A new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. He spoke to his people in
alarm, “There are way too many of these Israelites for us to handle. We’ve got to do
8-10
something: Let’s devise a plan to contain them, lest if there’s a war they should join our
enemies, or just walk off and leave us.”
So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gangforemen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the harder
the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had—children everywhere!
The Egyptians got so they couldn’t stand the Israelites and treated them worse than
ever, crushing them with slave labor. They made them miserable with hard labor—
making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work,
crushing them under the cruel workload.
11-14
3
1-2
Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He
led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb.
The angel of GOD appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush.
He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.
Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush
burn up?”
3
GOD saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses!
Moses!”
4
He said, “Yes? I’m right here!”
God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing
on holy ground.”
5
Then he said, “I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the
God of Jacob.”
6
Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.
GOD said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve
heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain.
And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get
them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land
lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the
Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
7-8
“The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly
they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to
Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.”
9-10
Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to
Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
11
“I’ll be with you,” God said. “And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you:
When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this
very mountain.”
12
Then Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God
of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell
them?”
13
14
God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’”
15
God continued with Moses: “This is what you’re to say to the Israelites: ‘GOD, the God
of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to
you.’ This has always been my name, and this is how I always will be known.
Bristol Lutheran
Oct 4, 2015
Exodus 1:8-14, 3:1-15
Pentecost 19B
What’s the hardest work you have ever had to do?
Landscape, Ironman Training, Hanging Drywall,
Digging Foundations, Clearing out lots in Detroit.
What about making bricks?
I am not sure if it is the hardest thing I ever had to
do – but twice have I had the wonderful
opportunity to make bricks. (Slide)
The first time was during vacation bible school, we were teaching this
lesson – and part of that learning was to help the kids make mud bricks.
We mixed dirt and water with our feet, added straw so they stuck together,
packed the mud into a brick form, and let it dry in the sun. It was tough, but
it was fun. Plus it was only for an hour or so.
The other time was in Honduras, where we mixed
cement and water by hand –hour after grueling hour –
then packed the cement into the metal forms and laid
out these handmade bricks in the sun to cure for a few
days before using them. We worked 8 hours a day for
3 or 4 days straight, and made hundreds of bricks. But
we got plenty of breaks for water and lunch and just if
we wanted to rest. And in the end, we got to leave.
Can you imagine what the Israelites had to go through?
Crushed with slave labor, oppressed under
Egyptian rule, tired, hungry, angry, sad.
And it all started because Israel became indebted to Egypt. You might
remember the Jacob story, and his 12 Sons – and the favorite son Joseph
who got sold into slavery by his brothers. But Joseph didn’t die – he rose
up and became the right hand man – advisor to Pharaoh because he could
interpret dreams.
And when there was 7 years of abundant crops– they
saved the extra. And when 7 years of famine followed,
the tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob, came to Egypt for
food. But they had no money. Nothing to offer for the
food. So Egypt put them to work.
Kinda like the old adage that if you can’t pay for your dinner out at Buck N
Honey’s – you gotta go in back and wash the dishes.
Only Pharaoh kept them working for generations. They
never paid off the debt. They never were allowed to
leave. As they were enslaved, someone else went and
took over their homes and their land in Israel. And
each Pharaoh that came along, only made them work
more, work harder. Long after Joseph and Jacob, and
all the brothers died – the people of Israel kept working.
Eventually another Israelite came into power in Egypt – a man named
Moses. See, the Pharaoh was ticked off that the Israelites kept having
babies – so he decided to have them all killed. But through some crafty
decisions, Moses’ mom had Pharaoh’s daughter find the baby, and in
essence Moses became Pharaoh’s adopted grandson.
As Moses grew up, he began to appreciate his kinsfolk,
though they were slaves and he was free. One day
though he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite. He
didn’t like it. And without any witnesses in sight – he
killed the Egyptian. But he became afraid, believing
Pharaoh, his grandpa, would kill him. So he ran away.
Got married. Became a Shepherd.
And when the current King Pharaoh died years later, the Israelites groaned
again. They knew each Pharaoh that came brought more cruelty. Each
ruler become farther removed from Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham.
Each one further separated from God. And the people wanted freedom.
Can you imagine what they went through? It was a lot more than making
bricks.
And who does God send to free them…Moses.
Is there a more logical choice?
But Moses is unsure, afraid. He doubts.
He questions. He made excuses.
“God, who am I, that you send me. I can’t convince Pharaoh to let them go.
He might kill me! I’m just a shepherd. I’m far from perfect. I don’t speak
very well. I’m not qualified for this job. Plus, I murdered a guy! I got
enough problems at home, with my wife and my in laws and siblings. Send
someone else. Please. C’mon God. I don’t really wanna do it.
And hat do I say when they ask who sent me? A crazy talking burning
bush? How will they believe me?”
Maybe the hardest thing Moses
ever had to do…was following
God. Trusting God. Listening to
God.
That probably is our hardest thing as well. For all the struggles we face, our
hardest things, aren’t physical at all, we can deal with the physical pain. But
the spiritual and emotional hardships are more damaging.
Dealing with death. Trying to make sense out of diseases. Explaining
another shooting – this time in Oregon. All hardships impact our trust to
follow God.
Even taking care of ailing spouses. Or raising kids.
Our battling psychological demons. Our toiling through
the mundane work week. We plead with God. Cry out
to God. Pray. Beg. For help. For change. It is hard to
trust, and follow – just on a day to day basis, with our
own lives, our own families, our own work.
And when we have our own problems to deal with, what happens if God
challenges us to do something else? Maybe outside our comfort? It doesn’t
have to be rescuing thousands of people from slavery. It might be the little
things…
Overcoming the struggle to talk to someone who is dying.
Or to walk into a funky nursing home. Or to teach a kid.
Or to have conversations with someone of a different culture or religion.
Or to feed the homeless beggar.
Or to welcome the immigrant.
Or to speak against domestic violence.
Or to listen to one who doesn’t share our viewpoints. Or to ask forgiveness.
Or to admit the truth to a dying friendship. Or to risk failure.
God so often challenges us, calling us to help others, and to be helped by
others.
Like Moses, we may argue, make excuses, or even bargain with God. We
might ignore God, run away. We may question – why me God? Why now?
Our fears drive so many decisions, we may forget that
the places God sends us is all Holy Ground. Every step
we take, we are walking on holy ground – because God
goes with us. Through all the hardships, all the groans,
all the celebration, all the inability to understand or
make sense, through all the anxious fearful places.
God goes with us. And God may just be calling us to do something
amazing – even if our only qualification is as God’s child. But that’s all we
need.
The God of the saints, our family, our own immigrant
ancestors. The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. The
God who is known as the Great I AM. The God called
Yahweh. The God whose name is never pronounced
by the Hebrews, and only written without the ‘o’
because G-d is indescribable, unable to be contained
by 3 letters. (Slide)
That is the God who sends Moses, with all of his uncertainty and doubt and
failure, to set the Israelites free.
But it wasn’t easy. And actually got harder for Moses and the Israelites.
Moses failed to free them…9 times he was told no by Pharaoh.
And God stuck by him, and he stuck with God.
Finally Pharaoh relented, and let the people go.
But then chased after them to kill them.
And God stuck by them.
And they escaped the Pharaoh and his army through the Red Sea.
And God stuck by them.
And then they wandered in the desert for 40 years.
And God stuck by them.
The hardest thing we may ever do is stick by God. And we will fail.
But God never fails us.