Exodus

During the first three weeks of Lent, those who pray the Office of Readings read daily from the Book of Exodus.  This week, we find that the Israelites, having been led out of Egypt by the Lord, are exquisite whiners.  They fear that the Egyptian army will crush them; they are hungry; they have no water -- and they complain.  In each instance, they long for the relative safety and comfort of their slavery in Egypt.  In each instance, they are saved by the Lord.  Pharaoh's chariots and charioteers are swept into the sea.  The Israelites find manna in abundance in the morning; quail, at night.  Moses strikes a rock with his rod at Massah and Meribah, and water flows.

In other words, Exodus depicts a people from whom a heavy burden has been lifted; they are free.  Their reaction: "This is hard!"  They prefer the easy acquiescence to the responsibiity-free days of forced labor and abundant pork of Egypt's fleshpots.

These are great stories because they work at so many levels.  Christians read these stories not only as the history of the deliverance of the "stiff-necked" Israelites out of Egypt, but as a pre-figuring of a more global Passover.  Christ, the Paschal lamb, leads sinners out of the bondage of sin and death to the Promised Land of communion with God.

I don't mean to be harsh in my assessment of the Israelites.  I think that these stories have such an enduring appeal, not because they attempt to describe actions just at a cosmic scale, but at a human, personal scale, as well.  I recognize the reaction because it is my reaction to difficult days all too often.  It is the reaction of a recovering alcoholic or addict, longing for familiar escape.  Even well into to sobriety, it's natural to wish that life freed from our own slavery didn't require constant diligence.  In that way, the story of the Israelites suggest the story of addicts in recovery.  It is hard.

Of course, the Israelites were right about one thing; they didn't leave Egypt and slavery behind to die in the desert.  They had a destination, however difficult it may be to achieve.  In recovery, we are freed from our slavery to drink or drugs, but sobriety isn't the destination.  Sobriety is the liberation from our slavery and a journey to undertake, as well.  For most of us, it involves doing the work to understand how we came to be drunks and addicts and to do what we can to repair the damage we've done.  We have our own Promised Land to get to.