2 Cor. 8:7-15
I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written, "The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little." – 2 Cor 8:13-15
That last bit in the epistle reading for today, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little,” is a reference to the manna in the wilderness, which fed the Hebrew people after they had escaped from slavery in Egypt, and before they found their way to the promised land. The story of the Exodus is memorialized in the feast of the Passover, the annual spring celebration of freedom and national pride.
Passover recreates and renews the memory of liberation from bondage, as the Seder service answers the question, "What does this celebration and remembrance mean to you?"
This celebration is to make me feel as though I had personally come out of Egypt. The events and miracles of the Exodus from Egypt have become my personal experience. I celebrate here in order that I may remember all the days of my life the day of my going forth from the land of Egypt; that I may bear witness to the divine promise which has ever stood by me; and that a new hope and strength may be kindled within me in the midst of my present trials and steady labors toward that day which is all good.
Every time the feast of Passover is celebrated, we are reminded that we are still in the wilderness, in a sense. We continue wandering toward the promised land. None of us are free until all of us are free. This isn’t the promised land until it is flowing with milk and honey for everyone. Not just for our people but for all people, including the widow, the orphan, and the alien in the land.
The whole chorus of the prophets continue to cry out for justice in every land. The test of a nation’s faithfulness is measured by how the powerful treat the weak, how the citizen treats the alien, how the wealthy treat the poor. This is not socialism. It is gospel.
On the night of betrayal and desertion, and on the eve of his death, our Lord Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples. The Passover embodies his final sermon. This celebration is to make us feel as though we had personally come out of Egypt. We celebrate here in order to remember all the days of our lives the day of our going forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, that we may bear witness to the divine promise which has ever stood by us, and that a new hope and strength be kindled with us in the midst of our present trials and steady labors toward that day which is all good.
“None of us are free, if one of us is chained, none of us are free.”
