Author: Bob Bronkema

We are introduced to Moses in the book of Exodus. It begins with a reminder that Joseph really set up his family for success by moving them to Egypt and that they had been given the best of the land and they certainly did prosper and multiply, but maybe a little too much. At least according to Pharaoh they now became a people that were a bit of a nuisance. They had become so strong and powerful that Pharaoh thought that maybe another nation might entice them to join sides again Egypt and to fight against Egypt and if that happened, well because of their number, Egypt would never be able to resist them.

When a people group becomes a threat the first thing a government does is oppress them. Or, in the case of slavery within the United States, when a people group becomes slaves and then are freed the next thing to do is to oppress them so that they will never, at least not for generations, have the same opportunities as those who were the slave owners. We still find ourselves in that situation where, like the Israelites, the nation and the leadership had been built up around the premise that only certain people, and only a certain color, is able or allowed to have the most beneficial opportunities.

When Moses leaves Egypt and is on the run, it surprised me this time when I read the story that he settled with the Midianites. Clearly as time when on the Midianites were the enemies of Israel. They were clearly pagan and worshipped other gods which I would imagine would have been a problem for Moses and the Israelites. Moses marries into this culture, and yet we read, and this was new to me as well, that he takes his wife and his family back into Egypt, back into slavery as a result of God’s command through the burning bush.

It would be like someone making their way out of slavery through the underground railroad and then deciding to go back and free others who were still in captivity and slavery. That is exactly what Moses did. As a free person he brought himself and his family back into slavery so that he could free all of the people of Israel. Well, needless to say it doesn’t start out great. Moses’ greatest fears and then some come true. Not only does Pharaoh disregard his words, but he actually makes life worse for the slaves blaming Moses and his words as being an instigation to more suffering. It does get worse before it gets better, but it does get better.

The church in every generation faces controversy over certain topics that seem to consume the culture and the society in which it finds itself. Today our controversies in the church tend to revolve around sexuality. There is nothing more appealing to the masses than a little controversy that is steeped in sexuality. Back in the day of Paul, the primary controversy of the church had to do with theology. How much does someone who did not grow up Jewish, so a gentile, need to become Jewish once they accepted Jesus as Lord? That was the central question of the day.

A little about Paul, he does explain a bit about himself in Galatians. He was trained as a Pharisee and went to the best Pharisaical schools around. Once he finished school he became a Pharisee himself and was put in charge of pursuing Christians and tracking them down and bringing them to Jerusalem in order that they might be tried and killed. You see Christians in this early time period were just Jews for the most part who believed that Jesus was the Messiah. So this was an inhouse problem. Take care of your problems in house, get rid of those Jewish believers in Jesus. There was no such thing, or it was very rare, for there to be a believer in Jesus who was not Jewish, because so much of what Jesus did was bring about the completion of the prophecy of the Messiah, which was Jewish.

But when Paul is converted on the road to Damascus and becomes a believer himself, well, then things start to go sideways for those in the synagogue. Paul felt called to bring the Gospel of Jesus to the gentiles, to those who grew up secular, for those who grew up influenced by Greek thought. Once they come to know Jesus and give their life over to Jesus did they have to get circumcised and follow the law? Galatians is a long treatise by Paul in explaining his answer to that question which was simply: NO! Once a person, no matter if they are Jewish or gentile, comes to know Jesus personally as Lord and Savior they do not then need to become Jewish.

This whole matter is discussed and decided at the great apostolic convention which we find in Acts 15. Circumcision was not then required for gentile believers. While the decision was made we see even here with Paul’s letter to the Galatians that it wasn’t follower universally. There was still a vestige of people who wanted gentiles to become Jewish, or felt guilty about it, including Peter himself, whom Paul castigates.

As you read through the blessings that Joseph gives to his children do you hear the words of Joshua (made up) when God says to him: “As I was with Moses I shall also be with you.” Yes, God was with Moses in very clear and powerful ways. But the people of God still turned their back and treated him atrociously. You can almost hear Joshua say, Lord, I actually want you to be with me a little more than you were with Moses. Can you get these people to obey you and me as I lead them? Here as you read Joseph’s blessing can you almost hear his children say with a blessing like that who needs a cursing? It seems almost like each person, except for Joseph and a few others, were given castigations against what they had done and saddled for life with their mistakes that were a part of their forever profile.

Jacob, or Israel, dies after the blessing and the brothers are worried now that dad is gone that Joseph is going to turn on them. After all, did he really forgive us? Well, it turns out he really did forgive them and he repeats the most powerful part of this story which in turn becomes the most powerful part of all of our stories: “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.” Genesis 50:20. What a great way to end the Joseph story, which is really the Israel story because from here the nation will be created and the people of God will find their way forward.

When Jesus walked on the face of this earth so much of what he said and did came directly from the Old Testament. It is almost as if every word that he uttered were actually Scriptures that were applicable to whatever life situation in which he found himself. In Psalm 31 we read the words: “Into your hand I commit my spirit” which is a direct quote from when Jesus was on the cross and gave up his last breath. There is tremendous overlap which is a reminder to us to view Scripture seriously and in light of what God has done for us.

It is within these scenes of the story of Jacob where we see the hand of God at work in a way that should be didactic to us. Look at 45:8 where Joseph tells his brothers it is not you who sold me here, but it was God so that a heritage could be established for my father’s house. The evil that the brothers did was turned into the deciding factor for how God was going to save His people as the years progressed. Can you imagine Joseph being able to not only forgive his brothers but to actually place them in a position where they were given the choicest land and given an opportunity to not only survive but to thrive? This is what happened.

In no way is this meant to justify sin. What the brothers did was not only sinful but also cruel and vicious. Let’s look at a real life example. The Holocaust was one of the most horrific modern day events. The cruelty and the evil that it took to allow that to happen and to make that happen is unfathomable in our eyes. But as a result of this historical evil it most probably launched the world opinion in order to create a land for the people of Israel in the modern day. The nation of Israel was created by the United Nations in large part because of the atrocities that the Jewish people experienced. It is almost like a modern day Joseph story. Joseph was able to reign over Egypt and so provide a home for his family because of the evil under which he was subjugated.

Now, unfortunately, not every people group who has experienced wrong and genocide gets their own land or is rewarded later in history. There should always be some kind of historical recompense for those who have suffered. We have our own story of suffering and subjugating people within our own country. We started with the Native Americans whose land we took. We moved on to the African whom we enslaved. All of this is not ancient history, it is our history and we have not done that which is righteous as a result, and we should. We still have time.

We find ourselves today entering the weekend with two of the most powerful and arguably most important Scriptures that we have read so far. The story of Joseph is easily applied to our everyday lives as we reflect upon how God is able to do the impossible in our lives when things seem so out of hand and out of control. Think of what Joseph had to overcome and yet each step along the way he tells anyone who would listen: it isn’t me, it is the Lord who is able to do all things. From a favored child to a brother about to be slaughtered in a pit. From a slave to the head of a household. From a prisoner long forgotten, to the head of the most powerful country in the world. The changes Joseph experiences reminds us that nothing is beyond God’s ability to redeem and transform into His purposes. What impossible situation is confronting you today? God is able to take it and make it something that works into your and His purposes. This becomes even more clear and is said in black and white later in this story as Joseph’s brothers come and the entire nation is saved because Joseph finds himself in the position in which he is because of the evil that his brothers did to him. But as a result Israel is able to be saved. It is to our advantage to follow Jesus knowing that we believe in the end of the story and so our present life will be based upon the ending which is our redemption. Then all things become possible.

The story of Jesus’ resurrection in John is filled with details and stories that none of the other Gospels have. The rehabilitation of Peter is crucial for anyone who has lived life in such a way that they think that they are beyond God’s saving. Can you think of doing anything worse than denying God right in the presence and in the face of Jesus? Now, of course God is always present, and anytime we do anything God is in our midst. But Peter denies Jesus and then goes back to fishing assuming that his journey with Jesus as a disciple and a follower is over. But Jesus returns and rehabilitates him as he does for each one of us. We are never beyond God’s redemption just as our life situation can never be beyond God’s redemption. This is the joy that we have in our salvation in Jesus.

While there is much to be said about the Scripture that is before us, today, September 11, is an important day that should go noticed. It was on this day 24 years ago that a small group of men changed the world by their actions in airplanes that killed thousands of people. Our world has not recovered, our nations has not been the same since, and fear and anger have pervaded the lives of our culture in ways that they did not earlier. September 11 was the most pivotal moment in my life in regards to how we live our lives within our society and our culture. This has an impact on our faith, because our faith seems to make little headway against the tide of culture. My prayer in our time is that we would see ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ first and then as people of this culture, this society, this nation, second.

Israel, aka Jacob, was building a nation and he didn’t even know it. He was about to come face to face with a brother that he had betrayed and who potentially was on the war path to take him out. But when they met the exact opposite happens. They embrace as if they were long lost brothers, and maybe because they were long lost brothers. Israel has a final son who is Benjamin and makes it all the way home to be present for when his father, Isaac, dies. We are squarely in the time of the patriarchs.

The Gospel presents us with a nation that is in control and is the only one who was able to enact capital punishment against a political prisoner, the son of a carpenter, a rabbi, a religious leader, a man named Jesus. We often forget that Jesus was crucified as a result of the ruling power feeling that they had to quash whatever he was selling by killing him just like they killed John the Baptist. Both Jesus and his cousin were killed by the nation, by the country’s rulers of that day. The burden on Mary and Elizabeth must have been heavy. That is the family where two members were killed by Rome because of their rebel rousing.

The story of Jacob an Rachel (and Leah) is one that is legendary. A person works for 14 years for a father-in-law until he is able to marry the woman that he loves. There is so much distance between what was accepted and expected in the days of the patriarchs that it is hard to wrap our head around tricking a son in law by giving him your older daughter in marriage and then giving him your younger daughter. At the end of the day you have both of your daughters situated, but it seems horrific in our day and age.

The story of the patriarchs is filled with deceit and cunning. Jacob steals the birthright from Esau, Laban tricks Jacob, Rachel steals from her father the household gods. We haven’t arrived there yet, but we are getting close to it, but it seems as if Esau is the only honest one out there. We’ll get to that tomorrow. It is crucial to understand the history of Israel to understand that this name comes about as Jacob wrestles with God and refuses to let him go and so God blesses him and calls him Israel. Joseph is one of his children with Rachel and so the story will evolve moving forward of Joseph bringing his family to Egypt and then then family becoming enslaved and then the family leaving Egypt for the promised land. It all starts here.

John 17, as I alluded to yesterday, is a whole chapter of Jesus praying to His Father about how much he wants his disciples to be one. This prayer still has not come true. Our separation as denominations and as brothers and sisters in Christ is tragic and without excuse. The most visible sign of our division is the inability for all denominations to either take communion together or to recognize each other’s baptism. While here in Strasburg we are able to take communion together, not all of us recognize each other’s baptism. This is a stumbling block and a direct disobedience of these words that, as Jesus states: “They may be one.”

There is a clear overlap with both of these Scriptures, but it can seem somewhat elusive. God clearly blesses His people both with what happens with Isaac and with what Jesus promises his disciples. The story of Esau and Jacob can be disturbing because Jacob, who later becomes Israel, receives his blessing through hook and crook. But that was predicted earlier. The wealth of Isaac is highlighted and the assumption in the blessing of Jacob is that he would inherit that which his father had accumulated.

When Jesus in John 14 promises the counselor he expands on that in the following chapters. We often use John 14 in funerals to describe the blessing that is promised us when Jesus is no longer on this earth. The Holy Spirit comes and strengthens us even in the absence of the Son. Besides the presence of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, which is a fulfillment of this promise here in these chapters, these verses are perfectly suited to understand what the gift of the Holy Spirit is all about.

Thomas and Philip both ask questions that could be seen as fair questions and ones that we might ask: “Lord, we do not know the way.” “Lord, show us the Father.” Jesus responds to Thomas by saying that he was the way, the truth, and the life, no one gets to the Father except through him. The Father is manifested perfectly in Jesus , especially later on in chapter 17 when Jesus prays that the disciples would be one just as Jesus and the Father are one.

The birth of Isaac comes along with also the death of Sarah. You don’t often see the love that a patriarch has for his wife in their passing, but with Abraham and Sarah it does seem like something a little different. The sacrifice of Isaac, or the attempted sacrifice, is a Scripture that resonates powerfully with the story of Jesus. The only difference, and it is not insignificant, is that Isaac plays the role of the victim in this story. With Jesus, he chose to die for our sake, he was not forced to give himself upon the cross. So the whole theory of atonement and the Isaac story only works so far. Not in so far as Isaac was told what to do, even forced to do it, while Jesus did say take this cup from me, but then quickly followed it up with: Not my will be done, but thine.

The washing of the feet in John takes the place of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Notice that Judas is present during this experience and he has his feet washed along with the other disciples. We also see the “new commandment” that Jesus gives, the mandatum novum, which is that we should love one another. It really wasn’t all that new, just new in practice, maybe.

Once again God establishes a covenant with Abraham and this time there is a visible sign of God’s invisible grace which is circumcision. This act of cutting off the foreskin becomes the marker for the people of Israel to separate them from those around them. Now, the separation was also that they worshipped the one and only true God, but circumcision served as the sign of the covenant that God establishes with Israel.

Today that is no longer the covenant sign that God has with us through Jesus Christ. The covenant sign that God has with us through Jesus is that of baptism. No longer is it reserved just for the males of God’s people, but rather for all people. This act of baptism is much less brutal, no blood is required to be shed, and it is something that Jesus himself endured, similar to circumcision, as a child.

As Presbyterians we do not shy away from infant baptism, and we believe that baptism is necessary and important as a marker of being a child of God. Infant baptism, like circumcision, is the marker of being a child of God and it demonstrates that God has chosen us even before we could choose God. This is the beauty and the power of predestination. God has predestined us to be His children, not by our choice, but by his grace. This is the difference between a believer’s baptism and infant baptism, the emphasis is on God in the latter and on our action in the former. God’s choosing us is what is important, and our response ought to be us choosing him.

Jesus’ raising of Lazarus is one of those stories that contain so many important theological truths. We find Martha professing that Jesus is the Messiah. We see Jesus telling Martha that he is the resurrection and the life, something that we all need to remember as the resurrection is one of those necessary doctrines which is not fungible. We will be raised from the dead as Jesus was raised from the dead.

I love seeing and reading about Jesus weeping. It makes me think that maybe I don’t have things as wrong as I think I do when I find myself somewhat overcome with emotion.