Pentecost 18 - Sept 30

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

A new Pharaoh arose "who did not know Joseph" (1:8). If you’ll remember from last week, the little dreamer boy Joseph and Pharaoh rescued the Egyptian people and the people of Israel from a severe drought and a food shortage. Joseph’s brothers were angry with him at first because he was the little brother and daddy’s favorite, but he had all this power and prestige because he had saved Egypt and the Israelites.

But now, at the beginning of the book of Exodus, we have a new Pharaoh in the land, and he could care less about any old Israelite guy named Joseph. This new Pharaoh forced the Israelite foreigners into slavery because he was afraid of their increasing numbers (1:8-14). After many years of slavery, the LORD called a man named Moses to lead the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt (3:1-10). The LORD sent plague after plague upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians to persuade Pharaoh to let the Israelites go free, but Pharaoh kept refusing time after time (chapters 7-10).

And that is where our narrative picks up for this morning. The LORD God is sending the tenth and final plague on the land of Egypt. The tenth plague is, quite simply, a terrifying one: the LORD, “will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and [he] will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals…” (12:12). Old men, old women, young men, young women, children, animals; every firstborn.

How unfair. It was the Pharaoh who had forgotten about Joseph and the God he served. It wasn’t the Egyptian people, but their lord and ruler the Pharaoh who’d forgotten.

Yet, God reminds them, “on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.” What God had done through his servant Joseph was quickly lost on the memory of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God had fed the people and saved them from the food shortage. When Joseph’s brothers bowed down to him, Joseph quickly pointed to God as the savior of the people, telling them to bow down to God instead.

And here is this new Pharaoh in the land and his short memory had quickly led the people of Egypt to worship other gods. And so God says, “on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.”

What we have here is the classic story of Scripture. It’s like a common thread that has been weaving itself through our stories over and over and over again as we’ve been following this narrative lectionary. First, Adam and Eve want to know like God what is good and evil; next Abraham and Sarah want to pretend as if God could not do the impossible and give them a child; next Joseph’s brothers forget that it was God who saved them from starvation in Egypt; and now it is Pharaoh and the Egyptian people who have forgotten what God did to save them from starvation in Egypt.

The common thread in all of these stories is that human beings, over and over and over and over and over and over again, will simply not let God be God. God is God and we are not. And our memory is about as long as our nose. We forget who we are and whose we are; and that is what happened to the Egyptian people.

But God has a plan; and in these early stories of the bible, God’s plan begins with his chosen people of Israel. Eventually God will get around to realizing that even the Israelites have a pretty bad memory about who they are and whose they are, but for now, God continues to use them.

So, God tells all the Israelites that he is going to deliver them out of slavery in Egypt, into that land that he had promised to Abraham and Sarah and their children.

But God knows the memory problems of his people and so he gives them a ritual, something linked with food; like a strange thanksgiving supper. Take a lamb, God says, slaughter it, put the blood on the outside of the door so I’ll know not to kill your firstborn and pass over your house, then eat the lamb and some bread that you’ve made quickly and leave the house. Do it all quickly. And remember that I am your God and I am delivering you out of slavery in Egypt.

God knows that the human memory is not really in the brain but in the stomach. And so God tells them to have a meal, and remember that with that meal God passed over the houses of all the Israelites and then led them out of slavery. God is their deliverer and uses the Passover meal to help them remember and celebrate what God has done for them.

Passover is a big deal in the Jewish faith. It is primarily about deliverance. It is about being set free from bondage. It is about freedom at the most basic sense. And God is the one who sets us free. It’s no wonder then that when Jesus had that last meal with his disciples, the night he took the bread and broke it and gave it to eat; and the night he took the cup and gave it to drink, he was talking about freedom.

Passover is about deliverance, freedom from bondage. We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.

And today we share in another rich feast of freedom. Another sacrament of deliverance; a sign together with a promise of freedom. We celebrate baptism and the baptism of Andie Jo. Today is rich feast of God’s Word, made clear and tangible together with the water so that we cannot forget that God delivers us. Just like a meal at Passover gives a tangible sign of God’s deliverance, the water of baptism gives us a tangible sign of God’s deliverance as well. God washes us, makes us clean, makes us whole, and gives us the promise of forgiveness and eternal life.

One of the most beautiful parts about the celebration of Passover to me is how it is celebrated. It should serve as an example for us to follow. Passover was and still is celebrated in the home, around a meal, with the story of God delivering the people from their bondage. Families sit together and tell the old, old stories of Scripture and how God works in their lives. Imagine what it would be like instead of going to church on Easter, I told you all to stay home, to have a meal with your family, to tell the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, of setting us free from the bondage to sin and death, and then reminding each other that you are baptized into this promise and made part of God’s family for all of time? Imagine how strong your memory for this amazing gift would become. Imagine how the story of who God is for you would take shape in your life.

This story of Passover is the story of all of Scripture. A forgetful people remember who God is because God chooses to act in their lives and gives them a promise. God is God and we are not. And God will always be our God because of the promises that God makes and keeps for us.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.