than we might imagine in a conversation with God. Of course, in the end, the power differential is made quite apparent – no one can look me in the face and survive the experience, God says, but I'll let you see my back, just as a bit of reassurance, proof perhaps, that it is really me.

Have you ever negotiated with God? Do you think it is possible to negotiate with God? Literature is full of examples of people who have tried to bargain with God. This story was of course told long after the actual Exodus. What do you think was in the mind of the writers as they told the story of this negotiation between Moses and God? What do you think they were trying to tell us about the story of the Hebrew people and their relationship with God? For me, it is a story about humanity, much more than it is about divinity. I can understand the concerns of the people. I can understand the concerns of Moses. I think we can all understand the desire of Moses to work out a deal with God. Who among us, at some point in our lives, has not wanted to have concrete, tangible, proof that something we are doing or something that is happening for us, is truly a result of, or a response to the call of God. And while, as I say, the power differential is made clear, it is also clear that this God of the Hebrew people was a God that could be engaged in negotiation, dialogue and whose mind could be changed. In short, I like this description of God, and the hope that is tied up in this story of how Moses and God worked out a deal.

I also really like the story about Jesus that we heard from Matthew's gospel today. It's also a bit of a high stakes negotiation – not really bargaining, but a clever conversation between the religious authorities, the Pharisees and this upstart, freelancing religious authority Jesus. Power differentials are at work here too, but from a quite different perspective. Authority, at least in the minds of the Pharisees was being threatened by this man, Jesus. He was saying and doing things that called their role into question. He was also claiming a direct connection between the people and God, and for the Pharisees, who acted as the middle men (and yes, I used “men” on purpose!) between God and the people, this was a big threat. No one likes it when their jobs or roles are threatened. Not only that, we were told that a few of Herod's followers were sprinkled in with the Pharisees. So, not only was there a concern for religious authority at work here, but also political authority. Jesus wasn't just calling to question the relationship between the people and God – without the need for the intermediaries, but he was calling to question the authority of the king. Herod was a puppet king – controlled by the Roman rulers, but Jesus' words and actions had political significance to them, and what little independent power Herod had was potentially being eroded by the things Jesus was doing and saying with the people who were Herod's subjects. There were questions around as to what Jesus' purpose was. Was he going around stirring up insurrection? Were his pronouncements about the personal power that each person had within them, a threat to the power of the Hebrew king, to say nothing of the connection it might have had with the Roman empire which held ultimate power over these people.

Hypocrisy is perhaps the easiest way to summon disrepute, so the Pharisees thought they could catch Jesus with a trick question about taxes. Taxes, after all, were a sign of obedience to the ruling authority. If Jesus said that taxes were wrong they had him on some kind of treason charge, but if he said that taxes were okay, then they could portray him as a hypocrite – telling people that they had their own power to live faithfully within them, and that following God's way was the most important goal in life, but if he agreed that paying taxes was important as well, then they could probably show him up as being two faced, not really sure about which power was most important. As I understand it, Jesus' response was clever, severing the connection that the Pharisees were trying to make between obedience to various authorities. Coins and taxes were not about God, they were human creations and there was therefore no hypocrisy possible by simply returning to the Roman ruler something that was a creation of the Roman empire – namely the system of Roman currency. Ultimately, Jesus response was a rebuke to the Pharisees, a rebuke to the Roman empire and a reinforcement of his point that following the way of God was accomplished at a different level.

Once again, this conversation points to a very, shall I call it, earthy relationship with God. Just as Moses' bargaining with God helps to even out the power differential between God and humanity – allowing for a give and take conversation, a working out of things in the divine-human relationship, this encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees helps to reinforce the message of Jesus that faith is a personal responsibility, a relationship that is lived out in our connection with creator God.

Both of the passages we've looked at so far are stories about the relationship between leadership and God. Moses and God are the characters in the first one. The second is a bit more complicated, for several leaders are there for consideration – Jesus, of course, but also the Pharisees (who saw themselves as religious leaders) and Herod – another leader figuring in the background of the gospel passage. The outcome of course is that Jesus once again emphasises the leadership of individual people in following the way of God. The other reading we heard today – from Paul's letter to the church at Thessalonica – also mentions leadership. This is a lovely opening to the letter – full of praise and thanksgiving for the people. Paul cites his own leadership and also that of Silas and Timothy in bringing the message of Jesus to the Thessalonians, but also the leadership of the people in living lives that are faithful to the way of God. In a sense this passage sets before us the culmination of the message of the other two – namely a relationship with God that is evened out by God's openness to dialogue and which is acted out in personal commitment to being faithful to God, even in the midst of multiple allegiances – political, financial, and spiritual.

I like the message – that relationship with God is an earthy one, as demonstrated by Moses, and as skillfully and cleverly negotiated by Jesus and as confirmed and praised by Paul. How about you? Amen.