Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Third Sunday in Lent, Series C
Listen to the sermon here.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you think the group of people that marched out of Egypt in the middle of the night, headed for the Promised Land, were privileged? They saw things that no one ever saw before or since. They were a part of things that no one had been a part of before or since. They witnessed the devastation of the Ten Plagues upon Egypt. Israel saw the Creator God blazing a trail for them through the wilderness with a pillar of cloud in the daytime and a pillar of fire at night. Who else but Israel had walked through the center of the Red Sea on dry ground with the water stacked up on both sides? They had heard the voice of God himself. He fed them miraculously in the desert. Were they privileged? You bet they were!
Like those Israelites of old, all of us Christians are privileged people. The grace of God has touched each one of us. We are people who have received a baptism in which God brought forgiveness and adoption into our lives. Like those Israelites, we have the privilege of eating and drinking spiritual food again and again—the very body and blood that Jesus Christ gave and shed for us. And as many of you would be quick to remind me, you were born, baptized, confirmed, and married in this very Church. Are we privileged? You bet we are!
Yet St. Paul the apostle has a warning for us. Those privileged Israelites sinned so grievously that God was furious with most of them. God killed every adult Israelite in the wilderness except Caleb and Joshua. What about us? How many of us will make it to the promised land of heaven?
Continue reading “Sermon: Remember the Case of Israel (1 Corinthians 10:1-13)”