Rev. Wesley Menke

16 April 2022 Easter Vigil

In the beginning. Can you believe that? There was a beginning! It’s comforting really to think that we could go back to when it all started. Maybe by going back to the beginning we could figure out where it all went wrong and how we got into this mess in the first place!

What mess am I talking about? You name it! We’ve all got messes. Am I right? Places where life didn’t just not go as planned, but it totally went off the rails! What’s surprising, however, is that when we go to the beginning we find that things were good…they were very good! God made light, air, water, land, stars, birds, fish, animals, humans, and rest; and it was all very good! And even when problems happened, God was there to provide and help us work through the problems.

Take slavery for example. God’s people were enslaved in Egypt for decades, for a generation. But then God called on a very special person to lead the people into freedom and throw off the scourge of oppression. Who was this special leader? Her name was Miriam! Miriam’s leadership began when her baby brother was thrown into the Nile river to die; but she intervened and delivered the boy to someone who could help. Not just anyone; the daughter of Pharaoh. Her baby brother grew up; and even though he had his issues, he managed to help get the people out of Egypt, and when they finally made it through the Red Sea: Miriam was there supervising: to make sure Moses didn’t mess it up! She led all the women in a song which we heard read tonight. By Maria. And in case you didn’t know. Miriam is the Hebrew form of Maria. 

One of the great privileges of having freedom and prosperity is sharing it with others. Isaiah the prophet writes in chapter 55 of his book that so bountiful and wonderful is God’s grace and what God has done for God’s people that it has not gone unnoticed. Rather the whole world has seen and heard about what God has done with God’s people and for that reason others want to get in on the action! Isaiah says that, “You shall call nations that you don’t know and nations that you don’t know shall stream to you!” 

It is overwhelming to consider all of the people God brings into our life. People can come to you with such overwhelming needs that you might feel that you don’t have the resources to deal with them. When people come into our lives they have their own ideas, their own way of doing things, and we struggle to know what to do about it; or how to help. That is how King Nebudchanazzar felt about all the Jewish people he liberated from Jerusalem. Out of his own graciousness he brought these people to Babylon to teach them the enlightened ways of that great empire. But despite his best efforts; they just wouldn’t learn. In particular Shadrac, Meshac, and Abendego would not learn the ways of the Babylonians and insisted on maintaining their religious and cultural uniqueness. So the king felt he had no other choice but to destroy them. So he threw them into a fiery furnace. 

In an act of sheer strangeness they didn’ die, they weren’t burned, and when they came out, they didn’t even smell like smoke. The other night we decided to have a fire in a firepit in the backyard. I smelled like smoke for days. I had to wash my clothing and towels multiple times to get the smoke smell out. So how could Shadrac, Meshac, and Abendego come out smelling like a rose? How come we don’t experience the same level of protection and miracles?

Paul tells us why. He says that if Christ died on a cross even though he was without sin, and if we are baptized into his same baptism, then we expect the cross in our own lives too. We can expect suffering that we don’t deserve. But, just as Christ was raised from the dead, we can expect new life and resurrection in our lives too even after suffering and death. Why? Because we are saved by Grace, through faith, and not by ou