Ivory Towers and Street People
Genesis 11:1-9
God destroys the tower of Babel
11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
11:2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
11:3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.
11:4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
11:5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.
11:6 And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
11:7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech."
11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
11:9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth, and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Friends, today’s text is a wonderful Bible “myth,” not necessarily a piece of actual human history. Those of us fortunate enough to have been to seminary know that Bible “myths” are stories or accounts originally designed to relate a truth—a truth that is not contingent upon whether the “event” related actually ever occurred. Parables are Bible myths, for example. What they communicate has nothing to do with whether they ever occurred. In antiquity, folk would have recognized the “medium” being used, and would have immediately seized upon the intended lesson, possibly after a little pondering, but they wouldn’t have gotten lost in the historicity of the format. Unfortunately, today the Bible and its interpretation has become obfuscated by those who focus mostly on ways to harmonize its message and “taking it literally,” something never intended by most of those who penned it. Having recently preached a sermon on the parable of Job from the Hebrew Bible, I know that for at least one person who heard the sermon, my calling it a “parable” was a bit too much. She had been “assimilated” by the “must take it literally” version of the evangelical faith, and therefore had to believe that the story of Job was actually an historical account. My suggestion otherwise simply meant I was wrong, and she had to discount the message along with the messenger. The wonderful messages from this remarkable story ARE real, whether there was a “real” Job, or not. So it is with the parables of Jesus, although you may be surprised to learn that even THEY have been distorted by this “taking it literally” bug, in some circles. Likewise, today’s text of the infamous “Tower of Babel” has been similarly distorted.
Note that in understanding this principle of the Bible “myth” it is not necessary to believe that the story DIDN’T happen, either. Could there have been a real guy named Job who had the “weird” experiences painstakingly told in the parable? Sure. Could there have been an actual “prodigal son” who did the things this famous parable tells? Of course there could have been. It’s just that the truths the stories are intended to teach us don’t require them to be “true” stories to BE true. And, truth be told, they are timeless stories because they are so universal! Down through the ages, countless children of God have found themselves in these stories, and turned to God for rescue and relief. One of our late United Methodist scholars and storytellers, Andy Langford, used to tell some marvelous parabolic stories as part of his sermons and lectures that SO captivated his audiences! Invariably, someone would come up to him afterwards and ask, “Is that a TRUE story?” to which Andy would answer, “Well, it OUGHT to be!”
Having been fully corrupted myself by the storytelling of the late Douglas Adams, and most especially by his “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,” I can’t even hear the word “Babel” without thinking of his “Babel Fish,” a mythical creature of his slightly off-kilter mind, that when inserted into a person’s ear canal, “drinks” brainwaves for nourishment and belches language interpretation. The skinny is that with a Babel Fish inserted, the user will “hear” anything said to them in their own language, as the Babel Fish does its feeding thing. Now, a whole sermon could be written around Adams’ “interesting” suggestion that language might be made “universal” as the waste of a fish’s digestive process. Think about it: it eats brainwaves and “regurgitates” words, or at least the translation of them. Might Adams be suggesting that words are not necessarily the best representation of the height of human cognitive genius? This idea might be worth considering by those who desire to take the Bible literally, come hell or high waters of baptism. Incidentally, Adams’ Babel Fish story is a “myth,” not to be taken literally, just in case you missed it.
Why would I suggest that the Babel story is also a Bible myth or parable? The first verse is a dead giveaway: “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” Seriously? You would want to take that literally? Ancient audiences would have pulled up a stone near the fire to hear the rest of the story unfold. Most of them would have already been quite familiar with the kinds of people who liked to build towers—almost exclusively the wealthy and power-hungry ones. I am reminded of a story (surprised?) of the late Ohio State football coach, Woody Hayes, who was known for keeping the ball on the ground, most of the time (his critics used to say, “Three yards and a cloud of dust…”). When asked by some journalistic wag WHY he rarely called a passing play, he said: “When you pass the football, three things can happen, and two of them are bad.” So it was with the tower-builders in this story, although all of the outcomes may have been bad. First of all, it would cost enormous amounts of money and man-hours to erect such a thing. If you don’t believe THAT, just ask the crews who built the Egyptian pyramids. And for why? Building the tallest tower was an ego trip, a bragging point among the well-healed. Some built towers, like those in various religious structures, as “homes” for God or the gods, but less out of hospitality and more for possession or control of them. And then there were those who sought to “storm heaven” by building a tower high enough to reach their primitive ideas of “heaven above,” which in early modes of interacting with the gods meant they could just crash the divine party.
Thankfully, we live in modern, enlightened times, and certainly have no wealthy people in our world today who believe that having the tallest towers or the biggest anything—or having your own space program--is a true sign of either status or power. Yeah. Scary, huh?
Why would this “faulty tower” crowd be a threat to God such that an author would be inspired to record this particular parable? One could say that it was the author’s attempt to explain why the world was so divided by language, ideology, religion, and politics—not to mention inequitable wealth distribution--it was God’s doing, but our fault. Our pursuits of power and stature, and wasting a fortune on acquiring them, was against what God had intended for humanity, and so God “foiled” their efforts by scattering those responsible and messing up their means of communicating. The Hebrew word, “Babel,” literally means “confused” or “to jumble.”
Again, thankfully, in our advanced state of self-awareness, we don’t experience these things that drive us apart…yeah. Scary, huh? It would seem that God’s “Babelizing” of the power-seekers/brokers only bought some time. Of course in our day, we could elect leaders who would focus our efforts back on building a healthy world community and who worked for wider economic opportunity for all people. OH boy…
My sarcasm is designed to highlight the universality of the Tower of Babel story, and its continuingly relevant message. Even as we still glorify and “celebrate” the Egyptians who built the “magnificent” pyramids as monuments to their legacies, and as “spaceships” to take them to heaven, so we still idolize those who do the same thing today, whether it’s “Trump Tower,” the various sports “Hall of Fame” players, or even Taylor Swift’s music empire. I’m not saying that it is wrong to develop one’s gifts so as to excel in some field or arena, but this story in Genesis DOES make us wonder how “impressed” God is that so many who suffer only get to watch, and in some cases, pay dearly to do so.
I’ve never believed that God “visits” evil upon God’s people, believing instead that we tend to bring it upon ourselves. Jesus numerously reiterated an ancient truth from Judaism: “What you sow, you reap.” Don’t blame God for “judging” you, if you caused the calamity yourself. I confess that, as a pastor visiting folk in the hospital who were gravely ill, it was hard to hold my tongue when a lifetime heavy smoker or drinker lying in the sickbed would say, “Why is God doing this to me?” Inside my head was a voice jumping up and shouting, “WHAT?!? Why is GOD doing this to you?” Thankfully, my rudimentary psychology and better pastoral care training kicked in, and I quickly accepted the grieving of the sufferer, for this is indeed the question of one in grief over their tragic sitz im leben. If I’m really honest, I’d confess that my “inner outburst” is more a product of my temporary faithlessness, for we Judeo-Christians believe in a God who just keeps forgiving and forgiving, and never abandon’s God’s love for us, even when we are totally responsible for the bad “crop” we are harvesting because of what we have sown.
So it is with the Babel story. The author wants us to know that we humans are profoundly responsible for the division and fouled communication among the human community. Locating this as God’s judgment is a way to cope with the mess we ‘s in. The hopeful message of the Gospel is that God WILL come along side us and help us begin to extract ourselves from the “tares” that we have seeded along with the good wheat God provided. However, it will mean turning ourselves godward—how one of my professors defined “repentance”—and beginning to turn from our incessant “tower building,” as well. Jesus said our eternal legacy will be defined by what we did for “the least of these,” and not by the size of our pyramids, our bank accounts, or our fame. In short, it’s not about our Ivory Towers, but how we treated and cared for the “street people” all around us, and I’m not just talking about the homeless and those in “definable” poverty. There are people all around us who have bought this tower-building definition of “being successful,” and who will never live up to it. They see themselves as failures, therefore. They need our compassion, our encouragement, our friendship, AND our Gospel. They are every bit as much children of God as the rest of us, but they’re not feeling it. As a pastor, I know it’s hard to lift such folk up, and may demand us rearranging our schedules to encourage and edify them, but how wonderful it is to see the earliest stages of their transformation when we do. You see, there are all kinds of “street people” in our lives. You may even BE one, yourself. God wants to lift you up, as well. I suggest you stop trying to build that tower to lift yourself up, and accept God’s willingness to do the “heavy lifting” in Jesus Christ. And expect that the others whom Christ is “lifting up” all around you will be your greatest assets and allies.
How wonderful to believe in a Deity who, rather than asked us to build a tower to God’s “glory,” came down to US, and sent God’s Spirit to inhabit US and OUR WORLD! The Holy Spirit may indeed BE God’s “Babel Fish.” When we take in God’s Spirit, into our hearts, minds, and souls, we begin to “hear” what others are saying and understand both their joys and needs. In the Divine Commonweath of the Spirit, we join them in celebrating the joys, and have the tools—“gifts of the Spirit”—to meet their needs! On this Day of Pentecost, we are invited to take a fresh “drink” of God’s Spirit, and then enjoin the spiritual discipline of listening for the translation of both the cries of our human siblings in distress, AND the “marching orders” of God to mobilize. Amen.