For our benefit . . .

      Before we dive back into Exodus this morning, I want to remind people that I do not try and cover everything that is in Scripture intentionally.  My job as a pastor is to discern prayerfully both what lesson we need to hear and what part of those lessons we need to hear.  That is not to say I am ignoring parts of readings because I am unaware or because I am mean.  It’s more a case of “how long will they sit?”  But, I was moderately excited this week as a couple Adventers came into my office this week to talk about the name of God and the JEDP authorship of the Pentateuch.  Most of you have no idea about what I am referencing, but there used to be an accepted modern theory that four authors wrote, or strongly edited Moses’ writings.  It has since fallen mostly out of favor, though Funmi shared at 8am that a couple professors at Sewanee still strongly professed their belief in that understanding.  Now, could I have preached about it or included it in the sermon?  Sure.  Would it have helped most of us understand anything about God being the Great I AM?  I did not think so.  That being said, Adventers are always welcome to come in and chat about sermon tangents or Scripture tangents or even the other Scripture readings.  I love those conversations way more than much of the stuff I have to do.  And, yes, I understand that most Adventers are well-educated.  Some of you use spare time to educate yourself on other matters, like Scripture.  So I often look forward to such discussions as everyone brings their perspectives and experiences to those discussions as we flesh out what God wants us to know.  And just because I think the parish needs its attention drawn to something does not mean I do not expect the Holy Spirit to speak to individuals about something else. 

     We skip ahead this week several chapters in the book of Exodus.  In fact, for those of us familiar with Charlton Heston’s version of Moses, we skip the entirety of the plagues.  I made an offhand comment today at 8am and four of those at worship grabbed me for more discussion, so I will give y’all more background.  The plagues serve as a polemic against the gods of Egypt and against the accepted cosmology of much of the ANE.  The ANE understood that what happened on earth was reflected in heaven and vice versa.  That meant that if a god or goddess was defeated in the heavens, their people would be defeated on earth.  The corollary was also true.  If a people were defeated on earth, the victors’ god/goddess would conquer in the heavens.  That understanding made locations, especially temples, super important in these cosmological battles.  If a god lost his or her temple on earth, he or she lost part of her power in the heavens.  Now you know why Babylon and Rome destroy the Temple in Jerusalem and elsewhere when they conquer various peoples.  For those of you who have visited Rome, now you know why the Temple Row exists.  At the point of a sword, Rome invited the priests of defeated nations to serve at a temple to their god in Rome.  Best of all, now you know why Israel does not take the prophets’ threat seriously when they prophesy the Exile and the destruction of the Temple.  Right?

     God, of course, will do what He wants to do.  Nothing will stop Him.  Israel, Egypt, and we need to begin to inwardly digest that understanding.  Just to remind ourselves, Egypt is the super-power of the day when this all happens.  They are the United States of the ANE as this unfolds.  Because they are the strongest military and the largest economy and all the other benefits, the rest of the world perceives them as blessed and favored by the best and strongest gods.  Because they know this is all true of themselves, they know they are favored by the strongest gods in the heavens.  With me so far?

     So, God brings plagues, one after another, that demonstrate Egyptian gods’ impotence to fight Him.  Most of us spend too little time studying Egyptian mythology, so I will not bore you with names you do not know.  But we all know they worshipped the Nile god, right?  Good.  Hapi was the god’s name, for those of us who care.  The Nile god was responsible for the annual flooding which brough fertility to Egypt – remember, Egypt was the breadbasket of the ANE because of the Nile floods.  When God turns the Nile to blood, He is attacking the Nile god where the Nile god is supposedly the strongest.  If the Nile god is truly in charge of the Nile, no foreign god should be able to exercise authority in the god’s demesne.  Not only does the God of Israel exercise power over the Nile god, but the priests and magicians are unable to help strengthen the Nile god in the fight against Yahweh.  Similarly, and we all know this one, the darkness that covers the land is an attack on Ra, the god of the sun.

     Egypt, Israel, the rest of the ANE, and even we in Nashville, TN are instructed by these plagues that God is truly God.  To use the words of Paul, nothing, no power or principality, can separate us from God or thwart God in His purposes.  Got it?  Good.

     What strikes some of us weird, and where I think God wanted our focus today, though, takes place after the prophesy of the tenth plague but before its execution – pun intended.  Just before our reading today, God informs Moses that He will kill every firstborn of Egypt, from human beings to animals in the fields.  More amazingly, no Israelite will be harmed.  The wailing of Egypt will never be forgotten, but neither will the safety of Israel.  God makes a distinction between His people and the Egyptians and executes His judgment accordingly.

     God then gives these instructions to Moses about what will come to be known as the Passover Meal.  Because many of you attend Holy Week services, the rubrics of the meal, to use our terminology from the BCP, does not surprise you.  Those who have sat through Larry’s lecture on the calendar and those who have watched Charlton Heston will also be familiar with all this.  An unblemished lamb is chosen for the sacrifice and tended for two weeks.  After the two weeks, the lamb is slaughtered at twilight.  God gives cooking instructions and instructions about attire and even that the lamb will be consumed quickly by all in the household.  Any leftovers will be burned in the morning.  Famously, the blood from the lamb will be put on the doorposts and the lintel.  God promises that when He comes to execute judgment on Israel, He will pass over the houses that keep the Passover Meal.  Best of all, He commands the Meal as a perpetual remembrance for all generations!

     As I was preparing for the sermon this week, I ran across a couple commentators who pointed out just how weird and out of place this seems.  To one, it was clear evidence that the book of Exodus had been edited.  Some later scribe must have come along and written this in there to justify the meal to later generations.  In the middle of this crazy narrative about plagues, God gives instructions about a meal; and then the story continues with the execution of the first born of Egypt. 

     Truth be told, I did not look up anything about the authors.  Maybe they are not a fan of miracles.  Maybe they have an over-developed hermeneutic of suspicion.  I even wondered if they were so focused on their expertise that they could not see the forest because they are looking too closely at the tree.  I assumed their attitudes about the meal could be because they were not liturgical Christians.  Right?  I mean, if you are not fed by liturgical worship, much of what happens seems weird or out of place.  Heck, think of the first time you worshipped using the BCP.  Now, most of us do not even crack the book, the prayers and responses are so well known.  But in the beginning?  Those first few months?  And the calisthenics made it worse.  I have to speak words and do the hokey pokey?  We laugh, but those of us laughing remember just how lost we were.  But we need, from time to time, to be reminded why we do what we do.  Why do we worship this way and not that way?  Why do we say this prayer then and not later?  And that’s the big job of a pastor.  Scholars teach us knowledge, but pastors have to answer the why’s and what does that mean for me questions.

     Why does God take a time out in the middle of these plagues and give His people a meal?  There are several answers to that question, and I will likely not cover them all this morning.  I hope my answer provokes some further conversation, though.  Chiefly, you and I would say that this meal is a type and shadow of the Eucharist that we celebrate when we gather for worship.  Good, I see nods.  Because we are liturgical Christians and repeat the same actions week after week, season after season, year after year, we understand how the Passover Meal pointed to the Eucharist instituted by our Lord Christ on Maundy Thursday.  Once a year, we remember intentionally that institution.  We are invited to the Table like those who were with our Lord.  Our feet are washed.  We are reminded of what our Lord has done for us, how He acted like a servant rather than the King.  The words of institution sound differently in our ears because of the liturgical actions and readings and prayers of the night.  Each week we gather in remembrance of Christ’s death, we proclaim His Resurrection, and we await His Coming in glory, we are living in that perpetual command.  But it is all somehow different on that night, that night before we remember His crucifixion and death.

     But, and I think this may be even more important than the type and shadow aspect of the meal, you and I are reminded of a truth that was first unveiled to Jacob, then Moses and Israel, and then to Christ’s Apostles and disciples.  Both the events of the Passover and Maundy Thursday occur in the midst of great suffering and death and judgment, of seeming confusion, frustration, and doubt.  God intentionally instructs Moses before He executes the firstborn of Israel to eat that meal.  Jesus intentionally instructs His disciples to share this bread and this cup before He is betrayed, tortured, crucified, and buried.  Right?  Why?

     Remember, part of what is happening in the Pentateuch, and Exodus in particular, is the unveiling of more about God.  Israel, and we, are learning more about the things He values and His character.  God goes from being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the Lord who is abounding in steadfast love, right?  In the stories, we are learning about our own character, too.  Does any of us merit the faithfulness of God?  Time and time again, humans will do things their own way and turn from God, right?  We do the exact same thing.  But in those moments where you and I struggle, where we wonder if God is still with us or for us, we have our liturgy.

     I hope we are all reminded this morning that God does not need our worship.  God is not sitting out there in time and space needing His ego stroked.  He is God.  He needs nothing from us.  He can do what He wants to do when He wants to do it.  And if worship is not for Him, for whom must it be?  Yep.  Us.  Why?  Worship helps us remember the lessons and truths He taught Jacob at the bottom of the ladder, the lessons and truths He taught Israel and Egypt and the world in the Exodus of Israel, the lessons and truths He taught His disciples during His time dwelling among us, and the lessons and truths He teaches us still!  He is with us.  He is among us.

     Part of why worship exists is so that you and I will be reminded of the truth that God is involved in the events of the world, that God cares deeply about what happens to us, and that God will accomplish His purposes despite the actions and attitudes of the world.  Put differently, worship is like the Sabbath which will be given in a few chapters; it exists for our own benefit.

     When we gather for worship, what do we do?  We pray together collectively and individually in our attempts to attune ourselves to God.  We read the stories and teachings of Scripture to remind ourselves of the history of God’s people and God’s revealed truths.  We make our intercessions and thanksgivings through prayer.  We confess our sins to God and receive absolution.  And then we celebrate the Eucharist that our Lord instituted before He faced betrayal, rejection, torture, and death.  As you read the words of God today in Exodus, notice the similarities to the Meal described by Jesus.  Part of what we are teaching Funmi is not to leave any leftovers on the altar, right?  We eat His flesh and drink His blood knowing we are sent back out into the world to do the work He has given each of us to do.  We remember the freedom from oppression that He gives us, in our context the freedom from the oppression of sin rather than empire.  But for some brothers and sisters around the world, that freedom from empire is almost as important.  In some cases, we remind ourselves that because we are washed in Christ’s blood, God will pass over the judgment we deserve.  We intentionally remind ourselves of these truths each and every time we gather.  We remember His death.  We proclaim His Resurrection.  We await His Coming Again.  And we remind ourselves that this event we call worship is really for our benefit.  Our sacrifice is merely a sacrifice of what?  That’s right.  Praise and thanksgiving.  Our sacrifice, on some levels, does not approach that described by God in this pericope.  Our Hebrew brothers and sisters tended their lamb for two weeks before they sacrificed it.  How much tending of The Lamb do we do?

     Worship, might friends, should never be understood as something we do for God’s benefit or because He is some mega-ego in the sky who needs affirmation from us.  Worship exists for us.  God gave us worship so that we might know that He is truly among us, that He truly cares for us, and that He desires nothing more than to draw all of humanity into that same loving embrace for which we should all long.  When things seem crazy threatening, such as in the Passover, God is there to remind us that He will see us through, that He snorts angrily at the idea that His children face evil and even death.  When things seem to be going well, when we seem to think our material blessings are proof of His care and concern for us, worship reminds us that the material things are not the proof—it was His love and guidance and eventual sacrifice for us that demonstrates His love for each one of us.  When things seem confusing or hard to understand, worship exists to remind us that our Lord understands, and better still, has power to shepherd us through.  Best of all, when things seem hopeless, worship exists to remind us of the hope that we should have because of that care and concern and power demonstrated by our Lord.

     As a community, I am mindful that we have had two untimely deaths that touch everyone here today except our visitors.  But our visitors are like many of us in that they, like us, have faced untimely deaths, maybe even some recently, in their more personal sphere.  As we are reminded over and over and over again in Scripture and in the world around us, the great oppressor seems to be death.  Death is that one human condition, if I might use that turn of phrase, that seems unsolvable or unconquerable to us.  People spend crazy amounts of money seeking ways to put death off or even be revived after.  But no matter how much money we throw at it, no matter how much we study it, no matter how much we fight it, we find our efforts futile.  But it is in worship that you and I are reminded of the reality of death, of both its cause, namely sin, and its close presence.

     But it is also in worship that you and I are reminded of the glorious power of God, and of His glorious will to exercise that power for our benefit.  It is in worship that we are reminded that only God can conquer death.  Better still, because He has sworn this covenant with us, that all who believe in His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, we know that He will exercise that power and give us back our lives, even those lives seemingly overpowered by death.  But because He has THAT kind of power, we are reminded when we worship that He has power to overcome everything in our lives, that when we are experiencing whatever troubles or confusion or vicissitude, we are truly being used by Him like a son or daughter to reach those around us.  We may not see it.  We may not hear it.  We may not understand it.  But because we are bathed in His suffering for our sake in our worship, because we are constantly reminded of His salvific and redemptive work in worship, because we are nourished by His Body and His Blood, we are each uniquely prepared to face the work that He has given us to do.  And reminded of those truths and nourished by the Sacrament, we are prepared to carry that Gospel of hope and love into a world that desperately needs to hear and see it!

 

In His peace,

Brian†