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Exodus: 3:1-6, 9-12
Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.
Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire
flaming out of a bush.
As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush,
though on fire, was not consumed.
So Moses decided,
“I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,
and see why the bush is not burned.”
When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely,
God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
He answered, “Here I am.”
God said, “Come no nearer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your father,” he continued,
“the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
The cry of the children of Israel has reached me,
and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God,
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
He answered, “I will be with you;
and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you:
when you bring my people out of Egypt,
you will worship God on this very mountain.”
The Word of the Lord.
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“I will be with you,” the LORD promises Moses in our first reading.
Moses faced an impossible task – he was called to lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land.
Such a mission demanded miracles – breaking the bond of Pharaoh, outrunning his army, parting the Red Sea, and bearing with Israel’s repeated complaints and infidelity to God during their forty-year-long sojourn in the desert.
Although Moses couldn’t foresee all that he would have to endure, he was overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.
But the Lord promised him, “I will be with you.. and when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship me on this very mountain.”
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We’ve all been in a position like Moses before, feeling like we’re being led to do the impossible.
Think of first-time parents laying eyes on their newborn child. “How can we give this child everything he or she deserves?” they must wonder.
Or the moment you show up for your first day on the job; when extra responsibility is placed upon your shoulders; your first day of retirement; when your doctor reads a poor health diagnosis; when you lose a loved one.
Or, in my case, both the day of my priestly ordination and the day I became pastor here at St. Pius X. I wondered, in the words of Moses, “Lord, who am I?”
In each of these cases, God whispers to us what he once said to Moses, “I will be with you.”
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As we navigate our way through life, we must also remember to do what Moses did: return to this “mountain” to worship the Lord whose love never fails.
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Image credits: (1) revPACman (2) Moses Leading the People of Israel, Adobe (3) Worship Leaders University