The cartoon series Family Circle debuted on February 29 - Leap Year Day - in 1960, and has been in continuous production ever since. In April 1975, Keane introduced an invisible gremlin named "Not Me", who watches while the children try to shift blame for a misdeed by saying, "Not me". Additional gremlins named "Ida Know" (in September, 1975), "Nobody", "O. Yeah!", and "Just B. Cause" were introduced in later years. Although it is clear that the parents do not accept the existence of the gremlins the mother did include them as members of the family when being interviewed by a member of the US Census Bureau. Another time when the mother was sick of hearing about the gremlins from the kids she asked her mother-in-law if she ever dealt with such absurdity, causing her to remark "All I know is that he has been around since I was a little girl" in which there is a flashback to her childhood with her father demanding to know "Who scratched my new Glenn Miller record?", and "Not Me" is seen taking cover (courtesy wikipedia).
As we wrap up our series on Great Excuses from the Bible, let’s be honest and admit that we all have made excuses. Some were real and some, well they were just plain senseless. We have all at some point be caught ‘red-handed’ and loudly proclaimed, “not me!” We have even watched and witnessed business leaders, politicians, athletes, and yes even friends wiggle as they have explained away how they did it, but didn’t do it. The stories are almost too painful (and at the same time funny) to recount.
I want to tell you this morning one of the overlooked moments in the Bible that includes one of the best ‘Not Me!’ moments in the history of excuses.
The nation of Israel has been free from Egypt for 3 months. In that time, there have been 10 plagues, the Red Seas has parted, Manna has fallen from the sky every morning, and Water has been brought forth from a rock. In Chapter 19 God announces to Moses that God is going to come to Moses and give him the Laws for the people to live by. This visit comes with a warning (Exodus 19:20-22). The people heed this warning and plead with Moses to go to God on their behalf (Exodus 20:18-20). Moses departs up the Mountain to receive the Law. Chapter 32 of Exodus tells the story of the people becoming bored while Moses was gone and making a calf out of gold to worship.
Exodus 32:21-24 contains a classic excuse when Moses confronts the people with their idolatrous actions:
21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
And there you have it. We didn’t do anything. We collected some jewelry, threw in the fire, and there was this golden calf. We didn’t do it. It just happened. We are not a fault. As a matter of fact, Moses, you were gone so long, what did you expect to happen? Now that I think about it, perhaps it is your fault! After all you know how evil these people are.
This activity of shifting of the blame is really as old as time. It begins in the garden when Adam confronted with his own actions proclaims, “She made me do it! – it wasn’t me."
We have been caught up in the rhetoric of crisis ever since. We spend so much time in the rhetoric of crisis and blame that we have no time to spend in the discussion and action of doing anything.
As a culture we are caught up in the crisis. Everything is a crisis. We talk over and over about the crisis. We love to talk about the problems and all the OTHER people that cause the problems.
We have forgotten the Greatness of God. We have become the people at the foot of the mountain caught up in our stupid behavior while cluelessly blaming others. We take credit where we should not – and we assess blame where we should accept it. We pass the buck – complain about the crisis – and loudly proclaim – Not me when asked . . . who is responible?
Just once, I want someone to declare, "it was me!"
Just once instead of telling us all the reasons why we have a problem, I want someone to tell us how to get out of it.
Instead of yelling there is a FIRE! How about pointing us to the exits? Better yet why not create a new exit for us to get out!
Next time we are in crisis, what if our response was “I did” instead of “not me”?
Who searched for the lost sheep? I did
Who Loved the least? I did
Who loved the unloveable? I did
Who served the lost? I did
Who invited the stranger? I did
Who loved you when you were lost, lonely, and filled with sins of the past and the present? Christ did.
Knowing that, can you respond with anything but love and adoration for God?
It's your turn.
No excuses.
How will you respond?
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