Exodus 12:21-30
Todd Buegler
February 27 & 28, 2010
Lord of Life
Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus, the Son of God who is God’s sign of love and grace! Amen.
Generations of preachers have been trained by Dr. Donald McLeod at Princeton Seminary. He was known as a rigorous and yet thoughtful teacher. Among the points Dr. Macleod would make during the semester was the importance of the sermon title. "Think of your church’s sign…the one that sits in front of the church where you can post the sermon title,” he would teach. “Every sermon has to have a compelling title, one that could go on your church sign and would engage the spiritually curious, and would draw people in to the building.”
And each time one of his students would step to the pulpit to give a practice sermon, they would be required to begin by telling what the sermon title would be that would go on the church's sign for that week.
Dr. McLeod would tell of Mrs. O'Leary who would hop on the Fifth Avenue bus on Sunday morning in Manhattan and pass the great churches along that thoroughfare. As the bus would approach each church, she would read the sign in front with the sermon title and decided, on the basis of what she read, whether to get off the bus and attend that church. Dr. Macleod's constant refrain was, "Pick a sermon title that will make Mrs. O'Leary get off the bus."
Mindful of that instruction, one of his aspiring preachers mounted the pulpit one morning for his first student sermon. As instructed, before beginning his message, he announced: "The title of my sermon that will go on our church sign is...'There's a Bomb on the Bus.'"
Signs are powerful things. They direct us…they guide us…we pay attention to signs. Advertisers know this. In 2008, over 7.99 billion dollars were spent in the United States just on outdoor advertising. That kind of money doesn’t get spent if advertisers don’t believe that it’s going to work.
Signs are powerful things. Years ago, when Lord of Life was in its first building, on the corner of Bass Lake Road and West Fish Lake Road, the county decided to complete Vicksburg all the way north to Bass Lake Road. To do this, they had to realign West Fish Lake Road, and this created some confusion for how people would access our building. So the city provided us with this very helpful sign that would direct people into our parking lot. (When we moved from that location to this building 9 years ago, Pastor Peter stole it.) Of course, just a few feet past this directional sign at our old building,
Today we think about signs, as we continue our journey together through the Book of Exodus. Today we'll look at the powerful story of what it took for the Jewish people to be released from their captivity. Actually, the word “captivity” does not begin to do justice to what the Israelites experienced. Captivity sounds like prison. It can be interpreted as being held…as being watched… And as unpleasant as that sounds, it does not begin to adequately describe what the Jews endured. They endured slavery and they endured torture. They were the cheapest of cheap labor. If an Egyptian guard were to see them standing in the field, and if they didn’t think they were working hard enough, or fast enough, they would just be killed on the spot and replaced with another. To the Egyptians of the time, these people carried absolutely no value. The Jewish people; they were living in hell.
We pick up the story where we left off last week, when Moses and his brother Aaron go to Pharaoh to demand the release of the Jewish people. Look with me in Exodus 5:1. You can find this on page 51 of the pew Bibles. ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,‘Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.’”
Now this is a very striking exchange. Moses and Aaron are nobody. They have no standing, and yet, they’re very confident, very bold. They don’t waste time flattering the Pharaoh, which anybody approaching Pharaoh to make a request would always do. They don’t even ask permission. Just, “Thus sayeth the Lord, ‘Let my people go.’”
Pharaoh? Well, he's not very excited about this idea. Look in verse 2, where he says “‘Who is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.’”
This was incredibly discouraging to Moses, Aaron and the rest of the Jewish people. Hope seemed to evaporate for them. They are so discouraged that they won’t even look up to God. Discouragement is like that. It will crush the human spirit – just crush it. Some of you, I know, have experienced this. Some of you are here today just to hear this Word. You feel beaten down and discouraged. Maybe it’s your spiritual life, maybe it’s around a marriage, perhaps it’s your job. But you need to hear the same Word that the Jewish people heard. You need to hear this:
God is saying to you, “I am still at work. I will rescue, I will redeem. The timing might not be what you’d hope for, but I am still at work. So keep looking for me, and keep trusting, and keep waiting, and keep obeying. And don’t you give in.” That was God’s Word for the Jewish people, and it’s His Word to each of us as well.
Well, now the battle begins, and God initiates a series of mighty acts--the ten plagues on Pharaoh and the country of Egypt. Each of these plagues is a sign; it is a sign to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians. The signs say “Pay attention, and let my people go.” The first sign is the Nile River turned to blood. Think about this for a moment. This would have deep meaning to the Israelites. The Nile had been filled with the blood of their infants. And now it turns to blood for all of the Egyptians to see. This sign is a warning.
The second sign is very different. Look with me halfway through Exodus 8:1, “God says, ‘Let my people go so they can worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The Nile River shall swarm with frogs. They will come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials.’”
The writer wants to make sure we enjoy this picture: “Pharaoh, there will be frogs in your house, frogs in the bedroom, frogs in the bed.” This is getting seriously disruptive to Pharaoh. It’s very difficult to get a good night of sleep or enjoy the royal harem when the bed is full of frogs. Moses says, “They’re going to go into the kitchen. You’re going to have frogs in the microwave, frogs in the mixing bowls, frogs in the pizza, frogs on your cereal, frogs in the garage getting crunched under the wheels of the royal chariots.”
Now, in verse 7, how do Pharaoh’s magicians react? They say "oh yeah Moses? What's the big deal? We'll show you!" And so they raise their staffs and they make…more frogs? Yeah, like they needed ore frogs. Finally, Pharaoh says in verse 8, “Fine, pray to the Lord to take the frogs away. I’ll give in.”
Moses asks “when?” Pharaoh’s answer? “Tomorrow.” No. Not so much. Again, Pharaoh backs out.
And the signs continue: The gnats…the flies…the diseased livestock…the boils…thunder and hail…locusts (like those we have on our sign...this third panel for this week)…then darkness…sign after sign after sign…and Pharaoh continues to either ignore them, or he’ll agree to release the Jews, but as soon as the plague stops, he changes his mind again.
Over and over, Pharaoh misses or ignores the clear signs that God gives. The Bible describes his heart as being “hardened.” He won’t listen. He won’t admit that clearly, he’s not in charge. Finally the most devastating plague of all takes place. It is the sign of all signs. God lays down the trump card. In chapter 12, verse 29, God sends the angel of death. And every Egyptian firstborn son will die. Just a quick poll: How many of us here are first born men or boys? All of us...gone...
But God protects his people: The Israelites are instructed to sacrifice a lamb to God and to paint the blood of this lamb onto the doorposts. This would be a sign. And when the Angel of death came, and saw that sign, he would pass over that home and leave them alone; but not the Egyptians. They didn’t know the sign.
Can you imagine being in the home of one of the Israelites on that night. It’s the most awful night of death and judgment you have ever known, unbelievable devastation. This judgment for all of the oppression and slavery and genocide catches up with the whole Egyptian people. And you wonder as you sit in your home, “Is it really true? Will we really be spared?” And you can hardly breathe.
But it happens just as God said. God passes over all the homes where the blood of the sacrificial lamb is painted over the door frames. And in a little picture of what is to come, redemption comes to all who are covered by the blood of the lamb. And finally the sun comes up and everybody in your little house is still alive.
This was the Passover. And much like Easter is the central faith event for Christians, the Passover is the central faith event for the Jewish people. The Jews to this day celebrate the Passover.
And so we fast-forward about 1500 years, to the time of Jesus. Every year, groups of family and friends would gather to celebrate the anniversary of the Passover. There is a carefully prescribed, scripted ritual for how they remember this event. It is lengthy, and every Jewish person, after doing this every year, all of their lives, would know this ritual by heart. Certain prayers would happen in a certain order, following certain stages or courses of the meal. And there would always be an open seat and place setting left for the Prophet Elijah, in case he were to return that night.
Turn with me to Luke 22, beginning at verse 14. It is found on page 960 of the pew Bibles. Jesus and his disciples have gathered in an upper room to celebrate this important, ritual meal, and all is going according to order when suddenly right in the middle, Jesus changes the script. It had to be startling to the disciples. In verse 19 he takes the bread, and he says “This is my body, given for you”…and in verse 20 he says “this is my blood, poured out for you…” This is it. This is the moment, where everything changes for us as Christians. Prior to this, the blood of the lamb was a sign of the Passover. It was a sign that brought deliverance. No longer. Now, it is Jesus’ blood that brings deliverance. Jesus is the lamb who is sacrificed. He is telling his disciples that it is his blood that is shed; and the bread and the wine are a sign of our redemption; a sign of God’s love and faithfulness, for all of us.
Because of Jesus, we each receive this sign of the passover. When we are baptized…when we begin our journey of faith, we receive the sign of the cross on our foreheads…we say that we are marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever. On Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent we were marked in that same spot with the ashes in the sign of a cross…it is a sign of our sin, and of our mortality. But on Easter, because of Jesus’ resurrection, we are washed clean of that mark of sin and we are made whole again. The cross, and all it stands for, is our sign of the Passover. It is our sign of deliverance. For Christians, the Passover is not a historical event. The Passover is always present tense. Every day we sin. But every day, by the grace of God, the cross of Christ and the blood of our lamb, the punishment of death and separation from God passes over you. The sign is clear: Because of Jesus, you are passed over.
Signs are powerful. The direct…they teach…they guide. God knows this. And God gives you signs of His love. These signs grab our attention, and they point us in the way of truth and of love. They point us to the grace of God, which is always there for us to grasp. They point us towards forgiveness. They point us to new life.
Look for the signs. Follow the signs. And live.
Amen.
