Tell Them To Go Forward

For those of a certain age, you will probably remember Charlton Heston in the1956 film The Ten Commandments. In it he plays Moses, and for many of us this was a formative movie in teaching us some of the stories of Hebrew scriptures – but especially the book of Exodus. I know that our family watched the movie every year (probably during Lent) and had to wait until the following year to see it again. These were the days before DVR, Netflix or Amazon Prime!

In today’s reading from Exodus 14, Moses has brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the desert. They are now free. But…they now face the challenges of living a liberated life in the desert (outside of the structures of empire).

[Note: While it is not the focus of today’s reflection, I want to mention a whole other story line from the Exodus narrative of what it means to live ‘outside of empire.’ The Israelites desire a freedom from the cruel life in the Egyptian empire. And yet once they found their freedom, they were forced to confront how much the empire still lived in them.]

In today’s passage (just before they cross through the Red Sea), the Israelites have the Egyptian army on their tail and they are feeling afraid. They complain to Moses, “Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the desert.” They grumble, once again, about how hard it is to be free, and Moses asks God for help. God then says to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.”

I don’t think trust is a binary reality, per se. I see it more on a continuum. Just like we might offer some people in our lives a lot of trust and some people just a little, I think the same might be true of our relationship with God (personally and collectively). In this case, God is inviting the Israelites into a deeper trust and to move forward in spite of their fears, complaints and misgivings.

My guess is that the Israelites would have loved a “sign” that they were going to be OK and had nothing to fear as they trusted in God.

Who wouldn’t want a sign?

Jesus encounters the same sentiment in Matthew 12. Some of the scribes and Pharisees say to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, ‘An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.’”

I have written numerous times about the “sign of Jonah” that Jesus speaks about (for two examples, you can look here and here). And, even still, I do not claim to understand it fully!

But one lesson I take from these readings is that there is a great deal of trust involved in the faith life. We often find ourselves in circumstances that we may not have chosen or are on a path that is confusing or unclear. We tried to be faithful. We tried to pay attention. We tried to make moves towards freedom and connection. And yet we find ourselves in a place that may not make sense or requires a lot from us.

This can last for weeks. Or months. Or even years.

Jesus’ counsel that “no sign” will be given is a hard truth that may haunt our spiritual lives. We may not be given a reassurance that things will improve or get better or resolve. And yet we are being asked to keep moving forward anyway. 

I think about someone from our church who recently wrote to me. His wife of many years has Alzheimer’s disease and he is one of the primary caretakers. He talked about being in the “belly of the beast” and relates a lot to the “sign of Jonah” these days – being in a place where he cannot fix or change the situation. He must only press on.

A lot of us can probably relate to this – in big and small ways. It might be our health or the health condition of a loved one. It might be a relationship or family situation that just can’t be fixed. It could be a job loss or life transition that brings a lot of uncertainty. It could be the state of this country or the world.

Like the Israelites, we may find ourselves longing for other times in life when we had forms of security or predictability or freedoms that we no longer have.

Of course part of the difficult discernment in life is to know which hardships we need to endure and which ones we do not. But for the ones we feel called to see through (or need to see through), we may relate to the Israelites who have an army coming after them and the sea in front of them!

Yet we know that in the story of the Exodus, a way was made out of no way. And in the story of Jonah, there was a transformation that happened.

Perhaps today’s readings might help us to persist and endure in faith – trusting in a God who loves us. A God who may not spare us from hardship but accompanies us through it. A God who invites us into deeper transformation.

Just breathe in and release. And for this moment, try to let go of any fear…and trust.