Title: Leaving / Exodus 12:1-11
"How will you live?" "How will you live this morning?" The 20th and final sermon on the topic of “Let's Leave and Live” This is the title of this morning's sermon.
1 Christianity is a religion of departure.
It is said that Abraham, the father of faith, left his father's house in Ur of the Chaldeans. The Israelites left the land of Egypt, where they had lived for 430 years. The English word for exodus is exodus, which means to escape or to depart. Jesus came into the world and died after 33 years of life. Jesus often told his disciples that he was going to die. “Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave the world and return to the Father” (John 13:1). “Jesus was saying that he would die in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). The original word for death here is exodus, which means to leave or to leave Egypt. The Apostle Paul often spoke of leaving the world and leaving the body. “We are of great courage, that we would rather depart from the body and dwell with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). “I have been poured out, and the time of my departure is at hand” (2 Timothy 4:6).
Christianity is a religion of departure. Dr. Sang-Hyun Lee of Princeton University, USA, said that one of the characteristics of Christian faith is marginality. Periphery means to be kicked out of the center and pushed out of the center. It means being driven out of Jerusalem and living in Galilee, being driven out of Jerusalem and living in Samaria. That's why he called such a life a life of forced marginalization. What is strange, however, is the fact that people who live with forced marginalization, that is, scattered people (diasporas) and strangers, become the protagonists of the kingdom of God. Whether voluntarily or under compulsion, those who leave their hometowns and become strangers, leave Egypt to live in the wilderness, and leave the world's riches and honors to become poor and weak become servants of the kingdom of God. Christianity is a religion of departure.
2 To leave means to die.
Death was at the center of the exodus from Egypt. Not only did they die for Egypt, but they had to slaughter lambs from house to house. Instead of dying, they had to slaughter the lamb. Death was also at the center of the death of Jesus. The death of Jesus, the Lamb, on the cross was central to the death of Jesus. Death was also at the center of Abraham's obedient life after he left his hometown. When he was about to kill Isaac on Mount Moriah, Abraham actually killed himself. Death was also located at the center of the life of the Apostle Paul, who considered everything useful in the world as waste and followed only the Lord. “We always carry in our body the death of Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:10). “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Christianity is a religion of departure and a religion of death.
3 If you leave, you will be at the center; if you die, you will come to life.
So far, I have talked about the negative aspects of the Christian faith. I said that Christianity is a religion of departure and a religion of death. But Christianity has a paradoxical truth. There are paradoxical and contradictory truths that go beyond logic and beyond pragmatism. If you are driven out and pushed out, you will be destroyed, but in reality you will not be destroyed, but rather you will find yourself standing in the center of the kingdom of God. David was expelled and pushed out and wandered freely in the wilderness and in the mountains, but eventually he came to stand at the center of Israel's history, and he came to be at the center of building the kingdom of God. The Puritans were persecuted and pushed out and left their hometown while living their religious life, but after a while they came to stand at the center of the world and at the center of building the kingdom of God.