Pharaoh was a very proud man.  . . . Even in spite of the grief which his malice toward the Israelites caused him; . . . even in spite of the visitation by the Angel of Death bringing sorrow upon all of Egypt because of Pharaoh’s refusal to acknowledge God’s claim upon the children of Israel; . . . even in spite of this, Pharaoh was too proud to keep his word of release to the children of Jacob which freed them from their captivity and forced labor in Egypt.  . . . Instead, the idea of having submitted to the will of the God of mere goatherds gnawed at the proud heart of Pharaoh.  . . . And his pride got the better of him.  And so, Pharaoh sent military units of armor and mechanized infantry to chase after the people of Israel; … Pharaoh sent his army of chariots and cavalry after those Hebrew goatherds and all their women and bratty kids.  Pharaoh sent his army after the Israelites to put an end to the taunt their continued existence was to him, . . . because Pharaoh was a very proud man.  Pharaoh was a very proud man and a terror to the Israelites who happened to look back and see, coming up to them, the dust of Pharaoh’s deadly host.

    And seeing the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh’s revenge behind them, the Israelites were thrown into a panic.  They knew they were trapped.  They knew they were trapped, and they became very afraid.  . . . But God’s man says to them, … “Do not be afraid.  . . . Do not be afraid; stand firm, and see the salvation of your God; for, the power of God shall make a way for His people where there is none.  And you shall be safe, and the proud shall be overthrown, . . . you have only to be still.”  . . . And it happened just as Moses promised.  A great wind came up out of the East . . . and it blew sand into the Egyptians’ faces so that they could not pursue their Hebrew goatherds.  . . . The wind from the East blew so furiously all night that in the morning the Israelites looked . . . and the Red Sea was parted(!); . . . there was a strip of land, from one shore to the other, across which they could run and attempt to escape from the Egyptians.  . . . And the children of Jacob ran; . . . the children of Jacob ran while the Egyptians attempted to follow with their heavy horses and iron chariots.  . . . But as the sun got higher . . . the wind died down . . . with all the Egyptians mired in the mud, thrashing and cursing while the water rose up around them as the sea returned to its normal flow.

    As you have heard tonight, we use that image in the prayer over the water of Christian Baptism:  . . . that image of God making a way for his people through the waters of the Red Sea where there was none.  We use that image in Baptism because it gives us a way of talking about what has happened today.  . . . For, there we were on Friday:  our wonderful friend and merciful Lord Jesus arrested by jealous priests and offended businessmen, accompanied by ordinary people like us but who are caught up in the frenzy of seeing someone else suffer; . . . our wonderful friend Jesus is arrested and brought to the civil magistrate who becomes edgy at the ugly mood of the crowd, and so, hands Jesus over to be crucified.  . . . And, as Saint John pointedly tells us, . . . as evening was coming on

Joseph of Arimathea . . . asked Pilate that he might take away the [dead] body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave.  So he came and took away his [dead] body.  Nicodemus also . . . They took the [dead] body of Jesus . . . [and] they laid Jesus [in the tomb].

Three times Saint John tells us that Jesus is dead.  . . . Jesus is dead, and here we are staring at the terrible and endlessly dark abyss of death.  We have come with that tenaciously loyal Mary Magdalene; . . . we have come with her and the other Mary to the tomb where Jesus is buried; . . . we have come to contemplate the awful, dark death of Jesus, . . . and it happens as you have heard:  there is a great earthquake caused by the majestic descent of an angel of light, who rolls back the stone that has sealed the sepulchre and sits down upon it . . . while the guard which had been set to keep such a thing from happening; . . . while the guard lies about the angel like dead men, stricken by fear and dread.  But to us the angel speaks the ancient admonition from Heaven; the Word of God spoken by Moses at the Red Sea; to us the angel says, . . . “Do not be afraid; stand firm, and see the salvation of your God.  . . . Look, Jesus is not here; . . . he has risen!”    And suddenly we discover that, just as He did at the Red Sea, the Lord God Almighty has made a way through death where there was none.  And that Way through death is Jesus.  Death is not so terrible now, nor is it endless, nor is it dark.  For, there is a path of light through it . . . and it is Jesus.  For He Who was dead is risen.  He is not in the tomb, He is among the living!

    It is true what Holy Scripture says; . . . it is true that the thoughts of God are higher than human reason; . . . it is true that the ways of the Lord God Almighty are beyond the reach of man.  . . . And this is why, in the Rite of Holy Baptism, we stand at the brink of darkness and Death, and we renounce the mind of the world … and renounce the ways of the flesh . . . and renounce the lies the devil tells to convince us that the world and the flesh are the repositories of all reality.  . . . We renounce these things in order to stand firm and be still and see the salvation of our God.  For, Jesus Who was crucified is not in the tomb; . . . He is risen!  . . . And

as rain and snow fall from the heavens and return not again, but water the earth, bringing forth life and giving growth . . . so [the Incarnate Word does] not return to [the Father] empty; but will accomplish that which [the Lord God Almighty] has purposed . . .

And what our heavenly Father has purposed is to provide us with a Way through Death and into Life.  And the Way which the Father has given us is to follow Jesus.  The Way through Death and into Life is to follow Jesus Who has died and now is risen; . . . the Way through Death and into Life is to follow Jesus as our Lord and Saviour in Whose grace and love we place our entire trust.

    It is into this glorious reality, effected by Baptism, that each of us who are Christian have been brought, . . . and it is into this glorious reality that we have brought Samuel Andrew Beach tonight.  . . . But Baptism is not magic.  We are not, any of us, immune to everlasting death simply because we’re baptized, . . . and neither is Samuel.  Because God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours it is easy to lose sight of them; . . . it is easy to lose sight of God’s ways and thoughts and pay attention, instead, to the dust of the world and the flesh bearing down on us.  And so, we need one another; . . . we need to gather as a Christian Family week by week to hear God’s sacred Word bring us closer to His mind; . . . we need to gather week by week to offer ourselves to the Lord God Almighty in prayer so that we might be conformed to His ways; . . . and we need to gather as a Christian Family week by week to be strengthened by the Blessed Sacrament.  . . . We need these things so that the world and the flesh cannot make us afraid; . . . we need these things so that we might stand firm . . . and remember that Christ is risen!  Alleluia!