Exodus 12:29-32

Exodus 12:29-32 

English Standard Version 

  I wish I had an easier answer as to why some things in the Bible happen the way they do.  For that matter, I wish I had better answers as to why some things in the world happen the way they do.  To be alive is to know heartbreak, in one way or another, for ever since Genesis 3, the world has been separated from the way it was created to be.  That means that death, decay, and heartbreak are part of our lives, unfortunately.  It will continue to be that way until the fullness of time.  All I can do is read these passages of dismay and know that God didn't ask anyone to sacrifice what God was unwilling to sacrifice.  God gives up Jesus Christ, God's own son, to experience a painful death on the cross, and Jesus descends to hell for 3 days, separated from the eternal joy that he had experienced beforehand.

  I don't think that makes it any easier to understand the death in Scripture, but it does give me comfort to know that God understands what it is like to suffer, and so when I go to God in prayer with my own suffering, I pray to someone with compassion for me.

Exodus 12:25-28

Exodus 12:25-28 

English Standard Version 

  It's amazing to think -- this very year, thousands of years later, the Jewish community will gather and celebrate the same meal, giving thanks for the same act, worshiping the same God.  They remember the same way that God protected the Israelites in Egypt.  Tradition is powerful -- I love to be part of the church because we're part of something so much bigger than ourselves.  We're truly anchored -- so many things come and go and society shifts over time, but in the church, we stand on a foundation that has existed for millennia.  In a world where things change, we can give thanks for the stability of the church. 

  At the end of this passage, the simplicity is beautiful.  Moses tells the people to do this thing... and they do it.  Of course, they were properly motivated -- they'd heard that death was coming to all who didn't comply.  That will light a fire.  So often, in their 40-year journey through the wilderness, they spend all their time grumbling rather than complying.  Granted, I could take a lesson here -- I don't always embrace my commitment to God whole-heartedly.  I often long for something easier, something clearer, and so I grumble.  

  It's good for me to remember how high the stakes are.  In Christ, we have life, and he paid a high price to redeem us back from the dead.  May the thought of Christ, the sacrificial lamb, going to the cross willingly out of love -- may that thought bring us gratitude and peace to our souls, and may we follow God with joyous hearts with the hope of God's kingdom in our minds. 

Exodus 12:1-4,7

Exodus 12:1-4, 7 

English Standard Version 

  Here we are, a thousand years before Christ, and God is laying out the plan.  There is a pattern to salvation, and there are echoes throughout the pages of the Old Testament.  The groundwork was set here in Exodus 12, when a lamb is sacrificed and the blood is on the doorpost as a sign that God is at work in that house.  I love how any household that is too small is combined with another -- we see community being formed through the death of the lamb.  Three thousand years later, we marvel at what God has done, what God is doing, in providing salvation through the death of a lamb.  God has been at work, and God remains at work through God's beloved church, and so we continue to gather for a feast.  This is what Jesus was thinking about during the night of his arrest -- this meal, this plan, this path to salvation.  

Exodus 11:4-7

Exodus 11:4-7 

English Standard Version 

  Heartbreak.  I think of the stubbornness of leaders, refusing to admit defeat and condemning others to death.  It has happened for centuries, and it is no different here.  Pharaoh will not acknowledge that God is a greater power than he is, and as a result, God brings devastation in a way that will be clear, similar to how Pharaoh had all the Israelite males thrown into the river to die.  Pharaoh could have let the Israelites leave before this, but his heart was hardened by his pride, and as a result, all of Egypt will suffer loss.

  We are often caught up in things larger than ourselves.  I cannot explain why so many bad things happen in the world.  We read headlines, but it's easy to forget that each headline impacts an individual life, be it a war on the other side of the world or job cuts here at home.  They all impact people.  One of the things that I love about Scripture, and particularly the Gospels, is that the interactions happen at individual levels.  Jesus comes to heal this woman or that child, and their story is told.  Individuals matter to God -- each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made.  I don't think God finds joy in the death of individuals, be here in Exodus or later on in Joshua or in plenty of other places throughout history.  Violence tears apart.  This is the impact of sin.  Thanks be to God for Jesus who comes to mend the rift, to sew back up what violence tears apart.  He is truly our only hope, greater than death, able to defeat the powers that bind us.

Exodus 10:21-24

Exodus 10:21-24

English Standard Version 

  A darkness to be felt -- this is total darkness, completely encompassing all of Egyptian life.  How frustrating would it have been for them to cast their eyes towards Goshen and see the Israelites living in light, while they dwelt in darkness so thick that they could not even see one another.  They spent three days in darkness, looking forward to the three days that Jesus will spend in the darkness of the tomb, waiting for the light.  

  In Genesis 1, God divides the darkness and the night, setting each to their own place.  Here, once more, God is showing us God's complete control over the natural world.  

  In seminary, I had a professor that talked about thin places, where the veil between this world and the next grows so thin that they blend.  This is often in places where death lingers near at the end of life, and it is sacred ground -- for in this world, there are plenty of shadows, but we know the power of the light.  We are drawn to it.  There will, one day, be no more night in the fullness of the Kingdom of God, for God will be our light.  May we spend our time well, that we invest our energy in seeking out the light, and letting it shine through us and into the lives of others.

Exodus 10:3-6

Exodus 10:3-6 

English Standard Version 

  Can you imagine the Pharaoh, considered a god among the Egyptians and certainly by himself, humbling himself before God?  That kind of thing just wasn't done.  It'd never been done before.  How would he look among the people?  They'd never see him the same again.

  The same kind of thinking locks us in.  We worry about engaging in new ways.  We worry about humbling ourselves fully before the cross.  What might people think?  What might people say?  If we go and join with this organization or serve this kind of people... will rumors start?  Some of these things just haven't been done.  What might happen?

  To fully serve God, we have think only of what God thinks.  That's the only seal of approval we need.  Let others say what they might say... may we only live for the love of the one who hung the stars in the sky.  On this Ash Wednesday, let us fully humble ourselves before God, acknowledging our shortcomings and our mortality, giving thanks to God for covering us with grace and mercy and making a path through death, a way where there was no way.  

Mark 4 Sermon for March 2, 2025

Exodus 9:27-30

Exodus 9:27-30 

English Standard Version 

  It's wild to me that there were ten plagues.  I will never understand how Pharaoh didn't throw in the towel somewhere around the frogs or the flies.  Here, we're at the end of the hail, and it seems like Pharaoh is capitulating... but there are more plagues to go.  Pharaoh has recognized his own sin, but he's going to change his mind about letting the people go.  His mouth is speaking, but his heart isn't fully there yet.  He still wants to be in charge.

  We all know this dance.  We have moments of clarity where we'll realize that God is God and that we are not.  We see clearly our own sin and brokenness.  We sometimes weep for opportunity lost.  We come before God and we repent, but we often only do half-measures.  Are our hearts truly broken and set before God?  Or are we trying to control God, convincing God and ourselves that we're humble just to get what we want?  We've all tried to walk that line.

  Jesus shows us the beauty of a life lived fully committed to God.  He shows us the peace available to us when we pour ourselves out to bring glory to God.  Jesus offers this to us, day after day.  God's mercies are new every morning.  May we pray for wisdom to humbly follow God, and courage to pray hourly, depending on God for it all, seeking God throughout our lives.

Hand Warmers and the Gospel

Exodus 8:20-23

Exodus 8:20-23 

English Standard Version 

  If you're in Egypt, and you look at Goshen, where the Israelites live, and you see zero flies, and you are surrounded by them, what's your thought?  How do you deal with that?  One reaction is to hope that the flies make it to the Israelites.  The other is to go and see out of curiosity, to assume that the God of the Israelites is demonstrating authority over all of nature, and to ask a lot of questions.

  One takeaway from all of this is to live our lives in such a way that other people see something different.  They see hope, and it shines like a light in a dreary world.

  Another is that we should ask big questions.  We're blessed to have the writings of Christians throughout the centuries that we can read to know how other people dealt with similar problems that we face.  We can ask big questions of these Christians.  We can also reach out to one another and ask how people deal with the things that we face.  What's it like to live in the light?  To be in a place unplagued by flies?