Rev Francisco BilogDeuteronomy 26:6-9; Genesis 47:9
Several Filipino veterans of the Second World War who are now living well in the USA are longing to return home to the Philippines where they have their own family. Some often tell me that they want to come to the Philippines to die and be buried here.
We see from the scripture that the people of ancient Israel led a very nomadic life as they moved with their flocks from place to place. The Israelites also lived in Egypt for over four hundred and thirty years before Moses led them out. They were also held in Babylon and Assyria for seventy year. Then for two thousand years the Jewish people did not have a country. Until 1948 they lived as nomads in various countries. In fact, the history of Israel is a history of nomads. Therefore, the Bible tells us to treat the strangers and the travelers well.
Today’s scripture tell us, “But the Egyptian mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand an outstretch arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deut. 26:6-9.)
In Isaiah 40:1 the prophets is writing after seventy years of captivity in Babylon and says: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”
I want to share with you three lessons from today’s scripture.
First, in our life of faith we are all travelers.
In the Bible there are lots of stories about travelers. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob moved from place to place living in tents made of sheepskins. The Israelites who were captive in Babylon were travelers yearning to go home. Jesus was also a traveler. His parents took him and fled to Egypt just after he was born. As an adult, Jesus preached the gospel for three years traveling from place to place. Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nest but the Son of man has no place to lay his head.” (Matt. 8:20) Jesus teaches us that our life here on earth is the temporary one of a traveler, that our homeland is heaven, and that we yearn to go home.
Peter says in I Peter 2:11 that we live, “…as aliens and stranger in the world…” the Apostle also says in Philippians 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven.” The English author John Bunyan wrote in the Pilgrim’s Progress described that the life of a traveler is walking toward heaven. We are all living a traveler’s life.
When Joseph brought his father to Egypt and took him to meet the Pharaoh, the Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was. “And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “the years of my pilgrimage are hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.”” (Gen. 47:9). Here Jacob said his life was that of a traveler. We are all travelers, and at our final stop we must leave everything behind. As we travel through life, let us not load ourselves down with heavy burdens for at the end of our trip we leave everything.
Second, let us be travelers who have patience and hope.
Even if life here is good, it is not as good as in the kingdom of heaven. We should not have hope only for things on this earth but also for our home in the kingdom of heaven. In order to have this hope, we must live with patience and endurance.
As Christians our final hope is eternal life. We must live doing good works and showing love for others because when we die, we return to our Father’s house. This is the Christian life.
Mr. Maximo Soliven, the Founder of The Daily Inquirer died last December 2006 of heart attack in Japan. As he had written in his Last Will. He will be cremated and be buried in the Philippines, his homeland. The Philippine Government honored him by burying his remains at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani. As Christians we have the faith and hope that after we are buried in our homeland, we will go to our eternal home in the kingdom of heaven. Even though Joseph became prime minister of Egypt, he asked, when he lay dying, that his body be buried in his homeland.
So when Moses was leading the people of Israel out of Egypt, he carried the bones of Joseph at the front of the procession. Joseph’s wish to be buried in his homeland was fulfilled.
Where is your hope as you travel? Our hope is to go home to his father’s place in heaven. If we believe in Jesus our hope is eternal life. We Christians have the hope of life after death. We must never give up that hope until we arrive at our final station which is the kingdom of heaven.
God will help us realize our hope. “So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretch arm with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders.” (Deut. 26:8)
Third, we must have faith that we have an eternal home.
John 14: 2-3 says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. I will come back and take you to be with me that you may be where I am.” Jesus also said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is the road and no one can go to except along that road. We must travel that road to return to our home which is with God.
We remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We see the rich man eating and drinking but never giving food to the beggar Lazarus. We see that when they both died, the rich man went to hell whereas Lazarus went to heaven. There in heaven Lazarus was welcomed home by Abraham.
The rich man, seeing Lazarus in heaven, asked Abraham to send Lazarus to help him. But Abraham said that between heaven and hell there was a big chasm which could not be crossed. The rich man then asked that Lazarus be sent to warn the rich man’s brothers. Abraham said, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even of someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:31). This is a parable which describes eternity and our travel there.
The Rev. Emerson Fosdick was a famous pastor of Riverside Church in New York. A young man, who did not believe in the Bible, once asked him, “How do you know there is heaven?” Dr. Fosdick told the man this story. A mother was going to have twins. The twins were very crowded in the mother’s womb. One asked the other, “Do you think that this is the end of life?” the other twin said,” Of course, there is another world, one that bright and wonderful.” The first asked, “How do you know?” the second replied, “My eyes are becoming clear and my hands and feet are moving and getting bigger.” After they were born into this world, they saw the life that came after darkness.
Likewise, even if we cannot see clearly and our life here on earth is being lived in darkness, we can see the light of heaven in the distance, the light of Jesus who leads us into the kingdom of heaven.
Sometimes our life is so dark that we want to end our life. But remember that we have the hope of the kingdom of heaven so let us wait in hope when God calls us home. Even if the way sometimes seems long and wearing, we know we will have a wonderful welcome from Jesus at our heavenly homecoming.