June 8, 2025
I speak to you in the name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
There are two types of concrete in Minnesota. Anyone know what they are? Right. Concrete that’s already cracked, and concrete that’s going to crack. Concrete is great stuff. We use it from everything from roads and bridges to foundations and floors to firepits and fences. It looks solid and stable and smooth when its poured and dried.
But then it rains. And it snows. And it freezes. And the sun beats down on it. And the cold seeps into it. And after so many warm/cold, freeze/thaw cycles, the darn stuff starts to crack. Because – like anything else – concrete doesn’t last forever. Given enough time, the water and sun and cold will break it down to the point that there’s nothing left of it.
No matter how often we fill the cracks or re-pour the concrete, it will eventually break down. That’s part of how God has designed creation to be. So what I want us to be thinking about today is God’s design – God’s plan, to use another word – for creation, and how we fit into that.
Our Old Testament reading will be familiar to many of us – it’s the story of the Tower of Babel. Here, in the aftermath of the great flood, we see all the people of world speaking with one language. And they’ve migrated to the land of Shinar –later called Babylon – and have decided to cooperate together on a major building project. They’re going to build a city with a tower where they can live together, instead of being scattered across the face of the whole earth.
God hears about this project and decides to come and see it in person. And I don’t know about you, but what surprised me about this story is that God doesn’t seem very happy with humanity’s move from the conflict and infighting Genesis has given us up to this point to unity of language and culture. In the end, God is so unhappy that God scatters the people to the winds.
Over the centuries, people have often focused on the tower in this story. Thinking maybe that the tower represents humanity’s desire to reach the heavens – to challenge God’s rule of the world. And in fact, we still seem to think that – notice that I called the story the “Tower of Babel”, and not the “City of Babel”.
But God doesn’t say anything that suggests that the tower itself is a problem. The story doesn’t say anything about the tower’s fate. If the story was really about the tower, we’d hear about how the tower collapsed or how it was destroyed.
As is so often the case, God cares less about what humanity has come together to do, but entirely about why the people are doing it. In other words, the key to understanding this story is to understand the motivation. The story says that humans decide to build this city and tower, “otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” In fact, this story is about a very primal human fear – a fear of what the future might bring.
All of us will be familiar with the deep anxiety and insecurity that an uncertain future holds. And it turns out that the more we’re afraid, the more we’re tempted to turn inward. To band together – to cling to what’s familiar – to keep our communities intact in the face of a threatening world. And it’s this motivation – to build a city in order to secure their own future, isolated from the rest of the world – that God judges.
Because, you see, that’s not what God intends for the world. The City of Babel’s concern for self-preservation flies in the face of God’s plan for the world. Earlier in Genesis, God calls the creation “good”. It’s “good” because it reflects the wisdom and justice of the loving God who creates, sustains, and directs it.
But that world – that goodness – has to be nurtured and cared for. And so God gives humanity power over creation in the first chapter of Genesis – saying that the humans should take charge of the earth and the things on it. Some versions of the Bible translate the Hebrew word used here – radah – as “dominion”. But I think a better translation of “radah” is “authority”, but “authority” where the ruler cares and respect those under his care. Because that makes the most sense, given what we know about God. So we’re to steward the world God has given into our care by promoting the justice and wisdom God has embedded within the creation. That stewardship is what gives meaning and purpose to our lives.
When we look at Scripture as a whole, we see a grand narrative, where God is healing creation’s brokenness and establishing justice and peace on a cosmic scale. We see God leading us to a place where sin and suffering and death will be no more, and everything will be made right. And somehow, our being sent out into the world to tend to this justice and peace is part of that cosmic plan.
Today we celebrate Pentecost. It’s a moment in the church’s history that affirms the Babel story. God took those disciples who were huddled in the Upper Room – in fear of their lives – looking inward to protect themselves – and gave them a Companion – the Holy Spirit. An Advocate who provided everything they needed to go throughout the world and care for it. And then they scattered to the ends of the earth, to proclaim God’s goodness – God’s justice and peace – to all whom they met.
What Scripture tells us this morning is that God has given us the imagination and the intelligence and the ability to create all sorts of things. But when our fear or our arrogance or pride drives us to create things that turn us inward – away from stewarding the creation – then we should beware. Because the concrete of human ambition stands no chance against the God’s desire to redeem and restore the world.
And so my friends, rejoice! Rejoice that God calls us into the world – pulling us away from fear, and from whatever does not serve God’s purposes. Rejoice that through the Spirit, God gives us everything we need to proclaim God’s goodness and steward a broken world toward reconciliation. Rejoice that God’s plan to bring justice and peace in all their fullness gives true meaning and purpose to our lives. Amen.