April 2009

A word
on the Word

Journey through the Bible, book by book — this month by the Rev. Cn. George Luck, assisting priest, St. Matthew’s, Dallas

The Old Testament background of Easter

assover
You and I are members of a people that most nations look down on and marginalize. For several generations, the already ancient Egyptian Empire has enslaved us. Lately, however, our lives have become increasingly painful and frustrating, but we are nobodies; so what can we do?

A man named Moses showed up claiming to represent the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors. Some of us were not sure who these ancestors were, and besides, what self-respecting God would identify with a people of slaves?

Recently, something strange happened in Egypt. One day, Moses instructed us to prepare a special sacrificial meal for the evening that included a lamb he called “the LORD’s Passover.” We did this fully dressed and ready to travel. Evidently, we were about to leave for some special place Moses was going to take us. While we were carrying out Moses’ instructions, a catastrophe took place in Egypt. That night, some mysterious power killed thousands of Egyptian males, but harmed none of us. If you think that is bizarre, the story gets stranger and stranger.

The Egyptians decided that we were unlucky for them and wanted us out of the country as quickly as possible. They even gave us many valuable gifts in order to get rid of us; so we plundered them as we left. We traveled east toward the salt lakes, which lay in the Sinai Desert — and perhaps toward freedom.

We were camped by one of these lakes that we called the Yam Suph (later known as the Red Sea). Late one afternoon, we saw a huge cloud of dust coming from the direction we had just traveled. As we watched in horror, we realized that only one explanation could account for this. The Egyptians had changed their minds! They were pursuing us with a large contingent of their army and utilizing their new military hardware, the ironclad chariot. On one side was the water that we couldn’t cross with our wagons, women, and children. And as it grew dark, we could see behind us the many campfires of those who had come to kill us. It became clear to most of us that we would not obtain freedom from our slavery, after all. We wouldn’t go to some Promised Land. Instead, sometime the next day, we would all be dead.

Then the strangest thing happened. During the night, a strong east wind started blowing from the Arabian Desert, and the salt lake began to dry up. Moses told us to cross the Yam Suph, and we did so as quickly as we could. When the Egyptians realized what was going on, they followed us, and — miracle of miracles — their heavy chariot wheels got stuck in the mud, and they were left trying to extricate their expensive equipment. It was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to us as a people. It was as if the lake had separated into walls of water on either side of us. Some of the soldiers drowned, but the God whom Moses taught us to call Yahweh had come as a mighty warrior, slaughtered them, and humbled the only super power in the world.

We were now free from slavery and certain death and on our way to the Promised Land. Moses taught us that Yahweh, the God of the slaves, really cares about our liberation and is a saving God who is involved in this world. It boggles my mind to think about it: from slavery to freedom — from death to life! Some of our women danced for joy and sang with Moses’ sister, Miriam:

“Sing to Yahweh (The LORD) for he has risen up in triumph: horse and rider he has hurled into the sea” (Exod. 15:21).

Exodus
Thus, the Israelites became a people with a sense of destiny based on this definitive (for the Old Testament) act of deliverance. They would continue to keep the Passover meal in order to celebrate, give thanks, and relive (remember) God’s salvation. The Seder meal also reinforced the people’s communion with God and each other. They came to realize a very great thing about God — he is a God of grace and love.

“It was not because you were more numerous than any other nation that Yahweh cared for you and chose you, for you were the smallest of nations; it was because the LORD (Yahweh) loved you” (Deut. 7:7).

Throughout their travel through the wilderness to the Promised Land, God expressed his love for Israel through his faithfulness to the covenant he had made with them at Mt. Sinai (Horeb). However, the people constantly grumbled and rebelled against him. Nevertheless, God gave them food and drink, protected them from their enemies, and assured them of his faithful love. The same applies to the period of the Judges and the monarchy. The prophets told the kings and people that God had been faithful to them but they were being disloyal to him by worshipping other gods and behaving unjustly toward each other. They warned the people that their unfaithfulness would bring about their destruction, but God would save a remnant (Isa. 10:21).

Hosea
Nowhere in the Old Testament is God’s loving faithfulness more clear than in the 11th chapter of Hosea. After God commanded Hosea to marry the unfaithful prostitute whom he had come to love, Hosea understood how God feels about Israel. Then, after considering the punishment that Israel deserved, God said:

“How can I hand you over, Ephraim. How can I surrender you, Israel? … A change of heart moves me; tenderness kindles within me. I am not going to let loose my fury. I shall not turn and destroy Ephraim, for I am God, not a mortal; I am the Holy One in your midst. I shall not come with threats. …” (Hos. 11:8-9).

Here we have a God whose faithful love will never cease no matter what his beloved does to him. This is truly unconditional love. From this passage, it is not a huge step to God Incarnate on the cross.

All the Israelite prophets proclaimed that, after the people had learned their lessons via various disasters, God would again act to save and restore them. The prophets didn’t claim to know exactly what or when God would do something because they did not see the future as in a crystal ball. They knew God and trusted that he would always be faithful.

Isaiah
One passage has always claimed a special place in the Church’s life: Isa. 52:14-53:12, the suffering servant passage that we will read on Good Friday. The passage describes someone who would serve God faithfully, identify himself as Israel, and bring light to Israel and all people. This servant would willingly suffer and die as an expiation of sin for all. He would be buried, but somehow, he would be given a new life of prosperity.

“It was our afflictions he was bearing … this chastisement he bore restored us to health; by his wounds we are healed. … Yet the Lord took thought for his oppressed servant and healed him who had given himself as a sacrifice for sins. …” (Isa. 53: 6, 10).

An accurate interpretation understands the servant as Israel itself, suffering for all humankind, but the ancient (and contemporary) Christian perspective sees Jesus as the embodiment of Israel, being God’s definitive suffering servant. Jesus embodies (incarnates) God’s love and forgiveness. His suffering and death is a measure of God’s love for us.

The Old Testament prepares us for Holy Week and Easter by teaching us of God’s suffering love and ultimate victory — that life with God is life as death and resurrection, a life of Passover, not of serenity and good feelings about ourselves.

It is not an accident that Jesus entered Jerusalem for a showdown at Passover time. By Jesus’ day, Passover week had also become the time the Jews expected the messiah to come and restore their fortunes. We learn that Jesus is the ultimate Passover lamb who died in order that we may live. We learn that he brings us out of slavery to sin into God’s service, which is perfect freedom — that by his Resurrection, he frees us from the power of death and brings us to eternal life. We learn that we experience eternal life in the Passover meal of the Eucharist — not as a private state, but as a community of people in communion with each other in Christ.

“On this day the LORD has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24).

“At the lamb’s high feast we sing praise to our victorious king who has washed us in the tide flowing from his wounded side; Praise him whose love divine gives his sacred blood for wine; gives his body for the feast. Christ the victim, Christ the priest.

Where the paschal blood is poured, death’s dark angel sheaths his sword. Israel’s host triumphant go through the wave that drowns the foe. Praise we Christ whose blood was shed. Paschal victim, Paschal bread. With sincerity and love eat we manna from above”
(Hymn 174, vs. 1, 2).

“Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast” (1 Cor. 5:7-8).