Do you know a few stubborn people? Would you describe yourself as stubborn? I’m sure some of you might; or maybe your “significant other” will graciously offer that description on your behalf. In my experience it’s a fairly common trait. Sometimes people even boast and play a little bit with that trait. They say, “Oh, I can be stubborn,” as in: “Don’t mess with me!” Stubbornness becomes a synonym for strength.
The country singer Eric Church, when asked about his beginnings, had this to say, “I went to my dad when I was 17, all excited and said, “Dad, I want to be a country music star!” Which every mom and dad just loves to hear, right? And what did his dad say? “Son, I want you to go to college!” – “Dad, I want to become a country music star…” “Son, I want you to go to college.” So they had one of those famous family discussions. Have you ever been in one of those? Eric Church described it this way: “I’m pretty stubborn. I’m a lot like my father.” They were butting heads the entire time. But his dad was also smart. Realizing his son’s desire and determination, he said to him, “Son, if you go to college and graduate, I’ll pay your first six months of rent in Nashville.” So he essentially bribed him to go to college first.
When I read this little anecdote I thought of two things: first, stubbornness often runs in families and is passed on from one generation to another, from father to son, from mother to daughter. Secondly, a lot of successful people are quite stubborn. Of course we could use a different word here and say they are just very “persistent” people. But for some reason many of us actually prefer the term “stubborn” and almost wear it as a badge of honor. It sounds so much more colorful than the word “persistent,” right? But here is the deal: stubbornness can also make us deaf for the voice of God, the voice of the life-giving spirit. Stubbornness can ruin people’s lives because they don’t listen to anyone who wants to help them. Stubbornness can isolate people and cloud their judgment. Stubbornness can lead to death. There is probably no better example in all of literature than the one found in the Bible, in the Book of Exodus, the King of Egypt, the man Moses dealt with. What did God say to Moses about him in the text we heard today? “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding.”
I love this expression. What a wonderfully descriptive term! The heart of Pharaoh is unyielding. It can’t be moved. He is so stubborn that he can’t conceive of changing course, even if it is to his own advantage. Next thing we know: ten horrible national disasters, called plagues, hit Egypt. Our children who learned about this story in Spark this past month could tell us about frogs and gnats, locusts and hail, boils and blood. As plague after plague rolls over the Egyptian people they are exposed to terrible hardships, including starvation and lack of drinking water. Meanwhile, their leader watches from afar, presumably in the safety of his crystal palace, removed from the people’s pain and suffering. Pharaoh reminds me a little bit of the late North Korean leader, Kim Jong II., who frequently played the dangerous game of nuclear threats, provoking sanctions, isolating his country and starving his own people, for what? His own glory? A sense of power? His ideological beliefs? And his son, the current leader of North Korea, is not any better. Yes, stubbornness runs in the family.
But we don’t need to look all that far either. What can we compare it to in our own lives? Well, I have heard people talk about neighbors who continue to make people’s lives miserable when it could be so easy for them to reach out and break the ice. Isn’t that astonishing? I have seen people suffer from grief or some unresolved tragedy in their lives and they don’t let anyone near their wounded hearts, even those who could help them; they protect their pain like some gold treasure, hurting themselves in the process, their hearts unyielding. Isn’t that mind boggling? And there is a surprising number of families who are divided amongst themselves over some issue and almost always will you find somebody in that mix whose heart is – you guessed it – unyielding.
It reminds me of a certain Japanese soldier who became world famous. Listen to this story… Hiroo Onoda was a WW 2 Japanese soldier who kept hiding in the Philippine jungle for a little extra time. He refused to come out of his hiding place for a full 29 years after the end of World War II. Despite occasional pleas from officials and his family, he just would not believe that the war had ended. Finally, in 1974, his former commander had to be flown in to announce the reversal of his 1945 orders to stay behind and spy on American troops. When I heard this story I wondered whether this man had a mental illness. How else could we explain his behavior? But then let us ask: how many people that we know suffer from a stubborn, unyielding heart that leads them to not “come home” and make peace for ten years, twenty years or forever? How many people that we know are holding out in their own jungle of misery because they are caught in the perception that “their war” isn’t over?
Somebody asked me, “Do you think the Pharaoh might have changed in the end, after all he and his people were put through?” There is no indication for a change of Pharaoh’s heart in the Book of Exodus. In fact, I would say, when an unyielding heart opens up and changes, it’s a miracle every single time. When a hard core racist opens up and embraces all of humanity as equal, it’s a miracle, because racism is rooted in – you guessed it – an unyielding heart. But it can happen…
I can’t finish this sermon without offering at least an alternative. It is found in today’s gospel. The young heir of a small fortune asks for an early payout of his inheritance. His brain isn’t fully developed at the time. He is suffering from AGD – “Adolescent Grandiosity Disorder.” So, tossing his father’s advice into the wind, he takes the money on the road, goes to Vegas, lives the high life and squanders it all in a relatively short time.
But in this parable, when his poor decision-making starts to backfire, when hunger sets in reaches the point of physical pain, when poverty becomes his new reality, his heart opens up and he returns to his roots, repenting and presumably humbled. What drives the change is personal pain, a sense of remorse and the willingness to be thoroughly embarrassed, the willingness to take the risk of being rejected. So, it’s not easy to change course in life even when suffering begs us to change, but it is possible and the gospel of Jesus Christ is full of examples of hard core sinners with unyielding hearts who come to their senses. I have a feeling that, while I was speaking, maybe this or that person surfaced in your thoughts. Let us pray for one person this morning, that at least one might be freed, that at least one finds his or her way to the father’s house, out of the prison of stubbornness. It’s a miracle every time. But it’s a miracle that can occasionally happen by the grace of God.
Amen