Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Today’s Reading: Exodus
And after suffering a series of ten plagues, Pharaoh said, “Just go!!” Exodus 13:17, (K’s un-standard version)
That line is actually not in the Bible, although it’s certainly implied. After ten chapters detailing as many plagues (blood, frogs, gnats, flies, disease, boils, storms, locusts, darkness, and death), the writer of Exodus simply introduces Pharaoh’s action in a subordinate clause, “When Pharaoh let the people go…”, something that just happened. Pharaoh resists the requests of Moses, Aaron and Miriam for plague after plague, and then just caves. Gives in.
We know something about plagues these days. We’re in the middle of a bunch of them. The pandemic, a plague of fear, a plague of racist rhetoric, a plague of unemployment, a plague of indifference to the suffering of other people. I could go on. Wildfires in the West are resulting in murky, darkened skies, where ‘orange is the new blue.’ Yet another plague of lies seems to be issuing from public ‘servants’ entrusted with our safety.
There are times I want to say to 2020, “Just go!!”
And yet, within these plagues lies the potential for liberation. The potential for freedom. A potential new Exodus, even if it is difficult to see any land of promise through the murkiness. Let’s pray that God is somewhere out there, ready to lead us by some sign we can see. -K
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