Seder 57 Sermon: Important Questions

 In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on February 15, 2025, Kyle Kettering observed that a number of questions are posed in Exodus 16-17, as well as in Jesus' related Passover discourse in John 6.  

Questions serve a number of purposes.  We ask them, Kyle noted, 

1. to learn something
2. to teach something
3. to expose something (e.g., God's question, "Who told you that you were naked?")
4. to emphasize something.

In Exodus 16:28, God asked the children of Israel an important question:  "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?"  This suggests a big question for us as well:  Why do we sometimes find it so difficult to be obedient?

The Israelites ask a key question in Exodus 17:7:  "Is the LORD among us or not?"  During the difficult days of the Exodus, they had to learn what it would be like to walk with God.  Similarly, we have to learn what it is like to follow Jesus.  

Jesus' Passover discourse in John 6 raises some vital questions for Christians.  There Jesus identified himself as the true Bread of Life,  He is the lifegiver, and we need him just as much as we need food and water.  Kyle posed some vital questions:

Has Jesus become as essential to us as food and water?  Is our relationship with Jesus life-sustaining?