I AM Sending You

August 31, 2014
Pentecost 12

Exodus 3:1-15

·        What do you see?

·        Why do you say that?

·        What do you think about it?

·        What do you see?
·        Still green.

·        Looks like its on fire, but doesn't act like it.

·        What do you think about it?

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(Moses)

I am an Israelite.  Jacob is my ancestor.  I am of the house of Levi.  My people are slaves in Egypt.

That wasn't always the case.  When Jacob brought his family to the Nile River valley centuries ago, they were prosperous and respected.  Jacob's son Joseph was a high ranking official in Pharaoh's court.  Jacob's family prospered and grew - all the while retaining their faith in Jacob's God.  The Israelites were a distinct and unique people within Egypt.

It was exactly that fact, which motivated a new Pharaoh to enslave my people - to control us; to sap our energy for anything except manual labour; to make sure we could not rise up against Egypt. 

I was born into that world. I am a Hebrew Israelite.  I didn't always know this - I thought I was Egyptian: my name is Egyptian.  I thought my mother was the pharaoh's daughter.

It was only a few years ago, that I learned that , so great was Pharaoh's paranoia, that a brutal population control program was put into place.  New, Hebrew baby boys were to be killed as soon as they were born; and all boys who were less than two years old were to be rooted out and killed as well. 

I learned that my mother (my real mother) used to place me in a waterproof basket and hide me in the reeds every time the death squads came around.  My sister, Miriam, would keep an eye on the area until it was safe. I don't know how many times my mom and sister had successfully done this hide-and-seek trick before that day the princess pick that part of the river to bathe in.

She must have known exactly what was going on when she found my basket.  Clearly, she didn't have her father's hard heart.  She took me home and raised me as her child - ironically, my own mother was given the job of nursing me.

I knew nothing of this until I was an adult.

When I saw how the Israelites were treated, my heart went out to my hebrews - I began to question the entire way that Egyptian society functioned.  When I saw one of them being beaten by an Egyptian, my instinct was to put a stop to this injustice.  I did.  In the end, the slave was alive and his tormentor was not.

I was so afraid that I would be punished for this crime against a fellow Egyptian that I ran away - far beyond the Red Sea into the wilderness.  I started a new life.  I married. I had a child. I tend flocks on the hillsides.

It is not as glamorous as the palaces of Egypt, but it is good.  Maybe a bit boring and routine, but I can live my simple life without much concern.

At least, until today.

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[Exodus 3:1-15]

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(comment)

Through the eyes of his up-bringing, the people of Israel/Jacob were a bit of an oddity within the Egyptian culture - they had a long history in the land, but they were clearly distinct: they had their own language; they worship some Canaanite god and not the gods of Egypt.  And it was assumed that they were "less" than the Egyptians: they were not as intelligent; they were not as artistic; they were feared, not to be trusted; they had to be controlled because if they weren't they would be a threat to normal society - the best they could hope to achieve was to live in peaceful subservience.  The Hebrews were indoctrinated to fear their taskmasters and to accept their lives as they were.

Okay, the biblical texts are not that specific, but I think it is a fair extrapolation.  I say that because we have seen this pattern throughout history - even in our own time.

When cultures and religions clash, one of the responses (on one or both sides) is fear - a fear that sometimes leads to dehumanizing behaviour and claims of superiority.

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Yet, something inside Moses caused him to question the social order - he wanted to stop a small examination le of violence, but it lead to an even more violent confrontation.  Moses was just one person - what difference could he make?

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I wonder if that went through Moses' mind when he was told to confront Pharaoh to let the Israelite people go.  Especially, when he realized that this God of the Hebrews was his God as well.  "I am the God of YOUR ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Moses tried every excuse he could think off to avoid this task:

·        who I am to do this?

·        but, I don't know your name.

Which is another way of saying: ‘who am I to do this and who are you to tell me to?’

God’s answer to the name question has a wonderfully profound meaning:  “I Am”.
I am who I am; I will be who I will be.

I exist.

Later, the Hebrews will use “I Am” as the basis of God’s unique name - Yahweh - from the verb Hayah (to be).  God’s very name is
exisitance.

Who are you?

I am the one who is here; the one who exists; the one who is real.

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Message:

·        God exists and is interested in the lives of people.

·        The name symbolizes this - I Am; Yahweh - to be - existence.

·        Liberation is a natural way of God.

·        God cares and God acts.

·        God acts through us.
And that takes trust and courage (i.e. faith).

Let us pray:

God, when we feel alone, remind us that we are part of a vast family of faith.  When we feel inadequate, remind us that you work through us.  Amen.

#191MV “What Can I Do?”