Same Old Pharaoh
October 27, 2020
John Edgerton
Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’” Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Now get to work.”
Exodus 5:10-23
You might not know it, but Pharaoh is still alive. Pharaoh is still rigging the game against poor people. Pharaoh is still hoarding resources so that a few might live in obscene opulence while millions go without the basics. Pharaoh is still creating and maintaining intolerable conditions for ordinary people, then calling them lazy when they demand their fair share.
Who are you to demand a higher minimum wage? Get back to work.
Who are you to demand equal pay for women? Get back to work.
Who are you to demand justice for people of color? Get back to work.
Pharaoh is still alive and well, that’s the bad news. The good news is that Pharaoh has the same old tired playbook as ever. And Pharaoh cannot prevail against God. God reminds people to whom they truly belong. When we give ourselves to God, we remember that we belong to the Lord of Heaven and Earth. We are truly free. Chains of debt, systemic sexism and institutional racism cannot long hold us.
God of the Exodus, God who breaks every chain, do with us today what You did in ages past.
