William Yagel
Grace Radford
June 26, 2022
Proper 8, Year C
Holy and Loving God - may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing in your sight oh Lord for you are our rock and our redeemer.
Good Morning!
Before I begin my sermon, I want to offer all of you an invitation into conversation with me in general, and specifically this week. This has been an historic week in the life of our Nation. In particular, the decision announced by the Supreme Court on Friday. I expect that the decision to overturn Roe v Wade will be received differently by each of you. I believe it must be the most divisive issue of the past fifty years with no relief in sight. I want you to know that I am available to speak with you about this or, really, most any topic, and will make time available for you. Please know that I will always respect your opinions regardless of my own personal positions. You will all remain in my prayers. Thank you.
Pause…
As I mentioned at the beginning of the service, it is so wonderful to be here with you on this, our first official Sunday together! It has been a long journey for my family and me. Not just the transition from Alexandria to Radford, but a much longer journey going back 25 years for me. It was the summer of 1997 that I first wondered aloud about a call to the priesthood. My wanderings would lead me closer to a call to ministry before I would back away again. By the summer of 2017 I would be ready to speak those words again, and since then the barriers have been parted, and we have made our way to you. It has been my own personal Exodus.
God takes a particular interest in our journeys. We have been a people on a journey for a long time. Exodus, the book in the bible, is the story of the deliverance of the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt under Pharaoh and into a covenantal relationship with God and into a land of their own. If you remember the story, Moses tells the people of Israel to prepare for their Exodus. That the angel of the Lord would “Pass over” their dwellings whose door frames had been marked with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. Because of this passing over, no harm would come to them. But, to the Egyptians the angel of the Lord brought death and destruction.
As the Israelites make their exodus, the people are lead our of bondage by an angel who takes the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night as they make their way to the Red Sea. There is this image of power and might that goes before the people of Israel, making way for them. God parts the waters of the sea and the Israelites walk out of bondage and into freedom as Pharaoh and his armies are destroyed when the waters crash in around them. God, in this narrative, trades in power and in might!
It is noteworthy that we get to this moment and this concept of freedom quickly in the bible, the second book is about liberation. We should hear that as important, in my observation. The Jewish people have been celebrating that liberation in the Passover celebration for at least 2500 years in one form or another. We here in the United States just marked a liberation moment by celebrating Juneteenth this week. We marked the end of chattel slavery by honoring the freeing of the enslaved persons in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. A holiday with deep biblical roots. That is another sermon, the point is, we can see that God takes an interest in freedom.
Our 2nd Kings reading this morning obviously pulls from this Narrative of Exodus as Elijah parts the Jordan with his mantel during his Exodus from this world. The imagery is similar with a scene of power with chariots blazing with fire that draw Elijah up bodily on his journey back to God. This scene, which inspired the song “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” – leans heavily on the awesome power of God. There is no subtlety here, God is doing the work of liberation in a mighty show. After Elijah is carried up into heaven, we read that Elisha picks up the mantel and continues to his prophetic work.
Elijah, and arguably Enoch, are the only figures in the Old Testament that ascend bodily. Therefore, the early church often thought of Jesus as the return of Elijah, as, of course, Jesus appeared bodily after his death. And embedded in our reading from Luke today is just that symbolism, where the Evangelist was using the story of Elijah and the story of Exodus to draw the reader in, but Jesus’ methods are entirely different.
The word Exodus appears in Luke in the this chapter in verse 31, a few verses before our reading today during Luke’s telling of the story of the Transfiguration. Our NRSV translates the Greek “Exodon” as departure. But to be clear, Luke only uses that root word, Exodus, one time in his Gospel, and it is in reference to Jesus’ departure to Jerusalem. Clearly the author knew the importance of the word, he was leaning on their history as the people of Israel, and it would not have been lost on his audience.
Remember the imagery of the Angel of God leading the people out of Egypt? This power and might going before the people, clearing the way? This morning we hear of Jesus sending his messenger ahead to that Samaritan village. Messenger, which in Greek is “Angelous” and is often translated as Angel. So here is Jesus’ Exodus with Angels going before to lead the way, and when the messengers are refused, James and John want to call down the fire from heaven and destroy them! They expect a reaction that is similar to God’s powerful display in Exodus and in the story of Elijah!
So, here is the part- as my wife’s family is fond of saying.
Here is the part.
Jesus. Says. No.
Jesus’ journey is profoundly different from that of the old narrative. Not that the story isn’t important, but Jesus is bringing a different way. A new way.
No fire.
No destruction.
Jesus’ journey of liberation is not made possible by destruction. Jesus’ journey of liberation is one of sacrificial love.
It is at this point in Luke’s gospel that Jesus sets his face on Jerusalem and begins his journey for our freedom.
His Exodus, our freedom.
And it is not just about the end of the journey. It is not only a sacrificial death on the cross, but also a life’s journey in love. We can only imagine that the creator of all things that joined us in a human life here on this planet could have handled the situation any way he chose, but instead of raw power, the redeemer in our midst chose love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
This is what freedom in Christ looks like, and this is what Paul was telling the Church in Galatia to be mindful of as they were seeking to “devour” one another. The Exodus that Christ made has afforded us freedom. Freedom from that which would bind us, but that freedom calls us to be bound to one another and to God.
Jesus’ exodus didn’t free him, it freed us, and in that freedom God calls us into deeper and deeper relationship with the creator and with each other. The freedom doesn’t come with a price. We are not obligated - bountiful Grace is afforded to us in Christ freely.
God is not transactional, but God is clearly interested in our journey to God.
God wants to be in relationship with us. We are given freedom that we might choose to be nearer to God, that we might choose to be nearer to one another.
That we might choose to acknowledge that abundant and Amazing Grace.
Amen