March 6, 2022 Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Dear Friends in Christ,
Most of you have heard of St. Patrick. He even has a celebration day later this month. He was born around 386 AD to a pious Roman Catholic family. Grandfather was a Pastor, father a deacon but religion wasn’t a big topic at his home. At 16 he was captured by Irish pirates and sold into slavery to tend sheep. A druid priest owned him. During this time of bondage he cried to the Lord in prayer and became more convinced of his Christian faith. He then escaped Ireland became a free man and in response to his “redemption” he was ordained a bishop. He then returned to Ireland to shepherd a small Christian congregation and spread God’s Word to unbelievers. After initial resistance, the Holy Spirit opened the hearts of many through St. Patrick and unbielevers were brought to faith.
Patrick would understand the journey of our text. Israel going from slavery to freedom. God wanted them to remember. He too would like us to remember our journey from bondage to sin and death to being free and redeemed through the work of Christ. It is all encapsulated in Lent.
“AND SO IT BEGINS”
The Israelites have an inheritance waiting for them. A land the Lord is giving them to live in. A response to the Lord their God should then follow.
What did these people have to go through to get to this point? Well, they had to suffer. The Israelites were the slaves of the Egyptians and their leader Pharaoh. Their lives were bitter as day and night they were making brick and mortar to build the Egyptian empire. Were their cries to the Lord not heard over the sound of the whips the taskmasters used on their bodies?
Cyril of Jerusalem, an early Church Father saw Pharaoh as a figure for Satan. A cruel tyrant of sin and evil. “The old evil foe now means deadly woe; deep guile and great might are his dread arms in fight.” This same Satan uses his slyness and treachery to fight against you, to wear you down, to destroy you. Maybe you see dimly the Promised Land ahead because the riches of the world or the concerns of your life or the sickness that won’t go away bring gloom and fear. Satan and sin and death are cruel taskmasters. They can tighten their grip as you labor and doubt.
“Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.” (v. 7) Lent confronts us with our sin. John the Baptist cries out in the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt. 3:2)
We do have one advantage in Lent. We know the end of the journey: Christ’s cross and open tomb. We know the grace and mercy and love that Jesus has for us His wayward children. We know Jesus turned aside the temptations of Satan and in obedience won our salvation. Again this Lent we kneel before the Lord in humble shame and guilt and hear those beautiful words – “You are forgiven. You are mine.”
The Lord made good on His promise to the Israelite nation. Moses said, “Let my people go” and after plagues and Passover, Pharaoh did. But then as evil people are apt to do, he changes his mind. We can trap them at the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his army were no match for Almighty God. Dry ground…let’s go! Then a massive drowning of those who let their hatred engulf them.
They were brought out of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey. Mmm…pass the biscuits. This was the greatest redemptive act of the whole Old Testament.
This foreshadowed the greatest redemptive act in human history. The redemptive act of God for all mankind that brought eternal salvation for sinners and the restoration of all creation. The outstretched arm of God for Israel foreshadows another outstretched arm on a Roman cross. “Father forgive them,” he declares, and we are released from bondage to sin and eternal death. The chains fall powerless.
Jesus bleeds and dies and rises so that our promised land door is open. We live forever in a land flowing with life and joy and peace.
Our Lenten journey therefore turns into our Easter eternity. Lent lasts for a moment. Easter lasts a lifetime and forever. In our baptismal faith we live on earth in both Lent and Easter. We sin, we grieve, we suffer, we repent…and daily we are forgiven. We are children of paradise.
The Israelites brought their firstfruits to the Lord and worshipped Him because of their deliverance. We give our offerings and display our good works and worship Jesus because He redeemed us. This is our response to God’s grace and mercy and love. The waters do not overwhelm us as we walk into eternity.
Lent is a picture of life – font to grave. We enter this Lent with the confidence of God’s love for us in Christ Jesus, as He journeys to the cross and rises from the dead for us – to rescue us, to save us eternally, and to take us to His eternal kingdom. And so it begins . . . again.
Amen.