Rise, Let Us Go From Here :: Genesis 11:1-9

Then they said, Come, we will build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and we will make a name for ourselves (v 4).

They say history repeats itself, and that those who don’t learn from it are doomed to repeat it. In which case today we have a great example of how the human race never learns from it. Our Old Testament reading for this Day of Pentecost recounts the story of the Tower of Babel. This ancient story is a contemporary story. It’s a 6,000-year-old story that is just as relevant today as it was when it actually happened. It shows us how history continues to repeat itself. We will make a name for ourselves. The ancients said it first, and we’re still telling ourselves this. 

If you remember, it wasn’t long after the Great Flood that our ancient fathers said this. Genesis 11 recounts how Noah’s sons followed their hearts, taking their own path into the world in their own search of greener pastures. They quickly began moving away from God, who had saved them. They descended into idolatry ... just like Adam and Eve before them ... just like the Israelites we read about last week ... just like we do. 

While we are eons removed from the people of Shinar and their activity, we don’t fear, love, and trust in God above all things. We’re always just a thought away from relying only upon ourselves, trying to build something we think is bigger and better. ... (Maybe bigger farms with better pastures and better cows with better genetics?) ... Too often we try to make a name for ourselves, searching for unique ways to get close to God, to become like god ... or god. 

Some lessons we ... as sinners ... never learn. 

5.

When God had blessed Noah and his sons, he said to them: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (9:1) ... the earth is yours. Instead, the sons of Noah went their own way. As Moses writes ... And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. For those who don’t know, Shinar is the land between the two great rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. This is the land of the Sinister and Wicked. It eventually becomes the home of Babylon. 

But we love looking out for ourselves first, don’t we? Do you think the sons of Noah said to themselves ... like the Israelites in the wilderness ... Oh, how we loathe the worthless food God provides us (Num 21:5) ... before quickly turning to embrace their own grand ideas. And they said to one another ... Come, let us build for us a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth (vv. 3-4).

4.

Smart and talented people often ignore God. Do we ever learn from history?

I should follow MY heart’s desire, we tell ourselves. ... I should get the most out of MY life. ... Didn’t he make me this way? ... I should embrace MY vital existence ... I should gain MY own wisdom ... and overcome MY own self-deceit ... and above all else, gratify MY physical, mental, and emotional welfare. ... I am who I am, we tell ourselves. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this kind of thought, word, and deed WAS not, and IS not, from God. Those are literally the thoughts of Satan, our great adversary. Those are the thoughts of a confused world. Those are the sins of the garden. They are the sins of self. Although they knew God, they did not glorify God, Saint Paul tells us in Romans (1:21). 

When we set ourselves first ... when we set ourselves in direct opposition to God ... idolizing ourselves, idolizing our accomplishments and what we deem to be good ... a city ... a tower whose top is in the heavens ... we show how confused we really are about history.

3.

The Lord’s response to the people of Shinar is his response to us. Yahweh responded decisively to early man’s puny efforts to reach the stars, coming down to examine the work of our hands. Nothing they propose to do will be withheld from them, the Lord said (v. 6), which is to say, the result would be the eventual destruction of true freedom, of the plans God has for us. 

We might think their ambition is industrious and laudatory, but we seldom think of the motive behind it ... self-importance. God, though, sees through it all and stamps it out. He scattered man over the face of the earth (v. 8), creating new nations, new tribes, new tongues. And they called the remnant of that half-built city Babel, which even today is a word that means “a sound or scene of noise and confusion.” 

The sin of the first man, Adam, further exacerbated this separation from each other. Instead of forgiving one another, people became jealous of one another, and began holding grudges. Instead of serving one another, they became confused about true authority and began ruling over one another, demanding their way or the highway. They even confused themselves ... thinking God’s Law no longer applies to them.

Will the descendents of Babel ever give thought to God? Will we ever learn? 

Will the descendents of Babel ever realize they can’t win the favor of God by being good, by doing their best, by trying hard to live the Christian life? 

Will the descendents of Babel ever stop trying to convince themselves that they can gain a better seat at the eternal feast of the Lamb in his kingdom? 

Will we ever learn?

2.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, repent. Stop setting yourselves above each other.

Then hear the good news today: God has come down from his heavenly throne to restore understanding between God and man. He sent his son Jesus Christ into our world to be one with us. And he has poured out his Holy Spirit upon us to bring unity through Word and sacrament.

WHILE THE WORLD WAS DIVIDED AT BABEL, GOD HAS UNITED US IN CHRIST

1.

Our Lord Jesus was born for this reason. The Word who created humanity ... became flesh and dwelled with us ... becoming united with us so that he could relieve us of the pain and loss in our world. Jesus became united with us so that he could be abandoned and betrayed ... separated from the Father. Jesus became one with us to eliminate confusion and bring understanding back to the world in means of grace. He who knew no sin became sin so that you will become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21) ... that is, become right with God.

The divine Son of God made this possible by first uniting us through baptism into his life, death, and resurrection. We died in baptism (Rom 6:2). And he raised us into everlasting life. Romans (6:8-9) and Colossians (2:12) leave no confusion about it. His life is your life. His good works are yours. And he is making this truth known through Pentecost. As we just heard from our Gospel reading [John 14:25]: Now the Helper, the Holy Spirit ... is teaching you all things and bringing to your remembrance all that [Jesus] said to you. 

The Gospel is now being proclaimed around the world through God’s universal word, a word all who believe in Jesus understand: Christ has paid the universal debt of our sin so that we can ascend into his heavenly paradise. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Acts 2:21).

Brothers and sisters in Christ ... in sending the Holy Spirit God fulfills Babel, making us one people in Christ. Therefore, let there be no confusion any longer about what God’s Word and sacrament does for us. As he says in our Gospel reading: 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 (Jn 14:23). 

This word of Christ urges you to go forth now and proclaim the Gospel that there is life in Christ and his means of grace. Return to your baptism through which he saved you. Receive his word of absolution. And be nourished by his Supper, which delivers to you the forgiveness of sins whenever you can. As Luther reminds us in the catechism: We must never think of the Sacrament as something harmful from which had had better flee, but as a pure, wholesome, comforting remedy that grants salvation and comfort. It will cure you and give you life both in soul and body (LC V 68). 

That’s because the Counselor, the Helper, the Advocate eliminates confusion and unites us in the Truth that we have in Christ, who has broken down the barriers between Shinar and heaven, between God and man, between each other. 

So rise, and let us go from here (Jn 14:31) ... and may the God of our Fathers continue to strengthen you as you seek unity and live each hour to his glory in Jesus’ name. Amen.