CSI: The Compassion of a Vulnerable God

Introduction:

As I shared last week, when I began to reflect upon the stories I wanted to investigate in our CSI-Christian Story Investigators sermon series, I decided to do an overview of Moses’ life. The reason being, his story is the main topic of Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible which we also call The Law. Jesus said that the reason for his life and ministry was not to do away with the Law but so “The Law” might be fulfilled, might be brought to fruition. This story of Moses is a cornerstone of understanding Jesus’ mission and life. But, as I began my investigation I got stuck on this very first story of Moses and the burning bush, as it contained so many thoughts and insights into our faith and into who God is. So I will reflect on this one scripture for the whole three weeks I am allotted in the series.

Last week, we discovered several important insights about God. First, God takes the initiative to call us to come and follow. We may doubt that call and answer as Moses, “Who am I?” Or we may see others who know us well wonder about our call, as we see in Jesus ministry. Who are you that you can be called by God? But, we are all called. Secondly, the reason we are called is because God trusts us to do the work of God. As Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann says, “The thing that God does best is to trust us with our moment in history, our moment with God’s story.” We all have a place in what we as United Methodists call the “Ministry of All Christians.” As I shared last week, “If we dare to believe that the story of God will be heard in every classroom, boardroom and living room in this country and around the world, then it is up to all of us to live our calling.”

Then I left us last week to ponder Moses’ question to God after God called him. “Who should I say sends me? What is your name? What God should I tell the Israelites, has sent me to set them free and lead them to a Promised Land?” This question is what we will investigate very quickly today. Before I read the story again, I want to ask you to participate in listening in a very particular way. We know that we hear a story differently based upon whose perspective, whose ears we are listening with. Today, I want you to listen to the story from God’s perspective. Close you eyes if you need to, but listen from the place of God in the story.

The reason being, I have shared that this scripture is so important because it is where we hear God’s self-revelation. This scripture is where God tells us who God is. As we all know, it is only when someone tells us about themselves that we truly know who they are. We can observe another, we can make assumptions and even judgments about them and their behaviors, but it is only when someone is willing to be open and tell us what motivates them, what causes them to pause, what their hopes and dreams are, what their fears and doubts are, that we truly get a deeper and better insight into their character and personality. So lets listen and hear what God tells us about God. Listen and hear what touches God’s being and moves God in relationship to us.

Read Exodus 3:1-15

One of the things I heard very early in the story is that God tells Moses that “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Why is this important for God to reveal to Moses? As I shared last week, the story of Moses is a continuation of the story of the family of Abraham which is found in the Book of Genesis. God made a covenant, a promise to Abraham that he would be the Father of many nations, and that his offspring would be greater than the number of stars in the sky. The reason Pharaoh had enslaved Israel, the family of Abraham, is because they had grown so large in number, giving them strength and power. Pharaoh was afraid they would overthrow him so he enslaves them.

Sermon:

This title or self-definition of God as a God of many generations is also important, because it is a reminder that God is faithful. These words tell the Israelites that God keeps God’s promises. And even though it has been generations since this covenant or promise was made, God continues to honor it. It is a statement to Moses, “That you can trust me and let the Israelite people know that I am trustworthy.” You can count on me and what I say to you even if it takes years or generations to come to fruition. So we each have to ask ourselves, even today, “Do I trust you God? Do I fully and deeply believe in the promises you have made to me?”

Another important part of this story is seen in God’s relationship to Jacob. Jacob wrestled with God one night along the shore of a river called the Jabbok. You can read the whole story in Genesis 32, beginning at verse 22. It is a great story. Of course, God wins the wrestling match. But this is where God names Jacob and his offspring, the generations to follow. After the match God renames Jacob now calling him Israel. The name Israel means those who wrestle with God. God remains trustworthy, even when we wrestle with God, when we want to resist what God shares with us about our calling. And God continues to wrestle with us until God can prevail. God does not run away, God remains in struggle until we surrender to God and receive God’s blessing.

We see in the story God telling Moses, God telling us that if we remain in the struggle God will be faithful and we will find blessing. We know we have those times when we wrestle with events in our lives, when we have a set-back, when we feel loss, when we are afraid, when we feel unsure or even unloved. We ask God, where are you as we wrestle with our faith and wonder where God is. We have the words of Psalm 22 that Jesus says from the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” These words express the deep feeling of despair as we wrestle with our faith and wonder where God may be in our lives. But, one of my favorite prayers is one prayed by a father to Jesus. His son is very sick and he is afraid and grieving as he wrestles with what is now happening. He could lose this precious gift of his son. He comes to Jesus and asks him to heal his son if he can. Jesus sounds a little insulted, “If I can.” Jesus continues, “All things can be done for those who believe.” The father then prays, “I believe, but help my unbelief.” Do we not all wrestle with what we face at times? Do we not all call out from the deep place within us, “God, please help me if you can.” Does God not want us to hear, “Trust me”?

In fact, we also see in the scripture that God willingly enters into our struggles in life, and faces them with us. What has motivated God to enter into the lives of the Israelites at this moment? Why is God calling and sending Moses to Pharaoh? God says, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cries; I know their sufferings, and I have come to deliver them.” God is entering into the struggles of their lives so that God can bring freedom from their slavery and oppression.

God is revealing to Moses, I am moved to action by what you are experiencing in your life. God is telling Moses, I am a vulnerable God, I am moved by the needs, the hurt and the pain I see in my creation, and I act to bring holiness, wholeness back to life. That is why I am calling you. In God’s vulnerableness, in God’s steadfast love that endures forever, we see God is a God of compassion. The word compassion is comprised of two Latin words, com, which means “with” and pati which means “suffer.” Compassion literally means, “to suffer with.” God is telling Moses, I am entering into the suffering of those I love. I am entering into their lives so I may wrestle with, I may contend with those who are causing the suffering and release my people from their pain. Biblically, compassion means “to enter into another person’s life so fully and completely that you understand it, even feel it from their perspective.”

I believe that this helps us understand God’s response to Moses when Moses asks God, “What is your name?” God says, Yahweh, which the New Revised Standard Bible translates as, “I Am.” There are a couple of things that are important to know about receiving another’s name in this culture. First, if another shares his or her name with you, it indicates a relationship of intimacy. You share your name with those with whom you feel close, a kinship of some kind. Secondly, when you know another’s name, it implies you have some power over them. We see the implications of this all over our society even today. If you give a young child a name or a label, such as slow or learning disabled, that label may haunt them and define them the rest of their educational life.

Let me try another example that shows the power of names even in the church. If I was to describe myself as a person of faith, I would say I am an evangelical fundamentalist. My suspicion is many of you may have chuckled a little when you hear this, knowing that I do not fit the definition we usually give these words. But a fundamentalist literally means someone who seeks to get back to the basics, and an evangelical is one who wants to simply share the good news of God’s love, which for me is the fundamental message of scripture. This quest for being fundamental, is in essence the very thrust of this CSI, or Christian Story Investigator sermon series. It is trying to understand the basics of the stories.

So why is this important in understanding God’s name? As I stated, the NRSV translates Yahweh as “I Am.” Many biblical scholars like a more dynamic and fluid translation. They believe it means “I will be who I will be.” You cannot put me into your box of understanding and say, “I know who God is, and I can speak for God, and I can make judgments in God’s name. What we hear in this scripture and throughout the Bible is what we must do to live God’s call.

Jesus, himself shows us this in Luke 6:36, where he teaches “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.” Our God is a compassionate God. Our God enters into life when God hears the cry of the needy, and the hurt of the broken and disenfranchised. Later in the Moses story, in Exodus 33:19, we hear God say, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will be merciful or compassionate to whom I will be compassionate.” In other words, we cannot say who God loves and who God does not. And we can all be thankful for that.

It is the fundamental belief that allows us to now prepare to celebrate this very basic act of faith in our Christian lives. There is no greater symbol, there is no greater expression of God’s compassion and God’s graciousness for us all than the communion table we are all invited to eat from. Remember, “com” means with. We are in union with, communion with each other as we all seek this graciousness, this compassion, this saving grace of God in the life of Jesus Christ. We all come, knowing we need this gift to free us from our slavery to sinfulness, our separation from God’s loving kindness, our separation from grace. God says, come all of you, but especially those who are wrestling with life, who are struggling and need strength, who are hurting and need encouragement, for “I Am,” here to enter compassionately into that suffering and be with you. Thanks be to God.

This is God’s self-revelation. This is a fundamental belief in our faith. The question now arises, “How will Moses hear this?” Or maybe the question is, “How will we hear this and respond?” That is the story for next week.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on August 1, 2010.