“exodus, water from the
rock
and the promised land -
christian and jewish
perspectives” –
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Two sermons preached at the Readings: |
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(a) Exodus 17:1-7: A Jewish Perspective - Robin Kanarek
It is a
privilege but also, a responsibility, perhaps, even a risk to stand here
talking about a portion from Torah or the OT as you know it. I can only offer my thoughts on Exodus/Shemot 17:1-7 from a Jewish perspective and as a lay member
of your neighbouring synagogue. This
passage is set in a context of risk for Moses, set against the Israelites
testing their commitment to the covenant with God.
The passage
says that the people ‘quarrelled with Moses’. In the Hebrew, the word for “quarrel” is ‘rav’ - a word which almost means “fight”.
Just
think: God has safely and miraculously delivered the Israelites from
generations (430) of slavery in Egypt-mimitzraim.,
across the Sea of Reeds and accompanies them with his presence, ‘in a pillar of
cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night’. Less than 3 biblical days into
their journey to Canaan what do they do?
They challenge God. They grumble, they moan, they complain. They regret
leaving the certainty of life in Egypt. They even question God’s providence.
The Israelites are thirsty and hungry and what does God do? Sweetens the brackish water at Marah-bitter-,brings them to an oasis at Elim and after a further 2 months in the wilderness
provides this disparate, dissatisfied tribe of people (600,000) with manna ,’That
is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat’ (enough for Shabbat) and not
forgetting the quails to eat. Are the
Israelites grateful, do they thank God?
They most certainly do not.
Remember
the instructions Moses has received from God. Moses is to lead the Israelites
along the longer route from the Sea of Reeds to avoid the warring Philistines.
Why should this be and how is this connected with the episode at Horeb/Sinai Mountain of God where Moses was first called to
lead the people?
The tone
of the text in Exodus/shemot 17 darkens and becomes
threatening. The Israelites camp at Rephidim in the
wilderness. Moses cries out to the Lord,’ What shall I
do with these people? Before long they will be stoning me.’ The threat of
rebellion and mob rule is real and palpable. Once again, God demonstrates his
power as in Egypt and as Moses strikes the rock at Horeb
water issues forth. –and later 2x again.
Is Rephadim solely illustrative of ‘miracles’? I think the idea of ‘miracles’ was an obvious
route for me to tackle thematically in this talk. I came though to agree with the theologian, Martin Buber
who argues that the details of what happened at the Sea of Reeds and after are
not what is important but,’ What is decisive is the children of Israel understood
this as an act of God, as a ‘miracle’. Buber explains from an historical point
of view a miracle is, ‘an abiding astonishment, ‘a feeling of surprise and awe that people
sense in especially significant moments’.
It has to do more with response and less with explanation. It is a way for
humans to recognise and embrace the Divine.
Then,
what more can we learn at Rephadim? As a Jew, I experience the story of the
Exodus as my story and hear it each and every Passover in my home from very
early childhood. I learn more each year what it means to have entered into a
covenant with God and Israel. Jews stand at Sinai and renew the covenant
Abraham freely accepted for his family, tribe and future generations of mutual
obligations between God and man. I am part of that story and know how my life
depends on that agreement, ‘to love the Lord, your God, with all your
heart, with all your soul and with all your might.’
Now,
here’s the ‘miracle’. The covenant
between God and Israel has survived and endured for over 4000 years.
-5768. This is an arduous journey. The
word in Hebrew for slave is ’eved’ but it can also mean’servant’. The 40 years in the wilderness was certainly
one of physical hardship where food and water were scarce and conditions harsh
but the journey was essentially a journey of spiritual. For 40 years God
‘tested’ and tried His ‘stiff-necked ‘people until reaching Canaan, the
Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey. The name of Israel means,’
to strive, wrestle, struggle with God; the name Jacob received after his
struggle. The Israelites continually challenge, question and argue with their
leader and great teacher, Moses. What is God’s response to the angry scenes at Rephadim? He
comforts and reassures Moses, ‘I will be with you’. He remains a loving,
patient, tolerant parent challenged by his children. He instructs Moses as to
what to do. Later, he understandably loses patience with the Israelites over
the golden calf –small wonder. Imagine though, how Moses argues with God to
save His people,’ And the Lord repented of the evil
which He thought to do to His people’ (!) –a breathe
taking thought.
Our
travels and travails take us from ‘eved’ slave to eved’servant’, from dependency to independence, from
childhood to adulthood, from immaturity to maturity, from slavery to freedom.
It is a developing relationship in Torah and for all of us in our lives. It is
a painful, slow and continuous process from Sinai to today and tomorrow. The
thirst we have is a most human basic need but the deepest thirst we have is our
need to embrace and accept the Divine dimension in our lives. In Judaism, even
the heroic leaders and teachers in Torah are only human and as such flawed and
vulnerable but also, capable of great and generous acts in partnership with
God.
We end at
Rephidim with the naming of the place, Massah and Meribah which
literally means, ‘trial-quarrel-. It ends with the question the Israelites
pose, ‘Is the Lord among us
or not?’ I think we here know the answer
and the silence speaks volumes. The next
fight will occur against Amalek, who comes to
represent evil enemies in every generation. Therefore, the journey and the test
continue on. As one of the ancient
Hebrew sages said,
‘You are not expected to complete the task;
but neither are you at liberty to abstain from it.’
We take
the risk, we accept the responsibility and we place our faith, our love and
trust in God that the Eternal One will protect us now and always.
(b) Exodus 17:1-7: A Christian Perspective - Andrew Sails
First let
me thank you Robin
for your most thoughtful reflections on our Exodus passage.
As Jews
and Christians we have this wonderful resource of shared scripture –
which is so much more than just a dry historical record.
For both our communities,
it is a story which affects who we are in the present
and inspires us for the future.
Robin,
you talked about making the exodus story your
story
as you heard it at Passover each year as a child.
As
Christians, we too make it our story:
·
So
when as Christians we sing
“Guide me O thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land”
we too are understanding the Exodus as our story, our
journey.
·
And
when as Methodists we gather each January
for our Annual Covenant Service to renew our covenant with God,
we are seeking to place ourselves in that tradition
stretching back to Noah, Abraham and Moses.
I don’t want to minimize the differences
about the way we read and live the story –
and certainly if we had looked together at a NT passage,
we would undoubtedly have found things harder going –
and there may be issues there to think about later in the day -
but at this point I’d like to think particularly
about those areas where we can find common ground.
1. How
we understand Miracle
Robin,
you spoke of miracles as something
you can respond to in awe rather than necessarily understand.
Within the Christian tradition, (indeed within this congregation)
you can find a wide spectrum of understanding of miracle –
from the literal to the metaphorical.
Indeed within Christianity you can find a wide spectrum of understanding
regarding not only specific stories (the water from the rock etc),
but the whole Exodus event –
is it a piece of literal history or a powerful myth?
I’d be happy to expand on that over lunch –
but for now let me just say this:
Whatever we understand of actual middle eastern history c.1200 BCE,
we all find in the Biblical record deep spiritual truth – which speaks of
·
God’s
victory over the powers that be,
·
his
providential care surrounding us,
with us in the dark and lonely wilderness places of life
· God’s constant faithfulness to his
people in spite of their faithlessness
2. Water
of Life
Robin’s interpretation of the water of Merribah
(as standing for God’s willingness to quench our spiritual as well as our
physical thirst)
of course resonates with our NT reading,
in which the woman at the well thinks that Jesus is offering her merely
physical water,
without realizing that what God really offers is the water of life,
satisfying our spiritual thirst.
As a Christian I am delighted to welcome
a representative of the Synagogue to share in our service,
because I follow a Jesus who offered the water of life
with generosity to his fellow Jews, to his own disciples –
and also to a Samaritan woman.
I take that to say that in Jesus’ name,
we should offer the water of life for all God’s children,
whether Christian or, Jewish, Samaritan or Muslim,
British or Korean, Israeli or Palestinian, American or Iraqi.
3. Sin
and Faithlessness of God’s People
The Christian Church is founded on the basis (as St Paul
puts it)
of God’s equal love for bond & free, male & female, Jew & Gentile.
It is one of the horrible ironies of religious history
that at various times, Christians have used their faith to justify exclusivism & hatred.
In terms of today’s scripture, we have sought to fence in
the water of life,
claim exclusive rights to it benefits,
and have even sought to poison the wells of those outside our community.
As Christians, it is to our deep shame
that past generations of so called followers of Jesus, the Prince of Peace,
have chosen the path of oppression and persecution, of anti-Semitism and
holocaust.
We in our generation cannot undo those crimes – I wish we could -
but we can commit ourselves to the path of truly Christ-like love in the
future.
4. The
on-going journey
Robin concluded by talking of the need to continue our
journey with God,
even if we cannot complete it. Amen to
that.
We may (and do) have different understandings of the
Promised Land.
For us as Christians it is no longer simply identified
with the physical geography of Israel,
but is rather a potent symbol of what we see as our ultimate journey’s end –
the coming of God’s Heavenly Kingdom.
And of course Martin Luther King,
one of the greatest Christian prophets of recent generations,
famously spoke of standing with Moses on the Mountain
and looking down on the Promised Land –
a symbol of God’s coming reign where all his children would share
in God’s ultimate Kingdom of justice, love and peace.
Like
Moses & Martin Luther King before us,
it may well be that we may not see the end of that journey in our
lifetime.
But let us journey on,
and never lose the glorious vision of God’s ultimate Shalom!
Order of Service
Organ:
Choral No. 1 – Hendrik Andriessen
Welcome
Hymn SOF 40 “Be Still”
주의 임재 앞에 잠잠해
(with
accompaniment from the Mint Orchestra)
Prayer
All Age Ministry (Robin
Kanarek)
Song “Shalom” (as four part round with instrumental accompaniment)
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[Young people leave for their own sessions]
Old Testament Reading –
Exodus 17:1-7
New Testament Reading – John 4:5-15
Robin Kanarek: “Water,
Wilderness and Promised Land –
a Jewish Perspective” (Exodus 17)
Hymn 817 “Glorious things of thee are spoken”
Andrew Sails: “Water,
Wilderness and Promised Land –
a Christian Perspective” (Exodus 17)
Hymn 437 “Guide me, O thou great
Jehovah”
Offertory [with
orchestra: St Anthony Chorale – Haydn]
Prayers of
Intercession and Lord’s Prayer
Hymn 56 “Praise to the living
God!”
(with accompaniment from the Mint Orchestra)
Korean Blessing English Blessing
Organ:
Tema mit Varietes – Hendrik Andriessen