Come, I Will Send You
a sermon by Pastor Sonja Dalglish, M.Div. for Weslaco FPC
August 28, 2011

Exodus 3:1-15, Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c, Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 16:21-28

Introduction
Today, we read of Moses and the burning bush. This is one of the most well-known passages of scripture. Many of you may remember Charlton Heston as Moses in Cecil B. DeMille’s movie, The Ten Commandments. It was a very dramatic scene with Moses turning aside and wanting to examine a bush that burnt but did not burn up. And after catching Moses’ attention, a booming voice calls out, “Moses, Moses.” He is commanded to take off his shoes because he is on holy ground. And God says that God has heard his people cry. God will send Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And, then, Moses asks the question, not ‘Why does this bush not burn up?’ or ‘Why me?’ or ‘How did you know my name?’ or ‘Why did you let your people be enslaved?’ or ‘Why have you let the Egyptians kill all the male babies?’ or ‘Why was I saved and not some others?’ but he asks the burning question, “What is your name?”

About Names and Knowing God

Names in the Bible are important. Remember Shiprah and Puah? We know them. We do not know the name of the Pharoah. And, Moses does not know the name of God.

Remember Jacob – named Jacob which means he who grabs the heel, until he wrestles with God and after a stalemate has his name changed to Israel, meaning man who wrestles with God. To know a name is to know something about a person. To know the name of a god means you have power over that god. Naming is important, but God refuses to be pinned down with name like the false gods.

Here we have a revealing of God – when God gives Moses an answer to his question. And we have the place where some confusion and mistranslation has occurred when we did not understand Hebrew very well – as Christians. God tells Moses – “I am who I am,” or “I will be who I will be,” or “I am becoming who I am becoming.” You see, the answer was a non-answer. God replied with a name that is not a name but a statement that God cannot be controlled by humans. It is a word built on the verb ‘to be’ that is never written with its own vowels. So, we do not even know what Moses was told. But we know enough that we understand that God is not in our control.

The name is always written with the consonants yod he vav he. it is called the tetragrammaton. It is written with the vowels of the word that you read in its place. It is unpronounceable as written – on purpose. Vowels in Hebrew are called points. Most of the time it is pointed with the vowels for the word “Lord” which is Adonai. But in few instances, the actual word Adonai precedes this tetragrammaton, and then it is pointed with the vowels for Elohim, the word for God. So, reaching this, we read, “Lord” or “Lord God.”

And this is where our confusion came when we Christians were translating the Hebrew and got to the tetragrammaton as written to be read Adonia. They took the Hebrew consonants: JHVH and put in the vowels for Adonai, and got: Jehova, which is actually a synthetic created word and not really God’s name either.

Instead of giving a name, God told Moses who God was by relationship to his family.

“Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15God also said to Moses,“Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:
This is my name forever,
and this my title for all generations.”

God seems to be telling Moses that to really know who God is, you need to walk with God and find out by working with God. It is that experience of living and working with faith that transforms our lives, every action we take into something important.

Let’s pause and consider that today we are in the presence of God, Adonai Eloheinu, the Lord our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Father of Jesus, Creator of the Universe. What questions do you have for God?

God of Justice, Working Through People — Including You and Me

One thing that jumps out at me and to people through the ages is that God cares about justice among the people on earth. God has heard the cries of the people and sends someone to respond. God is a God of justice and love who needs us to act in this world. Calling Moses will not be the last time that God calls a person to use his or her placement in society to work for justice in the world. There will be many more, even into our time. Consider Dietrich Bonhoeffer who spoke for the Jews or Martin Luther King, Jr. who spoke for the blacks. There are many others.

God works through people, ordinary people, not through magic. There is a power outside of ourselves that is larger and more powerful that you and I, larger and more powerful than all creation. This powerful God chooses to use human beings to act in this world. God calls people of faith to speak for those who have no voice, to act to protect and help those who cannot help themselves. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things with God’s help.

Think of the needs you see that you are uniquely equipped to meet.

Moses was uniquely suited to go to Pharaoh and ask for the Israelites release. He had a foot in both communities, being born a slave and raised a prince. He was known and he knew those in power. He understood the way the palace worked.

In a similar way, Corrie Ten Boom knew how to talk to those in prison about God because she had spent time in a concentration camp. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew how to train pastors and talk to church leaders because he came from a family of intellectual Germans who insisted on coherent and unemotional thought. He was uniquely placed to speak to the German church about their obligation to the Jews.

Conclusion

You may say you’ve never stood at a burning bush — but perhaps you have and have not recognized it. “Come,” God said to Moses and to you and me, “I will send you.” What is God calling you to do?

—-
References
Thank you to David Lose and his article, “Get Off the Couch and Into the Game,”

http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=504

Also, thank you to my Hebrew and OT professors at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the late Dr. Prescott Williams, Dr. Andy Dearman, Donna Key, and Dr. Stephen Reid
Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, August 28, 2011,
the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
• First Reading Exodus 3:1-15
• Psalm Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c
• Second Reading Romans 12:9-21
• Gospel Matthew 16:21-28

First Reading Exodus 3:1-15
1Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.&dquo; 11But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”
13But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.”
Psalm Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c
1 O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. 2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 4 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually. 5 Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered, 6 O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
23 Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham. 24 And the LORD made his people very fruitful, and made them stronger than their foes, 25 whose hearts he then turned to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron whom he had chosen.
45cPraise the LORD!,/p>
Second Reading Romans 12:9-21
9Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Gospel Matthew 16:21-28
21From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
27“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”