Reflection: "Good News – for Both Rich and Poor"This week’s reading from Exodus is the bookend to the earlier story about the commissioning of Moses.
It tells of how Moses was sent by God to Egypt, to free the Israelites from slavery. In this reading, we hear about how God is preparing to achieve their release and relocation to their promised land. We call this the “Exodus”, hence the title of this book in the Old Testament. It was certainly good news to those Israelites who had been in slavery for many centuries. It didn’t, however, sound like very good news for the Egyptians. In the intervening chapters of Exodus, we heard of plague after plague besetting them, whilst Pharaoh refused to release them, until finally, in this passage, every first-born Egyptian child was killed in the night. Yes, it was great news for the People of Israel – they were to be freed at last; freed from slavery; free to find a home of their own; free to worship their God. But how you view the events that took place in Egypt way back then, depends very much on whether you were the slaves or the slave-owners, the rich or the poor. How we hear the messages of the Bible depends very much on our context. People who are bowed down, upon whom war is being waged, or even those who are enslaved by cruel governments, will readily identify with the people of Israel being set free by God. You only have to listen to many of the negro spiritual songs out of the American south in the 18th century, to hear their plaintive cries for freedom. But who are we, living at his time in the great nation of Australia – this land of plenty? Aren’t we much more like the rich and powerful people, i.e. the Egyptians, than the downtrodden and enslaved one? So do stories like this one in Exodus, sound like good news to us? Is there some good news for both the rich, as well as the poor, for the powerful, as well as the powerless? Well, fortunately for us, we also have the New Testament section of the bible, where the life and impacts of God’s son, Jesus, are recorded. In the New Testament we read not only of a Jesus who reached out to the poor, the sick, the losers and the rejected, but one who showed the rich and the powerful a new way to live their lives. But he never said that it would be easy. Do you remember reading about him likening the chances of a rich man entering the Kingdom as being akin to a camel passing through the eye of a needle. The privileged ones have to give up everything, whereas those who are already down, can gain so much. The Jesus way is one of recognising all people as our neighbours and ensuring that we love all of our neighbours - especially the ones who are most in need. That may sometimes lead us to having to speak hard words to those who are oppressing others, a seemingly impossible task. But we don’t give up on oppressors, because God’s amazing love through Jesus Christ can change even them. We just have to look at how those who’ve been mistreated, often brutally, can find ways, almost beyond our comprehension, to show compassion and forgive their oppressors. We call this compassion “grace” and it is the grace of God that shows us how to do it. Paul, in his letter to the Christians in Rome, says that we should “owe no one anything, except to love one another.” He reminds them that all the commandments can be summed up in the words “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Have you ever put yourself in the place of those upon whom your actions impact? How will they feel? Will they respond with love, or hatred? God’s love can change oppressors and victims into loving brothers and sisters and we must ensure that we always pass on God’s love to those that we meet. So yes, there is good news for the rich as well as the poor; for slave-owners, for soldiers and victims, as well as for you and for me - if we will only open our minds and our hearts to the transforming message that Christ brought to us during his time here on earth. That, along with God’s ongoing gift of the Holy Spirit, enables us to work together to bring God’s love to even the darkest reaches of the world. We can go on from here, strong in the knowledge that God is with us and that we are now his hands and his feet in the world and that it is our task to continue the work started by Jesus, over 2,000 years ago. It doesn’t matter where we are in our lives, there is always something we can do to further the work of the Kingdom. God has a plan for each of us – and that certainly IS good news! Pastor Rick “We have eaten and tasted the kind of freedom that draws us into the struggle for justice and freedom for all. So, eat well and wage peace in a divided world. Go where the hurt is and work for healing and reconciliation. Amen”
1 Comment
Lena Beryl Blok
8/9/2023 06:45:28 pm
Hi Rick, This indeed is another inspiring and challenging message
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