Carry The Bones

Scripture: Exodus 13:17-19

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God thought, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt prepared for battle. And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph who had required a solemn oath of the Israelites, saying, “God will surely take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones with you from here.”

Carry The Bones

Marcus Garvey once argued that “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”. His argument suggests that the Treasures of our future are hidden in the deserts of our past. I know this to be true, as a child who spent much time with the elders of my family. My Grandmother would often sit with her arms folded in front of her and one hand over her lip. I had learned that this Behavior was a sign that she had something to say. She would live with the corners of her mouth, cross her legs and begin to tell me stories of ancestors whom I would never meet. While her stories were often full of excitement, she gave me information about my ancestry that I otherwise wouldn’t have known. Her value of the oral tradition taught me the richness of my ancestry. As an adult, I can look back and say that I absolutely love my grandmother. She was the most passionate, strong-willed, and creative. Growing up I couldn’t always appreciate that about her. While I enjoyed her story-time, there were some seasons in my life where I thought my grandmother was certifiably crazy. Whenever I did something out of line, she would passionately enforce her will with creative means of discipline. She would express her passion and tell me that she disciplined me because she didn’t want someone else to have to. She witnessed people who were pushed within an inch of their lives for a lack of discipline. As a matter of protection, she shared that witness with me. While she is no longer sharing breath on earth, her witness is etched into my memory. Some of the things I thought I would never accomplish, she knew I would, even if she would get to see them happen. When you see me, you see the impartation that she has made. There is a history that comes from long before me and the same is true about this text. This text doesn’t begin in Exodus; this text begins in Genesis 50.

Joseph’s story tells of how the Children of Israel made it into Egypt, to begin with. From Genesis 37 to Genesis 50, we witness everything between Joseph’s dream and his death. In Genesis chapter 50, While Joseph is preparing to die, he turned to his family and told them that God would surely visit them and take them to the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. While Joseph knew that he may not be alive to see it, one thing he knew for sure is that God Keeps His Word! He told them that when they were going to leave Egypt, they needed to take his bones with them out of Egypt. Some may consider that Joseph was only following in his father’s footsteps because, in Genesis 47, Jacob asked Joseph to bury his bones out of Egypt, to which they buried him in Canaan. Outside of these occasions, the only other known occasion is in the Book of Ezekiel when we are reading about the Valley of Dry Bones. The one thing that these three accounts have in common is that they all represent death. Bones are considered the remains of a person, which suggests that there is no life left. In the last moments of Joseph’s life, he offers a prophetic word that God would do what God said God would do and God didn’t need Joseph to be alive to make it true. Some things God desires to do in your life, everyone won’t live to witness.

After this statement, Joseph dies. Fast forward to today’s text and Moses is in charge of the people. Moses has never met Joseph but has encountered his spirit through the people. God uses Moses to lead the people out of Egypt, which prepares them for the next phase. Our text begins with Pharaoh letting the people go and God leading them. It’s important that we don’t look over that because these two leaders play two different roles in their lives. The text suggests that Pharaoh let them go and that God let them when they were out. But if you know the story, you know that. Forced pharaoh to let them go. So, in essence, God brought them out Egypt but when God brought them out he didn’t just leave them there. The reason why God didn’t just leave them there is that they have been in Egypt for 430 years. In Egypt, they had created and adapted to Slavic culture. They were used to having a Slavic diet. They were used to being obedient and listening to someone else’s command. Which, in essence, means that they had some cyclical behaviors that if God wasn’t leaving them they would have gone back to Egypt because they didn’t know any better. Some of us find God leading us out of a situation but don’t follow God after we get out of the situation so we never make it to the place where God has promised us. That place of pure peace, that passes all understanding. I know you think it, preacher how did you get all that out of the text, but the text says that he did not leave them in the way of the Philistines, even though it was shorter. Some of us are rushing to get somewhere that’s going to put us back in a worst off position than we were before we got out of the situation that we were in, to begin with. The Philistines were their enemies, so if God let them in the way of the Philistines, they would have had to prepare to fight while they were still recovering from their Slavic behavior.

So God took them the long way to their destiny because their Slavic behaviors would’ve caused them to return to the place of their captivity and misfortune. Egypt was a place of separation and despair. They would’ve made it to Egypt had Joseph’s brothers never sold him into slavery. They were only in this place because of the Jealousy caused by generations before them and now this place was something that would change their culture and understanding forever. So God brought them the long way out of the place birth in the Jealousy of their forefathers the long way to protect them from the Philistines, to ensure they wouldn’t have to fight. The text goes on to say that God led them the way of the Red Sea, towards the wilderness because of this. To break them out of their cyclical behavior, God chose to part the Red Sea for them to walk through, feed them Manna from Heaven, and never let their clothes wear out as a means of protection. The thing I find most interesting about this is that they get to the wilderness, where they are safe and secure from all alarm and begin to complain. They want to go back to slavery. They want to go back to captivity. They want to go back to that relationship that ain’t mean them no good. They want to go back to their place of temptation. They want to go back to the place of the pain. Why? Because they learned how to be functional in their dysfunction. So God provided to ensure that they wouldn’t return to Egypt. Which in short, suggests that the shortest way isn’t always the best way.  But the text suggests that they were still prepared for battle because they couldn’t be sure of their own safety. They didn’t know who could’ve been in the wilderness while they were there, so they were prepared.

The next part of the text literally says, do not spiritual imagination, that God kept his word to Joseph and his for other. I know you don't see that yet because you're trying to see where I'm made a promise. You're trying to figure out where there was a word from the Lord at all. If you go back to Genesis chapter 50 and you read what Joseph said to them oh, you will learn that Joseph prophesied to them about what God will do. He said that God would visit them and surely do what he promised the forefathers he would do. Some of you are not familiar with prophecy, but yesterday I encountered a quote from the Rev Dr. John Adolph that has since arrested my attention about prophecy. He suggested that “prophecy is history written in advance” which means that there had to be an encounter with the God who knows what will happen to tell us and our present tense what shall take place. Joseph only knew what was going to happen because God came to him in the past to tell him about the future. So Joseph only request was, even if I can’t be there to witness it, even if I can touch it with my hands. Even if I can’t be marked present for being in attendance, at least take my bones with you. I told you earlier that bones were supposed to be a sign of death. Bones are found in cemeteries, or often even in museums. When I first began writing this sermon, I was concerned about what it would do for Joseph that his bones be moved. Then I recalled, that Joseph was dead, and wouldn’t even feel a difference when he was in that place. The carrying of his bones wasn’t for Joseph, it was for those who were leaving Egypt. 

Moses is of familial relation to Joseph, so He takes on the responsibility of bringing the bones with them to this space. I know that Moses is family, but these two have never met each other. This proves that there was a good moral ethic that came through the generations. Meaning, just because my parents couldn’t do it, that does not dismiss my obligation to keep their word. There are some people, among the great cloud of witnesses, who are rooting for your success and are wishing you the best. You may have never met but all of their work and sacrifice was to ensure you found the door open to walk into the room of your destiny. All they are asking of you is that you bring the bones with you into the room. Don’t simply consider the bones to be the skeleton of their existence. Take with you the lessons they learned. Take with you the wisdom they’ve gained. Take with you their persistence and drive. Take with you their love for the generations to come. Take with you their willingness to die for the betterment of their people. Take the bones!

The real relevance of this text is about carrying reminds us that when we pick up the bones, we have to take them somewhere that they have couldn’t have gotten to before. There must be some sense of elevation. Joseph asked his brothers to take his bones with them because he knew he would not be able to go there himself. But Joseph had enough faith to know that his brothers, or his family what you make it far behind where he could go. But why were the bones so important? Though the bones were seemingly dead, they bore the historical proof of God’s goodness. Joseph’s bones proved that God could favor you while in captivity, use you in places beyond your comfort, keep you safe in places in foreign territory, let your gifts make room for you in a prison cell and provide for you amid a famine. In short, His bones were the Proof that God is God! His bones were a living witness that God is everything I need and more but the blessing of it all is that the testimony of God’s Goodness doesn’t stop with his bones. There are some other bones that bear witness to God’s Goodness that bring light to the generations here today. This is a lesson to us, that when you get to where God’s got you going, don’t forget the sacrifice, pain, and suffering of the generations that were before. Don’t forget to say thank you to your elders who pushed you along the way. Don’t forget to represent the pride of our people, because you’ve got some bones to carry and you ought to carry them with pride. It won’t always be easy to do it but Carry the Bones of:

·         Benjamin Banneker and his goal of invention

·         Sojourner Truth and her fight for Equality among Women

·         Nat Turner and his Slave rebellion

·         Harriet Tubman and her fight for freedom

·         Frederick Douglass and his will for Slave Abolition

·         Mary McLeod Bethune and her love for education

·         W.E.B. DuBois and his Double-Consciousness

·         Maya Angelou and her Singing Caged Bird

·         Martin Luther King Jr and his Dream

·         Fannie Lou Hamer and her fight for racial equality

·         Malcolm X and his fire for Justice

·         Medgar Evers and his Strategic and Visionary leadership

·         Ida B Wells and her fight against cruel treatment

·         Marcus Garvey and his Community Gathering Strategy

·         Rosa Parks and her willingness to start a movement

Carry the Bones Family, Carry the Bones!