Scripture Readings: Exodus 1:8–2:10 | Psalm 124 | Romans 12:1–8 | Matthew 16:13–20

​“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
 
So much of the destruction we humans bring into our world flows from our fear: from seeing each other as a threat, and the impulse to hold onto our own sense of security and power, no matter the costs.
 
We can see this fear-driven mania at work all over, and once again in the headlines this week: first of all, there was the death, likely an assassination, of the Wagner Forces commander, who led a failed mutiny earlier this summer against the Russian military leadership.
 
And secondly, just to the South of us, we’re privy to the endless debates and escalating divisions of our American neighbours, who seem bent on tearing their country apart grasping after political power… casting aside concern for the greater good, as long as “their side” comes out on top.
 
But we don’t have to look to the news to see the damage that fear can do in our world. In our own lives, how often does fear drive us to foolish and ungodly places? When our own insecurities wreak havoc in our homes, or in our relationships… and perhaps even tempted us to dominate those around us to make ourselves feel more in control?
 
And what about the damage unchecked fear can do within a community? Even a Church family? How much outright evil has been done even in the name of God by those driven by fear, and grasping for power?
 
We know that our world is all too unpredictable. And that these days, it feels even less secure than it used to.
 
We face questions, like: What does the future look like for ourselves… for our kids, and grandkids… for our Church family here at St. Luke’s? How are we going to keep going, when everything around us seems so uncertain?
 
In our Scripture reading this morning from the book of Exodus, we find the theme of faithfulness in the face of fear playing out again in a dramatic story, offering us wisdom and insight, not only into a godly way forward in times of real danger, but also into how God Himself is at work in our frightened and fractured world.
 
Our reading today from the first chapters of the book of Exodus marks the continuation of the story of God begun in Genesis: the story of the Living God, seeking to rescue and bless all the families of the earth, and to restore their shattered relationship to Himself and each other, through the family of Abraham.
 
Genesis ends and Exodus begins with the Israelites dwelling as honoured guest in the land of Egypt… embodying God’s blessing… just as God had intended for all humanity, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden. In Exodus 1:7, we’re told, after Joseph and his brothers died, “the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.” It’s an image of God’s divine blessing at work, and the abundant life that flows from it.
 
But instead of rejoicing in and sharing in this blessing, the new king of Egypt saw the growing Israelite presence in his land as a curse… a threat, to his own power, and the security of his people. Exodus 1:8-10, Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Like so many tyrants, before and since, Pharaoh was deeply afraid. And his insecurity made him even more desperate to hold onto power.
                      
Though this story is thousands of years old, we can still feel echoes of these same fears in our own corner of the world today. How do you and I respond when we feel like the fortunes of others are on the rise? When groups of people who might seem different from us, in ethnicity, politics, religion, social values, and so on, begin to grow in number and influence? When we start to feel outnumbered, and like our sense of control is slipping away?  
 
In situations like this, it’s easy to be afraid. So often throughout human history, it is the strong and powerful who take advantage of those who are vulnerable… leaving us little reason to believe that if we lose too much influence, then one day we will find ourselves under someone else’s boot.
 
And all around us, in our world today, what response to we see to these kinds of fears? Example after example tells us to “Do anything it takes to stay on top!” And that the ends of our own security and survival justify any means… no matter how divisive, destructive, or corrupt… even if it means crushing our neighbours… those whom God has called us to love. I mean, what else can we do? Is there really any other way?
 
There is. But before we explore it together, Exodus also offers us a full fledged example of what happens when those with power are driven by fear:
 
In Pharaoh’s mind, the wise course of action is to first oppresses the innocent people of Israel, exploiting their strength for his own desires and purposes, through brutal and ruthless forced labour. In short, he stole their freedom, and made slaves of God’s people.
 
But the more Pharaoh oppressed them, the more it seemed God’s blessings spread. So, Pharaoh then tries to divide the people, and ensnare some of the Israelites to serve him instead of being devoted to the Living God and their neighbours.
 
But that plan also falls apart, so Pharoah throws aside all bounds, and turns the Nile red with the blood of the innocent… slaying every Israelite baby boy in the land. Well, almost all of them.
 
Oppression. Corruption. Death. These are the tools that tyrants use to get their way in the world. Yet, try as they might, they are all no match for the saving ways of the Living God.
 
Intertwined with the account of Pharaoh’s frightened plotting from the throne of Egypt, we’re also introduced to three of the most powerless and vulnerable people in the land: two Hebrew midwives, named Shiphrah and Puah, and a Levite mother. Three women who in the face of fear put their faith into action in some remarkable ways.
 
The two midwives come onto the scene when Pharaoh orders them to secretly kill all of the Hebrew boys when they were born… but these two women won’t: Exodus 1:17, But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.
 
They refused to follow Pharaoh’s evil orders… because they “feared God”.
 
But wait, isn’t fear the whole problem? Isn’t fear what led Pharaoh, and so many other tyrants, to these horrific deeds?
 
Well, as you may know, the Holy Scriptures offer us a more complex understanding of fear, and its proper place in our lives… and when it is directed to the Living God it is linked to the gaining of wisdom.
  
For instance, the Book of Proverbs makes the claim that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). And the book of Ecclesiastes, which explores life and all it’s paradoxes and mysteries, concludes with these words: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
 
But again, what kind of “fear” are we talking about? What does it mean to faithfully “fear God”?
 
We might easily think of fear of God as terror… the uncertainty and dread we might feel before a bully or tyrant we do not trust. In this light, many see God as an unpredictable, capricious oppressor… eager to crush those who stand in His way, and condemn all who fall out of line.
 
I grew up with this vision of God… with this kind of fear. And I can tell you, it did not lead me to wisdom. Or virtue. Or faith… but only towards despair. But thankfully, this is not the only way that the fear of the Lord is understood.
 
Fear can also refer to reverent awe… to a humble deference to one who deserves our wholehearted loyalty… inspiring not dread, but devotion.
 
Fearing God in this light means that He is the one anchor point around which all of our life is built. It means that when everything else around us crumbles, He is the One we look to for help. As the poet says in Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
 
This second kind of fear is what we see at work in Shiphrah and Puah… leading them to choose to act faithfully, and out of reverent devotion to the Living God, as they courageously defy Pharaoh’s wicked demands.
 
Can you imagine their situation? Slave women called before the mightiest ruler in the region. They’re choice of God’s ways over the King’s orders was incredibly brave. If their deception was detected, they were done for. But despite all the pressure to go along with the fear-driven schemes of Pharaoh, these women remained true to the Living God and His ways, and as a result, God’s blessings continued to flow.
 
Exodus 1:20-21, God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.” God worked through the faithfulness of two humble midwives to throw off the plans of a tyrant.

But as we know, terrified tyrants don’t give up easily. In desperation, Pharaoh resorts to an open act of genocide.
Exodus 1:22, “Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.’”
 
In the face of this kind of bloodthirsty “wisdom of the world”, what can one do? How can we faithfully follow God when placed in this kind of position?
 
The next example of faith that our reading from Exodus offers to us is perhaps one of the hardest to imagine: the faith of a mother, who knows full well she will have to surrender the newborn life of her beloved child.
 
There was no way for her to avoid this loss. She was powerless in the face of Pharaoh’s decree.
 
But instead of giving into despair, she musters what hope she has and places the boy in a basket before letting the mighty river bear him away. For her, the boy is still gone for good. But she does what little she can out of love to preserve his life. To save him, she has to let him go.

In this crisis, she chooses to let go of all control, and leaves the boy in God’s hands. It’s a truly heartbreaking, desperate situation, but one that she faced faithfully.
 
And as it turns out, God was at work even as she surrendered her beloved son, for the river brings the basket to the palace of Pharaoh, and into the compassionate arms of the tyrant-king’s own daughter!
 
We’re meant to see God at work in this story bringing hope and life even up out of certain death… and against all hope, the boy is even returned to his mother’s keeping until he had grown up, and then he was brought back to the palace. God raises the child up from a watery grave, to the very household of Pharaoh.
 
And this is all just the beginning of the remarkable story of Exodus, and God’s gracious rescue mission involving this one Hebrew baby boy, Moses, in which God’s power and saving love are revealed, to the Israelites, and to the world: working through the lives of His faithful people, as powerless and vulnerable and oppressed as they may be, to bring His blessed abundant life.
​
And this story of Exodus points us to Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, and His ultimate act of saving love, as Jesus gave up His life on the cross to rescue His people, His enemies, and His world.
 
Like Shiphrah and Puah, Jesus refused to play along with the powerful people vying for influence in His day… the religious and political parties that divided the people of God, as well as the Roman tyrants and governors who held God’s people under their boots.
 
Like the Levite mother, Jesus let go of control… surrendering Himself to death at the hands of His enemies at the cross, not out of despair, but in faithful devotion, trusting in His Father’s love to overcome even the power of death.
 
And like the boy, raised up from the waters that threatened to overwhelm him, Jesus, the Son of God, was raised up alive again from the dead, resurrected not just for His own sake, but to bring God’s saving love and New Life to those who are lost.
 
Jesus has overcome all our true enemies through His life, and death, and resurrection. He has offered all who turn to Him in faith God’s forgiveness, freedom, and New Life forever.
 
And Jesus has opened up for us the way of faith, of trust in the Living God… revealing the self-giving, saving love of our Heavenly Father, so that we can share our hearts and lives with Him… empowering us to truly trust in Him no matter what troubles or tyrants we might face today, or someday down the road.
 
And as we follow Jesus, we too are called to faithfulness in the face of fear. Whether we’re tempted to feel like we have power we need to preserve, or if we feel vulnerable and oppressed… in Jesus we can trust the Living God to be our refuge and strength, our Saviour. With His Holy Spirit at work in us, and leading the way, we can find a way forward where we are not bound by fear, but by wholehearted devotion to the Lord of love.
 
As St. Paul says to us in his letter to the Romans:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2).
 
Our world will keep on finding reasons to be afraid, or to use fear to grasp after power. But as Christians, with the Spirit of Jesus guiding us, we can learn to live a different way.
 
So when we are being pressured to compromise with wickedness… what will we do?
 
When we must completely let go of control, where will we look for help and hope?
 
Let us look to the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer, and place our trust in His faithfulness to lead us into God’s blessed, abundant, and eternal life. Amen.

Scripture Readings: Genesis 45:1–15 | Psalm 133 | Romans 11:1–2a, 29–32 | Matthew 15:10–28

“God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.” (Genesis 45:7).
 
This summer, it’s been hard not to have disasters on the mind, especially if we’ve been paying any attention to the news. This week, for instance: the whole city of Yellowknife has had to be evacuated due to forest fires… and the B.C. interior is also facing the same fate. Last week, it was the island of Maui. And now, a fierce storm is approaching Mexico, and the Southwest Coast of the USA.  Last month, Nova Scotia faced both fire and flood, and it seems like every day another serious crisis is looming, threatening some beautiful corner of our world, and those who dwell there.
 
Along with this change in our whole planet’s climate, we’re being given many frightening reminders of the frailty and fragility of life… and how much of what we so often take for granted can be taken from us in an instant.
 
Generally speaking, a lot of us in this part of the world aren’t used to this sense of instability… and vulnerability… but even though the climate crisis has certainly ramped up in recent years, this fragile state of our existence is nothing new. In fact, it’s the norm.
 
After all, most people, for most of human history have existed on the brink of disaster… one step away from everything falling apart… especially those living in poverty, who are still usually the hardest hit, and the first to suffer in any crisis. The dangers may vary: war, famine, disease, natural disaster… but the constant truth is: life is always a precious but precarious… and fragile gift.
 
But how can we keep moving forward… how can we keep from being overwhelmed by fear and anxiety… both of which can tend to make us self-focused and paralyzed… when we’re suddenly face to face with life’s instability?   
 
In times like that, we can turn to God… and find that the Good News of Jesus Christ has the power to set us free from our fear. Trusting in the Living God, made known to us in Jesus Christ our Lord, is the source of the courage and strength that we need, and which God longs for us to share with our world.
 
But what do we mean by that? What does trusting God with our lives look like, especially when it’s hard? And just as importantly: what are we supposed to be trusting God to do?
 
Our Scripture readings today from the book of Genesis, and from the Gospel of Matthew share two stories of people like us who trusted God when faced with their own disasters. Though very different, these stories invite us to see God’s plan is not merely to help us always feel safe and secure… but for us to trust in His mercy and love, even in the midst of disaster, and take part in His blessed work to bring redemption, healing, and hope… to bring New Life.
 
In our first reading, we heard the dramatic turning point of the book of Genesis, where Joseph reveals himself to his brothers who had betrayed and abandoned him. Genesis as a whole tells the story of how the Living God chose Abraham, and promised to give him descendants, so that through Abraham’s family “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3). But as the story progresses, we see that both Abraham and his family are a mess! Their stories are full of betrayal, selfishness, and deceit… often driven by fear… and yet God remains true to His word, and works with these broken people to bring His blessings into the world.
 
Three generations later, Joseph and his many brothers keep up the family tradition: out of jealousy, his brothers secretly seize him, and sell Joseph as a slave. He ends up in Egypt, as a household servant, and just when he starts to find some measure of stability and security again, he’s falsely accused of assaulting his master’s wife, and thrown into prison to rot.
 
Yet all the time, through all those betrayals, and injustices, and isolation, God was with Joseph. God blessed him and brought His blessings through him, even as he suffered. And in time, God brings about an amazing change: from the depths of prison, God raises up Joseph to the right hand of the Pharaoh, where he receives all authority and honour in the land of Egypt… just in time to prepare the land for the worst famine they’d ever seen: seven abundant years, followed by seven years of nothing. Through Joseph’s dramatic story, God saved a whole nation from disaster.

But all through those long years in slavery, and then in prison, Joseph didn’t know how his story would end. He never received angelic visitors telling him: “Cheer up, Joe. This is all part of God’s plan. Soon you’ll be up in the palace. It’ll all turn out fine.” No, Joseph was left in the dark. His whole life had been stolen from him. And yet Joseph trusted God, and he remained faithful to Him. And when he was set free and raised up from rags to glory, he could look back on all of his truly tragic story, and see how God’s merciful love had been with him and at work all along.
 
And this in turn helped him to do the truly unthinkable: to also offer merciful love to those who had betrayed and abandoned him… forgiving his brothers, and sharing his new blessed life with them. Genesis 45:5-7,
 
Joseph said to them, “And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.” And later on, Joseph again reassured his brothers of his forgiveness with these words: “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.” (Genesis 50:20).
 
Joseph’s words invite us to look back on the messed up story of him and his whole family, and see the Living God at work, turning disasters and even outright evil acts into a surprising source of His blessing and new life. He is not the cause of evil, nor does He condone it, but He can and does work through it, counter it, and conquer it again and again.
 
In the face of disaster, Joseph trusted in the Living God, and God’s merciful love transformed His life, and transformed so many others through His life.
 
Many centuries later, we pick up the story in Matthew’s Gospel of an encounter between Jesus Christ, and a desperate Canaanite mother.
 
All through St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is consistently identified with the family of Abraham, the Israelites. In fact, his Gospel opens with these words: “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1). The picture the Apostle is painting for us is that Jesus is God’s own Son, sent to be the truly faithful one, who will fulfill God’s promise to Abraham, that through his descendants, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3).
 
And in Chapter 15, we’re told He runs into one of those other families of the earth: a Gentile, Canaanite mother, a descendant of Israel’s historic enemies, begging Jesus to deliver her daughter from the forces of darkness. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David;” she says, “my daughter is tormented by a demon.” (Matthew 15:22). It is a request He’s answered many times before… bringing freedom and healing, and hope to all sorts of people, again and again.
 
But this time, He remains silent. He does not respond to her pleas. But the mother doesn’t give up. She persists, to the point that His disciples start begging Him to send her away… to just say no to her, and be done with this Gentile.
But Jesus doesn’t say “no” to her. Instead, He highlights the major obstacle standing between them: She was not an Israelite. She was a descendant of Israel’s ancient enemies.
 
Jesus breaks His silence: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24). But wait… wasn’t it God’s plan all along to bless all the families of the earth? To bring them all His New Life? Does Jesus not care about what happened beyond the borders of Israel? What kind of response is this from the One who’s supposed to be the Saviour of the world?
 
There’s no way to fully unpack those questions this morning… not without a much longer service… and someone a whole lot wiser than I am leading the way. But as a start, I think we need to highlight the difference between an overall mission, and the first steps along the way. Maybe this analogy will help:
 
The overall goal of those planning the assault of D-Day during World War II was to end the conflict in Europe with the Allied Forces victorious. But the necessary first step was to take the beaches of Normandy… so that the rest could follow.

From the start, the Living God has sought human partners to bring about His good purposes on earth. And He promised Abraham that through him and His descendants “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3). Jesus was not a descendant of Abraham by accident… but as the culmination of God at work through the stories of Israel, to bless everyone.
 
Because God loves the world, and longed to rescue it, He sent His Son to be Israel’s Messiah… as a beachhead in order to bring God’s blessed New Life to all the earth. But this first step really mattered! He had a clear calling to follow: to take up Israel’s broken story, and bear that brokenness Himself… to be the faithful Israelite, who suffers for the sins of His people. To be the truly innocent one falsely accused, and betrayed by His family… abandoned to the pit, and the powers of death… only to be raised again to glory to the right hand of the Father... to bring God’s New Life to the world.
 
This was His path. This was the first steps He must take. He could not forsake it, and wander endlessly across the Roman world... doing good, but leaving the crucial battle of the cross unfought.

And yet… He doesn’t say 'no' to her. The obstacle remains, He makes it plain, but He doesn’t say no.
 
And this desperate Canaanite mother does not give up.
Matthew 15:25 “she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
 
Again, Jesus doesn’t say no, but He does drive home the point that His mission is first and foremost directed to Israel, using an image that makes us cringe today, but highlights the deep and widespread divisions in their days between Jews and Gentiles: “It is not fair” He said, “to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” Immediately, she responds: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.” (Matthew 15:26-28).
 
What an incredible example of faith under pressure! Faith in the face of silence… resistance, and even apparent rejection. She could have given up. She was given every reason to give up. Like Joseph in prison, she didn’t know how this meeting with Jesus would end. She didn’t know all the in’s and out’s of His mission… she was just a mother, doing whatever she could to save her daughter from disaster. She believed Jesus could help her. She believed Jesus would help her! She put it all in His hands, and Jesus responded to her faith with merciful love. There’s far more we could say about this story, but it’s enough for now to make this point:
 
Across every obstacle and boundary we humans can construct or imagine, those who look to Jesus Christ in faith will find God’s mercy and love. Heavenly silence is not rejection, but an invitation to draw nearer with faith. We may find when we do, that there are real obstacles that still stand in our way… but God’s merciful, saving love in Jesus Christ can overcome them all.
 
These two stories from the Holy Scriptures have much to say to us about what it looks like to trust in the Living God in the face of disaster: first of all, faith isn’t a guarantee to avoid all suffering… or a way to manipulate our circumstances, or the LORD to get what we want. Faith is the determination to hold on, even when we don’t know how things will turn out in the end, because we believe that the One we are holding on to will not let us go.

And we can believe that because time and again, the Living God has shown us that He is committed not just to holding on to a few ‘good’ people who seem to deserve it… but of reaching out to the ends of the earth, as the merciful Saviour of this world… bringing His freedom, forgiveness, and His own blessed New Life to all who trust in Him.
 
We can believe this because this is what we’ve seen in Jesus: stretching out His hands in suffering at the cross to take on Himself the burden of sin for all people, Israelite and Gentile alike… reconciling humanity to God through His own shed blood… bringing His betrayers full forgiveness… breaking the powers of sin and death… and setting us free to share in the goodness and glory of His blessed resurrection life.
 
Jesus did not shy away from disaster, but at the cross, He endured it for you and I… and for all. And through the life-giving, merciful love of God, He rose again from the dead, paving the way for us all.
 
We don’t know exactly how each of our stories will turn out, but we can trust that Jesus our Risen Lord, the Saviour of the world will not leave us to face it all on our own. We can trust Him to be with us, through it all. To share our sorrows, and bear our concerns and cares… and to raise us up from whatever pit we may find ourselves in to reign with Him forever.
 
So, in the face of our struggles today… in our moments of fear, of loneliness, desperation... or disaster, let us draw near in faith to the Living God through Jesus His Son. Let us look to Him, and hold on. Let us look to Him, and not give up. Let us look to Him, and let those around us know where they can find the courage and strength to carry on… where they can find the merciful, saving love of God that will never give up. Amen.

Over the last month, while Rev. Rob has been away, we have been including each week with our At-Home worship resources a link to a video from the Bible Project in the Biblical Narrative portion of their "How to Read The Bible" series.

Here is the final video in that series, digging into the Parables of Jesus, and be encouraged to explore their many other great resources for yourself.

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, & Reflection Questions this week can be found here: