Sunday September 7, 2008 - Pentecost 17, Proper 18, Year A (RCL)
Today
is a new beginning.
As is always the case after Labor Day, the beginning of school
signals the beginning of Sunday School for the year.
But this year here at St James
it’s the beginning of a whole lot more.
We’re beginning a new service schedule,
and that allows us
to begin a new program of adult education.
What that means is that all of us - children and adults alike -
head to class on Sundays at 9,
so that we can learn and grow in our faith.
And because there’s so much that new
it seems a little bit strange
to find ourselves right in the middle of things in our readings.
It feels like it would make more sense
to begin something new;
instead, we’re in Exodus, Romans, and Matthew
And I’m going to be just as predictable: I’m going to preach on the Old Testament reading again,
just as I have done all summer.
In part, because I still think it’s important for us to try to make sense of these stories that many of us haven’t heard since Sunday School,
but also
because this week’s reading
doe have something to offer us,
something that maybe will help us connect where we have been
and where we are beginning again.
For those of you who haven’t been here all summer, it’s been a lot of fun.
Week by week, we’ve been hearing the great stories of the the people of Israel,
the stories that many of us haven’t heard since Sunday school
but are the foundation of our faith.
We’ve heard about Abraham’s great adventure in faith, leaving home
on the basis of a promise,
and Isaac, beloved and spoiled by his parents,
and Jacob the trickster, always trying to cheat someone and sometimes getting cheated himself.
And then Joseph, bragging to his older brothers about how he would be greater than them,
and how after slavery and prison
his bragging
was proved true.
The summer sermons are on our parish website
if you want to do some catching up.
But now we’re at Moses. Two weeks ago we heard the story of the Israelites in Egypt, once honored guests and now abused as slaves, and the birth and rescue of Moses.
Last week it was God commissioning Moses to go speak with Pharaoh and lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.
Now, God’s speaking again, this time not just to Moses, but to Aaron his brother as well.
But a whole lot has happened
in between.
We left Moses in chapter three of Exodus, out in the wilderness, arguing with God
about how there was no way he could possibly do
what God wanted him to. He didn’t have the skills, he wasn’t good enough.
That argument
went on for another chapter. Finally Moses and God did a deal.
Moses would do what God said
but his brother Aaron could come and be his mouthpiece.
And so Moses headed back to Egypt, met up with his brother,
and went to the people of Israel to tell them that God was going to rescue them. And they thought
that sounded fine.
But then Moses and Aaron
went to Pharaoh
and it was a whole other story.
They didn’t even ask Pharaoh to let their people go free, just to let them go out into the desert for three days
for a religious observance.
But Pharaoh wasn’t stupid. Once they got a taste of freedom, there was every chance they wouldn’t come back. Plus even if they did, why let them go in the first place. What sane ruler
would give his slaves
a free long weekend?
“No”, said Pharaoh,and ordered his overseers
to treat the Israelites even worse than before,
increasing the quota of bricks they were to make, and forcing them to find their own materials to make them out of.
Not surprisingly, the Israelites were not happy - especially with Moses, for getting them into this situation.
“Give up on the whole rescue thing,” they said.
“you’re only making our lives worse.”
And Moses went to God.
“Why are you doing this to us? I did what you said, and things are worse, not better, for my people!”
God’s response,
“I am the Lord your God and I will free you from the Egyptians,
and I will lead you into a land of promise. Go tell Pharaoh.”
“But he won’t listen to me,” said Moses. “Even my own people won’t listen to me, so no way will Pharaoh.”
“Go anyway,” said God.
So Moses went, along with his brother, and even did miracles in front of Pharaoh
but it made no difference. Still Pharaoh
said no.
And so God told Moses
to tell Pharaoh
that unless he let them go, the Nile River
would turn to blood.
And Pharaoh said no,
and the river turned to blood.
And seen days passed.
And so God told Moses
to tell Pharaoh
that unless he let them go, there would be a plague of frogs.
Pharaoh said he would let them go,
but as soon as the frogs disappeared, he changed his mind.
And so it continued,
plague after plague,
gnats, flies,
diseased livestock,
boils, thunder and hail,
locusts and darkness.
And still Pharaoh refused
to let the Israelites
go.
Until finally
God had had
enough.
“One last plague,” he said.
“And this one, this one
Pharaoh
will not be able to ignore.
even his own people
will be begging him
to let the Israelites go.”
And he told Moses and Aaron
that this plague
would be a plague of death. Every firstborn
would die.
The oldest child
of every family,
the oldest child, even of their livestock.
Because of Pharaoh’s refusal
to let the Israelites go
all the firstborn
would die.
Only
the Israelites
would be spared,
and even they
would escape only
if their homes
were marked with blood,
the blood of a lamb
painted on their doorposts
so that God
would pass over them
and leave their firstborn
unharmed.
And the Israelites were ordered
to prepare to escape,
gathering their essential possessions,
eating a hurried meal
of meat
and unleavened bread
and bitter herbs.
The first Passover,
eaten
as God passed over their children,
but Pharaoh’s oldest son
and the oldest children of the Egyptians
died.
And that very night while the Egyptians were in terrible mourning
the Israelites escaped.
And the feast of the Passover,
roast lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs
became a remembrance for the Israelites,
a remembrance that continues to this day,
a remembrance of the time
when God rescued them
from Egypt.
And not just a remembrance.
Because the Passover marks the beginning of something new.
It’s the time
that the descendants of Abraham,
an extended family
become a people;
it’s a new beginning
that is re-lived
each and every year, a new beginning.
It’s a troubling story, though, isn’t it?
Because as much as we want to celebrate the escape
of an oppressed people,
we cant avoid the ugly truth.
Their freedom
came at incredible cost.
People died, ordinary Egyptians,
victims of plagues, victims of Pharaoh’s intransigence,
maybe even victims
of God.
The celebration
is overshadowed
by death.
And that’s why there is a tradition among many Jews at Passover
that when the list of plagues is read aloud
at each plague
a drop of wine is removed from the cup.
A visible sign
of the cost of freedom.
We inherit that tradition.
As Christians, week by week, we celebrate our Passover,
Christ’s death on the cross
for our sake,
so that we who might be caught up in death
instead get life.
And I suspect it’s no coincidence
that Christ himself died
at Passover time.
A visible sign and reminder
of the cost of God’s rescue
throughout all history.
And so the great celebration of our life together as Christians
is the Eucharist
when we eat the flesh and drink the blood of our Saviour.
Not just drops of wine
but a whole cup
reminding us of the cost
and the incredible gift
of our salvation.
God has rescued us
and we are thankful.
And so today
as we begin a new program year,
we celebrate the new life that God has given us,
knowing that it cost God dearly,
the blood of Jesus Christ
that passes us over
from death into life.
For on the night when Jesus was betrayed, he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
I Corinthians 11: 23b-26
The body of Christ, the bread of heaven.
The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.
The gifts of God for the people of God.
Take them and be thankful.
© Raewynne J. Whiteley 2008