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“The Last Plague”
Exodus 12:29-42
A Sermon Preached by
the Rev. Douglas M. Donley
All Saints Day
Scripture
is filled with images of violence. It is
filled with images of death and destruction.
Sadly, much of this violence, death and destruction gets attributed to
God. We
see the apocalyptic death of all the people in the world in the great flood;
the fire
and brimstone that rained down on
the death
of the prophets of Baal at the hand of Elijah;
the decimation
of the Canaanite people;
the
slaughter after slaughter of the people who are not the faithful witnesses in
the book of Revelation;
not to
mention the execution of Jesus on the cross in order to appease an angry God.
In today’s
scripture, we have God slaughtering the innocent children of the
Egyptians. All of these images of God, I
believe paint a picture of God as barbarian.
I have to think God is bigger and better than that. My faith depends upon it.
Part of our journey of faith
depends upon building your image of God.
In the Bible you have conflicting and contrasting images of God. The Bible is a mirror of people seeking after
God. People living in violence depict
God in violent terms, especially if the violence is rained down upon the
enemies. If we are not careful, our own
images of God can become just as violent, distorted, demonic and
destructive. And in Orwellian double-speak
we might even find ourselves clinging to that image of God and calling it
morality.
Sisters and brothers, we have
enough enemies out there today. We don’t
need to attribute any more of the enemy talk against any of the others.
So today, I
want us to look at the victims of violence.
All of us are victims of violence in some way shape or form.
As we enter
into our All Saints Day celebration, we remember the lives of those important
to us. These bells represent our cloud
of witnesses.
And yet
people all over the world die. Some at
hands of those who think they are working for and speaking for God.
I have to
believe that whenever a person dies, God mourns. If God is a God of love, then God wants us
to mourn whenever someone dies, even an enemy.
Jesus said, “You have heard it said, love your friends and hate your enemies. But I say to you love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you.”
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is critical of this part of the Exodus story because it seems to glorify bloodshed while making God into the executioner. It’s truly a barbaric story and an image of God that I find destructive. Sadly it has led to too much violence and too much bloodshed with one side or the other claiming that God orders the execution of the enemies because of their “sin”. This is when religion becomes evil. What we know is that when a loved one has died, we feel like we have endured a plague. What might happen to our view of the world and its conflicts if we acted in such a way that guaranteed that no one would have to endure such a plague of religiously sanctioned violence?
Many of us
feel we have endured a plague this past week.
I found more to mourn about than celebrate as the election returns came
in. I know some among us today found
more to celebrate than mourn. For me, it
was especially disheartening to see people celebrating the victories as God’s
will. It appeared to have the language
of religious vindication—of an Exodus from the tyranny of the left. It left a whole lot of people wistfully
thinking of their own Exodus to
The plague seems to be rooted in fear and it has disastrous results.
It causes us to kill in God’s name.
It causes us to hate in God’s name.
It causes us to lose faith in humanity, ironically in God’s name.
I think it causes God to grieve. God, please help us make this the last plague!
On this day
that we remember the names of those we hold dear, we are confronted with this
scripture from Exodus where a whole generation has been killed as a result of a
plague. We might not have much in common
with the Egyptians, but we are all united when we grieve. We find in the depths of our souls a
hollowness and a gap in our lives. We
never really recover when someone we love dies.
We get better after time. We put
our lives back together and we find a way to stumble along with our lives. And yet, we still carry that loneliness with
us.
We can
relate to the grief that someone across the world might be feeling. When we see them as hurting people, then we
are on the way to bridging the gap of humanity across the chasms built up by
nationalism, of militarism, of racism and of partisan bickering.
How do we make it the last plague?
By reclaiming Christianity and the moral high
ground.
By not settling for the hubris of God’s vengeance on a
people.
By loving God with all of our hearts, souls, minds and
strengths and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
By showing true morality, rooted in compassion, mercy,
justice, affirmation of life, the sacredness of each person, and the right of
no one to enslave another.
By mourning alongside sisters and brothers who have lost
loved one.
The Song says, “they will know we are Christians by our love”, not by our vote, not by our political affiliation, not by what we condemn or celebrate in someone else’s bedroom.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said:
"I believe that what
self-centered (people) have torn down, (people) other-centered can build up. I
still believe that one day (hu)mankind will bow before the altars of God and be
crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and non-violent redemptive goodwill
will proclaim the rule of the land 'and the lion and the lamb shall lie down
together and every (one) shall sit under (their) own vine and fig tree and none
shall be afraid.' I still believe that we shall overcome."
So let us remember all those
who have gone before.
Let us put an end to the plagues of our world.
Let us proclaim the vision of
God-with-us in the struggle to reclaim our faith in humanity. Amen.