Grace and Peace be with you today from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
This story is so ripe with good news! I mean, really, The full, intimate love of God is on display in these passages. It’s in how God talks about Isarel’s struggles. It’s in God sharing with Moses, and with us, God’s name. And it’s in God’s determination to use Moses for God’s work. Fist. not in order of the story but in order of our discussion, just what we talked about a few minutes ago… God’s intimacy in giving the people God’s name: I AM—or who was and is and is to come Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh I AM who I AM Yahweh—Adonai—The LORD The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob The God of promise, and hope, and blessing. God gives us a name and says that God will be forevermore known. In a name, God gives us a story to know God by. God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God is that one who promises, blesses, and gives hope. God is that one who wants to bless all the world through God’s people, through this family. And God is the one that, powerfully, makes that work happen in these people’s little lives. Next, look at how God talks about Israel’s struggles. God is near and knows God’s people. Then, as well as now. Take a look at the trio of words God uses. I see, I hear, and I know. A lot has happened to God’s people at this point. Things were really good when Jacob’s son Joseph started helping Pharaoh run Egypt during a famine. But generations had past and the current Pharoah didn’t even recognize that all these Hebrews, Jacob’s descendants, were a good people to have around. Instead, Pharoah started feeling threatened that there were so many of them and started doing atrocious things to these people to make sure that he stayed in power and that only “true” Egyptians remained the upper class. It’s not unlike some of the ways our own Western civilization has treated others through the years. So, many and some more generations pass and its so bad that God has to step in to renew these promises of hope and blessing to the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is, Moses’ family. So God meets with Moses in this burning bush and assures him that God has seen. Yes, I see you, and I have seen you—all the hurt and pain and trauma and heartache, all the questions and struggles you’ve faced. I see you. God has not been absent from God’s people. God sees, and has seen. Their suffering, your suffering, God sees it. Then, God says, I have heard… God hears their cries—absolutely God has God’s ear on those people and their cries. The first cry God hears in the Bible is back in Genesis when Cain killed his brother Able—with the blood of Able crying out to God from the ground. When humans are distressed, oppressed, when we do not treat our neighbors like another person made in the image of God, and they cry out—you can absolutely be certain that God hears those cries. So, God assure Moses, I have heard their groaning under their oppressors. I’ve seen, I’ve heard, and… And God knows…God knows, fully knows, the hardships each of us face. God knows well the suffering of God’s people. And so, now, God has come to rescue. First, God is gives us a story and a name. God is the God of promise and blessing: the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Second, God sees and hears and knows God’s people-then and now, and always. And THIRD God’s is determined to be with us, to use us, to love us, and to love through us—stumbling, fallible little human beings… Moses tries to get out of it, knowing that he is nothing special. But God does not take no for an answer. God raises up Moses as the deliverer, as gives him what he needs—even his brother Aron as his spokesman to the people—to be what God has called Moses to be. God of promises, of hope and of blessings: of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—chooses to work in people like Moses, in people like you and me, in the person of Jesus. God used apprehensive, stuttering Moses to deliver Israel, and God chose to become humanity in Jesus Christ to save the world. God’s work to bring hope and blessing through this family, is steadfast. God’s presence with us, even to walk with us in Jesus, is everlasting. God sees, God hears, and God knows us. And God continues that work of promise and hope and blessing in Jesus, and through his church, now through YOU Today I hope you hear that same love and care that God has for God’s people in the Bible for yourself. I hope you hear that God is as much a source of promise and hope and blessing for you and for the world today. And I hope that love and promise take root in your life in way that lets you see Jesus working in the world through yourself, too. One thing you might notice as you read the Bible, or as you keep coming back to hear God’s word here, is that God always uses people to make the world a good place to be. Whether it’s Adam and Eve tilling and keeping the garden, Abraham’s descendants to bless the world, Moses to deliver the people, Jesus to show us where the love of God really leads, or YOU to keep following Jesus… God always makes the world a good place to be through people…through you. Today’s story gives us an invitation to listen. And an invitation to also be the hands and feet of God. God works through us, and through our neighbors. An illustration: You know this one….a flood’s coming and a guy stands on top of his house waiting to be rescued….a boat, a ship, and a helicopter all come by and offer to help, but the guy insists he’s waiting for God to save him. He dies and confronts God and God says “well jeez, I sent a boat, a ship, and a helicopter—what were you waiting for?!” You know this one, too: “and they said, ‘but Lord, when did we see you naked, and hungry, and thirsty, and imprisoned and offer you help?’ and he said ‘whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me”. Finally, I found these words from a song by Matthew West called “Do Something”. I’ll leave you with this verse and chorus… Matthew West, “Do Something” I woke up this morning Saw a world full of trouble now, thought How'd we ever get so far down, and How's it ever gonna turn around So I turned my eyes to Heaven I thought, "God, why don't You do something?" Well, I just couldn't bear the thought of People living in poverty Children sold into slavery The thought disgusted me So, I shook my fist at Heaven Said, "God, why don't You do something?" He said, "I did, yeah, I created you" (now listen) If not us, then who If not me and you Right now, it's time for us to do something, yeah If not now, then when Will we see an end To all this pain Oh, it's not enough to do nothing It's time for us to do something
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AuthorRev. Chris Sesvold is currently the pastor at Halfway Creek Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Holmen, WI. Archives
October 2021
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