October 15th

Exodus 15:1-16.36; Matthew 28:1-20; Psalm 21:8-13

Sorry we are so late today – just one of those days. The people of Israel keep having “one of those days”, and they aren’t afraid to tell Moses and Aaron about it. But then there is a very different side to the story, where Moses and Miriam tell God how it really is.

On the one hand then we have the song of Moses and the Song of Miriam. If you remember back, Miriam is Moses big sister who watched over the basket, these two people have been at the centre of it all from the start. They have seen God truly at work through everything that has happened to the people of Israel and they want to sing about it for the nation to hear. When you think about some of the things we sing at church, when we sing about creation and we sing about God as the personal saviour, that is what Moses and Miriam are up to here.

Then at the start of ch16 we get back to the bad day, where Israel tell Moses that they would have referred to have died in Egypt. At least they would have had food in front of them!!! Sometime I bet Moses feels as though he just couldn’t win.

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Sometime you can’t please everyone!

I am finding the Old Testament a real joy because we don’t do enough of it. But the Gospel also blows our minds today, the resurrection and the great commission. The Resurrection is that point when Jesus breaks all the moulds. OK, he has raised people from the dead in the past but here he descends to the very depths of hell, defeats death and then raises himself from the dead. Just like God provided the people with Manna after they had been whinging, well here he provides the people with eternal life when they thought he was dead and it was all over. Once he has done this Jesus challenges the disciples that they must follow his example and lead people to him and therefore  to the father in heaven.

When we feel as if there is no next step, we find that God is already 10 steps ahead and the path is opened up. No matter how tough the going, keep following Jesus and the path will become clear.