Exodus 3:1-8A, 13-15
In this Sunday’s
readings, we hear of the oft-repeated story from Exodus of Moses encountering
God on Mt. Horeb in the form of a burning bush. The details are familiar to
most—how the bush was afire but not consumed, and how the Lord commands Moses
to go to Egypt and announce to the Israelites that God has heard their
plaintive cries and has sent this former prince of Egypt and son of slaves as
His instrument to lead them from bondage unto freedom in a land of plenty—one
flowing with milk and honey. As with so many stories from the Old Testament,
medieval exegetes interpreted them as pre-figurations of the life of Christ. A
life in which he led, by example, people from bondage unto freedom—the
enslavement to sensate pleasures and other temporal exigencies to the complete
freedom of the soul through the ineffable mercy of God and His only Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord and Savior. But if we consider some of the other details of
this story, we see Moses at first confused as to what was happening and even
questioning God: “If they [the Israelites] ask me, ‘what is his name?' What am
I to tell them?”
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| We must participate... |
Of course the answer is: “I AM sent me to you.” We also read
in Psalm 103 that since the Lord is kind and merciful, that we should “Bless
the Lord, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name…forget not all his
benefits.” In the Gospel, we see Jesus exhorting his audience to repent lest
they perish. In considering these examples, the words that come to mind are
participation and effort. We must participate—physically, mentally and
spiritually—in an ongoing dialectic with our Lord in order to carry out his
will faithfully and to reap the rewards ultimately offered by him to those who
do so in love, faith and sincerity. Moses was commanded to return to Egypt from
where he had been exiled—something that doubtless cause him trepidation at
first, but that he was empowered to do by the strength that can only come from
God—the Creator of all. Moses was not a passive beneficiary of God’s grace or
mercy. He had to put words into action. He had to participate in effecting
God’s will. The psalmist exhorts his readers to spiritual and mental
participation in blessing the Lord, remembering his mercy and kindness. Christ
also wants active participation from his audience. To repent means making
physical, mental and spiritual changes. It means to turn towards I AM with or
entire being and enter into relationship with God. Like all meaningful
relationships, it requires each party’s active participation else it will wither
and die. This theme of active participation in, and acquiescence to, the will of
God is even more apparent by Mary tomorrow on the Feast of the Annunciation.
How will I and each of you respond and participate in discovering the will of
God in our lives and participating in making it a reality? It is not at all a
rhetorical question, but a real one with tangible implications. Lent is a time
of preparation and expiation, but our participation in our own salvation and
that of others is neither inert nor abstract. As a Franciscan Friar and
consecrated religious, every morning in private I pray: “Lord be close to me
today so that I may execute your will with joy and lead others back home to
you.” Amen.
Bro. Geoffrey
P. Clement, O.S.F., Ph.D.
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