As we gather in worship, O Lord, we do so in anticipation. We long to be closer to you. We long for a deeper sense of what it is you desire of our live. Speak to us in this time that we set aside to listen for your Word at work in our lives. Through Christ, our Lord, we beg. Amen.
I have dreaded the day that we would reach this passage in Exodus. It is one that is very difficult to deal with as we see Moses send Aaron and the Levites out to kill fellow Hebrews, their kin. Moses speaks for God, so effectively God is giving the order to kill God's own people. Yes, this is a hard story for me to deal with.
So as I read this passage over, I really struggled with finding something that would stick out, that I could connect with, something that would help me to make sense of it all. And there it was, in verse 29, which reads, "Then Moses said, 'Today you have been dedicated to the LORD, for you were against your own sons and kinsmen, to bring a blessing upon yourselves this day.'" I think that at the core of this story is not so much God or Moses this time. Rather, I think at the core of this story is Aaron and the Levites, for they were willing to place doing the will of God above even family.
Back then, the bonds of kinship meant more than they do today. To be a part of a family was to be a part of a certain identity. There was security in that identity: you knew who was going to be there for you. A large part of one's purpose in life was to be a fully functioning member of that particular body. Sometimes, I think that today it is hard for us to grasp the significance of what family was back then in the lives of those people. To make a decision to move in a way that was incongruent with the family system was absurd. It was the abandonment of everything that one was and was becoming. It was the rejection of one destiny in favor of another.
For Aaron and the Levites to choose God over family was no small thing. To do so pitted them against the vast majority around them. It was the type of decision that would have consequences through the generations.
Perhaps another reason that we might have difficulty fathoming the depths of what Aaron and the Levites are doing is because Christianity still has a privileged place in our culture. Even though we see church membership declining in America across the board, it is pretty obvious that the Christian religion is still the one that holds the most status, the most social and political power.
What Aaron and the Levites did on that day put them at odds with the dominant group around them and was very risky. We however are the dominant group. So, as Christians, we don't have to fear that practicing our religion as faithfully as we can is going to put us at odds with the dominant group around us, because we are the dominant group.
Of course, Christians were not always the dominant religious group in the West. And when we were a minority, things were very, very different indeed.
I want to relay to you the story of a woman who lived around the year 200 AD in Carthage. Her name was Perpetua. She was a noble. She was also a convert to Christianity. Of course, back then, being a Christian was a crime. You see, Christians were considered to be atheists by the Romans because they would not worship all of the Roman gods. Atheists were considered by the Romans to be dangerous to society because their lack of devotion and civic duty brought divine wrath upon them all.
When one was suspected to be a Christian, therefore, they were brought forward to burn incense before a statue of the Roman Emperor (who was seen as divine), thus making a sacrifice to the gods and praying for his prosperity.
The theory was that if one were truly a Christian, then that person would not engage in this religious ritual because of their adamant proclamation that their allegiance lay with Christ alone. Those who refused to do the ritual were declared officially to be "Christian" and were executed in the arena so that spectators might watch them be devoured by wild beasts.
What I am about to read is believed to have been penned by the hand of Perpetua herself, a 20-year old mother of a child who was still young enough to breast feed. I'm not reading the whole thing, just parts so that we can all get a feel for what it was like to be Christian in another place and in another age. Notice especially her struggle with her father who is trying to convince her to renounce her faith.
Then my father angry with this word came upon me to tear out my eyes; but he only vexed me, and he departed vanquished, he and the arguments of the devil. Then because I was without my father for a few days I gave thanks unto the Lord; and I was comforted because of [my father's] absence. In this same space of a few days we were baptised, and the Spirit declared to me, I must pray for nothing else after that water save only endurance of the flesh. After a few days we were taken into prison, and I was much afraid because I had never known such darkness. O bitter day! There was a great heat because of the press, there was cruel handling of the soldiers. Lastly I was tormented there by care for the child.
5. A few days after, the report went abroad that we were to be tried. Also my father returned from the city spent with weariness; and he came up to me to cast down my faith saying: Have pity, daughter, on my grey hairs; have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be,called father by you; if with these hands I have brought you unto this flower of youth- and I-have preferred you before all your brothers [then don't] give me…over to the reproach of men. Look upon your brothers; look upon your mother and mother's sister; look upon your son, who will not endure to live after you. Give up your resolution; do not destroy us all together; for none of us will speak openly against men again if you suffer aught.
This he said fatherly in his love, kissing my hands and grovelling at my feet; and with tears he named me, not daughter, but lady. [hence, he is disowning her] And I was grieved for my father's case because he would not rejoice at my passion out of all my kin; and I comforted him, saying: That [which] shall be done at this tribunal, [is whatever God pleases]; for know that we are not established in our own power, but in God's. And he went from me very sorrowful. …
6. Another day as we were at meal we were suddenly snatched away to be tried; and we came to the forum. … [A] very great multitude gathered together. We went up to the tribunal. The others being asked, confessed [Christ]. So they came to me. And my father appeared there also, with my son, and would draw me from the step, saying: Perform the Sacrifice; have mercy on the child. And Hilarian the procurator…said: Spare your father's grey hairs; spare the infancy of the boy. Make sacrifice for the Emperors' prosperity. And I answered: I am a Christian. And when my father stood by me yet to cast down my faith, he was bidden by Hilarian to be cast down and was smitten with a rod. And I sorrowed for my father's harm as though I had been smitten myself; so sorrowed I for his unhappy old age. Then Hilarian passed sentence upon us all and condemned us to the beasts…