I Ain’t Saying You’re a Gold-digger
By Reverend Maria Mallory White
Posted: 4:49p.m .est, October 08, 2006
Zechariah 5:5-11
Zechariah’s message was essentially a tract for troubled times. A Jew who was born in Babylon during a time when his people were living as strangers in a strange land, Zechariah was both a priest and a prophet, entrusted with a word for a people who had totally lost their way. These were troubled times. The people had completely lost their footing and their foundation as the people of God after their temple, the centerpiece of their worship and religious identity, was destroyed. These were troubled times. For the past 100 years before Zechariah mounted the pulpit to address his people, they had been used and abused, sent through hell, knocked around by the world powers of the day, kicked and mocked, ‘buked and scorned. These were troubled times. This once-proud people, God’s chosen people, had been oppressed, repressed, depressed, suppressed, transgressed and distressed for so long, they were dangerously close to losing their connection to their renowned roots, their holy heritage and their blessed background. These were troubled times.
And so, the LORD, Whose eye is always on the sparrow, and so, the LORD, Who always preserves His promises, and so, the LORD, Who always keeps His covenants, and so the LORD, Who always works according to His word, this same God, sends a series of apocalyptic announcements to God’s people by way of a series of visions to Zechariah, and because "God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that he should change his mind," the bottom line of the entire series of visions can be summed up like this: God will bless and restore God’s people.
Now, that’s good news right there, but before we celebrate, we’ve got to understand that part of the problems and predicaments pummeling the Hebrew people was from their own sins. Intertwined in their issues were things they couldn’t blame on nobody else. A degree of their drama was directly because of their own misconduct and sin. And that’s right where the tale of the text and the testimony of today intersect: There may be some among us who need to understand that everything you’re going through isn’t because of what somebody did to you. And just like Zechariah had to tell the folk in his day, I’ve gotta let somebody know today that every detail of your drama was not forced upon you by somebody else. Let’s just be real: All the mess we’re in isn’t because we were passively, innocently, naively, and sweetly minding our own business, and the mess just fell all on us out of the blue. ‘Cause the real truth of the matter is, I don’t know too many folk who can claim that they are so weak, so meek and so mild that mess maneuvers its way into our lives without our noticing, without our suspecting, without a clue, without warning, a sign, a tip off, a feeling or a hunch. I’m sorry, but we might as well be real about it: Most of us just aren’t that gullible. All of our stuff just doesn’t happen to us up out of the blue, outta nowhere, didn’t see it coming!
Even with all that, don’t get me wrong. That doesn’t mean that we are TO BLAME for everything that goes wrong in our lives, either—though we do have a hand in some of it—and sometimes, in fact, the mess, the drama, the issues and the turmoil in our lives happens, in part, because of our own misconduct and sin. We all have sinned ... and fallen short of the glory of God.
Well, in Zechariah’s time, the misconduct and sin had to do with idolatry, and it’s no different in our times. Zechariah preached to a people who were deep in idolatrous pre-occupation. They were caught up. As strangers in a strange land, they had forgotten who they were and Whose they were. They had been oppressed so long. They had been oppressed so hard. They had been oppressed so completely, they had traded their religion, their culture, their identity and their good sense for the trappings of the oppressor. All of a sudden, the values their mamas and daddies had taught them were thrown out the window, and they were doing all the same dirt that the other folk were doing. All of a sudden, BLACK was no longer beautiful, and NOW snow white was right. All of a sudden, they weren’t happy to be nappy. They wanted it long and straight, so they extension-ed, wigged and weaved it to achieve it. All of a sudden, instead of brown eyes, they wanted something new, so they changed them to contacts of green, auburn, hazel and blue. All of a sudden, they didn’t like anything about themselves that was real, so they learned how to beg, borrow, snook, crook, HOOK and even steal. And the saddest thing of all is that they sold out in the church house, too. Now, I ain’t saying they were gold-diggers, but they traded God’s praise for prosperity. Now, I ain’t saying they were gold-diggers, but they traded amazing grace for almighty greenbacks. Now, I ain’t saying they were gold-diggers, but they traded "Lord, have mercy upon us" to "Lord, shower money upon us." Now, I ain’t saying they were gold-diggers, but they traded "Precious Lord, take my hand" for "Precious Lord, send me a man—or woman—some dubs and some duckets." Now, I ain’t saying they were spiritual gold-diggers, but in the church house, they traded "Lord, take all of me" for out-and-out, unabashed, unashamed, I-want-what-I-want-when-I-want-it idolatry.
In fact, in Babylon, where these Jewish people had been living for 70 years, the worship of things—beautiful, material things—was so intense that the Jewish people, too, fell in love with the things this world could provide, and they were carrying all that "adultery" in their hearts. They didn’t know that all that glittered isn’t gold.
In Zechariah’s vision, the woman being stuffed into this basket represented the evil of idolatry and materialism—all the worldly things the gold-digging Hebrews had given themselves to in their hearts instead of giving themselves wholeheartedly to the One, True, God. In this basket full of all kinds of evil sat a sho’ ‘nuff gold-digger, a woman representing religion which did not worship the LORD, religion devoted to the created things and the bling-bling of this world and not the Creator of this world. Instead of looking for the glittering future He held for them in the palm of His hand, she and her followers looked for the sparkling, cheap baubles offered by the god of this world.
And so, part of the reason the people are in the mess they’re in is because of their own misconduct and sin. They knew that God is a jealous God, and that idolatry, worship of worldly things, spiritual gold-digging, was an abomination, so this vision is given to Zechariah to share with them to root out that evil and to help them see they should love the LORD with all their hearts, souls, minds and strength. God will bless and restore God’s people.
Zechariah calls for repentance by showing what happens to this spiritual gold-digger, the one whose heart was sold out on stuff, messed up by materialism and entwined in idolatry. The woman, whose idolatrous heart earns her the name "Wickedness," is on lock down in a basket carried by two stork-winged women who take it to Shinar, a poetic reference to Babylon, the ancient city where idol worship originated and where evil will run rampant. She is sent, in so many words, to hell in a hand basket. God will bless and restore God’s people.
And so, Zechariah witnesses in his vision a symbolic purification. Sin is contained, that gold-digger spirit is captured and then removed altogether, cleansing idolatrous worship from the land. God will bless and restore God’s people.
Repent, all ye people. Gold-digging has no place in God’s house. God will bless and restore God’s people. The name "Zechariah" itself means "Yahweh has remembered." God will bless and restore God’s people, but have you remembered God? It doesn’t matter what you’re heart’s been focused on. Rebuke that gold-digger spirit, repent and know "I know the plans God have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." God will bless and restore God’s people. The Lord knows you’ve got needs, and God’s gonna meet ‘em, according to God’s riches in glory. God will bless and restore God’s people.
So, the old folks would say, "Hold to His hand. God’s unchanging hand. Hold to His hand. God’s unchanging hand. Build your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God’s unchanging hand."
And while the old folks would call God’s provision unchangeable, young folk can sample the new Alicia Keys and call God’s commitment "Unbreakable": God’s love is unbreakable. "No thing. No money. No sin. No temptation." God’s loving is unbreakable. Because He came as a baby, born in a manger. No money. He led a flawless, sinless life. No temptation. With His death He purchased my soul. No sin. And He arose and secured my place in heaven above. I’m talking about Jesus’ lovin’. From heaven above. Unbreakable. From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay. Unbreakable. From the cross to the grave. Unbreakable. From the grave to the sky. Unbreakable. Unbreakable. Unbreakable.
