It may not seem like a particularly important point, but in truth it carries tremendous significance. It’s there in our reading from Deuteronomy for today, and we find it in other sections of scripture as well. It is the sense that there are some events in the history of God’s people that are so transcendent that even now, centuries later, we speak as though we were actually present when they occurred.
“When your children ask you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your children, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand’” (Deuteronomy 6:20-21). “WE were Pharaoh’s slaves…but the Lord brought US out of Egypt…”. The exodus then is an event shared by all of God’s people, regardless of when or where they lived. Even we who live millennia later lay claim to the captivity in Egypt and the work of God’s “mighty hand” in leading us to freedom.
We are witnesses. The word for witness shares its root with the word meaning martyr. When we offer our witness to events we do so even at the risk of our lives. So we point to the exodus and say, “yes, we believe that God liberated the people and led them to freedom.” And we who are Christians point to the life of Jesus and say, “yes, we believe that God sent the Messiah into the world to save the lost and to tend the sick.” And when we offer this witness, we take our place among the billions of people who, over the centuries, have given the same testimony, and it is as though each and every one of us have made the journey and seen the ministry and experienced the truth of the resurrection–because, by God’s grace we have! Thanks be to God.
Prayer: Lord give us courage to add our voices to those of the witnesses who have gone before us and of those who will follow after. Amen.
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