Exodus: The Practice of Remembrance

So I I was visiting my grandmother probably a month or so ago, and she's 92, 93.

Christy's better at that than me.

90, 93, okay.

And uh she's been here a few times.

You may have met her.

She's Granny, known as Granny.

Um usually when she comes here, she's she's in a wheelchair, and she's well into dementia at this point in her life.

And about a month or so ago, when I went to visit her, uh went down to where she stays, and and we were visiting and we had lunch and and we started to talk, and and it just became so clear, it was so different than so many of the past visits.

A lot of times in the past visit, maybe Christy's with me, the girls are with me, my mom's with me, or some other people.

And this is one of the few visits recently since she's been well in a dementia where it's just me and her.

And it just became so clear of that so much of what we used to talk about was no longer available.

And I don't know if you've ever had a relative that went into dementia and or um where they can't remember, they just had they have no ability to remember.

And the thing that we used to love to talk about is I would just I'd ask her questions like all the different places that her and my grandfather traveled to after they retired, and they for about 10 years, they just covered the globe.

And and I would just ask different questions about different places and where they went, what was her favorite, and what they did.

And and this is what we did, this is how we shared time together.

Not to mention, you know, you talk about things like you know, the time I tripped her playing soccer, or how to always, you know, uh trick my grandfather into buying me a pair of jeans based on my report card, or I thought I was tricking him.

He in fact just wanted to buy me a pair of jeans because he was a grandfather, but at the time I thought I was, you know, being so sneaky about it.

And so, but none of that's available, right?

None of none of that's available for conversation.

And so you're it's it's like you're relearning how to talk to somebody without being able to remember.

And all you can talk about is the present, and even then, there's not much there that's available.

Um so what's not available is what she's done for me.

Right?

And this changes everything in a relationship if you can't talk about what a person has done for you or who they are.

And this is where we come into this story in Exodus, because what this story in Exodus, at this point, God is starting to embed into his people remembrance.

And this is where it begins.

This is where it begins in the Bible, this this great practice, this principle, this thing that for the rest of the way out through the scriptures is just about remembering what God has done for us.

And it's so interesting that in human relationships, when that's gone, we just feel it and we grieve.

And there's so much for us to, for me at least, when I was thinking about this passage this week, and then thinking about uh conversations with my grandmother at this point, and how I'm actually grieving that we can't talk about things anymore.

Um, and that that God knows that the way in which we share experience and the way that we have depth and meaning is by remembering.

And so that's why he calls us to remember.

He calls us to remember who he is and who he has and what he has done for us.

And so, this Exodus story, we've been in this Exodus story the last six weeks or so.

Uh the people of God, the Hebrews, the Israelites, they've been in slavery in Egypt for 430 years.

Finally, last week we saw them get out.

Finally, Pharaoh lets them go after these horrible plagues.

Finally, they get out.

Not only they get out, on the way out, the Egyptians are just handing their wealth to them.

Like, please leave.

Like, but you know, we are tired of all of these plagues.

Just leave and take whatever you need.

Just go, just leave.

And so 600,000 men on foot leave, plus women and children, plus livestock and herds and flocks.

I mean, this is a flood of people leaving.

And so this day becomes embedded in Jewish history, and it's called Passover.

That's what this is called.

And it's a day to remember what God did for them in getting them out of Egypt.

Now, here's what's great about it is that this day of remembrance, it is it is a once and for all day, meaning this, that they are remembering the finishedness of what was done for them.

So I have one point this morning, and we'll break it down and talk about it.

It's this God asks us to remember what has been done, because what has been done is what is true and freeing for us.

God asks us to remember what has been done, because what has been done is what is true and freeing for us.

So let's break that up.

First part.

God asks us to remember what has been done.

Let me reread some of this passage as we work our way through.

Exodus 13, 1 through 3.

The Lord said to Moses, consecrate to me all the firstborn.

Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.

Then Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place.

No leavened bread shall be eaten.

So two things jump out here that just frankly are just a little strange, right?

A little weird.

Like what I mean, like last time you read in the Old Testament, you read something, you're like, what in the this has nothing to do with me.

And so we dig a little, and then all of a sudden we discover it has a lot to do with us.

But we have to discover what does it mean, right?

Like if you just read it and you're like, firstborn, leavened bread, all right, not for me.

Now, if we discover what it means, now it can mean something for you.

And so we're going to discover what it means because two things in here is this this idea of the consecration of the firstborn.

You're like, what is that?

What could that ever mean?

And then the unleavened bread.

So let's figure out what this means because God is saying something.

So these feasts, well, why?

Why these feasts?

All of a sudden, God begins to establish these feasts with the people of Israel.

It's the same thing as what we have today.

We have these, you know, Christian Western holidays that have become sort of a mix of secular and Christian.

But they serve remembrance is what they serve.

It's so that, right?

I mean, the reason why you ultimately give a Christmas gift to your kid is so that your child will say, Dad, why are you giving me a gift?

Or at least you earn the right to be able to say, I'm giving you this gift because.

Right?

So so back in this time and in this passage, I mean, this feast starts so that a little Hebrew girl will go to her daddy and say, Why are we doing this?

Like, why for a week we're not eating normal bread?

Well, why are we doing this?

Because by a strong hand the Lord brought us out from our Egyptian slavery.

Oh, oh, okay, Dad.

Well, well, how did he do that?

By the blood of the lamb.

See, we consecrated a lamb and we smeared blood on our doorpost and and we were passed over.

See, it serves remembrance and it serves the occasion that we get the ability to pass this story on.

See, verse 8, you shall tell your son on that day.

It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt, and it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt.

You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

So now this feast of unleavened bread begins the day after Passover.

The feast is a week long.

We're not sure of why the bread needs to be unleavened.

There's some theories.

Some people think, well, it's because of the manna, but then the manna happens after the establishment of the feast, so I'm not quite sure how that lines up.

So there's just some theories that maybe it's just simplifying life for a period of time, just making life different so that we will remember, so they will remember.

But the lesson's clear, and the lesson's this, that remembering the central acts of God's love for our freedom, the acts that our faith rests in, to remember that takes intentionality in a world that has little margin.

So I've been reading this book the last few weeks, and the book's called Margin, so I was excited when I got to use that word.

And here's what I've been learning.

I've been learning, and I think it has a lot to do with this feast of unleavened bread.

And here's what I've been learning that being busy doesn't mean that I am important.

Nor is being busy anything to adore.

Like a life of purpose with margin is the lesson of the feast of unleavened bread.

That you would have the margin, right?

Don't cook the leavened bread.

Take a couple shortcuts.

Just eat the unleavened bread.

So you'll have some margin.

And with your margin, do some remembering.

See, you you will lose your security and sanity if you don't have some margin.

And with the feast, with the margins where we do our remembering.

Let's I'll as a pastor, I'll give you permission.

Do less overall in your life so that in the evenings you can have a meal with your family or with your friends.

Or you could go for a walk, or you could read a book.

Do less overall so you can do more remembering.

Like breathe fresh air, take a walk, take a nap.

Do something that creates remembrance and be intentional in that, right?

Like live purpose lives about the things that matter and refuse the other things.

This is what the feasts teach us.

How healthy we would be as a people.

That the first thing that comes out of our mouths is not, how are you?

Man, I've just been busy, just been busy.

Right?

I mean, that's just my normal answer.

That's a horrible answer.

That is not the answer of a healthy person.

That's not an answer to look at and go, oh, that's so great.

They're just so busy.

No, that's a horrible answer.

It means I'm not doing things correctly.

I mean, really the answer to how are you doing?

You say, we have a great pace going.

I have a great pace going.

You know, in the evenings, I got some, I have some margin.

I go for a walk in the morning.

You know, I spend time with my friends.

I took a nap.

This is the point.

It's a little bit of my soapbox, but it's also the point of the feast is for this to begin for us to have some intentionality with it.

All right, so our one point, God asks us to remember what has been done because what has been done is what is true and freeing for us.

So all of this, so profound, right?

That the first practice that God is starting to embed in his people is remembrance.

And I just love that.

Every other practice gets me a little anxious.

Like, pray.

I'm like, I always feel a little bit bad I'm not praying enough.

Study the scriptures, okay?

I'm always feeling a little bad, I'm not studying the scriptures enough.

But remembering is like, well, I can kind of do that in the car, I can do that on a walk, I can do that like right before I take my nap, I can do that like when I'm working hard, I can do it when I'm cutting the grass.

Like remembrance, it kind of goes into all these other things.

It goes into the prayer, it goes into the study, it goes into my giving, it goes into service.

All the other disciplines and all of life can serve this purpose.

And it does.

I think personally that's what that's why God establishes this first.

Remembrance.

Remember what I have done for you.

So even when you're doing something for me, it really you're just remembering what I have done for you.

And if you're not doing anything for me, you're still remembering what I've done for you.

So usually about once a year, Christy and I we try to get away just for a night or two or something like that.

And inevitably, what happens?

What we discover is just sort of somewhere in that first day, you know, we don't have children anymore, and we're not doing, you know, we're not running around and we're not taking care of their needs, and all of a sudden you kind of see each other, and you're like, oh, okay.

Like I I remember you.

And my friend, a friend of mine who has they have they have four children that are all very little, little bitty children, and so life is very crazy for them, and they try to practice the same thing once a year, a night or two.

And he said the thing that they always say to each other is all of a sudden they'll see each other and they'll say, There you are.

And he said they both say it, and it's just become normal.

It's like, there you are.

Like I see you.

I remember you.

And we remember, don't we?

Like we'll remember like our spouse, or maybe it'd be a sibling or a friend, but somebody we love that in the midst of life, it's just easy to forget who they are for us and to us.

And all of a sudden you remember what was so good about this person.

And there's power in remembering.

There's power in remembering who this person has been for you or what they have done for you.

And that's why you grieve when your grandmother gets dementia.

It's because that's off the table.

But there's power in the remembrance.

Because the past doesn't stay in the past.

Like a person that you love and they've done something loving to you, that has power right now.

Right?

That's why we tell stories over and over and over again.

When somebody does something great for you and you keep telling that story over and over and over again, and then you keep telling it enough, and you're not even sure if you've told it, like you're telling it again, and the person's like, yeah, you actually already told me that.

And it's because this person did something great for you.

They showed up, right?

Like they the friend spoke some word to you that was needed.

So by remembering what has been done, we remember what is true and freeing for us.

That's what this passage is teaching us with these ideas of the firstborn and the idea of this unleavened bread.

But it extends larger for us than it did for the Hebrews at the time.

So let's jump back in and kind of dig into this idea of the consecration of the firstborn, which just sounds weird at first, I'll be honest.

It just sounds weird at first, but let's dig into it.

I think it'll make some sense.

Uh looking at verse 11, it says, When you come into Canaan, your land set apart the firstborn of uh the animals.

And now it gets a little strange in verse 13.

Every firstborn of a donkey, okay, every firstborn of a donkey, you shall redeem with a lamb.

Or if you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck.

Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

Now why?

Why this?

What is God saying?

Well, see, he see, he's building a framework for us to understand him and for us to understand the work that Jesus will do for us later.

He's helping us understand from the very beginning that the most important thing you can do in your spiritual life is to remember.

Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.

It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontless between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.

See, the the firstborn and the families, they played some spatial special role in God's economy.

Um we're not really sure.

Did they did the firstborn tend to be more priests?

Or we're not, we don't really know what way, but but we see this where this firstborn and the families play some special role.

But now, if we dig a little bit more about what this could mean, and we we look back and we think about in Exodus 4, 22 and 23, God has claimed Israel, his people, as his firstborn of all people.

Okay, so once again, what we see, and I love this, what we see is that God is establishing to the world, I am not a tribal God.

I'm not a one tribe God.

Every other God at the time, one tribe.

The tribe creates the God, that God's for that tribe.

And here God is, and he says, Oh, these people, this tribe, the Israelites, they're the firstborn of many tribes.

They say, I'm the God of all different sorts and kinds of people.

And the redemption of all people will come by the death of his firstborn, not the death of yours.

And it's the great act of humility and love, God and to humankind to live and to die in the act of redemption.

Now, look at verse 13.

It's almost pretty comical this idea of redeem a donkey with a lamb, because I'm no scholar, but when I read this, I think it's safe to say that the redemption of all of us, donkeys, comes by a perfect lamb, which we know to be true throughout the scriptures as the person of Jesus.

And he takes on our sin, he takes on our imperfect donkeiness.

I mean, this is what the passage says.

It's not me, I didn't have to make it up.

And he just he takes on our imperfection upon himself, and he gives us in his grace, he gives us his righteousness.

So we're made forever right with him by his word, by his sacrifice.

So this week I found a few photo albums, they were on our in table, and Christy's been good every once in a while.

She just throws like a whole bunch of pictures in an album.

And what happens is every once in a while, we'll just I'll catch the girls just looking through the pictures, just different family members, or like us at the swimming pool, or you know, whatever, on a hike or something.

And uh a lot of times they'll go to sleep and just grab one of these and they'll get in bed and they'll look through all the pictures.

And and actually, yesterday, uh my four-year-old got one.

She was sitting on the end of the couch and she was looking through it, and and she was just looking through it, and she was just naming the people, like naming the individuals, and like, oh, there's Granny, Izzy, Nana, Josie, granddaddy.

Like she would just Christy, Gramps, Mimi, she would just work her way through all the pictures just over and over again.

Why do we love to do this?

Right?

I mean, because we we love to remember shared experience.

We love to remember people who have loved us, like moments of love and moments of family.

And so these photos of love, these are photos of love that's been given to us.

And whether you do a photo album or you're the doctor's office, right?

You're the doctor's office and you're just looking through pictures of family or friends or places you've been.

We do it because there's power in remembering what has been given to you.

And so you need a little pick-me-up in the doctor's office, and you open up your photos and you look through some pictures.

Because there's power in remembering what has been given to you.

Tuesday morning is early in the week, and I had read and kind of studied some of this passage on Monday.

And Tuesday morning, I woke up, I'm walking down my driveway to my garage where my office is, and so I'm walking down the driveway, and I found myself, I couldn't wait to get in my study to read this book.

I've been reading this book called The Furious Longing of God, and I couldn't wait to get in my study to read this book.

And I was kind of like, like, what is that?

Like, why am I so eager to go and to get into my study to read this book?

And I just realized it was because this book is about the furious longing of God, it's about God's furious love for me and for you.

And I just realized, like, that's like I just need to hear it.

I need to hear it again.

And like tomorrow morning, I'm gonna need to hear it again.

I just need to keep hearing it.

That this is true and that this can be known.

See, there is power in remembering the gift, God's unconditional love for you and the person of Jesus and his work, because his work puts to rest our hearts that endlessly try to justify themselves with our work.

I'll repeat that because it's worth repeating.

See, there's power in remembering the gift because his work puts to rest our hearts that endlessly attempt to justify themselves by our work.

That's why remembering his work matters is because it puts to rest our heart that's trying to use our work.

And so we remember his work and we live in his work and his sufficiency.

Now, what is so good is just as God gave these people, the Hebrews back then, a tangible way to remember this, right?

Like a feast, a bread, something to grab hold of, to touch and to smell, God gives us the same thing.

I mean, we see the story here in Exodus, we see it is much more foreshadowing than our like our Jewish brothers and sisters do.

For we see it leading to the Messiah and the work of Jesus and freeing us from the slavery of sin, not just the slavery of Egypt.

And we see that Jesus says to us, for us to remember this by taking bread.

I mean, how great is this that we get another tangible way for us to remember.

That's why we do it every week.

That's why we come to the table every week is to give us a tangible way to remember the work that was done for us, that we get to hold the bread and think about and remember the work he did for us, that he was broken for us, and that we we dip it into the wine, and we get to taste the wine or the grape juice in our mouths, and it helps us remember that his blood was shed for us, and that in that work we are set free.

We've been taken out of Egypt.

So, my brothers and sisters, he really loves you.

Like as imperfect and tired and broken that you are.

That condemnation we've been carrying around about that thing back then.

Like he frees you from that.

He fully accepts you as his child.

Because he's the firstborn sacrifice.

He's the bread of life.

He's the strong hand that brings you out of Egypt.

And it's for us to remember it over and over and over again.

Let's pray together.

God, we thank you for this great reminder for us to remember.

We thank you that so early in the history of your people, you established the practice of remembrance.

That our first practice is to remember what you have done.

Would you help all our other practices, all our other disciplines?

All of our living and moving and breathing to deserve this.

Practice of remembering your work for us.

Would you give us great freedom from guilt from condemnation?

Would you create great fruit and our hearts and lives in your spirit because of the work you've done forgive us forgive us for moving you even forgive us?