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Between Egypt and the Promised Land |
Exodus 17: 1-7
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© John Ewing Roberts |
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INTRODUCTION In our scripture lesson we find the children of Israel... between Egyptians and Amalekites who will attack in the very next verse, between Egypt and the Promised Land, or, as we say, between a rock and hard place. To use contemporary language in a effort to put a good face on things, some one may say that they were "in transition." Come to think of it, every one is in transition, including churches and individuals. To be in transition is go through a time which exposes us to the possibilities of anxiety, fear, depression, anger, and all that goes with a "betwixt and between" setting. Luke 2: 52 tells us that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. In other words, he knew something about what we so delicately call transition. The Greek word translated "increased" is prokopto, which does not mean to go forward in a smooth progression. No, it means to "cut forward" as through the jungle, hacking your way forward with a machete. Surely every teenager in this room knows what I am talking about. I remember. To tell the truth, this hacking forward is really a life long process of tough growth for all of us: - a teenager between 12 and 20 - a young adult between college and establishing a career - a mid life adult between empty nest and retirement - a senior adult between retirement and whatever may come next, for better or for worse. The children of Israel were on a journey from something bad to something they were told would be good. "A long journey tests the fabric of the company making it. Chevy Chase's manic Vacation movies starring the Griswold family on its trip to Wally World, or through Europe, is the modern fable of this fact. `Are we having fun yet, are we there yet?' are questions from the back seat of the car while the parents fiddle with the map."[1] Exodus 17: 1-17 is an obviously authentic story; this is not the sort of thing people make up to make themselves look good. It continues what scholars call the murmuring motif.[2] It all boils down to the question "Is the Lord present with us or not?" As we assess their complaint, remember these facts: The Lord had set them free from Egypt. The Lord had rescued them at the sea. The Lord had guided them through the wilderness. The Lord had sustained them in the desert. Moses remembered what the Lord had done, but he also had taken the temperature of this people. He was a frightened leader already when God told him to get water from the most unlikely and most unfriendly of all places, a rock. Brevard Childs sees in the story a pattern: "the people are in need; they murmur against Moses; he intercedes with Yahweh and the need is met."[3] But who could be sure God would intercede the next time the people murmured? They were travelling by stages - moving from one encampment to another.[4] Their movement provides a kind of parable for human development and also religious development. Gail Sheey's Passages or James Fowler's work on stages in religious development come to mind. Parents who learn that disequilibrium is a phase or stage before a growth spurt know what I'm talking about. A LEGITIMATE PROBLEM The children of Israel had a life threatening problem at Rephidim in the Sinai peninsula - "there was no water for the people to drink." (Exodus 17: 1) Whenever we expect an oasis and end up at a dry well, the rhetoric escalates.[5] It can sound like this: If you are the son of God, command these stones that they may become bread. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross and save yourself and us. If you are God, save my marriage, cure my cancer, restore my lost fortunes, protect my children, help me get that contract, help me beat the odds.[6] Too many sermons bash the Israelites for complaining and Moses for being afraid. But let's be fair. The need for water is a basic human need; without it we die. The people had every right to ask for water. Let us not be too quick to blame them here; it is not a sin to be thirsty. They understandably quarreled with Moses for leading them to a place where apparently a basic human need could not be met. The issue is better put this way - the thirst is real; the presence of the Lord is more real. The lesser reality is embraced.[7] Moses was showing signs of what today we would call "burnout" and stress. He was entitled to his stress. Let us not be too quick to blame him either. He had gone eyeball to eyeball against Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world, and won. He was leading thousands of people through a desert. He was entitled to his stress. Different people manage stress different ways. It would be interesting to stop the service and go around the congregation, giving each of us a chance to explain how we personally manage our stress. One method is to overeat. "'Desserts' is 'stressed' spelled backwards." But Moses' method was self-pity. He felt insecure and sorry for himself. When the people came with their legitimate request for water, he did not say, "You know, you're right. Of course we all need water. I think I'll try and find some water." Instead, he took it personally and tried to make it into something religious. He attacked them theologically: "Why do you test the Lord?" (Exodus 17: 2) They had said nothing about God, just water. He asked God, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." (Exodus 17: 4) Moses has reacted in a very human fashion - he has failed to see the problem, the need for water, and has created two other problems by missing the point, by taking the situation personally, and by changing the subject. (Don't you hate to argue with people who can't stay on the same track with you?) The problem was water; but Moses wanted to change the subject to his leadership and their theology. Yes, he was the leader, and yes, theological issues were in the air, but if the people had quit complaining, if Moses hadn't taken everything personally, and if Moses had just found some water, there would have been no problem. And Moses could have found water. Exodus 17: 6 tells us that they were near Horeb where Moses had been a shepherd for years. He knew the turf and how to survive here. This was one of his credentials in being called to be their leader. THEOLOGY FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE In fairness to Moses let's revisit the theological side street which he tried to go down when he attacked the people by asking, "Why do you test the Lord?" (Exodus 17: 2) He had a bit of a point. They may have been thinking theologically, as many people did at that time, something like this: "If God can only be our God in the fullest sense of the word when we reach the Promised Land, and since the other gods of the other peoples are local divinities whose power is confined to their own regions, then maybe the Lord's power is not operative in this place, this desert. Maybe we need a god for the journey and another god, the Lord, for the promised land.[8] The theological question: "Is the Lord among us or not?[9] It is the punch line and is held back to the last verse in the unit. The question at the end is the beginning of the matter. So there they stand at the rock of revolt - thirsty, tired, with sore feet, angry, confused, having trouble sorting out who to blame for what, and suffering from bad theology. And here we sit - surely some of us are at a rock of revolt this morning - thirsting for something to relieve our anger and confusion, angry at whatever leader we choose to blame for our condition. A PRACTICAL PLAN "The Lord said to Moses, 'Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb.'" (emphasis added) If you only get one thing out the sermon this morning, I hope that what comes next will be it, a four step plan, theologically sound and very practical, for handling matter when you find yourself between Egypt and the Promised Land, between a rock and hard place. (1) Go on ahead of the people who would rather complain and die of thirst and go forward - step up and lead out. Go forward for the sake of those people who trust their leaders enough to let them leave camp and take a chance for the sake of the entire body - step up and lead. (2) Do not lead in isolation - share leadership with gifted, tested people, the equivalent of the elders. Don't go it alone. (3) Include in your leadership decisions the good parts of the past, the staff which struck the Nile to deliver the people from Pharaoh's army and the experiences with the flock at Horeb. Do not despise but honor what is good from the past. (4) Expect something fresh as well from a God who is out in front of the leaders and the people. Look for the God of past blessings to be waiting for you out there in the future. And as for the present, well, the command requires Moses to act at once, although in a way that appears ludicrous. Take the leaders and hit a rock. No explanation from God, just a promise, "I will be standing there in front of you."[10] In that present moment Moses obeys; Yahweh delivers; water comes; Israel drinks. But it is not in response to Israel's complaint that God delivers. It is in response to an act of obedience. God is not a means to an end. God is present in the process of trust and obedience.[11] God does not rebuke the people or Moses. But he does give instructions. He can tolerate complaints; but he can work with obedience. "The threshold of religion is at the point where the thirsty soul stands squarely in front of the hopeless barren rock, the seemingly impossible."[12] CONCLUSION Our longing for water and all that it can symbolize and God's sure provision for our needs appear all through the Bible. "As the deer longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God, My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." (Psalm 42: 1-2a) Jesus from the cross in a heartbreaking identification with our humanity cried out, "I thirst," (John 19:29) Early in his ministry Jesus said. "...those who drink of the (living) water I give them will never thirst again...The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." (John 4: 10, 14) "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, `Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7: 37-38) And in the last book of the Bible there comes this great invitation, "Let the one who is thirsty, come; and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water." (Revelation 22: 17) From our text today I bid you to hold on to the words "I will stand before you." They offer assurance of the Lord's presence and power. Presence is what the Lord's Supper is all about, God's presence at the cross, his presence in death as well as in resurrection for his son and for all his daughters and sons. Let us pray. PRAYER Lord, we are dry, cracked soil. Let the living water of your spirit spring forth and tumble over the desert rocks of our lives and gushing, splashing, refreshing, healing and saving; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Notes: [1] Peter J. Gommes, Lent: Proclamation 6, Series A [Minneapolis: Fortress Press] 1995, p. 42 [2] John I Durham, Exodus (Word Biblical Commentary) [Waco, Texas: Word Books] 1987, p. 231 [3] Brevard S.Childs, The Book of Exodus [Philadelphia: Westminster Press] 1974, p. 307 [4] Roy L. Honeycutt, Exodus (Broadman Commentary, Vol. 2) [Nashville: Broadman Press] 1969, p. 384 [5] Walter Bruggemann, Exodus (Vol. I, The New Interpreter's Bible, edited by Leander E. Keck) [Nashville: Abingdon Press] 1994,p. 817 [6] Gommes, ibid. [7] Durham, op. cit., p. 232 [8] Linda M. Maloney, Proclamation 5 - Series A: Pentecost 2 [Minneapolis: Fortress Press] 1993, p. 37 [9] Exodus 17: 7 [10] Ibid. [11] Op. cit., p. 202 [12] J. Edgar Park, exposition of Exodus, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol 1, George A. Buttrick, editor[New York: Abingdon Press] 1952, p. 958b |