Reproach Rolled Away
Sermon
Deformed, Disfigured, And Despised
First Lesson Sermons For Lent/Easter Cycle C
After wandering in the wilderness 39 years, braving many dangers, toils, and snares, and after watching a generation of their mothers and fathers perish in the wilderness, the Hebrews celebrate the first Passover in the Promised Land. This is the third Passover since their last at the foot of Mount Sinai. The first Passover they hovered in fear as they ate their unleavened bread, roasted lamb, and bitter herbs and prayed to God in hope that the blood of sacrifice which marked the door frames of their homes would allow God to pass them over and spare their firstborn sons from the plague of death. Now they were preparing for a Passover where they would eat more than the hurried meal and which would not be eclipsed by the lengthening shadows of fear and terror that marked their earlier celebrations.
Now they could eat in peace. Now they could anticipate movement into the new land because the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. The rebuke, scorn, and denigration of their former captors would melt away with the morning sun. Reproach was finally rolled away. All the previous years of hardship, toil, and struggle through faithfulness would now evaporate like the morning dew. What a beautiful moment it is when reproach is finally rolled away, when victory finally comes, when the joy of conquest of the new land finally occurs! The people could now stand tall with their backs straight and heads high, knowing in their hearts and souls that God gave them the victory through and through. This is the moment of truth. This is the moment of a true declaration of spiritual independence.
Reproach is therefore rolled away when God gives the victims victory over their victimizers.
In Egypt the Hebrews were victims of Pharaoh's wrath and oppression. They were forced to make bricks without straw, were treated cruelly, and suffered to work long hours with very little sleep and very little food. They were oppressed physically, mentally, and spiritually. Many of them perished from overwork and undernourishment. Scorned, despised, and rejected, they were the wretched of the earth and many of them had lost all hope of ever being liberated from Pharaoh's hand.
But while many of them were oppressed and victimized by the terror and tyranny of Pharaoh, they still kept hope and faith that they would one day be delivered from their plight. While they were victimized by their victimizers, they did not develop a victim's mindset and outlook, a victim's condition and lament.
Some people who are victims continually live out their days without hope of ever being liberated and renewed from the ravages of their personal devastation. But you can be enslaved and yet avoid developing a slave's mentality. You can be victimized by life and calamities and cruelties but without developing a victim's outlook and state of mind that makes one forever the victimized.
Victims invariably view life in terms of what happened to them rather than what God can do in and for them. It is the pain and memory of being victimized unjustly by others that creates hatred, resentment, and even a desire to live without God. It is the experience of being victimized that can lead to a permanent condition of victimhood where the hope that redeems and heals is forever vanquished. Moving from victim to victor is knowing that the wounds of life can be healed, and that life, however fragile, can give wholeness. The great writer Elie Wiesel speaks well to the hope that compels the victims to claim victory over the victimizers. That hope is rooted in an irrepressible desire to maintain compassion and humanity in face of hatred and dehumanization and to maintain human dignity and integrity in the face of the forces of annihilation and despair.
Many of the Hebrews left Egypt with Moses because they no longer wanted to live as victims but wanted to claim sweet victory over their victimizers by denouncing oppression and permanently leaving Pharaoh's house. Some of the Hebrews carried the oppressors' image of them in their minds when some of them, after being sent to scout out the new land, exclaimed that it was impossible to conquer because they looked like grasshoppers in the eyes of their enemies. The mind and heart of the victim were further manifested in their desire to return to the ways and life of oppression in Egypt.
By stepping out in faith with Moses, they placed trust in God to deliver them from the havoc of personal oppression. Reproach was rolled away when they decided to live as victors and not victims.
Reproach is rolled away when wayward wanderers in the wilderness become serious sojourners and compliant conquerors of the Promised Land.
The Hebrews wandered in the wilderness longer than they needed to. They could have completed their journey in forty days but it took nearly forty years. Their disobedience, rebellion, and disdain for God and the leaders God appointed to liberate them caused them to be wayward wanderers in the wilderness. They complained, moaned, and instigated a rebellion against Moses. They wanted to return to the flesh pots of Egypt, turned to false idols, and were unruly, insolent, and at times intolerable. How quickly they forgot that it was God who delivered them from Pharaoh's hand. How quickly they sank into cantankerous contempt for all that God had done and promised to do. So they lost their spiritual focus and were unnerved by the hardships of wilderness life. God could have wiped them out entirely and canceled the trip because of their disobedience and rebellion. But God spared some of them while most of them perished because they wanted to remain wayward.
They provoked the anger and wrath of God on more than one occasion and were rebuked and blamed for their disorderly, impetuous, and rowdy unruliness. They once wandered waywardly and aimlessly in the wilderness. Now they would become serious sojourners with a purpose and a mission.
And now the Hebrews were poised to go into the Promised Land. After many years of suffering and wandering, moaning and groaning, they were now ready to receive all that God had promised them. It was the obedience, faith, and experience of the younger generation in the wilderness in watching their fathers and mothers die, and the mercy and love of God that they were now ready to receive God's promise of the new land faithfully. Now they would become conquerors of the new land and no longer wayward wilderness wanderers. Now they would be compliant and do what God had asked them to do forty years ago and take the new land that God had promised.
Reproach is rolled away when they move from living by monotonous manna to living by unleavened bread and the produce of the new land.
They would no longer have to eat the unvaried diet of manna alone, but God would give them produce from Canaan to fill their bellies and satisfy their souls. This was the sign of God's favor. They had circumcised their bodies and hearts, and they were now ready to receive the abundance God had in store for them. God rewards faithfulness with good fruit and produce that sustains the body, mind, and soul. They would need new nourishment for the conquest. They would need a full-course meal to strengthen them for the fight. They had eaten their share of manna in the wilderness and now they could taste the goodness that God had in store for them.
Now at Passover they could eat unleavened bread, grain, and produce from the land. That they could eat it in a new land had as much significance as the fact of their eating it. Unleavened bread is much better than the dull sameness of the manna that was the mainstay of the wilderness diet. It is bread without fermentation. It is bread of the Passover symbolizing God's passing them over and moving them through the Promised Land of their dreams. That they could return to eating unleavened bread and celebrating Passover signified a return to the the original promise of God to continue their favor and spare their lives. Celebrating the Passover and discarding the bread of the wilderness meant the return to the original promise of deliverance from Pharaoh. They were grateful for having the opportunity to celebrate Passover once again, but more happy with the savory taste of the new food that greeted their palates.
Reproach was rolled away for this people because of their dogged strength, faith, and determination coupled with God's grace and mercy. They would no longer dwell as slaves in Egypt and be blamed and castigated for their own oppression. They would no longer live as victims forever beholden to their victimizers but victors who would claim the promises of God. They would no longer wander waywardly in the wilderness but would become serious sojourners who could now have a home and food of their own that would nourish their bodies as they did God's work. God was pleased with their progress and decided to bless them as they prepared to settle in the new land.
When reproach is rolled away, we can live as victors. When reproach is rolled away, we no longer must live as wayward wanderers. When reproach is rolled away we eat new manna in a new land.
God rolls our reproach away as the stone was rolled away from the empty tomb. Today our reproach is rolled away by the love, grace, and mercy of Christ. The empty tomb is a symbol of our hope and promise for eternal life. The pain of our lament, the penalty of our sin, and the iniquity of our strife are rolled away by Christ Jesus. God rolls away the reproach of his people and calls them forth to claim the promise of a new day in glory!
Now they could eat in peace. Now they could anticipate movement into the new land because the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. The rebuke, scorn, and denigration of their former captors would melt away with the morning sun. Reproach was finally rolled away. All the previous years of hardship, toil, and struggle through faithfulness would now evaporate like the morning dew. What a beautiful moment it is when reproach is finally rolled away, when victory finally comes, when the joy of conquest of the new land finally occurs! The people could now stand tall with their backs straight and heads high, knowing in their hearts and souls that God gave them the victory through and through. This is the moment of truth. This is the moment of a true declaration of spiritual independence.
Reproach is therefore rolled away when God gives the victims victory over their victimizers.
In Egypt the Hebrews were victims of Pharaoh's wrath and oppression. They were forced to make bricks without straw, were treated cruelly, and suffered to work long hours with very little sleep and very little food. They were oppressed physically, mentally, and spiritually. Many of them perished from overwork and undernourishment. Scorned, despised, and rejected, they were the wretched of the earth and many of them had lost all hope of ever being liberated from Pharaoh's hand.
But while many of them were oppressed and victimized by the terror and tyranny of Pharaoh, they still kept hope and faith that they would one day be delivered from their plight. While they were victimized by their victimizers, they did not develop a victim's mindset and outlook, a victim's condition and lament.
Some people who are victims continually live out their days without hope of ever being liberated and renewed from the ravages of their personal devastation. But you can be enslaved and yet avoid developing a slave's mentality. You can be victimized by life and calamities and cruelties but without developing a victim's outlook and state of mind that makes one forever the victimized.
Victims invariably view life in terms of what happened to them rather than what God can do in and for them. It is the pain and memory of being victimized unjustly by others that creates hatred, resentment, and even a desire to live without God. It is the experience of being victimized that can lead to a permanent condition of victimhood where the hope that redeems and heals is forever vanquished. Moving from victim to victor is knowing that the wounds of life can be healed, and that life, however fragile, can give wholeness. The great writer Elie Wiesel speaks well to the hope that compels the victims to claim victory over the victimizers. That hope is rooted in an irrepressible desire to maintain compassion and humanity in face of hatred and dehumanization and to maintain human dignity and integrity in the face of the forces of annihilation and despair.
Many of the Hebrews left Egypt with Moses because they no longer wanted to live as victims but wanted to claim sweet victory over their victimizers by denouncing oppression and permanently leaving Pharaoh's house. Some of the Hebrews carried the oppressors' image of them in their minds when some of them, after being sent to scout out the new land, exclaimed that it was impossible to conquer because they looked like grasshoppers in the eyes of their enemies. The mind and heart of the victim were further manifested in their desire to return to the ways and life of oppression in Egypt.
By stepping out in faith with Moses, they placed trust in God to deliver them from the havoc of personal oppression. Reproach was rolled away when they decided to live as victors and not victims.
Reproach is rolled away when wayward wanderers in the wilderness become serious sojourners and compliant conquerors of the Promised Land.
The Hebrews wandered in the wilderness longer than they needed to. They could have completed their journey in forty days but it took nearly forty years. Their disobedience, rebellion, and disdain for God and the leaders God appointed to liberate them caused them to be wayward wanderers in the wilderness. They complained, moaned, and instigated a rebellion against Moses. They wanted to return to the flesh pots of Egypt, turned to false idols, and were unruly, insolent, and at times intolerable. How quickly they forgot that it was God who delivered them from Pharaoh's hand. How quickly they sank into cantankerous contempt for all that God had done and promised to do. So they lost their spiritual focus and were unnerved by the hardships of wilderness life. God could have wiped them out entirely and canceled the trip because of their disobedience and rebellion. But God spared some of them while most of them perished because they wanted to remain wayward.
They provoked the anger and wrath of God on more than one occasion and were rebuked and blamed for their disorderly, impetuous, and rowdy unruliness. They once wandered waywardly and aimlessly in the wilderness. Now they would become serious sojourners with a purpose and a mission.
And now the Hebrews were poised to go into the Promised Land. After many years of suffering and wandering, moaning and groaning, they were now ready to receive all that God had promised them. It was the obedience, faith, and experience of the younger generation in the wilderness in watching their fathers and mothers die, and the mercy and love of God that they were now ready to receive God's promise of the new land faithfully. Now they would become conquerors of the new land and no longer wayward wilderness wanderers. Now they would be compliant and do what God had asked them to do forty years ago and take the new land that God had promised.
Reproach is rolled away when they move from living by monotonous manna to living by unleavened bread and the produce of the new land.
They would no longer have to eat the unvaried diet of manna alone, but God would give them produce from Canaan to fill their bellies and satisfy their souls. This was the sign of God's favor. They had circumcised their bodies and hearts, and they were now ready to receive the abundance God had in store for them. God rewards faithfulness with good fruit and produce that sustains the body, mind, and soul. They would need new nourishment for the conquest. They would need a full-course meal to strengthen them for the fight. They had eaten their share of manna in the wilderness and now they could taste the goodness that God had in store for them.
Now at Passover they could eat unleavened bread, grain, and produce from the land. That they could eat it in a new land had as much significance as the fact of their eating it. Unleavened bread is much better than the dull sameness of the manna that was the mainstay of the wilderness diet. It is bread without fermentation. It is bread of the Passover symbolizing God's passing them over and moving them through the Promised Land of their dreams. That they could return to eating unleavened bread and celebrating Passover signified a return to the the original promise of God to continue their favor and spare their lives. Celebrating the Passover and discarding the bread of the wilderness meant the return to the original promise of deliverance from Pharaoh. They were grateful for having the opportunity to celebrate Passover once again, but more happy with the savory taste of the new food that greeted their palates.
Reproach was rolled away for this people because of their dogged strength, faith, and determination coupled with God's grace and mercy. They would no longer dwell as slaves in Egypt and be blamed and castigated for their own oppression. They would no longer live as victims forever beholden to their victimizers but victors who would claim the promises of God. They would no longer wander waywardly in the wilderness but would become serious sojourners who could now have a home and food of their own that would nourish their bodies as they did God's work. God was pleased with their progress and decided to bless them as they prepared to settle in the new land.
When reproach is rolled away, we can live as victors. When reproach is rolled away, we no longer must live as wayward wanderers. When reproach is rolled away we eat new manna in a new land.
God rolls our reproach away as the stone was rolled away from the empty tomb. Today our reproach is rolled away by the love, grace, and mercy of Christ. The empty tomb is a symbol of our hope and promise for eternal life. The pain of our lament, the penalty of our sin, and the iniquity of our strife are rolled away by Christ Jesus. God rolls away the reproach of his people and calls them forth to claim the promise of a new day in glory!
