2018 11 4 Sermon – Living in the Shadows: Mary Who? - John 20:1-2 & 20:11-18

I.             Introduction

Good morning. Today we are two thirds through this sermon series Living in the Shadows, addressing feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt we sometimes experience. These messages are to ‘reframe’ our notions of self-worth by observing the lives and legacies of biblical characters who seem to have played secondary roles in the scriptures. Instead of comparing ourselves with the lives of others who seem to be more gifted or successful, looking at these ‘shadow’ biblical characters and how God used them, we [can see that the lives of each one of us has meaning and a special place in God’s plan. We need to get God’s perspective on our personal worth, significance and legacy.

II.           Women in The Old New Testament vs. The New Testament

Today’s text takes us from the Old Testament to the New, with two significant changes:

1.    None of the women written up in the Old Testament came as close, literally, to God, as these two women.  

2.    Whereas the stories of the women of the OT are generally left there, for the most part unchanged, the stories of these two women continue on past the time of the writing of the Bible into the Early Church and beyond with lessons for us from those periods as well as from the Bible.

III.          Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Bible Story

1.    Called… 

Let’s look first at Jesus’ mother Mary, whom we meet first. Our introduction to this young woman is the familiar story of an angel appearing to her and telling her, as recorded in Luke 1:30, “…you have found favor with God! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 1:32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.”

Our first thought here might be – Mary must have been one special person. To find such favour with God! One thing one might say Mary had going for her to begin with was her royal lineage - she was a descendant of King David. She was nowhere near the throne, but this had to be her place to fulfil prophecy, as Jesus was to sit squarely in Israel’s history as a king. We also know from Matthew’s gospel that she was already engaged. So, she was following the customs of the day. Someone found her desirable as a future wife and mother – besides God!

If we think back to other stories we have already looked at though, were we told anything about the person’s character or what they did that caused God to give them the appointed task before they were called? No, our call comes from God’s grace and that’s usually the first time we hear of these characters. We don’t earn God’s favour. That’s a basic lesson we never seem to totally accept. I believe we have these stories to show that God, when he comes calling, wants our obedience, and these stories are examples for us to learn that from.

…And obedient

Mary’s greatness in God’s story likewise comes only after her calling. What if Mary had said, “No, I can’t do this. Who am I?” Perhaps her asking how is this possible because I have never had sex was a way of saying that. But no, Mary was obedient from the outset. She submitted to God’s calling, to his will.  

2.    Tested…

As the story unfolds we begin to see what kind of a woman she was. She does not appear to have been timid, one to hold back. The first thing we read after accepting the word of the Lord is that she treks off across the Palestinian countryside to visit her aunt in Judea. I can’t imagine that it was an everyday occurrence for young pregnant women to go travelling. She likely did not travel alone in those days either. She was probably accompanied by a male relative. Still, there had to be a certain amount of strength, bravery there. 

And that was not the end of her travels. Just before Jesus is born, she has to obey an imperial edict and travel with her betrothed, Joseph, from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Not long after Jesus’ birth, she and Joseph have to flee with their newborn to Egypt. This was in obedience to another angel-delivered command from heaven, to prevent Jesus falling prey to the murderous wrath of King Herod. His visit with the wisemen who came to see the baby Jesus led him to believe someone had been born in the Bethlehem vicinity with the potential to become a king, and he could not accept that. One has to think that these travels were something of a test too. Travel was not easy in those days. But again, Mary was obedient.

…  and faithful

Mary also appears to have been a good Jew from a religious standpoint. She and Joseph did their duty by going from Bethlehem to the temple in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus’ birth for her purification. They also presented an offering in lieu of their new firstborn son. And when Jesus was 12, they took him from Nazareth to Passover in Jerusalem. 

Mary also had a thoughtful nature, as we see from the brief comment that follows the story of Jesus staying behind in the temple. The story says she “pondered these things in her heart.”  Her idea of introducing the possibility of a miracle when Jesus turned water into wine at Cana also tells us she had already heard or seen something of what Jesus could do and kept it in mind. 

3.    Mary the Devoted Mother

Mary was also a concerned and caring mother. We are told that on one or two occasions she took Jesus’ brothers, no doubt for moral support, and went to see Jesus after he had begun his ministry and was in Capernaum. She seems to have been of the opinion that Jesus was overdoing things. Maybe she thought he needed to come home for a rest and some good home cooking.  Jesus reply to Mary though seems almost rude to us; he seems to scarcely give her an audience at the time.

But she did not give up on Jesus.  She was there, as a mother, at what was surely the most trying time of her life – when Jesus was on the cross. It seems she stayed in Jerusalem after the crucifixion and resurrection, as we are told in Acts 1 that both she and Jesus’ brothers were with the rest of the disciples when they continued to meet there before Pentecost, waiting for the Holy Spirit.

IV.         Mary Magdalene, the Bible Story

1.    Called…

Then, there is the other Mary. We are introduced to her in Luke 8, as one of a group of women who traveled with Jesus. According to verse 2 she had been “healed of evil spirits and disabilities.” In other words, she was “possessed’. Somehave come to believe she was a prostitute, but nowhere in the Bible does it say that. In fact,I would really like to dispense with that idea and get it out of the way so we can look at the biblical and Early Church Mary Magdalene.

… and obedient

To help with this, I quote Walter Unger, former President of Columbia Bible College.He writes: She was not connected to [Jesus]in any other sense [than as a disciple]. If she were related to a male, the Gospels would have recorded this as they did of the other women in [this] group.

What about Mary’s severe case of demon possession, as indicated by the number “seven”? [Knowing what we do about the use of the number 7, this could simply refer to her having been delivered from a very large number of demons, or very troubling ones]Jesus delivered Mary from what was undoubtedly a very distressing existence, yet there is no reason for connecting the demons with immoral conduct. Such possession is more usually associated with mental disorder.”

2.    Faithful…

In any case, Mary Magdalene appears to have become a devoted follower. Traveling with Jesus and his disciples, she was responding to what Jesus had done for her. As Unger says, “Jesus entered Mary’s life to do for her what she could not do for herself. He gave her sanity, serenity and wholeness, and she was forever grateful.”

Because Mary is included in the group of women who are described as “[providing] for them [Jesus and his disciples that is] out of their resources” Unger writes: Mary must [therefore] have been a woman of independent means, which was very unusual in first-century Palestinian society. She shared of her means in support of Jesus’ ministry, and travelled with Him, as pupil with rabbi. Supporting a rabbi was one thing, but for a woman to leave home and travel with a rabbi was unheard of. Indeed, according to the Talmud, rabbis were not allowed to teach women… 

Jesus broke such oppressive patriarchal norms. He welcomed women into His company, accepted their devotion, and taught them… Jesus treated Mary Magdalene and His other women followers with dignity, showing them that women and men were equally worthy before God. That view of women was revolutionary in that society…

… and courageous

Quoting Unger again: It also took enormous courage for Mary Magdalene and other women to follow Jesus. One can just imagine the gossip and innuendo as people saw these women moving in our Lord’s entourage.

Three aspects of Mary’s journey with Jesus are especially heroic [though].

1. Along with other women, Mary Magdalene stood by Jesus in His suffering on the cross (John 19:25). It was risky to be found in the proximity of the crucifixion of an enemy of the state, but Mary Magdalene’s devotion to Jesus outweighed such danger. It is noteworthy that it was women who stood by Jesus when all the disciples except John had fled in fear.

2. Second, Mary Magdalene was prepared to anoint our Lord’s body. This was another courageous act, for being near the grave of an enemy of the state was just as risky as being found near the cross (Mark 16:1). [End quote]

But it was the faith and courage of this woman that was rewarded with the highest of honours when it comes to the resurrection story. This is the third noteworthy feature. 

            3. Her rewarded firsts

3. Quoting Unger again: Mary Magdalene was the first to see the empty tomb, the first to see the resurrected Lord. According to John 20:17, when Mary saw Jesus, hesaid, “Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” And, just like the other Mary, Jesus’ mother, this Mary was obedient. She went and informed the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” and told them what Jesus had said to her. She was “the first to announce His resurrection (Luke 23:54–56; 24:1–12; Mark 16:11; John 20:11–18)...  In Luke and Mark, it is recorded that Mary’s words seemed to the disciples as an idle tale. Of course. In that culture, the credibility of a woman’s testimony was zero. The male disciples did not believe Mary and the other women’s initial reports of the empty tomb and the angels’ words until they went to see for themselves. Again, our Lord struck at such tyranny against women by entrusting the announcement of the most revolutionary event in the history of the world to a woman – Mary Magdalene.

Mary Magdalene was thus, in Unger’s words, if we can use a literary versus biblical term, a true “heroine, a woman transformed by Jesus and willing to risk all to follow Him. Her mission to announce “Jesus is alive!” is the mission of every true believer today.” 

3.    Mary of Nazareth in the Early Church

Mary of Nazareth seems, after the resurrection and ascension of her son, to have been given a prominent place as the matriarch of the young male disciples. She appears from the biblical story to have met them early in Jesus ministry. They certainly saw each other at the miracle of the wedding wine in Cana, perhaps even before. She was together with them in Jerusalem after Jesus’ resurrection. No doubt she had a lot to share with them and they had a lot they could learn from her. Not just stories about Jesus, but from all those attributes of herself we have discussed this morning, as a model of obedience, including through some very trying times, faithfulness and devotion.

4.    Mary of Magdala in the Early Church

And in time, Mary Magdalene seems to have been given credit.  Many bible scholars, basing their conclusions on their reading of the New Testament stories and other non-canonical writings as well as those of the Early Church fathers, believe Mary Magdalene held a prominent a place at the time. She was given the title, Apostle to the Apostles, for being the first one to tell the good news of the resurrection to the 11 male Apostles, a title still honoured more in the Eastern Church. When it came to the women, she seems to have equaled on behalf of the women the place Peter held as a male in the Early Church. 

Indeed, there is a nice little story in the non-canonical Gospel of Mary. The disciples after Jesus’ Ascension are feeling abandoned, rather hopeless, grieving and simply not feeling motivated. It is Mary Magdalene who gets their attention and basically say, “Come on, men, ‘buck up!’ Jesus gave you a mission and the power to do it. Get to work!” The disciples seem to shake their collective heads and say, “Yes, you’re right” this time. Perhaps the lesson of Mary being the first to tell them of the resurrection, which they had not believed at first, had been learned. 

Warning – Patriarchy returns

However, sadly, old traditions don’t go away that easily. By the 3^rdcentury, the leadership of women in the church began to fade, not to revive in a large measure till the 20^th century.  This was due in part to the union of church and state that began to take shape then and which held sway until not that long ago. I would say the loss of the voice of women was an evil, a result of the church moving away from where God in his wisdom, as part of his plan, began to include women in a wonderful way and from where it should have continued! The politics of the state and church for the most part since, have been the domain of the male, so it is not surprising that women lost their place and their voice.

There are other warnings in what has happened in the stories of the lives of these two women. They have to do with what happened after the Bible was written.

5.    Lessons from the Post-Early Church Era

A.  Mary, the Perpetual Virgin

When it comes to Jesus' mother, I refer to what the Roman Catholic Church has done with what some call Marianism or Mariology. I have to acknowledge my indebtedness for much of this Catholic history to A Short History of the Catholic Churchby theologian Hans Kung who, admittedly, is not popular with many Catholics, especially the leadership. They refer to Jesus’ mother nowadays in capital letters as The Perpetual Virgin. Their theologians believe it is essential to believe that Mary remained a virgin, as that is how they explain the fact that she could be selected as the mother of sinless God. This began already in AD 431 when the Council of Ephesus moved from calling Mary the Mother of Jesus to the Mother of God.  This really took hold in the 12^thcentury with Bernard of Clairvaux describing Mary in cosmic terms as The Queen of Heaven. Pope Sixtus IV formalized the Doctrine of Immaculate Conception in 1476 as a dogma and as recently as 1854 Pope Pius IX made it his mission to promote this to further traditional piety and reinforce the Roman Catholic system. Indeed, Jesus was God, but Mary was only the mother of his human form. God, the full Trinity, has no mother. 

Then, in spite of the Reformation’s fight against idolatry, the Catholic Counter-Reformation supported increased veneration of Mary to the point where Mary herself became the subject of numerous statues in the churches, an object of worship and even pray to. Ironically, Mary was being promoted in Catholicism by a totally patriarchal hierarchy. One more fanciful dogma that Pope Pius XII introduced in 1950 was that Mary, like her resurrected son, was taken up into heaven and never died! Apologies to Roman Catholics here but so much of this is contrary to what we believe the Bible clearly teaches, that Jesus alone is our mediator with God and worthy of worship. Mary, for all the good that can be said of her, was no more than an ordinary mortal, but given a special place in history because of God’s call and her obedience. However, from the biblical point of view, her story essentially ends with Acts chapter 1.

B.   Mary the Harlot

As for Mary Magdalene,I quote again from Walter Unger:

Preceding the passage [in Luke 8 about Mary following Jesus], in the last part of Luke 7, is the story of the sinful woman..., who washes the feet of Jesus with her tears and anoints His feet with ointment. The proximity of these two stories has led many to believe these two women were one and the same – a prostitute.

The immoral Mary myth really took hold after AD 591 when Pope Gregory the Great preached a sermon on Mary Magdalene in which he turned the sinful woman of Luke 7, and Mary Magdalene of Luke 8:2into one woman, and, according to him, she was a fallen woman. Once this medieval pronouncement of Mary the Harlot was made, artists began to embellish the story of Mary Magdalene, the reclaimed courtesan, until the real Mary got lost. Hundreds of voluptuous Mary Magdalenes were splashed onto canvasses throughout Europe. In the 20th century, movies and musicals like Jesus Christ Superstarcontinued to portray Mary as a prostitute,[not to mention novels by writers like Dan Brown and his The Da Vinci Code.]

So, what the church did with Mary of Nazareth, though not biblical, could be said to have elevated her in human eyes into a holier and saintlier position than what the Bible really calls for. When it comes to the story about Mary Magdalene, my warning is thus of a different nature. What man was done with poor Mary Magdalene since the days of the early church has been to turn her into little more than a trashy prostitute. Here the Church is guilty of making someone’s reputation worse, not better. What Pope Gregory had said about Mary Magdalene opened the floodgates to literally paint this Mary in an increasingly questionable and negative way. 

6.    Comparing the Two Marys

Beginnings

Some would say Mary of Nazareth got off to an ideal start – a pure virgin, of royal lineage. We don’t know the whole story of the other Mary, but it was obviously nothing like Jesus’ mother’s when Jesus found her. One could say she got off to a pretty bad start. 

Their call

But both Marys ended up in their respective respected and beloved positions because they were singled out, called by God, to their places in God’s story. God sent an angel to announce her mission to Mary the mother of Jesus. Jesus himself singled out Mary Magdalene and cured her of demon possession, freeing her to follow him.

The lesson

Mary Magdalene’s story disproves the idea that a bad life is an obstacle to God's grace. The lives of both women illustrate the point that God takes us where he finds us and can turn our life around from there in unexpected ways. We just have to obey and follow his call. In the end, both of these women were immensely privileged by the role they were given in God’s story.

A new place for women in God’s Kingdom 

These two women exemplified a new place in God’s kingdom for the female sex that had simply not been there before. Protestants now also recognize that there is some benefit in paying more attention to Mary of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene and other women in God’s story, partly to counter patriarchy, but simply because half the world is women and their representatives in God’s story also need to be upheld for what they can teach us! Interestingly, on a personal note, my very first sermon, preached 50 years ago, was about these women and how their place in God’s story supported that women be treated as equals and be given the vote in the Mennonite community!

Out of the shadow: Mary Magdalene, A new model of love and the first missionary

Indeed, if we disregard those negative influences on the stories of the 2 Marys I have described, which I would say are none other than the efforts of Satan on who Mary of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene are, but just go by what the Bible and Early Church said, we will arrive at a much lovelier and purer understanding of these woman, especially Mary Magdalene. 

Mary of Nazareth did not receive much extra attention in the biblical story after Jesus birth and early years, other than being at the cross and later in Jerusalem with the other disciples. It is humans, not God, who have elevated her to god-like status. 

If we look at the bible account and the Early Church, it is obvious that humans have given little positive attention to Mary Magdalene when she played a much more significant role in God’s plan. No one else appears to have had a more model relationship of love and devotion to Jesus. No one else has been as fortunate in that regard, to experience this, then Mary Magdalene. Apart from Jesus' mother, she appears to be the only other woman who most fully lived in the brilliant light of the love of Jesus as a human to human, indeed, as God to human, something we can only yearn for and imagine. Maybe she did think, “I don’t know how to love him, I don’t know why he moves me, he’s a man…”as in the well-known Andrew Lloyd Webber song from Jesus Christ Superstar. But we can ignore the rest of the song for it still wants to see Mary as possibly a prostitute. But this was a pure love, not a sentiment of desire or lust. And again, God, in the form of the resurrected Jesus, chose her to be the first missionary, a woman, the first to begin the spread of the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, the gospel. I hope that what I have said about her today, paints her in a much more positive light, and that we keep her there as a reminder that God does great things even with those humans consider less important! 

Lorne Brandt, 2018 11 4

The Story of How The Story of The  Bible Became The Story of The People Of God  

       V. The People’s Delivery from Egypt (Moses)

2016 4 24

2. The Commissioning of Moses (3:1-7:7) continued (again, I am drawing on Waldemar Janzen's Genesis in The Believer's Bible Commentary, subsequently referred to in the instalment below with the appropriate page reference as, e.g., Janzen 82 ff.)

Exodus 4:18-20 Moses gains his father-in-law's permission to return to Egypt. Interestingly, there is no record of Moses telling Jethro about his most important encounter with God in the desert. This would appear to be particularly worth paying attention to as we have read that his father-in-law was a priest, so it would seem reasonable for his son-in-law to consult with him to discern about matters such as this. Furthermore, we read that Jethro did provide some help in terms of leadership to Moses later on when they met in the desert after the Children of Israel left Egypt, so we know that Moses did value his wisdom. Indeed, one wonders whether the preparation that perhaps Moses had spiritually doing his years with Jethro and his family had something to do with God's choosing Moses' tribe as the priests for The Children of Israel, although it was Moses' brother Aaron who was given the leadership here. Perhaps the writers simply thought we would understand that this was discussed as the reason for Moses leaving, although what the text says is that Moses asked to be allowed to go back to his relatives in Egypt and see whether they were still living (4:18).

Here we again have the Lord repeating to Moses, "Go back to Egypt; for all those who were seeking your life are dead." Supposedly this should reassure Moses and remove one of his fears about returning to Egypt on this mission God is sending him on. Does this saying also sound familiar to something that was said about someone else in the Bible? Look in the New Testament at Matthew 2: 19-21. You will remember that when the wise men came from the East and told King Herod they were looking for a new king that was born he, in his jealousy, had ordered all the baby boys in the area to be killed to preserve his own line. Jesus' parents had fled with him to Egypt to save his life. In these verses in Matthew, Jesus' father Joseph is told to return to Egypt for those who sought his life are dead. Now he was going to be free to grow up to do his task.

Moses, like other Old Testament characters, as we have said before, is often seen again as a type of Jesus, and this is one of those parallels in their lives. He is now free to go back to Egypt to do his task.

4:27-31 Moses had complained to God in 4:10-17 that he was not a good speaker so how could he persuade Pharaoh to let his people go. God had said he could use his brother Aaron as his mouthpiece. Here we read of Moses meeting Aaron and telling him everything. Then they meet with the "elders of the Israelites" and "Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs in the sight of the people. The people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had given heed to the Israelites and that he had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped." It seemed that Moses and Aaron had gained the trust of the leaders of the children of Israel so they were on side with the plans to leave Egypt. Now they just had to convince the king.

6:2-9 Janzen 97 ff. - In the preceding passages, Moses and Aaron had gone to Pharaoh to ask for the release of the Hebrews. All that had done was make their work harder, which had cause the people to turn against Moses. When Moses complains to God about all of this, this is the answer he gets:

"I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as ‘God Almighty,’ ‘El Shaddai,’ but by my name ‘THE LORD,’ ‘YAHWEH,’ I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites who the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the Israelites,' I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.' Moses told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery."

So, here we read of God again identifying himself as the God of his ancestors who had “established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens.” (verse 4) He tells Moses to tell the children of Israel that “I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm in his mighty acts of judgment. I will take you my people, and I will be your God… I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." (verses 7-8) God is now making it clear that all of this action is because he is continuing to honor his covenant commitment with Moses' ancestors. They had become a numerous people, which begins to fulfill one of the promises, but they were still up in their own land. Furthermore, we are not sure that they were existing in much of a relationship at this time with the God who held his covenant with them. Just the same, God is promising to do was responsible party to a covenant would do when the other party is in trouble, which Israel is. He has not forgotten them and his covenant with them, although they may have. Now he is stepping up to take the next step in what this covenant relationship is going to be. He will free them, deliver them, redeem them, take them as his people and be their God. When Moses conveys this message to the children of Israel though, unlike the first reception Moses and Aaron had when they met with the Hebrew elders, this time they cannot hear the message "because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery." (Verse nine)

So here, for the first time in Exodus, the language of the covenant reappears. The same promises that we have seen given to the ancestors named here, are now repeated to Moses to be passed on to those descendants. However, just as The Pharaoh's heart has been hardened and he is not inclined to let the people go, the Israelites themselves now are no longer able to believe that Moses can do anything for them. Moses’ task is getting harder.

We have spoken of Moses as a type of Jesus. Do you see further parallels here between the story of Moses and the story of Jesus? We mentioned one of those parallels right at the beginning of the stories of these two individuals, referring to both King Herod and the Pharaoh wanting to kill baby boys.

Remember that Jesus also was not received by the leaders of his day. Indeed, he was rejected by his own people overall for the most part. He did indeed do a great saving work for us, just as Moses was to help God perform for the Children of Israel. However, perhaps like with Moses and Aaron, it was not until another spokesperson, Aaron, was identified, who became the Chief Priest and therefore the ancestor of all the subsequent Jewish priests, that God's plans were able to be accomplished. Jesus himself is referred to in the New Testament as a High Priest, and we as believers, Christians, are referred to as his children and also as priests. It is through his descendants that the church has grown to become what it is today. Just as Moses needed a spokesperson to accomplish God's tasks, Jesus needs us as his spokespersons in the world to carry on his mission.

Janzen 40

Another way in which Moses and Jesus are similar in that both were used by God to carry out missions of salvation through liberation from enslavement. As recorded in Luke chapter four, where Jesus was quoting Isaiah 61, he states that his mission was to free the prisoners and liberate the captives etc. That is what God is doing with his people here in Egypt under Moses as well. The difference here in Exodus is that the liberation, salvation, consist of one people whereas under Jesus liberation and freedom from oppression is available to all. Thus, the book of Exodus has been held up by the oppressed such as black slaves, or poor laborers in Third World countries, to show that God is on the side of the poor and oppressed and resists oppressors like Pharaoh. Here, all of this is included in the language of covenant faithfulness though, but that is something we have come to understand also applies to the church. Thus, Exodus also contains "a specific message regarding election, covenant, obedience and service."

Going back to the story and the resistance Moses was running into both with the Pharaoh and his own people, we read that in spite of all that, and God's bringing 10 plagues on Egypt until they were finally at a point where the Children of Israel were allowed to go free, they were delivered. The actual story of the beginning of that begins in Chapter 11 through 12. This included the institution of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as well as a return to the consecration of the firstborn, as described in chapters 12 and 13. Chapter 14 – 15:21 is a story of their ultimate delivery from Egypt with the crossing of the Red Sea - for God had miraculously opened up the waters for them to pass - and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army by the returning waters when they tried to pursue the children of Israel into the sea.

Chapters 15:22 to 19 tell the story of the beginning of their travels towards the promised land and their arrival at Mount Horeb for worship, now referred to as Mount Sinai, which, you will remember, God had promised Moses was the sign by which he would know that God was really calling him and empowering him to do this. Chapter 18 is a different part of the story, describing how Moses is reunited with his family and also gets some advice from his father-in-law, whom you will remember was a priest, about who how to delegate the work of being a judge in Israel.

Living the Dream

Many of you will have heard this expression. In our North American context, I understand it to refer to having reached the goals of having found a good spouse, perhaps also including reference to already beginning a family, having a job with a good income, earning enough to have your own home and car, with enough left over to take good vacations.

As a human who tries to follow Jesus of Nazareth as Lord in the Anabaptist way, I have to say that this is a saying that I do not really like. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I have a rather strong aversion to it and what it means, at least as I understand it. I have heard it used in Anabaptist circles though. I have to admit to that there was a time in my life when I had similar sentiment to what the statement expresses too. I had successfully established myself in a career that I strongly believed God had called me too. We already had a small home that we had put considerable expense into in terms of improving it. We even also already had two cars. We were debt-free, and I was only 33. However, when I really felt that, in terms of this "living the dream" I had arrived was when our family of four (myself, wife, son and daughter) moved into a well-built bungalow with attached garage on a fenced corner lot in a good residential area of a small Canadian Prairie city in 1985. The home, built in 1961, had molded plaster ceilings, hardwood floors and pink sandstone around the main entrance and street-facing picture window, as we learned to call these in the 50s.

There were times when we considered buying a lot in that city, and even when we visited my parents in the Okanagon area of British Columbia, and building a house to suit our dreams. At one point, we did even briefly consider buying a lot on a lake an hour’s drive from home and building a cottage. Earlier, we could have purchased a lot with a home on it in a nearby National Park, but we did not follow through with that. 

Ultimately, in our Christian pilgrimage, we decided against these things because our understanding of being a Christian called us to turn down some of these possibilities. We were already living in a situation where we had more than enough. We could afford to take good vacations. Sometimes, I even felt a little guilty about that, particularly when we took the step of investing in a timeshare. We did enjoy the 25 years of the occasions that allowed us. However, one has to draw the line somewhere.

Now, we have downsized to a nice but not luxurious condominium. We got rid of the timeshare. We have long disposed of our second car. In fact, we often consider going automobile free. Indeed, even though we could have afforded it, and there were some who probably expected that someone in my station would drive a more luxurious car, we have never moved in that direction. Our current 13-yr old Honda Accord [2^ndlongest we’ve had a car] is the ‘fanciest’ car we’ve ever had. By that I mean the first one with power windows and door locks, trunk release; I won’t mention the 2 ‘extras’ I afforded myself - steel wheels and sunroof – still cloth seats.

These are the choices my wife and I have made. We fully recognize they still don’t come close to the self-denial our Lord disciplined himself to in his short life on earth. Jesus said of himself, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58) The Apostle Paul wrote: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8). We know our choices represent more of a limitation than what some live under. But compared to what Jesus gave up and suffered, it is nothing. I say that not in pride but simply as an observation consistent with the fact that we can never earn God’s approval, nor can we tell others how to live. We each make our own decisions before our Creator, Lord and Saviour. We continue to work at doing justice, loving kindness, being simpler and humbler, which is what our God asks of us (Micah 6:8). However, ultimately, we know that all we are, all we have and all we will be comes through the grace of God, it is a gift, as the Apostle Paul again so succinctly put it: “…by grace [we] have been saved through faith, and this is not [our] own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no man may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) And, on this Thanksgiving Day in 2018, we are very grateful for all we have.