Tag: Hard passages

Morning Musing: Exodus 18:1-8

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“Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for God’s people Israel when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt. Now Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (because Moses had said, ‘I have been a resident alien in a foreign land’) and the other Eliezer (because he had said, ‘The God of my father was my helper and rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword’). Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, along with Moses’ wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God. He sent word to Moses, ‘I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.’ So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been and went into the tent. Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for israel’s sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the Lord rescued them.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

This next part of the story of Israel’s journey to the Promised Land is one of those that feels like it doesn’t really have any point. It’s just story. Yet as we have seen time and again, God often hides deep truth in the context of ‘just stories.’ Some of the truth through chapter 18 is obvious and gets preached a lot. Other parts are more subtle and will require us to sit with the text a little longer. The first part of the chapter takes us through a lot of this second kind. Let’s start here with Moses’ getting some time with his family. Let’s talk about why it mattered for him and why it matters for us.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 15:1-3

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“Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said: I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I mentioned this earlier this week, but let’s come back to it. I remember when Osama bin Laden was killed. People were celebrating in the streets. There were hundreds of impromptu parties across the country, even in the middle of the night, when the news first dropped. Perhaps that sounds odd to say now. After all, isn’t it kind of ugly to rejoice that someone has died? Maybe, but this was the man ultimately responsible for the murder of several thousand Americans in the 9/11 attacks. He was the most wanted man in the world as far as our nation was concerned. We had finally gotten him, and we were happy about it. I say all of that by way of introduction to the next part of our journey through Exodus. The Israelites’ celebration of God’s action in rescuing them from the pursuing Egyptian forces that comprises the first two-thirds of Exodus 15 is full of language that is uncomfortable to read. Understanding their mindset as a people helps make sense out of it. Let’s start working through their song of praise today, and see what we can learn together along the way.

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Digging in Deeper: Hebrews 13:10-13

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“We have an altar from which those who worship at the tabernacle do not have a right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that he might sanctify the people by his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing his disgrace.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The first sermon series I ever preached was through the letter of Hebrews. I don’t honestly remember why now. It was probably because I was fresh out of seminary and feeling ready to take on the world with my preaching. I still have all those manuscripts on a hard drive somewhere. I don’t particularly want to go back and read them as they were probably all pretty bad. My congregation was gracious to remember I was fresh out of seminary and had never pastored a church before and endured them patiently. I do remember that I labeled all my sections and made sure my big idea was in bold. They would have gotten at least Bs on manuscript form alone were I still in class. I think I wound up doing the series in something like eight weeks, which after this journey of nearly eight months, I can’t even imagine. Were I to preach through Hebrews again, it would be a much longer and very different series. In those eight weeks, do you know what I didn’t cover? Chapter 13. I didn’t touch it at all. We got to chapter 12, and then went on to the next series. These four verses are a big part of why. I’m still not totally sure what to do with them. This morning is going to be a bit of an exercise in figuring it out, and you get to join me in that.

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Digging in Deeper: Mark 9:29

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“And he told them, ‘This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Are you a sudoku fan? I’m a word and numbers puzzle guy. You pick the puzzle. Crossword, sudoku, or something else doesn’t really matter. I don’t get to do them as often as I’d like, but I enjoy doing them. I maintained a USA Today subscription for a few months mostly so I could do the puzzles in them. The thing about these kinds of puzzles, though, is that there’s only one solution to the problem. You can try everything in the world, but if it’s not the right way, it won’t work. Well, sometimes life is a bit like a sudoku puzzle. You can try every way imaginable to overcome some challenge, but there is only one way that will ever positively move you forward. Jesus tells the disciples what it is here. Let’s learn with them.

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Digging in Deeper: Mark 7:26-27

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“The woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she was asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Serving in ministry can be tough in ways many other jobs simply aren’t. I don’t say that as a complaint. I love what I do. I say it merely as an observation. I have a friend who was serving a church many years ago and had gone on vacation with his family during the summer months. While they were gone, someone connected to one of the prominent members of the church passed away. The member called him to let him know about it and fully expected that he would leave his family on vacation (or else cut short their vacation entirely), fly back home, and perform the funeral service. There are a few other jobs where that kind of thing might happen, but not many. Getting away – really getting away – isn’t easy to do. Jesus was trying to get away with the disciples here and ministry came calling. How He handled it leads to one of the strangest and hardest stories about Jesus in all of the Gospels. Let’s take a look at it together.

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