May 30, 2021
I have a joke for you. A man and his wife are growing older, and they tell the doctor they are having trouble with their memory. He tells them they should start writing things down to remember better. At home, the wife asks for a bowl of ice cream with whipped cream. She tells her husband to write it down, but he says he will remember. She then asks for crushed nuts on top and tells him to write it down. The husband, again, says he can remember. The wife then asks for a cherry on top, and insists the husband write it down. The husband says “No, I’ll remember. Ice cream with whipped cream, crushed nuts, and a cherry.” The wife says “Ok” and the husband goes to get her ice cream. A little while later, he appears from the kitchen with scrambled eggs and bacon. The wife looks at the plate in disbelief before asking “Where’s the toast?”
Memory is so important! Do you hate it when you can’t remember something, or you don’t remember what you were about to do? It’s truly tragic when someone we love has dementia; it takes away a part of who they are. Memory is so important to our lives. It’s a big part of who we are.
At the same time, for Christians, memory can seem like no big deal. Faith is important for following Jesus. Love is really important for a Christian. But what does memory have to do with following God?
The Old Testament is a very big book. It’s bigger than the New Testament. But not everything in the Old Testament is crucial for faith. There are a few stories that were extremely important for the people of Israel. You don’t have to know everything in the Old Testament, but you have to know a few important stories, to know who you are as Israel, and who you are in relationship with God. These most important stories gave God’s people their identity.
In Deuteronomy 6:20, Moses says to the people: In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” When your kid says, “Why do we follow all these laws?” Moses says, 1 tell your kid: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors.
One of the most important stories for the people to remember was: we were slaves. We were slaves, but God brought us out of slavery.
Moses also mentions another most important story. God brought us out of slavery to give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. God promised Abraham the land, and descendants as countless as the stars. Moses continues, so when your kid asks, “Tell me again, why do we do all this stuff for God?” You say, you got to remember we were slaves and God saved us. You also got to remember: God promises us land and life. The memory of those stories was important. It told the people our God is so different from all those other divine beings that other nations worship. Our God loves us so much, he heard our cry and rescued us from slavery! (All the other divine beings couldn’t care less about humans.) And our God provides for us land and abundance, blessing upon blessing. We have a relationship with a God who loves and cares for us, that’s why we do our part, we do what God has asked.
Moses taught the people of Israel that the memory of what God had done for them and what God promised them had to be passed down! That memory explained why they worshipped God; it explained their identity as God’s people.
If you are a Christian you remember Jesus came to earth for us, suffered, died, rose and will come again. If someone says they are a Christian, but they don’t know who Jesus is, well, something not quite right there.
Christianity lives, not by ideas or even by scripture, but by the event and person of Jesus Christ. Scripture is important. It’s important because it tells about Jesus, his life, death and resurrection. The first Christians didn’t have a New Testament. It hadn’t been written yet. But they had fresh memories of Jesus. Or they knew someone who knew Jesus. You have to remember the story of Jesus, to be a Christian.
You have to remember more than just the story of what Jesus said and did. Kevin and I had our anniversary Friday, and we celebrated by going out to eat in Allentown. On the way I saw a mosque, which is an Islamic house of worship. The name of the mosque was “Jesus, son of Mary, mosque.” I thought, that’s a different name for a mosque! I wondered why it was called that? They had also had a digital sign that said, “Why do we honor Jesus?” and the next screen said, “Because we’re muslim!”
Muslims do honor Jesus. According to the Koran, Jesus is one of the prophets, along with Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, and John the Baptist, among others. They believe Jesus was born of a virgin, performed miracles, had disciples, and was rejected by the religious establishment. So far it sounds like what we believe.
But in the faith of Islam, Jesus is “The Son of Mary.” We believe that is true, but what’s most important for us is Jesus is “The Son of God.” Muslims don’t believe Jesus suffered or died on the cross. They don’t believe he was resurrected. For them, he is just a prophet, not God.
To be a Christian is to remember the stories of Jesus: his birth, that he healed others, he walked on water, he taught, but that’s not all. A crucial memory for us is Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. We have four gospels that tell the story of Jesus, and a big chunk of them is the Passion story: Jesus’ arrest, trial crucifixion, death and resurrection. We remember that Jesus gave his life and endured a gruesome death, out of love for us, to save us from our sin. God raised Jesus on the third day and he now reigns in heaven. It is a story of suffering, death and triumph for us all. We are forgiven and saved, for eternal life.
Our identity as believers is wrapped up in Jesus, his life, death and resurrection. The story of Jesus, his suffering death and resurrection, is a very important truth we hold onto. We live according to it. Remembering Jesus is how we define ourselves as his followers.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, and it can become just a great vacation weekend, although maybe not this year because of the weather. But we can forget there is a day of remembrance to lift up: Memorial Day. It’s a day to remember those who went to war and gave their lives for our country.
Memorial Day is a secular holiday. It’s not a religious holiday, though we pray and visit cemeteries and think of eternity. We don’t worship those who have died. We worship God. But our faith means something on Memorial Day. Our Christian faith teaches us the value of memory. Memory makes us a Christian. Not that you have Scripture verses memorized. What makes you a Christian is you remember Jesus, and follow in his way, ready to take up your cross for God and neighbor, believing death is not the end.
We may not be eager to celebrate Memorial Day. It is not a happy day. It’s remembering suffering and death.
But because we remember Jesus, we Christians turn our faces toward suffering and death. We don’t ignore suffering. The long story of Jesus suffering and death in the gospels is an important part of our faith story.
Memorial Day began after the Civil War. We never had that many die in a war before or after. But many military members have died in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan among other wars. The war in Afghanistan is supposed to end in September. History tells us, there will be more wars to come.
Though in smaller numbers, military personnel today continue to die in the line of duty. They die by explosive devices and vehicle rollovers and suicides, among other things.
Our Christian faith tells us to look pain, suffering and death in the face. That’s who Jesus was. That’s who we are. That’s part of our Christian story. Part of why we can look suffering and death in the face, is we know that’s not the end of the story. Resurrection is coming! So we have hope.
Memorial Day is when we remember those who sacrificed in the military. We honor their sacrifice. The US has the third largest number of people in the military in the world, after China and India. We send soldiers all over the world. Sometimes soldiers die, in a foreign place where there is no war. We ask so much of the military and their families. Memorial Day is a day to be grateful for your country, to be grateful for the sacrifices of others.
We need to support the military. We need to pay attention to what we are asking of them, and that they are giving their life for their country. An important way to honor their sacrifice is to take part in our democracy.
Remembering Jesus, and all of his story makes us who we are as Christ followers. The Christian story is a story of hope by way of the cross. Jesus died on a cross, but He is risen. We have hope! As Job says, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;” (Job 19:25-26) The end is not the end.
I challenge you this week, to ask God, “Please help me take up my cross. Help me be there for others who are suffering.”
Memory makes us who we are. The memory of Jesus and his life, suffering, death and resurrection, means we acknowledge the suffering of others. It also means we live in hope, for God conquered sin and death on Easter. Remembering Jesus makes us his followers. Live in hope because the whole story of Jesus life, his suffering, death and resurrection, means we take up our cross and have courage that God conquers all! Amen.
Maureen Duffy-Guy's blog 