The First Passover: Does God Kill Our Enemies?

Are scripture reading this week is from the book of Exodus.

The Lord said to Moses. I'll bring one more disaster on Farrow and on Egypt. After that the Let You Go From Here. In fact when he lets you go. He'll eagerly chase you out of here.

Moses said this is what the Lord says. @midnight. I'll go throughout Egypt. Every oldest child in the land of Egypt will die from the oldest child of pharaoh who sits on his throne to the oldest child of the servant Woman by the millstone and all the first off brand of the Animus.

Then a terrible Cry of Agony will echo through the whole land of Egypt unlike any heard before or that ever will be again.

Blast with you three lines not even a dog will growl at them. at the people or their animals by this you will know that the Lord make the distinction between Egypt and Israel.

In all your officials will come down to me bound to me and say get out you and all your followers. After that, I'll leave.

Did Moses Furious left pharaoh?

The lord lord said to Moses Farrow won't listen to you so that I can perform even more amazing acts in the land of Egypt.

-12 the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt. This month will be the first month. It will be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole Israelite community on the 10th day of this month. They must take a lamb for each household a lamb per house. If the household is too small for a man. You should share one with the neighbor nearby. You should divide the land in portion to the number of people will be eating it.

Ulam should be a Flawless year old male you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You should keep close watch over it until the 14th day of this month. A Twilight on that day the whole assembled Israelite Community should slaughter their lambs. You should take some of the blood and smear it on the two-door post and on the beam over the door of the houses in which they are even. That same night. They should eat the meat roasted over the fire. You should eat it along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Don't eat any of it raw or boiled in water the roasted over the fire with head legs and internal organs. Don't let any of it remaining until morning and burn any of it left over in the morning.

This is how you should eat it. You should be dressed with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. You should eat the meal in a hurry. It is the Passover of the Lord. I'll pass through the land of Egypt that night and I'll strike down every oldest child in the land of Egypt both humans and animals. Olympos judgment on all the gods of Egypt I am the Lord. The blood will be your sign on the houses where you live. Whenever I see the blood I will pass over you. No plague will destroy you when I strike down the land of Egypt.

@midnight the Lord struck down all the first Offspring in the land of Egypt from the oldest child of pharaoh sitting on his throne to the oldest child of the prisoner in jail and all the first off bring the animals. Winn Farrow all his officials and all the Egyptian god up that night a terrible Cry of Agony rang out across Egypt because every house has someone in it and it died.

Then Pharaoh Called Moses and Aaron that night and said get up get away from my people both you and neither your life. Go Worship the Lord as you said.

You're into the reading.

for this meeting about the first Passover actually a reading right after it about the Feast of unleavened bread, which is the seven days after Passover. Is the reading this week for our Narrative Lectionary that were doing we're we're continuing with The Narrative Lectionary, which is that. I'll be going to lectionary in the selection of pathogens that you read throughout the year that you got a good mix of thing in different parts of the Bible in The Narrative Lectionary is designed to give you an overview of the narrative the whole story throughout the Bible.

And up until about Thursday. I thought that this sermon was going to be about the Passover and why the Passover is important to why would the board to the Israelites why it's important to the Jewish Community today and why it's important to the Christian Community and I was going to talk about the similarities between the Passover the first Passover and the the Jewish Passover and the

crucifixion resurrection of Christ and things like that and then

as many of you have heard by now. I discovered that President Donald Trump had come down with covid-19.

and I realize that my Thurman is going to have to be very different this week. Why don't pre-record sermons before Sunday? You never know. What's going to happen.

When I seen in my social media has been an interesting mix of responses, you know why I connected kind of to several different Social Circle when I get I hope I get someone outside of my my bubble as you would say social media, but I've seen a mixture of responses. I've seen people who are I guess proponents of President Trump and President Trump who have asked for empathy. And prayers of healing for the president and his family. I've seen. Folks who? are excited happy that President Trump has become ill. All those people think that hopefully he will recover and this will give him a new outlook on the virus. some of those people I believe really hope that he will not recover and that he will still die from the virus.

I've seen people who say that he's not really sick that he's just Faking It. I think he is using this as a political ploy. I've seen people on both sides. I've seen say that I've seen people who said oh how strange it is that the Democrats aren't sick. Maybe they maybe they did this to him.

Our political environment now is so polarized. Sometimes it's hard if Christians understand where we should be in what we should be saying how we should be reacting to the event. And so I thought instead of what I was going to talk about that I would talk about that because the Passover is related to the topic. So I change the title of my sermon this week to the first Passover. Does God kill our enemies.

The first because again part of my Ministry is to those who are unchurched all or who have come very very different backgrounds. So I want to make sure I explain about the Passover and why it's important.

Passover takes place the first Passover take place. In the book of Exodus the second book of the pentateuch, which is the the Jewish scripture. The law. The law of Moses is sometimes called so it's it's the friend the first five books and second one. The first one was Genesis which talks about how the Israelite tribe came to be and that we've been covering your previous sermons and then Exodus begins with the story of Moses. who is Is there a light by birth but is raised in the Pharaohs family and when he's a young man, he sees the heat that is right people being oppressed by the by the Egyptians to buy now. The other lights are all slave to the Egyptians and he killed an Egyptian slave master. Thinking that nobody saw him and when some of his fellow Israelites, of course, they don't know that he doesn't realize they think he's an Egyptian. He was raised in there of household.

that

that I made Dave. What are you going to do now? Are you going to kill us too? And he sprayed in the end? So he runs away and actually Moses most important figure in the Bible in the Jewish Community. He's really seen his kind of the founder of Judaism in a way. He's the bringer of the law. He's the one from God, He's the one that brings the people out of Egypt and back into Canaan to the promised land. In a very important person and according to tradition Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible pentateuch. So what is a very important character but one of the interesting things about Moses is that they're out?

most if not, all of I hate story. He is very much kind of a coward and kind of a kind of.

A whiner, you know, he's he complains and he whines and he he he's afraid and God tells him to go back to Egypt got up here to the internet in a burning bush and tell him to go back to Egypt and tell it to set his people to said God's people free and Moses was like I can't do that. I'm not a good speaker. I could never do it, whatever and got the golden fine. Take your brother with you and do it now. Okay, I guess you know me and he's like really dragging its feet the whole time. But finally at this point in the story Moses just getting fed up with a pharaoh. So you've gone to the Pharaoh several times and he said please we want to go out into the desert for 3 days. And then we want to go three days March out of the desert and then we're going to worship God with all of our family but all of our animals and everything and then we're going to come back but it worked in the plan to come back he plans to just leave. And ferritin will it go because this is their slave Workforce building all of their tombs and thing from show Making bricks is what they say to making bricks.

God inflicts these various plagues the 10 plagues. I'm not going to go into all this now. You should definitely read those chapters. If you haven't it's very it's you know, it's a cultural thing in the in the United States that they close leaving that kind of Western world to know the 10 plagues. But in any case the very last of them is the 10th plague plague of the death of the first born son. and at this point loses his completely fed up and he goes to pharaoh and he says look if you let it go. We're going. He's going to kill the firstborn of everybody a few of your people of every person of all the animals everybody. And I he goes back and you tell the people to not stuck by the lamb and take the blood of the lamb and put it on the door frame and over the front of the door to mark their houses now on archaeological digs and things have shown that this this ritual of the sacrifice lamb and using the blood of the Lamb on the doorpost Emma. And the the door frame of the house is actually not unique to the Israelites. This was this was a kind of a common Canaanite ritual at the time of year. I think but the point of it is that it because either King my peoples who are in Egypt this allows God to recognize which houses belong to the pass is over.

and this event Passover is extremely important to the Jewish faith into the the their forward also to the Christian faith anyways, but It's even today. It's it's it's celebrated every year and I've I've been to Passover seder. I've been to two Christian churches that celebrate Passover seder time. I'm not sure what I think about that. I think that Passover seder Jewish holiday on butt I guess he can make it can be done with good intentions and it can be done properly and Austin didn't have one of their own but they did invite a felony and the Jewish Community would often but invite us to come to this to the theater. And that was that was really nice that I experienced some some very meaningful religious Services because of that has really good food and they'll have an important part of the story. But the point of the stator is to tell the story tell the story of the escape from Egypt.

So that's what I want to talk about. As far as the Passover goes to the Passover is very important to the Last Supper of Jesus was a Passover seder. It was the disciples were getting together to share the Passover meal and the time that Jesus died on the cross. Is it about this is been in the same time that they would have sacrificed by the Passover Lamb oats the next day but but still it's been that same time. So there's there's there's significant there too, but I'm not going to go into that any more detail today because the rest of my sermon without you longer than I would already longer than I would like it to be. I apologize for that.

What I want to talk about mainly today is this idea called The Odyssey? Or another way to put it is why do bad things happen? So I think there are really three main. questions of religion 33 question that all religions seek to answer three reasons that people cannot speak out religion in the first place and I would even include kind of scientific atheism or

secular humanism in the in the qualifications. I think that they also answer me.

So the big three questions are first of all, why are we here? Why does anything exist why why does life happen at all? Secondly, why is there so much suffering in the world? Why is my life so difficult and unfair? Why do I do good things and still I suffer. And third what happens to me and to my loved ones when I die or when they die where it where do we go after this? What what you know, what's beyond death? If anything I think of that big three questions of religion, and then what we're going to do today is bring the focus on the second one.

And your Family Feud questions. I think there's a related question that comes out but that isn't isn't really really Drive. How do I live a good life my life? So that's talking about the Odyssey Odyssey comes from the Greek word bios and Decay which means god and became Injustice that translates to Divine Justice is often called also the problem of evil represents an attempt to defend God's omnipotence and goodness in the face of this problem of evil in the world. This is one of the oldest questions in the in the ology.

You know, it's Easter to answer how benevolent omnipotent omniscient God in other words a loving all-powerful all seeing God. Can allow suffering and pain in God's creation?

Specifically I want to talk about how do we tackle this problem as Christian Universalist?

And I think the first thing to talk about is that I want to look at the Bible. We need look the Bible in that are at our religious texts and things to find the answer to this and I think it's important to look at the Bible as narrative. The Bible as a whole reveal the story of God's actions in the world from the point of view of the descendants of Jacob and those that were influenced by them. You know what? We say a lot the god of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but I mean their other religions that they're also drive from Abraham. For example Islam that when you think of Christianity and Judaism you really thinking of the descendants of Jacob and Israel. so The section of the Bible that we call the Old Testament is composed of a set of books that were written by the Jewish people up to about a hundred years before the birth of Jesus and these books also comprise. What is now considered to be the Jewish Canon authorized the Hebrew Bible are the Tanakh. I'm all the Christians place the books in a different order than they are in the Jewish Bible.

So I understand that The Narrative of the whole story the story of God through time. So we need to start at the beginning when to start at kind of the earliest Israelite understandings of Giada. So we look at the earliest accounts in the Bible. We see that the Israelites understood God punishment to be a communal thing. That is to say that God punish an entire nation based on the deed the nation of the whole face of the deep. We see this in the Passover story. We just read when God punishes the Egyptians for how they have treated the Israelite and especially how the Pharaoh Theater lights the leader of the nation and we see it again in the story of the Babylonian exile when God punishes Israel for his misdeeds to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian. We also see it for them in the in the destruction of Judea also about that.

We also see this for example in Sodom and Gomorrah where Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed because of the the behavior of their other haven't

a modern times. I've seen him Christian specially those kind of fundamentalist churches and I'm eating fundamentalist. You're very specifically which was a reaction against liberal theology in there like night did 19th century. I'm in the enemy out what came out of that and but the fundamentalist church is having a very legal very interesting and scriptural inerrancy and things like that and

I seen people from these Traditions use this understanding of God's punishment to campaign against social issues that they considered to be a moral such as the legalization of same-sex marriage for abortion. That the reasoning is that God will punish punish the entire nation for the sins of a part of the population or for the sins of its leaders in allowing things to happen. Very famous lead Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who were both prominent Evangelical televangelist broadcast TV TV show that they famously blamed the September 11th terrorist attacks on a list of things and I watched that video before my mom's work on this tournament. I make sure I got the list right but the lift that that Jerry Falwell video is removing God from school legalizing homosexuality legalized abortion feminist the people for the American way in the American civil liberties Union claimed all of the all of the people Do they all have a hand in bringing this about and he saw it as God causing our enemies to attack us the same way that I believe the vet in the Old Testament got caught in the Babylonian to attack you through.

But we look at the accounts. I've mentioned in the Old Testament in the morning to hear warnings and the prophets in the Old Testament warning about this kind of thing. We can understand why people might think this I can understand. I understand the reasoning behind Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson saying those things I understand where they're coming from. But I think that doing so is it ignores the rest of the narrative? Doing focusing on that kind of Retribution ignored everything that comes later in the story. And now it talk about the Babylonian exile. So after after juicing as if you buy the battle only in their exiled to Babylon and they're and they're dispersed all over the place and they're living in really small communities. Temple was destroyed. I mean, it's it's a huge. It's a huge deal, right? during the time that the idea of criminal punishment was I started to change to the Egyptian the punishment had been before I've been kind of closely tied to how the early Israelites understood God's nature them. God was the god of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. God was the national God of Israel and God resided in the temple in Jerusalem. But after you is like taking the cap in the Captivity by the Babylonian And they begin to spread out everywhere. They did their understanding of God begin to understand that God was with them wherever they were that they didn't need to go to the temple to find God. To be with them and exile. And put the same time their understanding of God's judgment and God punishment begin to change as well. And one example of this is Psalm 35, which was probably written around the sixth Century BC during the Babylonian exile. I don't like this Lord argue with those who argue with me fight with those who fight against me. Grab a shield and armor stand up and help me. Use your Spear and act against those who are out to get me. Say to me I am your salvation. Let those who want me dead be humiliated and put to shame let those who intend to hurt me be thoroughly frustrated and disgraced. Let them be like dust on the wind and let the Lord messenger be the one does the blowing. Let their path be dark and slippery and let the Lord messenger be the one who does the chasing. Because they had their net for me for no reason they dug a pit for me for no reason. Let the doctor come to them when they don't suspect it let the net they hid catch them instead. Let them fall into it to their disaster.

By the time the fewest people began to return from Exile in the 5th Century, BC. Their idea of God's punishment that changed the changed from a communal punishment to more individual punishment. They believe that God would bring Fortune to the just in Misfortune to the unjust and not in the afterlife but in this life because this time there was still really not understanding of the afterlife.

This time is often called second temple Judaism because the temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem by the people who returned from the exile. And so many for which was probably written around the 3rd Century, BC, but 300 years later than Psalm 35. Give us an example of the changing understanding of justice and retribution. This is an excerpt from it, but you should definitely read the whole thing.

Lord avenging God avenging God show yourself rise up judge of the earth pay back the Arrogant exactly what they deserve. How long will the wicked oh Lord. How long will the wicked win? They spew arrogant words. All the evil doers are bragging. The crush your own people Lord. They abused your very own possession. They kill widows immigrants. They murder orphans. Thing all the while the Lord can't see it Jacobs. God doesn't know what's going on.

Can a wicked ruler be your ally one who wreaks Havoc by means of the law?

The wicked gang up against the lives of the righteous. They condemn innocent blood. The Lord is my Fortress my God Is My Rock of Refuge? He will repay them for their wickedness completely destroy them because of their evil. Yes, Lord, Our God will completely destroy them.

By the time of Jesus's birth. the Jewish people had also change their understanding more. They had come to understand that maybe not all hardship and evil done to them. Where do to their own actions. The book of Jobe is perhaps the best example of this. written sometime in the first century or second century BC Innit God and Satan have an argument over whether or not Joe a man of exemplary faith can be made to despise God if God takes away all of the good things and jump. . Does this First by killing all of JoJo's family and then when Satan said that's not quite enough by making Jobe very ill. on the brink of death Joe bemoaned the fact that he doesn't deserve this cruel fate. He weeps and he Mourns. But he never speaks out against God. never says the God is wicked are the god of evil.

Jump shows us that sometimes bad things happen to good people through no fault of their own. I didn't I did not include the reading of Jobe in this because something was already very long and Job is very long, but you should definitely read it at least the first the first bit of it. It is quite a thing.

So this brings us? to the teachings of Jesus

as Christians we must also look to the New Testament and the Jewish Community really has their their scriptures their Cannon to look to with a we talked about in addition to what we have in the Christian faith Jewish faith has additional books that have been written since the birth of Jesus that we don't include It's not a closed Canada traditional thing. But the point is that we need to look to the new text message using their Gene has to continue the story to continue the story of God's love and of God's covenant with us and God relationship with us over time.

so

we need to look at that story to see how Jesus understood God's justice and God's punishment. How Jesus asked us to behave is that children with a guy in his followers of Jesus? Jesus's teachings really continue this line of thinking that that had led the Book of Job but they were even more radical and they didn't come from nowhere. There were there were other prophets. There were other teachers other rabbis at this time who are teaching similar things the Golden Rule do unto others as you would have them do unto you this idea of love your neighbor as you would love yourself was not unique to Jesus there other teachers in the time. They were teaching the same thing, but Jesus brought a more perfected. Am I more perfected message problem a deeper message brought through his own sacrifice and example. And three Resurrection showed us that God will defeat the forces of evil in the end. So What did? What did Jesus say what were the prophets and leaders of the past prayed for divine retribution on their enemy? Jesus called instead for his followers to pray for their well-being and forgot to change their heart.

for example Matthew this this comes

from the teaching of the multitude will Jesus says you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you if people slap you on your right cheek. You must turn the left cheek to them as well.

When they wish to haul you to court take your shirt, let them have your coat too. When they force you to go one mile go with them two.

Give to those who ask and don't refuse those who wish to borrow from you.

You have heard that it was said you must love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who harass you. So you will be acting as children of your father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and send the rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous.

If you love only those who love you what reward do you have? Don't even the tax collectors do the same. And if you greet only your brothers and sister, what more are you doing? Don't even the Gentile do the same. Therefore just as your heavenly father is complete and showing love to everyone. So also you must be complete.

And then a John we have a story about Jesus. the time into this thing

As Jesus walked along. He saw a man who was blind from birth.

Jesus's disciples asked Rabbi who sinned so that he was born blind this man or his parents.

Jesus answered neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God's Mighty Works might be displayed in him.

In doing this Jesus puts to rest the idea. That one's thins or those are most ancestry lead to hardship in our own life. Instead. Jesus said that those who stand against their fellow human beings and turned away from God. We punish none of this life, but in the neck consider for example this meeting from Matthew.

Jesus says either consider the tree good and it's fruits good or consider the tree rotten and it's fruits rotten. The tree is known by its fruit. Children of snakes. How can you speak good things while you are evil what fills the heart comes out of the mouth. Good people bring out good things from their good treasure, but evil people bring out evil things from their evil treasure. I tell you the people will have to answer on Judgement Day for every useless word they speak.

By your words you will be either judged innocent or condemned as guilty.

He's also tells us to love our neighbors and to leave judgment to God. Take this reading from Luke. A continuation of the the teaching of the multitude that we saw on patio.

Don't judge that Jesus and you won't be judged. Don't condemn and you won't be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Give and it will be given to you. A good portion pack down firmly shaken and overflowing will fall into your lap the portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return.

How do we take all this information and use it to inform us in our daily lives? the godkiller enemies should we wish death on those who would disagree with?

It seems to me that every day on Facebook or YouTube. I see a fellow Christian wishing ill will on those who they disagree with. Most often they are Christians from fundamental churches there praying to God for the describe. The destruction of Liberals are feminist activists the queer Community those who believe in a woman's right to choose anyone else who may disagree with But not always.

I remember when Obama was President. There were many calls by fundamentalist pastors to pray Psalm 109.

I haven't included the text in the presentation, but let me read it for you about portion of it. Anyway, the the portion that was most often quoted.

Let his days be few. Let someone else assume his position. Let his children become orphans. Let his wife turn into a widow. Let his children wander aimlessly begging driven out of their ruined homes. Let a creditor seize everything he owns let strangers plunder his well, let no one extend faithful love to him. Let no one have mercy on either Worthen let his descendants be eliminated. Let their name be wiped out in just one generation.

Surely this goes against what we see when we look at the biblical narrative as a whole. Most importantly when we look at the teachings of Jesus.

As Christians we must not take every verse in the Bible at face value without understanding it as a piece of a much larger narrative. The song in this particular case is a response to oppression when it was quoted by pastors fenneman with pastors usually Usually it only quote the first. first verse let his days be few let someone else as soon as position. And that by itself is not so bad. I mean that might just be saying I hope that you know, he doesn't win re-election, right? Me and Davy few platelets the one off of cement that's that's pretty harmless. But you have taken in context. The next line is let his children become orphan. Let his wife turn into a widow. This is wishing death upon the person. And then what if children wander aimlessly big and grown out of their home, but a creditor see everything he owns up strangers plunder as well, but no one extended faithful love to him. But no one have mercy on him that we would have descendents be eliminated. Let their names wiped out just one generation.

The song in particular is a response to oppression. It's it's a response to someone who is desperate for someone who has reached out in love to his enemies and has received hatred and return it was a very real need for prayers of deliverance from suffering and oppression. In The Narrative of the Bible teaches us that we should call out to God in such a moment of depression of desperation of Oppression and suffering. But we must also humble ourselves and be honest about our own situations. Christian as a religious group are not being oppressed by the government of the United States of America. Religious pluralism in the separation of church and state are not the same thing as oppression. In Japan only 1% of population is christian really less than that, but the Christians are not being oppressed.

We are free to worship as they please just as Christians are in the United States. That's why there are so few missions to Japan.

But there are many places in the world is not true. By claiming oppression when there is none, we make light of the very real situation of Christians and other places. We make light of the situation where the poor being oppressed. We make light situation where genocide is occurring we make light of situation where people Are fleeing their homes?

Because we stay well, we can't pray in school and yet we can pray in school. Do something illegal praying in school? The teacher can't leave the class and a prayer. There's no reason that a child can pray to themselves in. Jesus tells us not to pray in public anyway, but to pray in our closet where others won't hear us.

Why? Do we feel oppressed?

Now that President Trump has come down with covid-19 many of the same people have asked those they disagree with those who disagree with President Trump to have empty that have a heavy and compassion for that for President Trump. Empathy and compassion despite those same people showing no compassion showing no empathy for those who may have disagreed with in the past.

Christians we are called to Humble ourselves and to take the high road and such a situation. Jesus tells us to pray for those who hate us. At the same time Jesus tells us not to judge others. Jesus's Commandments in special in that section Are very difficult to live up to?

And if you are not able to love those Commandments if you find yourself.

Unable to pray the one that hurt you in a price of you. That is okay.

There is nothing wrong with that.

We do not judge those people who are being oppressed those people who are happy for whatever reason that this has happened.

We need to not tell them that they're horrible people. Are they lack empathy?

if someone live in an abusive relationship And they finally escaped from their abusive partner. flea

and later their abusive partner gets sick and dies.

And they feel happy for that.

That is okay. May have been an incredible situation. that I cannot possibly fathom It's not my role to judge them for that.

We are called to pray. For all those who are suffering including President Trump and his family. We should offer all those who suffer compassion.

Including those who have been hurt. By our government who?

Find some.

Justice in what has happened?

God does not kill our enemies for us.

God causes the sun to shine on both. the good and the evil the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust sometimes our own sins catch up with us and come back to haunt us. When that happens, we have no one to blame but ourselves.