The Room
TEXT: Exodus 12:1-14
INTRODUCTION
LITTLE NANCY ASKED HER MOTHER ONE SUNDAY AS SHE WAS PREPARING LUNCH WHY SHE CUT THE ENDS OFF THE HAM BEFORE SHE COOKED IT. MOM REPLIED, “WELL, I’M NOT REALLY SURE. I SUPPOSE YOU CUT THE ENDS OFF THE HAM SO THE HAM CAN BETTER ABSORB THE JUICES AND SPICES AND MAKE IT MORE TENDER. I LEARNED IT FROM GRANDMA THOUGH. WHY DON’T YOU CALL HER AND ASK HER.”
NANCY CALLED GRANDMA AND ASKED HER THE SAME QUESTION. GRANDMA SAID, “WELL HONEY, I REALLY HAVEN’T EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT IT FOR A WHILE. I DON’T REMEMBER, BUT I GUESS YOUR MOTHER IS RIGHT. I GUESS IT IS SO THE HAM CAN BETTER ABSORB THE JUICES AND SPICES AND MAKE IT MORE TENDER. BUT, I LEARNED IT FROM YOUR GREAT GRANDMA. WHY DON’T YOU CALL HER AND ASK HER.”
NANCY, A LITTLE FRUSTRATED WITH THE RUN AROUND WENT AHEAD AND CALLED GREAT GRANDMA AND HER ASKED THE SAME QUESTION, TELLING HER THE SAME POSSIBLE EXPLANATION.
GREAT GRANDMA THOUGHT ABOUT IT FOR A MINUTE AND BEGAN TO LAUGH. THEN SHE SAID, “WELL NANCY, I DON’T KNOW ABOUT MUCH ABOUT JUICES AND SPICES. I DO KNOW THAT IF I DON’T CUT THE ENDS OFF MY HAM, IT WON’T FIT IN MY PAN.” 1
· Sometimes either we’re not sure, or we’ve forgotten why we do things
· Today is Communion Sunday and it can be the same way with Communion
š We can allow it to become so mechanical that we forget what it’s about
· Today’s text is full of meaning & significance
· Go back today to & look at the Old Testament to help us understand some of that significance
I. TELL STORY
A. Israelites have been slaves in Egypt for 400 years
1. Moses & Aaron appear on the scene to deliver them & to lead them to
their own land
2. Pharoah, of course, refused to let them go, even after God sent a
series of plagues on the Egyptians
3. God says He is going to send one more plague on Egypt. He says He
is going to send His death angel through the country and slay the firstborn son of every mother and family in the country.
4. The Israelites will be spared this catastrophe if they will take a lamb – a
one year old male lamb without defects, slaughter it, eat it in the prescribed manner, & take some of its blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of their houses.
5. Then, when the death angel comes, He will see the blood and pass
over that particular house. (Hence the name pass over)
6. The Israelites would escape God’s judgment because of the blood
of the Lamb
II. BLOOD IS STILL THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE GOD’S JUDGMENT
A. Not the blood of a lamb, but the blood of Jesus Christ
1. BAD NEWS - We are sinners and the consequences of our sin is
judgment and damnation
2. Ro 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
3. Ro. 6:23 – “The wages of sin is death…
B. Wm Barclay says the New Testament uses five different Greek words for sin
– each with different slant to help us understand what sin is 2
§ Each one points a finger at us
1. Hamartia – Missing the mark or the target. Not being as good as we
could be. Example: Husband, wife, neighbor as we could be?
2. Parabasis – Stepping across. Sin is stepping across the line which is
drawn between right and wrong
(a) Example: Cross the line from honesty into dishonesty, from
truth to falsehood, from selflessness to selfishness
3. Paraptoma – Slipping across. Same idea as parabasis but not as
deliberate. Slip across between right and wrong
(a) Words slip out, swept away by some impulse or passion
which cause us to lose our self control
4. Anomia – Lawlessness. This is the sin of the one who knows the
right and who does the wrong. Know the law yet breaks the law
5. Opheilay’ma – Debt. Failure to pay that which is due or a failure in
duty. No one has ever totally fulfilled their duty to God and man.
Failure to pay that debt is opheilay’ma
C. The Bad News was that we are all sinners.
1. The Good News is that God provided another Lamb
2. Jn 1:29 – John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming & said, “Look, the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. “
IN THAT PLACE BETWEEN WAKEFULNESS AND DREAMS, I FOUND
MYSELF IN THE ROOM. THERE WERE NO DISTINGUISHING FEATURES SAVE
FOR THE ONE WALL COVERED WITH SMALL INDEXCARD FILES. THEY WERE
LIKE THE ONES IN LIBRARIES THAT LIST TITLES BY AUTHOR OR SUBJECT IN
ALPHABETICAL ORDER. BUT THESE FILES, WHICH STRETCHED FROM FLOOR
TO CEILING AND SEEMINGLY ENDLESSLY IN EITHER DIRECTION, HAD VERY
DIFFERENT HEADINGS. AS I DREW NEAR THE WALL OF FILES, THE FIRST TO
CATCH MY ATTENTION WAS ONE THAT READ “PEOPLE I HAVE LIKED.” I
OPENED IT AND BEGAN FLIPPING THROUGH THE CARDS. I QUICKLY SHUT IT,
SHOCKED TO REALIZE THAT I RECOGNIZED THE NAMES WRITTEN ON EACH
ONE.
AND THEN WITHOUT BEING TOLD, I KNEW EXACTLY WHERE I WAS. THIS
LIFELESS ROOM WITH ITS SMALL FILES WAS A CRUDE CATALOG SYSTEM FOR
MY LIFE. HERE WERE WRITTEN THE ACTIONS OF MY EVERY MOMENT, BIG
AND SMALL, IN A DETAIL MY MEMORY COULDN’T MATCH.
A SENSE OF WONDER AND CURIOSITY, COUPLED WITH HORROR,
STIRRED WITHIN ME AS I BEGAN RANDOMLY OPENING FILES AND EXPLORING
THEIR CONTENT. SOME BROUGHT JOY AND SWEET MEMORIES; OTHERS A
SENSE OF SHAME AND REGRET SO INTENSE THAT I WOULD LOOK OVER MY
SHOULDER TO SEE IF ANYONE WAS WATCHING. A FILE NAMED “FRIENDS”
WAS NEXT TO ONE MARKED “FRIENDS I HAVE BETRAYED.”
THE TITLES RANGED FROM THE MUNDANE TO THE OUTRIGHT WEIRD.
“BOOKS I HAVE READ”, “LIES I HAVE TOLD”, “COMFORT I HAVE GIVEN”,
“JOKES I HAVE LAUGHED AT”. SOME WERE ALMOST HILARIOUS IN THEIR
EXACTNESS: “THINGS I’VE YELLED AT MY BROTHERS.” OTHERS I COULDN’T
LAUGH AT: “THINGS I HAVE DONE IN MY ANGER”, “THINGS I HAVE MUTTERED
UNDER MY BREATH AT MY PARENTS”. I NEVER CEASED TO BE SURPRISED BY
THE CONTENTS. OFTEN THERE WERE MANY MORE CARDS THAN I EXPECTED.
SOMETIMES FEWER THAN I HOPED.
I WAS OVERWHELMED BY THE SHEER VOLUME OF THE LIFE I HAD
LIVED. COULD IT BE POSSIBLE THAT I HAD THE TIME IN MY 20 YEARS TO
WRITE EACH OF THESE THOUSANDS OR EVEN MILLIONS OF CARDS? BUT
EACH CARD CONFIRMED THIS TRUTH. EACH WAS WRITTEN IN MY OWN
HANDWRITING. EACH SIGNED WITH MY SIGNATURE.
WHEN I PULLED OUT THE FILE MARKED “SONGS I HAVE LISTENED TO”, I
REALIZED THE FILES GREW TO CONTAIN THEIR CONTENTS. THE CARDS
WERE PACKED TIGHTLY, AND YET AFTER TWO OR THREE YARDS, I HADN”T
FOUND THE END OF THE FILE. I SHUT IT, SHAMED, NOT SO MUCH BY THE
QUALITY OF MUSIC, BUT MORE BY THE VAST AMOUNT OF TIME I KNEW THAT
FILE REPRESENTED.
WHEN I CAME TO A FILE MARKED “LUSTFUL THOUGHTS”, I FELT A CHILL
RUN THROUGH MY BODY. I PULLED THE FILE OUT ONLY AN INCH, NOT
WILLING TO TEST ITS SIZE, AND DREW OUT A CARD. I SHUDDERED AT ITS
DETAILED CONTENT. I FELT SICK TO THINK THAT SUCH A MOMENT HAD BEEN
RECORDED.
AN ALMOST ANIMAL RAGE BROKE ON ME. ONE THOUGHT DOMINATED
MY THOUGHTS. “NO ONE MUST EVER SEE THESE CARDS! NO ONE MUST
EVER SEE THIS. I HAVE TO DESTROY THEM!” IN AN INSANE FRENZY I
YANKED THE FILE OUT. ITS SIZE DIDN’T MATTER NOW. I HAD TO EMPTY IT
AND BURN THE CARDS. BUT AS I TOOK IT AT ONE END AND BEGAN
POUNDING IT ON THE FLOOR, I COULD NOT DISLODGE A SINGLE CARD. I
BECAME DESPERATE AND PULLED OUT A CARD, ONLY TO FIND IT AS STRONG
AS STEEL WHEN I TRIED TO TEAR IT.
DEFEATED AND UTTERLY HELPLESS, I RETURNED THE FILE TO ITS
SLOT. LEANING MY FOREHEAD AGAINST THE WALL, I LET OUT A LONG, SELF-
PITYING SIGH. AND THEN I SAW IT. THE TITLE BORE “PEOPLE I HAVE SHARED
THE GOSPEL WITH”. THE HANDLE WAS BRIGHTER THAN THOSE AROUND IT,
NEWER, ALMOST UNUSED. I PULLED ON ITS HANDLE AND A SMALL BOX NOT
MORE THAN THREE INCHES LONG FELL INTO MY HANDS. I COULD COUNT THE
CARDS IT CONTAINED ON ONE HAND.
AND THEN THE TEARS CAME. I BEGAN TO WEEP. SOBS SO DEEP THAT
THE HURT STARTED IN MY STOMACH AND SHOOK THROUGH ME. I FELL ON
MY KNEES AND CRIED. I CRIED OUT OF SHAME, FROM THE OVERWHELMING
SHAME OF IT ALL. THE ROWS OF FILE SHELVES SWIRLED IN MY TEAR-FILLED
EYES. NO ONE MUST EVER, EVER KNOW OF THIS ROOM. I MUST LOCK IT UP
AND HIDE THE KEY.
BUT THEN AS I PUSHED AWAY THE TEARS, I SAW HIM. NO, PLEASE NOT
HIM. NOT HERE. OH, ANYONE BUT JESUS. I WATCHED HELPLESSLY AS HE
BEGAN TO OPEN THE FILES AND READ THE CARDS. I COULDN’T BEAR TO
WATCH HIS RESPONSE. AND IN THE MOMENTS I COULD BRING MYSELF TO
LOOK AT HIS FACE, I SAW A SORROW DEEPER THAN MY OWN. HE SEEMED TO
INTUITIVELY GO TO THE WORST BOXES. WHY DID HE HAVE TO READ EVERY
ONE?
FINALLY HE TURNED AND LOOKED AT ME FROM ACROSS THE ROOM.
HE LOOKED AT ME WITH LOVEIN HIS EYES. I DROPPED MY HEAD, COVERED
MY FACE WITH MY HANDS AND BEGAN TO CRY AGAIN. HE WALKED OVER AND
PUT HIS ARM AROUND ME. HE COULD HAVE SAID SO MANY THINGS. BUT HE
DIDN’T SAY A WORD.
THEN HE GOT UP AND WALKED BACK TO THE WALL OF FILES.
STARTING AT ONE END OF THE ROOM, HE TOOK OUT A FILE AND, ONE BY
ONE, BEGAN TO SIGN HIS NAME OVER MINE ON EACH CARD.
“NO!” I SHOUTED RUSHING TO HIM. ALL I COULD FIND TO SAY WAS “NO,
NO,” AS I PULLED THE CARD FROM HIM. HIS NAME SHOULDN’T BE ON THESE
CARDS. BUT THERE IT WAS, WRITTEN IN RED SO RICH, SO DARK, SO ALIVE.
THE NAME OF JESUS COVERED MINE. IT WAS WRITTEN WITH HIS BLOOD.
HE GENTLY TOOK THE CARD BACK. HE SMILED AND BEGAN TO SIGN
THE CARDS. I’LL NEVER UNDERSTAND HOW HE DID IT SO QUICKLY, BUT THE
NEXT INSTANT IT SEEMED I HEARD HIM CLOSE THE LAST FILE AND WALK
BACK TO MY SIDE. HE PLACED HIS HAND ON MY SHOULDER AND SAID, “IT IS
FINISHED.” 3
CONCLUSION
Heb 9: 11-14 – “When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.”
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1 This story has been told in various sundry ways. I do not remember where I first heard it.
2 These Greek definitions are taken from William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible Series on the Book of Matthew, Volume 1, pages 220-221.
3 This is another great story that I don’t remember where I first saw it.
Move into Communion Service
