Title: God Who Delivers (Exodus 2:1-10)
God who saves
Exodus 2:1-10, 10th Sunday after Pentecost, August 21, 2011
‘Dry it out’
After the tenth plague, Moses received permission from Pharaoh to lead the Israelites out into the wilderness. They crossed the wilderness and began their long journey to Canaan. Pharaoh overturned his decision and sent the horsemen, who boasted the best fighting power of the time, to pursue the Israelites. I can imagine how desperate the hearts of Moses and the Israelites must have been when they heard this. The people of Israel are not soldiers. There are also the elderly and young children. It is almost impossible to evade the pursuit of the horsemen. To make matters worse, the Red Sea was set before them. A lot of people would have thought they were dead now. At God's command (Exodus 14:16), Moses stretched out his hand with his staff over the Red Sea. Then the Red Sea parted and the Israelites were able to cross on dry land, and Pharaoh's horsemen who followed were all buried in the sea. Needless to say, how moved this story must have been for the people of Israel. I wouldn't get bored even if I listened to it over and over again. This scene was transmitted through the song of Moses (Ex 15:1-18) and the song of Miriam (Ex 15:19-21).
Does the Bible romantically and ideally insist on nonsensical facts? Are you trying to comfort the losers of history with plausible coaxes? no. The Bible is not just a superficial phenomenon of who is stronger now, but is looking deeper into history. I see that there is one who rules the world with greater, or even incomparable, power than an empire that displays unparalleled power. He is Jehovah God. If you look at history only superficially, you won't see it. Only political, military, and economic power are visible. When we look at history with new eyes and the eyes that the Bible presents us, we can see the more fundamental power of life. Seeing it and living it is faith. Israel described it as the Red Sea incident. At the center of the incident is Moses, who was rescued from the Nile River.
baptismal community
We Christians cannot be satisfied with the story of Moses. Moses was nothing more than a political rescue of Israel. Politically, he is a hero. He is a great jurist who perfected the law. All of them are worthy of imitation. That was his role. Not all human problems are solved by his role. Even when politically liberated, people still cannot escape from existence like the water. Filled with anything, it's still lonely, anxious, and internally conflicting. There is no true rest. The reason lies in the fact that humans cannot escape the limits of creation and live with the existence of sin. Life itself is like the Nile River, or the Red Sea. No one, no ideology, no system can get us out of here.
It is Jesus Christ who can deliver us from here. God has now delivered the entire human race from the waters of sin, death, and the limits of creation through Jesus Christ. Does this sound like a simple doctrine? Jesus was crucified helplessly by Judaism, representing the religious power of the time, and Rome, representing the political power. This is a repeat of human history. What happened to Israel by the neighboring empires was repeated again. God has solved this problem in a completely different way than ever before. He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. He promised that those who believe in him will receive resurrection life. So we are baptized in his name. Through the baptismal ceremony, which means being immersed in the water and then coming out again, that is, being rescued from the water, we have joined the destiny of Jesus Christ. That's right. The God who delivered Moses from the Nile and the God who delivered Israel from the Red Sea delivered us from sin and death. He is the only one who can rescue us from the swamp of despair and emptiness. Praise the glory of God.