WE ARE PHARAOH
AND PHARISEE
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery has
established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been
reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s body may show forth in their lives what
they profess by their faith; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
~ Collect of the Day, Second Sunday of Easter,
Book of Common Prayer,
p. 172-73
As Christians observe
the Great Fifty Days of Easter, it is time to reflect on the work that Christ
has done for us on the Cross, giving us new life, reconciling us with God, and showing
us what it means to be created in the image of God and how power and status are
rightly used. It is an opportunity, too,
to consider where we fit into Easter
story and its antecedent, the Exodus story.
In both of these stories, God breaks into the history of the world to
free those who are prisoners and to help those who are unable to help
themselves.
I think most of us, if
we imagine ourselves in the Exodus story, imagine we are among the Israelites,
laboring and yearning for freedom. When
we hear the Easter story, and the gospel stories generally, we like to think of
ourselves as among the disciples. In
both cases, we are among the chosen. To
be sure, both the Israelites and the disciples are flawed in their ability to
hear what God is telling them and to do His will, and we identify with those
shortcomings and struggles, but they are, nevertheless, the ones in
relationship with God.
But in many ways Christians today are more closely
aligned with Pharaoh and the Pharisees.
We do not hear the cries of those we oppress; we believe we are entitled
to oppress certain others because of our God-like status as bearers of God’s
image; and we believe that our particular status before God means we do not
need to be concerned with those not in our favored group. Like Pharaoh and Pharisee, if we do not open
our eyes, our ears, and our hearts, we will pay a price.
In the Exodus story, Moses seeks freedom for his people,
but Pharaoh refuses. Moses returns time
and again, each time warning of a new plague if Pharaoh will not free the
Hebrews. Pharaoh, however, hardens his heart and the plagues come, each one
worse than the last. Pharaoh would not hear the cries of the Israelites, and he
would not let them go, both because he benefitted from their misery and because
he did not believe their misery mattered. He let greed, vanity, and pride rule
his heart. In the end, the entire nation
of Egypt and Pharaoh himself suffered great devastation because of that greed,
vanity, and pride, and Pharaoh learned he was not so powerful after all.
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| Tissot, Moses Speaks to Pharaoh |
