God Promises, “I Will Be with You.”
Pentecost + 16 – September
29, 2019
Moses and the Burning Bush
Intro: “Speak the truth
even if your voice shakes”
· See these words of advice
floating around the internet a fair amount
· Idea that sometimes it’s a
scary thing to speak up, to speak out, to share the truth with another who may
have a different point of view
· And yet – the call comes
to speak the truth, even in uncomfortable situations
TT: People in the biblical
story we hear this morning might have resonated with this on a deep level
· Not just a matter of
shaking voices and feeling embarrassed or causing conflict with another,
creating a rift in a relationship
· Lives were at stake here
right from the opening words
· We’ve skipped over from
Jacob and his 12 sons several generations down the line – 400 years later
o Joseph: Jacob’s favorite
son; sold into slavery by jealous brothers, taken to Egypt, where eventually he
became Pharaoh’s right hand man, set over all the land of Egypt – stockpiled
food for the coming famine (revealed in a dream)
o And eventually family came
seeking help, ultimately there’s a revelation and reunion and the whole
extended family comes to live in Egypt
o Which is all well and good
until now, where we enter the story
· New king arose who did not
know Joseph – threatened by the numbers of Israelites
o In fear, seeks to oppress
them, to consolidate his own power
o Enslaves them, works them
ruthlessly, to the point of collapse
· That doesn’t work, so plan
B: midwives to kill the boy babies
o Imagine them shaking a bit
as they choose to defy this command
o And yet they are bold with
their reason/excuse as to why
· Moses’ mother – who does
not speak, except that actions speak louder than words
o Love for her fine baby
compels her to hide him until she can’t any more
o Places him in a basket and
sets it among the reeds of the river, fingers crossed, hoping for a good ending
to this traumatic story
· Miriam, Moses’ sister –
who is set to watch over her baby brother floating on the river
o Who sees Egyptian princess
discovering Moses and dares to speak out, volunteering to find her a nurse
· Pharaoh’s own daughter –
speaking out in compassion as she ultimately adopts this child her father
considers one of his enemies
· And then Moses – the
beneficiary of all of these courageous women who spoke in words and deeds, even
with shaking voices
o Who grows up a Hebrew in
the Pharaoh’s household
o Who murders an Egyptian
for beating an Israelite and has to flee from Pharaoh who seeks to kill him
o Makes new life in the land
far across the wilderness, marrying, becoming a shepherd
· And there sees a bush that
burns but it not consumed
· And encounters God, who
tells him that God has heard the cry of God’s people and has come down to
deliver them, and that Moses will be the one to go to speak the truth to
Pharaoh
· And Moses’ voice is surely
shaking! “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and
bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
TW: It is a scary thing to
find yourself the one anointed to go and speak the truth, especially to power.
(this is a different pharaoh, by the way, the one he grew up with has died…)
· To speak up and tell the
Pharaoh that the time of slavery and oppression is over – terrifying
· And we can relate
o B/c the call to followers
of Jesus is to hear the cries of those around us longing for hope, desperate
for justice, and to act as Christ’s body in the world
o To work for justice, to
stand at the side of the vulnerable, the weak, the oppressed
o To go and speak out on
their behalf
· And that’s not necessarily
attending a march or demonstration, though it might be; could mean writing letters to govt
reps, maybe even running for office!
· It could be confronting a
co-worker or boss or family member or neighbor about racism or sexism or
homophobia or fear of the other
· It might look like
listening to a person express their point of view and then daring to share a
different way of looking at the situation, knowing that it may cause discomfort
in the relationship
· It is not easy; sometimes
even harder when it’s someone we are close to; there’s a lot at stake
· We may ask God, “Who am I
to go…?”
· God didn’t let Moses off
the hook, and God doesn’t let us off the hook either
GT: But when God sends
Moses, God sends him with a promise: “I will be with you.”
· God is sending Moses back
into a fear-inspiring situation, but God doesn’t send Moses alone
· God promises to go with
Moses, just as God promised to be with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob,
just as God promised to be with Joseph
· This name for God is a
reminder of the one who has stood by Moses’ ancestors, one who has a history of
following through, of leading each of them through struggles and trials, never
abandoning them
· The work God gives Moses
to do won’t be easy – Pharaoh doesn’t let the people go without a struggle (you
remember those stories!) – But no matter how scary it gets, God stays with
Moses to fulfill God’s plan to deliver the people from slavery into freedom
· And God sends Moses with
others – like his brother Aaron and sister Miriam – to help him and support him
along the way
GW: The promise is for us
too. When God calls us into uncomfortable situations and places when our voices
shake and quake as we speak truths that are hard for others (and sometimes even
ourselves!) to hear – God says, “I will be with you.”
· We aren’t called to follow
God into these places alone
· God promises to be with us
– to lead and guide, to encourage and inspire, to empower our voices when we
would rather stay silent
o Jesus final words in
Matthew: “Go, make disciples… and remember, I am with you always, to the end of
the age.”
· God never sends us to do
work without God’s presence right there beside us
· And God sends us with one
another to proclaim God’s love, to live out God’s mercy, to share God’s good
news of a coming kingdom
· May we speak of God’s
vision of freedom and justice to those who need to hear it, even if our voices
shake, knowing that God is with us, just as God promised.
· Amen.
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