Are we Egyptians, Israelites, or Moses? - June 19, 2022
Exodus 19:1-6, 20:1-2
Deborah Laforet
Are we Egyptians, Israelites, or Moses?
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
I’m going to start with a church history lesson. For almost 30 years now, since 1994, churches have been following what is called the Revised Common Lectionary. There has been some kind of lectionary in place since Vatican II in the 60’s, but it’s the Revised Common Lectionary that has been most in use since the 90’s.
If a church is following this Revised Common Lectionary, it means they are following a three year cycle of readings from the Bible. Every Sunday has four readings: a reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, a psalm, a reading from a letter, and finally, a reading from one of the gospels. Some churches share all four readings on a Sunday; while others will focus on one or two. Churches around the world follow this lectionary cycle. If you went to a church on a Sunday in the US or Australia, chances are you may hear the same passages being read.
Now, why am I telling you this? I have veered away from the lectionary for a while, focusing on themes and using readings that fit the season or current events. It has worked, but it’s always a challenge to come up with different scripture every Sunday and to make sure I don’t gravitate only towards those passages with which I am comfortable.
Recently, I’ve thought about returning to the lectionary, returning to this cycle of readings that are chosen for us. The biggest challenge I’ve had with the Revised Common Lectionary though is that it tends to jump from one book to the next, from one end of the bible to the other, without any continuity between one Sunday and the next. The Revised Common Lectionary also tends to avoid passages that make us uncomfortable.
Well, guess what? There is now a new lectionary out there that addresses some of these concerns. It was created by Luther Seminary a few years ago, and it’s called the Narrative Lectionary. It’s a four-year cycle of readings. Each year the texts follow the sweep of the biblical story, from Creation in September to the early Christian Church in the spring, using a breadth and variety of voices within the bible. The summer is used to focus in on some of the stories. So, we’re going to give it ago for a while and see how it goes.
For the next few weeks, we are going to look at the Ten Commandments. Then we’ll look at the first letter of Peter and then the book of Ruth. In September, we’ll start at the beginning with the Creation story. Now, depending on who is here and who is preaching, this might change, but in general, we’re going to try out this Narrative Lectionary.
Today, you heard Brad give us the set up to the giving of the Ten Commandments to the Israelite people. The story of Moses is one that is celebrated in many faiths, from Judaism, to Christianity, to Islam. The story of Moses is a fascinating one. Moses is the Bible’s first prophet, called by God to speak truth to power. The Israelites had been in slavery in Egypt for generations. God called Moses to confront the Pharaoh and demand that he set the Israelites free. This wasn’t easy and took many attempts, and many acts of God, but eventually, Pharaoh let the people go. The next part of the story is about a people who had been enslaved for so long that they had no idea how to live on their own. They didn’t know how to be a nation, how to govern themselves, how to be a community.
The Ten Commandments would be the beginning of their instruction, ten rules on how to love their God and love each other, which we’ll begin to look at next week.
This week, I thought maybe we would look at the three major characters in our Exodus story: Moses, the Israelites, and Pharaoh. One of the ways we grapple with these ancient stories is to put ourselves into them. If we look at these three characters, with whom do we most relate: Moses, the Israelites, or Pharaoh?
For the past 20 years, at least, the church put themselves in the place of the Israelites, specifically the Israelites wandering in the dessert, not sure when they will reach the promised land. As society and culture change, how does the church fit? As the church changes, do we grumble and pine for the past or look with anxiety towards the future? Some in the church though pushed back against that metaphor. Many wondered, if the church, with its colonialist mindset, was actually more like the oppressive Pharaoh than the oppressed Israelites. Either way, the church needed a Moses. The church needed leaders to guide them out of the wilderness or to speak truth to our Egyptian ways of living.
The truth is we can relate to all three characters at different points in our lives or in the different roles we play. Many of us are the descendants of while settlers who colonized this land and did not do it with respect to those already living here. Black and Indigenous people were in the way of owning land and its resources. With the blessing of church and government, they were enslaved, beaten, and killed. In this respect, we have been in the role of Pharaoh for a very long time.
And it’s tricky because we don’t see ourselves in this role. We have not enslaved anyone. We have not beaten or killed anyone. It wasn’t us; it was them. Maybe the people who lived in Egypt, or their descendants, felt the same way. Unfortunately, we have closed our eyes to how we have benefited from that history. We don’t see the current injustices of indigenous people, black people, and other radicalized people. We don’t feel their oppression so it’s hard for us to understand, even when we try. Our current systems keep us blind and keep us from fully knowing our privilege, not even realizing that we are still the oppressors.
At the same time though, we could also connect with the Israelites. In some ways, feel trapped in our current systems, trapped in our colonialist ways, trapped in a racist, capitalist, materialistic, and consumptive culture. It’s the air in which we breathe. I heard an image recently in a podcast about a fish out of water. The podcaster described fish standing on the beach, having jumped out of the water, and standing on its fins, wondering what’s next.
Like the Israelites, immersed in a system for so long, we wouldn’t have a clue how to live outside of our current systems. It’s why times of change are so disruptive. Where does the fish go after it leaves the water? Does it flail about and eventually die, or does it learn how to breathe on land? Learn and adapt to a different way of living? Learn to live in a completely different system, one yet to be created? Of course, the fish would have to grow lungs, but in some ways, it’s just as difficult for people to imagine a new way to live outside of what they know. The Israelites, standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, watching Moses go up the mountain, may have also felt like fish out of water, not knowing how to live outside of the system of slavery in Egypt.
Or are we Moses? I think Moses is the one we all want to be like. He is the hero of the story. He stands up to Pharaoh. He climbs the mountain and meets God. He is the leader of the Israelites. But he’s also very human. He was torn away from his family as a baby, and adopted by Egyptians, the very ones who had enslaved his people. As a young person, he killed a man and ran away. He questioned God. He questioned his own skills and asked God to send someone else to save the Israelites. He lost his temper several times and quarrelled with his siblings. Moses is a complicated person, as we all are. God doesn’t choose perfect people, so yes, in your life, you might be Moses, reluctantly leading, standing up to injustice, leading a grumbling and unthankful people, and, in the end, not actually making it to the promised land. And that’s OK, because Moses supports other young leaders, who stand on his shoulders, they will now be able to see further and see what might be next on the horizon.
Where do you fit at this moment? Are your eyes being opened to how you might be like Pharaoh or those who benefit from a system run by Pharaoh? Are you an Israelite, leaving one system, an oppressive, repressive system that enslaves, but not sure of your next steps, not sure who you are outside of that system? Or are you Moses, one who will lead us towards the promised land, towards a land of peace and justice, God’s kin-dom on earth.
We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, those who were wise leaders, those who made mistakes, those who stood for justice and peace, and those who misused their power for their own needs and hurt others who were in their way. We read the bible to help us understand ourselves. History is repeated and sometimes it helps to hear the stories of our ancestors, their failures and their successes. A shared story can give us common language and help us as we find our way together in today’s world.
May this scared text help us to understand the Holy in our midst. May these sacred stories help us to understand ourselves and each other. May the Spirit give us wisdom as we gather together as a community of faith, learning and growing together, with this sacred text as our guide and teacher. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) May it be so. Amen.