In the passages that we are reading this week, we start to see the plan that is set out by GOD in His rescue of the Children of Israel. There are two sides to the story that we see here. The prospect of rescue from the slavery of Egypt has already been expressed to the leaders of the tribes and to Pharaoh. The result has not been positive from the viewpoint of the Israelites. Rather than an easing of work, greater pressure has been applied – bricks without straw, but not a decrease in quota. Not a great outcome if you are thinking about a rescue!
We discover later in the story, that rescue and the unknown can be far less appealing than the seeming creature comforts of slavery when the effort required to commit to a new life are not really established in the hearts of the people but mere words from an external arbitrator. They require effort and intervention from us, the individual life concerned.
The keys elements to the story before us are the four statements that are made by GOD regarding the rescue. These are the same statements that we proclaim each year at the Passover Seder.
- I am the LORD your GOD who will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
- I will deliver you from bondage.
- I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
- I will take you to me for a people and I will be G-D to you. You shall know that I am the LORD your G-D who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
- I am the LORD you G-D.
From a human viewpoint, and why would you assume that there is any other, these words on the face of it look comforting and helpful; “Yay, the cavalry are coming, a hero comes from over the hill, now we can get back to our normal lives!”
I think this is much of what people are expressing at the moment in light of the new U.S. administration (although that does not seem to be establishing normality in any obvious way presently), or for some, the hope that the previous administration might return in some form and bring back the former normality. This is not to ignore the elephant in the room called the pandemic which has turned everyone’s lives upside down.
These are just the things on the macro level. If we were to drill down to the individual life, we might include elements of bereavement, terminal illness, the list could be endless, but the thing they have in common is that there is no normal that can be returned to. You have to move forward. So, presented with the promises above, there also needs to be a recognition that there is a condition involved; If you are going to accept the rescue, then you have to accept the conditions of the rescue.
It may be that you have to leave a whole lot of things behind you!
But that is not the end of it, because this journey means that we move toward something new and better. That is why these statements are so key.
Telling the story is a sign of our true freedom. We find in the story of the subjugation Israel not only an image of redemption from exile, but also one of birth
True freedom requires boundaries. Without them we actually do not feel free. When you look at the philosophy of socialism attempting to cast off the shackles of capitalism, you only move toward a dictatorship because we all desire the comfort of a leader who will make decisions for us. Essentially a benevolent Father. I use that term deliberately, because a study of history shows that whatever the religious backdrop, even in communist regimes, the leadership has always perceived itself as the benevolent father/parent, even if in reality the truth on the ground has been to the contrary.
You might ask, what about countries with female leaders? Well, I don’t think history has been too kind to them either. In the 70’s and 80’s in the UK when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, she was generally portrayed as the Iron Lady, and parodied as a woman in a suit. Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Aun Sung Suu Kyi; each of these have been pilloried when they have taken strong action in a way that men may not have been criticised so fiercely for or have managed to somehow duck the issue. You only need to see what is going on in Texas at the moment and consider the response of the present U.S. administration to see that all the prominent voices acclaiming the benevolence of the current conditions seem to be largely female. Even the Vice President has had this issue handed off to her in order that the President has a scapegoat. Meanwhile, many male voices are expressing how inhumane conditions are; but their voices are being drowned out.
So, is this the fault of a patriarchal environment? Bizarrely, what we see in the U.S. at the moment is that the empowerment of women leaders appears to be encouraging a greater call to militancy and upheaval. Maybe this is just the result of years of oppression? Without seeking to make this article a political diatribe, the point I’m attempting to get to is that ultimately, we all desire boundaries, we can’t live with anarchy and disorder.
“we all desire boundaries, we can’t live with anarchy and disorder”
If you don’t believe that, then try this for an experiment. Leave the washing up for a month, treating the utensils as disposable as well as the cups, plates, saucers and pans etc. If you need more you just go out and acquire more for your personal use, nobody will stop you, but you might find the boundaries of your kitchen, house, conscience, starting to scream at you to bring some order back into your life. It is the way we are wired. Anarchy on any level does not work. Those who advocate it within Christianity, don’t understand their faith. Nowhere does the Bible as a whole advocate lawlessness. It is just individuals looking over the wall in green-eyed envy coveting their neighbour’s goods, wife, belongings, and deciding that they are going to take them no matter what. Actually, that amounts to theft!
So back to the four statements (or four cups as it is the described in the Passover Seder, which means order by the way) that Moses presents on behalf of GOD to the Children of Israel before their rescue. What is being promised here? Well, it is freedom! But freedom within a framework of boundaries.
Freedom to live always exists within a framework of rules. Within the house of the benevolent Father there are rules in order to benefit from the loving rescue that we can experience when we accept the help that comes from his intervention. But we are not just lifted up and dumped in a wilderness so that we can perish there instead. The reason for the rescue is so that we can be identified as his children and then carry the mantle of his identity into the world showing what it is to be part of the benevolent father’s house. There may be some disagreements between the siblings, but Father remains the one who will settle those disputes, not the children, until one of those children stands up and takes on the responsibility of implementing the father’s will and purpose in order to show the rest of the family how the father wants things done. The father will then bestow upon that child the whole responsibility of the rest of the family, warts and all, even to the point of taking the punishment for the family’s misbehaviour because He knows that His child will act in accordance with His will, despite the perceptions of what the other children believe that chosen son will be or do. How will the rest of the children know that this son is the Anointed One, the Chosen One, the One. Only from the words of Father’s mouth.
And a voice came out of the cloud, saying,
“This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”
(Luke 9:35)
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