Exodus From Sin

The story of the Titanic has captured the hearts of a new generation of Americans. The tragedy strengthens our awareness of the frailty of human life. In spite of humanity's best efforts, the great ship fell subject to the powers of nature. The story hauntingly reminds Americans that our insatiable search for ever greater technological heights will only warn us that the natural powers we seek to conquer hold secrets beyond imagining. Still, the clash between human invention and natural forces never daunts us. It keeps us striving ever upward.

We all fight nature every day. El Niño has caused painful destruction. The air conditioner, the umbrella, sunglasses, and all weather tires all express our endless quest to put nature in its place. The story of the Titanic struck a chord within the American consciousness. It's not just a story about "them". It's a story about us.

Other stories have shaped us. The revolutionary war rooted us in the virtue of independence. The civil war tested our racial charity. World War II confirmed our position as a giant among world powers. Our stories don't just tell us who we were; they tell us who we are.

In our spiritual tradition, there is one story which forever defined who we were and who we are. It is the exodus from Egypt, the single most important story in the Old Testament. You'll hear it at the Easter Vigil. The exodus tells about God's faithfulness, Israel's belief, the destruction of the enemy, the freedom of God's chosen, and the miraculous parting of the waters which made it all possible. That moment defined Israel and established a paradigm for our spiritual life. God has offered us a covenant, the destruction of evil, and the freedom of life. It all happens through water.

Next Sunday's first reading (Isaiah 43:16-21) recalls the great experience of the exodus. Writing about 550 BC, the author was retelling an event that happened seven hundred years before. He wrote these words to a community which was suffering exile again. After years of captivity in Babylon, God's chosen people needed hope that one day freedom would guide them home. For the writer of this portion of Isaiah, the parallels to the exodus were clear. God who had established a covenant with ancient Israel would affirm it again. God who defeated Israel's foe in Egypt would defeat the enemy again. God who led Israel to the promised land would restore them there again.

To make the point, Isaiah says the exodus, great as it was, will pale before the new exodus God will work. As God once brought the chosen people through the sea, now God will bring them through desert. Where once they walked through water, now they will drink water. Like a blockbuster movie, the second exodus would be a remake of the first, more successful because of better insights.

This story, centering on the Babylonian exile, completes the sketch of Old Testament history which the first readings of lent have mapped out for us. Each year week five of lent opens with a prophecy from the period of the exile. One of the last significant moments in the Hebrew scriptures, the exile purified Israel, and the return reestablished them in their own land. There they awaited the fulfillment of God's promise, the One who would bring them the ultimate freedoms: freedom from sin and freedom from death.

By comparing the two exoduses--one from Egypt and one from Babylon--Isaiah foreshadows the two journeys of lent--one bringing freedom through baptism and one bringing freedom through repentance. Throughout lent we experience a double celebration: Catechumens prepare for their own exodus, leaving behind their former way of life and finding the Christian freedom through the parting of the waters of baptism; and the faithful prepare for our own exodus, leaving behind the sins we commit and finding the freedom of forgiveness. We will renew our baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil and be sprinkled with the newly blessed waters of life.

When we do so, we retell one of the great stories of our spiritual history. The exodus, the resurrection, and the catechumen all have this in common. Their story is not just about "them". It's about us.

[First published in the Catholic Key on March 22, 1998; for the 5th Sunday of Lent, Year B]