Lent III

March 12, 2007

The Rev. David R. Hackett

Mark Twain once said, “God made man in his own image and likeness, and man returned the complement.”  Twain, with his imitable wit, went to the heart of the matter.  Humanity has, since the beginning of time, sought to know the nature of God and almost always God turned out to look a lot like us.  Ancient peoples especially thought of God in human terms: the gods were ambitious, jealous, lustful…and there were lots of them.  However, the Hebrew people, in contrast to their neighbors, maintained a faith in one God who was transcendent, spiritual, and perfect in every way.  How did they know God was like that?  Why didn’t they make God in their image?

Frederick Buechner wrote,

It is impossible to prove or disprove that God exists beyond the various and conflicting ideas people have dreamed up about him, as it is to prove or disprove that goodness exists beyond the various and conflicting ideas people have dreamed up about what is good.  It is as impossible for man to demonstrate the existence of God as it would be for even Sherlock Holmes to demonstrate the existence of Arthur Conan Doyle.

Much to their credit the Hebrew people never tried to prove the existence of God.  You cannot prove the existence of God by using the Bible.  God is a given in the Bible.  But what kind of God is he (or she)?  What kind of God is the author of creation?  Now that is a question whose answer is to be found in the Bible.  You can discover the nature of God.  The Hebrews arrived at their understanding of God, not through a natural groping for answers, but through revelation from God himself.  Judaism and Christianity are revealed religions.  That is, we believe that God is gracious to the point of revealing something of his nature to us.  God is good to us in that he doesn’t leave it up to us to figure it out on our own.

One of the most familiar stories in the Bible is that which we have in today’s lesson from Exodus, the story of Moses and the burning bush.  We all recognize it right away, if not from reading scripture, then from Hollywood.  My generation had Cecil B. DeMille’s version with Charlton Heston as Moses.  My grandchildren have the animated version of The Prince of Egypt.  Either way, I recommend reading the book!

In today’s reading we find Moses minding his own business, tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro.  Suddenly the amazing happens.  The angel of the Lord appears to him in a flame of fire out of the bush.  The bush was burning but not being consumed by the fire.  And when Moses stops to see what was going on, God spoke to him, telling him that he was standing on holy ground and identified himself, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”  Moses was afraid and hid his face from God, but God tells him that he has a job to be done and Moses is the one to do it, “I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

Now Moses is a great hero in the Bible, so we might like to think that what Moses said was, “Whatever you say, Lord.”  But instead he starts making excuses.  Two of the excuses are in this morning’s lesson.  The first is a very common one, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh?  I can’t do it, I’m not worthy.”  Sound familiar?  Haven’t we all played the humility card?  But God deals with Moses’ excuse, “Don’t worry, I’ll be with you.”  That’s something for us to remember when God asks us to do something.  If God wants us to do it, God will be with us in the doing.

Then comes the excuse I want us to really think about this morning. Moses says, “All right, suppose I go to this people and tell them that the God of their ancestors has sent me to them, and that they ask we what your name is.  Then what shall I say?”  This was a difficult question because God’s name was too holy to be spoken.  But, of course, God had an answer for this too, “I am who I am.”  This may also be translated, “I will be who I will be”, or, in the third person, “He causes to be.”

This was not what Mark Twain was so caustically pointing out.  God was not going to be made in our image.  God defined himself as totally and wholly other.  And so God revealed himself to Moses, “I am who I am”; “I be”; “I will be who I will be.”  “I am he who causes all to be.”  Perfectly clear, isn’t it?  Just tell the Israelites that I AM sent you.  But then God reiterates that he is also revealed in relationships, “I am the God of your fathers, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

God not only reveals himself to Moses as the mysterious ground of being, or first cause, he also reveals himself in relationship to those he loves.  That’s what the Bible is telling us over and over again.  The great Creator, the Author of All, the great “I AM”, is the one who is relationship with his people and would call all persons to be his people; for all to be in relationship with him.

God is revealed in our relationships.  After the burning bush, God’s presence is known through people: Moses, the prophets, and ultimately through Jesus.  That is what the Church is really all about: relationships.  We know God through others.

The Good News is caught more than taught.  It’s what C. S. Lewis called “the good infection.”  We expose others to the love of God and God is revealed through us.  Stop and think for a moment: think about how you came to know God.  Someone, somewhere, somehow exposed you to God, passed on that “good infection” which you and I now pass on to others.  Maybe it was a parent, a friend, a teacher.

One of the persons who revealed God to me, who exposed me to “the good infection”, was my sixth grade Sunday School teacher.  Mr. W. U. Meyers was a tough, loud fellow.  He owned an insurance agency in my hometown in Missouri.  He would walk into our classroom, Sunday after Sunday, and bellow, “Sit down and shut up, boys.  I’m going to teach you the love of God!”  And he did!  Oh, I don’t remember what he said, I have no idea of his words, but I knew he cared enough to show up and share the Good News of the love of God in Christ.

Our God is a gracious God who reveals himself in the lives of his people.

Moses had the burning bush; for the children of Israel it was through the Red Sea waters that they were brought by his hand and outstretched arm; for Jesus it was in the waters of baptism, “This is my beloved son, listen to him.”  God reveals himself over and over as the loving being who is in relationship with his creation and his creature.  And he reveals himself in and through other.  He even reveals himself through you and me.

For the goodness and grace of this self-disclosing Holy One, may the Almighty’s Holy Name be praised.  Amen.