Living in the Spirit
June 11, 2020
Scripture Reading: Exodus 19:2-8a
They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.’
So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. The people all answered as one: ‘Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.’ Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
I love how the Bible is so interrelated like how Isaiah 40:31 (but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint) reaches all the way back to our Exodus scripture above. We should never underestimate the impact being freed from Egyptian slavery had on the Israelites.
I recently watched a rerun of Finding Your Roots that shared the family tree of the civil rights leader John Lewis. Now Representative John Lewis discovered he inherited his enthusiasm for civil rights from a great great grandfather, Tobias Carter. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, freeing the slaves. Tobias Carter was one of those slaves. Finding your Roots discovered the documents that showed where this man was one of the first slaves to register to vote in 1967. He claimed his place in a world made new.
God’s eagle’s wings are there for all of us when we commit ourselves to live in God’s righteousness. The struggle for individuals and communities is first, ferreting out what is God’s justice. Secondly, bringing our definition of what is right and just into sync with God’s, and finally, living God’s justice. This process starts with our delving deeply into tracing the threads of God’s justice throughout the Bible, not just picking a few verses here and there that line up with our prejudgements. Christ-followers may be in for a big surprise as we consider the justice Jesus lived as our model. An interesting exercise might be reading Matthew 12 or 25 and then trying to imagine what we believe and live compared to what he taught and lived. Changing our ways of being is very hard. When we align with God, we receive the power of those eagle wings to lift us out of our disparities with God’s righteousness.
Prayer: Forgive us when we find ourselves caught in the world’s idea of justice. Lift us up on eagle’s wings to a higher plain of love. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.