Third Sunday in Lent
Who are YOU?
All right class; name those gods! To review; for the Canaanites god was Baal. The sun goddess of the Hittites was Arinitti and her consort was the weather god Taru. The god of the Amorites, of course was Amaru, son of the sky god. All we know about the Perizzites is that they were a rural people who probably worshipped a host of nature gods but who knows for sure? The Hivites were equally obscure and probably worshipped a bunch of Canaanite deities. The Jebusites worshiped a god by the name of El Elyon, which is close to the name Eli; a name the Israelites used for God. And of course the Egyptians had a pantheon of gods: Osiris, Isis, Horus, and Seth god of chaos, violence, deserts, and storms. Re, of course was the great and exalted sun god.
For every nation on earth the immediate and existential question is who is our god? Who will fight for us and defend our right to exist? And because the answer to that question has always been national in origin, the resulting conflict has led to the rise and fall of many empires and the tragic reality of human bloodshed.
Since the twentieth century we have seen two world wars and subsequently a host of proxy wars fought under the tutelage of Britain, the United States, Russia and China. I hate to say it but here we go again.
In today’s first lesson, Moses brings us to the central question all history; “Who are YOU?” Moses addresses God in the second person. “YOU”. For the Ancient near eastern mind God is not a he, she, them, or an it. God is YOU. This is a direct encounter not just for us as individuals but for all of us as human beings.
One day Moses was minding his own business and tending the flock of his father in law, Jethro. An angel brings a message. “I have seen the misery of my people. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them…to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey”.
It has always been God’s way, to see our suffering and our misery and in far too often our slavery. It is God who will deliver us and set us free and give us a good land to live in.
Moses has come to the Holy Mountain of God. He steps aside to see this marvel; the bush that burns but is not consumed. He is standing on Holy Ground. Moses take his sandals off and stands in silent awe. God speaks to Moses and tells him what he already knows somewhere deep in his heart; “I want you to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go”.
Naturally Moses protests; “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh”. I am sure that behind that question was a concern for his own personal safety. Pharaoh, after all was just another absolutist in the pantheon of absolutists. He did not like being questioned.
But God tells Moses; “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.”
I’m not sure how reassuring Moses found that “sign”. If it were me, I’d be quaking in my bare feet on the hot burning desert sand.
Moses works up the nerve to ask this question, “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?”
God 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.’”
In Hebrew the Name is rendered “YHWH”. Hebrew scholars have debated for centuries exactly what those four consonants mean. Whatever or however you translate the word, it always comes back to the mystery of BEING. God’s BEING and ours. The Great "I AM” as well as our own somewhat more diminutive “I am”.
Some say God is whoever God chooses to be at the time. God will deliver us in our time of need. Time and again God is present to us in history. God was there in the time of our ancestors. God was there to bring us out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. God gave us a Law to live by.
And in these last days as Christians have always put it, God gave us Jesus to share our suffering and then to rise again in glory.
But back to Moses and this encounter with the Holy of Holies. Back to the Sacred Name and the four consonants “YHWH”. There are no vowels in ancient Hebrew so we have to introduce what scholars call “breathing symbols”
The translation of the Sacred Name breaks the consonants into two syllables. “YaW” and “WeH”. There is a sense in which the consonants are unpronounceable without breathing symbols. The Holy Name is such that throughout Hebraica we are do not say it. We typically use Adonai or Elohim when we wish to say “God.”
But what if we were to breathe the Name.
Perhaps the encounter with God is a prayer.
The Breath Prayer par excellence.
Perhaps “YaH” is the silence inhale.
Pause then exhale “WeH”
Perhaps the Holiest moment is life is the moment you take your first breath, the breath you take now, and every breath you take until you breathe your last.
Understood in this way all life is Holy. God is God of all life, God of all Being, God of every human being.
Taking a human life has always been contrary to the will of God.
Those who refuse to see all life as holy are delusional children of the Evil One. They become agents of destruction. Paul urgently pleads with us today; “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did…and were destroyed by… the destroyer”. This is yet another historic fact. The children of the Evil one are agents of destruction.
The root of all grounded sanity is in the simple, sacred act of prayer; being and breathing. This is who God is. I AM. And me too. I am too. This is who we all are.
There is only one God and the only way to Peace is by returning to the Holy One in Prayer.
If I ask who are YOU?
The answer is always; “I AM WHO I AM”
In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.
Fr Paul.
Below are the readings assigned for the Third Sunday in Lent with those words and thoughts highlighted that speak to my heart and soul.
The Collect:
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
First Lesson: Exodus 3:1-15
Moses 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. There 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. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When 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.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He 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.
Then 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, and 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. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He 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.” But 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?” God 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.’” God 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 63:1-8
O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; *
my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.
Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place, *
that I might behold your power and your glory.
For your loving-kindness is better than life itself; *
my lips shall give you praise.
So will I bless you as long as I live *
and lift up my hands in your Name.
My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness, *
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,
When I remember you upon my bed, *
and meditate on you in the night watches.
For you have been my helper, *
and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
My soul clings to you; *
your right hand holds me fast.
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
