Loving God, not only do we find you in the Scriptures but also ourselves.  Help us to see where we fit in and to be open to your call to us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            Last week, we heard about Jacob, who was afraid that his brother Esau might wipe out his family in anger.  This week, all of Jacob’s descendants have moved to Egypt and have become so numerous that the Egyptians are afraid of them.  God had promised that Jacob would have many descendants, and this has certainly come to pass.  They took the command to be fruitful and multiply very seriously!

         When it comes to today’s reading, however, it might be helpful to reflect on where we find ourselves in this story.  For instance, are we anything like the Egyptians, who are afraid of these foreigners in their land?  Are we anything like their leaders, who use the foreigners for slave labour and even try to kill all of the male babies?

         And what about those Israelites?  Do we feel as though we are oppressed?  Have we ever been forced to work like slaves against our will?  And what about that part of the story that we didn’t hear today, where Pharaoh gives the orders and some of those among the Israelites, and even the Egyptians, resist?

         There is Jochebed, the mother of Moses, who obeys the Pharaoh’s order to throw all of the baby boys in the river, but with a twist.  She only puts him there when she can no longer keep him hidden, and she gives him a little ark made out of papyrus.  She puts him up for adoption, in a manner of speaking, and he is rescued and adopted by Pharaoh’s own daughter.  Both of these women actually disobey Pharaoh’s order.  Have you ever done anything similar?

         And then there are the Hebrew midwives, named Shiphrah and Puah.  They, too, had been ordered by Pharaoh to kill any baby boys that had been born to the Israelites.  However, we are told that the midwives obeyed God rather than Pharaoh, and let all the babies live.  Then, when Pharaoh demanded an explanation, they told him that the Hebrew women are more vigorous than the Egyptian women, and they have their babies before the midwife even gets there (Ex. 1:19).  Have you ever been courageous enough to disobey an edict that was clearly wrong?

         And then we come to Moses – and what can we say about him?  Have you ever run away from something in your past that wasn’t good?  Have you ever run away in fear to a different country and started a new life there?  If you have, you might be something like Moses.

         At the same time we could ask: Have you ever heard God calling your name?  Have you ever realized that you were standing on holy ground and didn’t know it?  Or, have you ever felt as though God was calling you to do something that is way out of your comfort zone?  And have you ever given God every excuse in the book why you are the wrong person for the job?  If you have, you might be something like Moses.

         The events that we hear about in the Bible might be hundreds of years old, but the people in them are not all that different from you and me.  In fact, we might be a little bit like all of these people.  At the same time, we continue to encounter God in these stories, even as we listen for what the Spirit has to say to us today.

         The God whom we encounter through Moses and the burning bush is entirely aware of what is happening here on earth and hears and answers the cries of God’s people.  In fact, God is about to save those people, but not without human participation.  God has chosen Moses to be the leader for this project of deliverance – an interesting choice, to be sure.  On the one hand, Moses seems a good man for the job, having been born a Hebrew but adopted by an Egyptian.  Presumably he could also speak and understand the Egyptian language.  However, Moses also murdered an Egyptian, which is why he has been hiding out with Jethro the priest of Midian.

         God, however, has been known to use all sorts of people.  Moses’ past transgressions and his insistence that he is not a very good speaker are not deemed to be barriers to answering God’s call.  And, God’s timing is such that the Pharaoh who wanted to kill Moses is no longer around.  However, it seems likely that there would still be people in Egypt who know what Moses did.

         Moses is being asked to leave the relative safety of Midian in order to go back to his own people in Egypt.  He is being asked to be a leader and to go to Pharaoh on behalf of God’s people.  He is being asked to speak even though he says he can’t speak very well.  And who knows how many other ways God tried to get Moses’ attention before the burning bush?  He is a reluctant prophet if ever there was one!  And yet, God uses him in order to lead God’s people out of Egypt and to the promised land.

         While it may not be true that God asks us to do anything as big as this, God has continued to work through people just like you and me throughout history.  For there are still people who cry out for deliverance, and there are still people who are oppressed, and there are still people who have never heard the good news of God’s love.  And even though we might be just as reluctant as Moses, God continues to call us into service, empowering us by the Holy Spirit, and providing us with all that is needed.

         God has acted in order to bring us from captivity to freedom and from death to life through Jesus Christ.  Surely this continues to be good news that is worth sharing in the name of Jesus our Saviour.  Amen.

Pentecost 16 (NL 2)                        Exodus 1:8-14; 3:1-15

September 29, 2019

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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