Rev. Teri Peterson
PCOP
Up To My Eyeballs
Exodus 14.10-14, 19-29
28 September 2014,
NL1-4
Harvest 1-4
As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked
back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the
Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there
were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?
What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing
we told you in Egypt, “Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians”? For it
would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the
wilderness.’ But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid, stand firm, and
see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the
Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for
you, and you have only to keep still.’
The angel of God who was going before the
Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from
in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of
Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and
it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.
The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea
into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on
dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their
left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s
horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord in the
pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the
Egyptian army into panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned
with difficulty. The Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee from the Israelites, for the
Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.’
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your
hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon
their chariots and chariot drivers.’ So Moses stretched out his hand over the
sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled
before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and
covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that
had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites
walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on
their right and on their left.
It’s been years since
Pharaoh first ordered our boys thrown into the river; decades of turning the
water of life into the fear of extinction. We’ve lost people—precious people,
boys and girls, men and women—to the river, and to fear. We’ve lost people to
overwork and exhaustion. We were ready to set our faces to a new way, to leave
behind that life of doing the same thing day in and day out, that life of
constant disappointment that things were not different. We were ready to leave
that life of fear that we might be just a few years from disappearing.
But look at us now.
One look back and…well…let’s just say that with water on one side and an army
on the other, the good old days of a few weeks ago are looking much better. All
we want now is to go home, honestly.
But home is on the
other side of Pharaoh’s army.
Remember how cozy it
was? How full of life and laughter? There was barely room to fit us all in, and
we had plenty to eat, and songs to sing. Why did we ever want to leave that?
Of course, our songs
were sung with tired cracking voices, since we spent our days working for
Pharaoh, being despised by the Egyptians, and constantly being on the lookout
for terror. We ate our fill, but it was always the same stuff. Our bodies were
sore, our spirits broken, our minds tired from trying to figure out how to get
to a new place on the same roads we’ve always used. We’ve worked so hard just to
stay alive.
But still…compared to
this place, with the water on one side and the army on the other, it was pretty
great.
I can’t believe Moses
brought us from one river of death to another. We can barely look at the water,
it’s been a symbol of chaos and fear for so long. So we keep looking back, but
that sea of chariots is no better.
This seemed like a
good idea at the time, but we’re having second thoughts.
And somehow in the
midst of it all is our leader, saying ridiculous things like “Don’t be afraid”
and “stand firm and see what the Lord will do.” How can we possibly look at
what the Lord will do, when we’re busy looking back there?
A few people are
talking about what we’ve already seen. Our God and Pharaoh have been battling
for weeks already. Someone is remembering the day the Egyptians were up to
their eyeballs in frogs, and how bad they smelled when they all died at once.
And the day locusts ate all the Egyptian fields but didn’t touch ours. The Lord
has definitely been busy. Maybe he can do it again.
After all, it’s not
like we can go back, I suppose. So might as well tear our eyes away from the
army, or rather away from the home we remember back there, and look forward
instead. The waves on the sea look rough…we’re not really water people, and
this water seems particularly difficult. But it’s the only way we’ve got, so we
might as well look for what God will do.
Speaking of looking,
there is someone awfully close to the water. Almost looks like he’s up to his
eyes in it. Except…well, either he’s insane or I am. Or God is. But it looks
like we’re moving between the waves somehow. It’s terrifying to look around and
see nothing but chaos. We can’t see much beyond the next few steps, and of
course who knows how long this path goes? Is it dry the whole way? What’s on
the other side…if there is another side? The water is churning and the spray is
salty on our lips. But the pillar of the Lord is ahead, so we keep walking, and
walking, and walking. Some are trying to run, others are being carried along.
It seems this will work best if we all move together.
This will be a story
for the ages. Our children’s children will tell about how God made a way, about
the mighty power of the Lord who really does act right before our very eyes.
They will remember how Moses got his name—because he was drawn out of the
water—and then how God brought us to a new home and a new life, right through
the water. We will have to remind them that when they cannot see what God is
doing, it helped us to remember what God had already done. We will have to
remind them that sometimes looking back is more hopeless than looking at the
impossible way forward. We will have to remind them that it took everyone
moving together to get safely across.
Most of all, we will
have to remember that it is one step at a time, through the water into the
promise of life in God’s home. It turns out that water wasn’t the death of us
after all—it was our path to life instead. God found us, and now we follow.
No looking back
now—the water stands between us and the old ways. The only thing to do is to
let it wash over, then keep walking, telling the story of how we are up to our
eyeballs in grace. This is the day the Lord has made…and though we don’t know
where we will be at the end the day, we will still rejoice and be glad in it!
May it be so.
Amen.
