Remembering the Exodus means Giving Alms

Twice in Dt. 24, God commands Israel to remember that they were slaves in Egypt and therefore they are required to care for the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows. Earlier in Deuteronomy Moses exhorts the people to remember that they were slaves in Egypt and to keep the Sabbath (Dt. 5:15), remember they were slaves in Egypt and send their slaves away with great riches (15:15), remember they were slaves in Egypt and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with the strangers, widows, and orphans in their midst (16:12). It is striking that Moses ties this “remembering” to being generous to the strangers, widows, and orphans in Israel. This meal is of course our great memorial. Here we enact a great “remembering” that we were all once slaves and God has freed us. This remembering week after week should send us into the world accordingly. If you eat with the King of the Universe every Lord’s Day, then you are called up to live like that Monday through Saturday. Eating here means that God has freed you and is freeing you from all slavery. Every week God calls us to remember that we were once slaves in Egypt and therefore we ought to go home and feast and celebrate in our families and with our neighbors and friends. Every week God calls us to remember that we were once slaves to lusts and greed and immorality and therefore we ought to give bigger tips at restaurants, better presents on holidays, and be carelessly generous with the people that we work with, live near, and come in contact with. Here, with this bread and wine we remember that great Exodus that Jesus performed in his passion, death, and resurrection, that Exodus which Moses and Elijah discussed with Jesus on the mount of Transfiguration. Therefore come, eat, drink, rejoice, and take this joy and salvation out into the world.