|
Sermon
at Trinity Episcopal Church
Rabbi David Zaslow,
March 28, 2004
Shalom
Alaychem, peace be unto you:
The
major theme of the Jewish festival of Passover is liberation:
we were slaves but the mighty hand and outstretched arm of
the Holy One set us free. Each year for the past 3,300 years
Jewish people have gathered in their homes on the full moon
in the month of Nissan to retell the story of our Exodus,
and to make of that ancient story relevant to our lives today.
When the youngest child in the household asks the formulaic
four questions beginning with "why is this night different
from all over nights on" a chain reaction of responses
is set in motion. Each person at the seder table shares his
and her own a personal response to the Exodus story.
Hebrew,
by its nature, promotes interpretation, storytelling, and
the extension of the plain meaning of the text into all its
metaphorical and allegorical possibilities. For example, the
word for Egypt in Hebrew is actually not that of a particular
nation, but rather it means "tight, narrow, and restricted
places." The word "mitzrayim" implies that
enslavement is not only caused by the external and oppressive
forces of a regime like that of the ancient Egyptian empire,
but that there is an internal source of enslavement as well.
So, from ancient times to this very day Jewish people ask
each other out the seder table "what are the tight and
narrow places that are holding you back from becoming the
free, creative, joyous, and liberated person that God would
have you be this year?"
Another
interesting word study is the word Pharaoh. We all know, of
course, that pharaoh was the title for each of the various
a monarchs in ancient Egypt. But the word in Hebrew can be
translated as "a mouth of that speaks evil." So
on Passover week we examine the subtle ways in which our mouths
and speech get us into trouble. And knowing how difficult
it is to change old, negative behavioral patterns we ask for
God's intervention and aid in liberating of us from our old
ways that enslave us, especially concerning the ways we speak
to and about each other. Bottom line – Passover, to each
Jew, must be a modern, relevant, and challenging story to
each of us and not merely the retelling of an ancient Bible
story, no matter how beautiful that story might be.
The
prophet Isaiah in Chapter 43:18 is told by the Lord "Do
not remember the former of things, or consider the things
of old. I'm about to make new; now it springs forth. Don't
you see it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers
in the desert." Is the prophet asking us to forgo the
retelling of the Exodus story at Passover each year? No, but
he is informing us in no uncertain terms that God does not
need us to tell the old story unless its purpose is to make
us new. Don't we see it? All our old stories – national,
tribal, religious, and personal can become subtle idols at
that we adore and worship unless we permit our stories to
touch us, heal us, and transform us. Only in this way will
we discover that the wilderness of our lives has a way, a
path, an invisible highway for us to follow, and that there
is indeed a river flowing in the desert of our lives. So,
here are the questions that we might ask this ourselves year:
"Am I telling the same old story this year as I did last
year? Am I telling my story as an excuse not to move forward
toward my own liberation? Or am I telling my story and permitting
God make me new?"
The
Christian story of Easter is the story of resurrection. It
is not just Christ's life that is central for you, and not
just that he died for you. But it is in the resurrection that
you are given the secret to God's promise to make you new.
If you only retell the passion story as a remembrances of
things of old; if you only share the story of Jesus' life
as a history lesson you are not doing the work that Easter
requires of you. To find your way in the wilderness and make
a river in your desert God asks each of you to explore the
meaning of the resurrection in your own personal lives. What
dream of yours has been crucified? What part of your life
is on the cross with your Savior? What part of you has already
died but has within it the promise of reawakening, of spring's
renewal, of resurrection?
Do
you see the parallels in our two stories? They're both springtime
stories: ours is the story of liberation of the people to
be interpreted and told as a story of personal liberation;
yours is the story of the resurrection of Christ to be interpreted
and told as the personal promise by God of your own reawakening.
In Philipians 3 Paul says "I want to know Christ and
the power of his resurrection in the sharing of his sufferings
by becoming like him in his death if somehow I may attain
the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained
this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make
it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own."
Paul is not content with the story of things of old, or with
the telling of resurrection of Jesus as a historical event.
No, he strives toward his own resurrection, and not just after
he dies, but a resurrection of things dead while he is yet
alive.
Do
you see what Paul is saying here? Precisely what the Prophet
Isaiah was trying to say. Take your story and transform it
into a living, process; take history and make it present;
take the enslavement or the crucifixion of others and make
it personal and relevant. In Psalm 126 King David sings "When
the Holy One brings about our return to Zion, we will have
been like dreamers. Then our mouths will be filled with laughter,
and our tongues with joyous song. They will say among the
nations: ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
The Lord has done great things for us and we rejoiced. Turn
again our captivity, O Lord as the streams is in the Negev.
Though now he walks weeping carrying his bag of seed –
he will return with joyous song carrying his sheaves."
May all of us who now sow in tears realize that soon we will
reap in joy!
After
our Passover, and after your Easter, with God's blessing and
with all the introspection and inner work that we are doing
to make this season meaningful, may we meet each other in
the street and be as dreamers who share a common dream. May
our be mouths be filled with song and laughter! May we each
return to the Zion of gratitude, happiness, health. God's
promise is that though we sow in tears we are like the earth
that has received the waters of the winter rains that have
just passed, and that it is from the rains, our tears, that
our joy is made possible. The equinox has passed, the full
moon we both await is coming. It is almost Passover, almost
Easter. We are readying ourselves for liberation and resurrection.
Time will not wait for us. As the angel of death passes over
our homes at midnight may we mark our doorposts with the blood
the lamb and be ready, in an instant, to be set free. God
bless this church, our community, our nation, and our planet
in this moment of renewal, liberation, and resurrection. Have
a zisen (sweet) Pesach, and transformative Easter.
|
