Sermon 9/14/14
Exodus 14:19-31
Out of Egypt: Surrounded
Last week, we learned about the first Passover, as God
instructed the Israelites how to prepare to leave Egypt, and not only that,
instructed them in how to prepare to remember, every year, how God had rescued
them. Today, in our text, we skip ahead a little bit, and find the Israelites
preparing to cross the Red Sea, with the Egyptians chasing after them. The
threat of being caught is imminent, and the Israelites are in a panic. As I
mentioned last week, God knew the Israelites would need to be reminded of why
they were leaving Egypt, and indeed, already, just before our text begins, they
are complaining bitterly to Moses. They say, “Was it because there were no
graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have
you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told
you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have
been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But
Moses responds, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the
Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you
shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep
still.”
And then, they cross the Red Sea, Moses’s arms
outstretched in a gesture of parting the waters, a path made clear for the
people. It seems to take them all night to cross – this isn’t just a group of
twenty or thirty fleeing Egypt, but a whole nation of people. But when the
Egyptians pursue, Moses stretches out his arms again and the waters come
crashing back together, and the Egyptian army is tossed into the sea. The
Israelites are saved. Now, this text brings up many questions. How could Moses
perform such a miracle? Did he really part the waters? Can we find some scientific
phenomenon to explain what happened? And what about all those Egyptians? Was it
fair for them to all be killed? Weren’t some of them just doing their job –
part of an army? I’m a great fan of asking a lot of questions of the biblical
texts we read. Seriously. There’s no question you can put to the Bible, no
question you can ask God that is crossing some kind of line. God is strong
enough to hear your questions. But sometimes, if what we’re doing is seeking
understanding, it’s helpful if we know what are the best questions to ask, and which questions are distractions to
figuring out how the text is important to us as people of faith.
Some
people have speculated when talking about the crossing of the Red Sea that the
Israelites happened to cross the Red Sea at a spot where, if the winds were
right, dry ground would be exposed for a time, because the waters were shallow.
You can see from the map that most think the Israelites crossed the sea in this
narrow section up here. These folks speculate that miraculously favorable winds
allowed the Israelites to pass by, and that the winds changed when the
Egyptians followed them, causing the waters to rush back together and drown the
Egyptians. In this way, a sort of quasi-scientific explanation for the crossing
of the Red Sea is offered. Others, however, read this text and simply see a
miracle. Moses raised his arms, and with the power of God, literally moved the
water into columns so that dry land was created. Which point of view is right?
Or is there another explanation? To this issue, I would respond that it doesn’t
matter, because it isn’t the point of the text. It’s an interesting
conversation. But figuring out an “answer,” if we ever could, to that question,
isn’t really going to help us learn anything useful about this passage. It
might sound strange to say, but actually, I don’t believe it matters how the Israelites made it safely across
the Red Sea. It only matters that they did,
and it matters why they were able
to make it across. However it happened, they crossed the Red Sea because of
God’s intervention, because of God’s presence with them. That’s the important
part.
That other nagging question – what about all those
Egyptians? Did God just kill a whole army of people? Those are the kinds of
questions that follow us throughout the Old Testament, as I mentioned last
week. And they’re important to ask, especially because we have a habit, even
today, of claiming that God is on “our side” and not “their side” whenever we
face a conflict – personally, in our communities, in our denomination, across
the globe. Whose side is God on? In
our Bible Study, we’ve been trying to remind ourselves to ask about points of
view. Whose point of view is being shared in the biblical text? Even in a book
meant to record history, the author has a point of view. If you read an account
of the Revolutionary War written by an American, and then one written by a
British person, I bet they’d sound quite different, even though they described
the same event. The text we read today is written from the perspective of an
Israelite, someone who saw God at work in their successful escape from Egypt. How
does that point of view shape the story? We can’t know, of course, but we can
wonder. I can tell you though, that
throughout the scriptures, across the works of so many different authors of the
books we read, when it comes to whose side God is on, there is a great deal of
agreement. God always seems to be on the side of the most vulnerable. God is on
the side of the poor, the oppressed, the persecuted, the abandoned, the
pushed-to-the-sides. This is their story.
We don’t stop asking hard questions. But if we want to know what this text
means, we can’t forget to ask and focus on questions like these: Can God save the Israelites? Will God keep
God’s promises to them? Is God strong enough to protect them from the threat of
the Pharaoh and the Egyptians? I think answering these questions in a
resounding affirmative – yes, yes, yes! – is why the author shares this story
in just this way. Yes, God will save the Israelites. Yes, God will keep the
promises made to them. Yes, God is strong enough, even to conquer those who had
made them slaves. Let’s look at the text more closely.
I was
struck reading our passage by all the directional language in the text – the
mentioning of where exactly things were. The author here takes great pains to
paint us a picture of this dramatic event. Listen: “The angel of God who was
going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them.” “The pillar of
cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came
between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel” “The Israelites when into the
sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on
their left.” And again, “But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the
sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.” The
picture created for us is one of the Israelites being surrounded, before and
behind, left and right. But instead of being surrounded by the Egyptians, as
one might have expected given that men, women, and children, young and old are
being pursued by an army equipped with chariots and able-bodied soldiers, what
surrounds the Israelites is God’s presence – present in pillar of cloud and
fire, present in an angel of God guiding them, presence in the absence of water in their path, that
instead has formed into safe walls on their sides.
As I was
trying to picture this – a path being cleared, and yet protectively surrounded
on all sides, I thought of seeing the President of the United States or some
other important world leader. When someone that important walks through a room,
a path is completely cleared for them. Yet, at the same time, they are entirely
protected, and so, whether you can spot them all or not, the president would be
completely surrounded by secret service agents. The president’s path is
completely cleared and the president
is completely surrounded by people ready to give their lives to keep him safe.
It’s in this way that God leads the Israelites through the Red Sea – both
clearing a path for them, and surrounding them on all sides. What do we learn
from that?
A few
weeks ago we talked about stumbling blocks – traps laid by an enemy to ensnare
us, things that prevent us from following God. As I read this text, and think
about God saving the Israelites, and God clearing this path through the sea, I
think we learn that there is nothing, no
obstacle, no stumbling block, no snare that can prevent God from rescuing those
who need it. God creates a path to us in order to get to us. And God creates
paths for us, clears the way so that
we can leave behind those things to which we’ve been slaves. Last week I
encouraged you to think about what it was you needed to leave behind in Egypt.
This week, I encourage you to look for the ways God creates paths for you to
leave. Sometimes we overlook the opportunities, the openings that God creates
for us. Like the Israelites, we’re convinced for some reason that it was better
back in that place of slavery. Don’t miss the path that God is clearing for
you. Clearing to get to you. Clearing so
you can leave Egypt behind.
And
then, don’t forget that God surrounds you. If you think of that image of secret
service agents again, think of how these men and women are willing to give
their lives, willing to literally throw themselves in harm’s way to protect the
president. Surely, they do this out of duty, and love of country, among other
things. But most of the time, what might motivate an everyday person like you
or me to do such a thing? Of course, only love! Remember when we talked about
our desire to keep our children safe from
all harm? Why do we seek their safety? Love, of course! We act to surround and
protect when what we are protecting is important beyond all measure. The
president gets an entourage because he’s the most important person, by many
measures, in our society. We protect our loved ones because they are the most
important things in our lives.
So what
does this story of the Red Sea tell us about God and God’s people? Well – these
people – these people who have been slaves, oppressed, mistreated – these
people are important beyond measure to God. And why? We can find no explanation
for their importance other than that God loves them. And so I read this text as
God proving God’s self, God’s promises, God’s good intention, God’s love and
faithfulness, proving it all to the people. What a strange thing – that God
would want to prove God’s self to us! And yet, that’s what I find in this
passage. The people doubt God’s intentions, suspect God means them harm, or at
least, can’t really bring them to safety after all. And God shows them, proves
to them, by clearing a path, and surrounding them on every side. This is
nothing less than a demonstration of total commitment, love, and faithfulness,
that God gives to us.
And so
if the living God, who created us and everything that is, will clear a path for
us, and surround us on the journey, what can prevent us from leaving Egypt
behind? Not a thing. Not a thing. I want to leave you with the word of a
section of the prayer of Saint Patrick, as you meditate on this gift from God:
God who clears your way, God who surrounds you on every side, God who loves you
beyond measure.
Christ be with me, Christ
within me,
Christ behind me, Christ
before me,
Christ beside me, Christ
to win me,
Christ to comfort and
restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ
above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ
in danger,
Christ in hearts of all
that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend
and stranger.
I bind unto myself the
Name,
The strong Name of the
Trinity,
By invocation of the
same,
The Three in One and One
in Three.
By Whom all nature hath
creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit,
Word:
Praise to the Lord of my
salvation,
Salvation is of Christ
the Lord.
Amen.
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