20210715 THE GOD WHO REVEALS IS THE GOD WHO SAVES
15 July, 2021, Thursday, 15th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Exodus 3:13-20 © |
God reveals his name to Moses
Moses, hearing the voice of God coming from the middle of the bush, said to him, ‘I am to go, then, to the sons of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you.” But if they ask me what his name is, what am I to tell them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I Am who I Am. This’ he added ‘is what you must say to the sons of Israel: “I Am has sent me to you.”’ And God also said to Moses, ‘You are to say to the sons of Israel: “The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name for all time; by this name I shall be invoked for all generations to come.
‘Go and gather the elders of Israel together and tell them, “The Lord, the God of your fathers, has appeared to me, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; and he has said to me: I have visited you and seen all that the Egyptians are doing to you. And so I have resolved to bring you up out of Egypt where you are oppressed, into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land where milk and honey flow.” They will listen to your words, and with the elders of Israel you are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to meet us. Give us leave, then, to make a three days’ journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifice to the Lord our God.” For myself, knowing that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless he is forced by a mighty hand, I shall show my power and strike Egypt with all the wonders I am going to work there. After this he will let you go.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 104(105):1,5,8-9,24-27 © |
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, the judgements he spoke.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
He remembers his covenant for ever,
his promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
He gave his people increase;
he made them stronger than their foes,
whose hearts he turned to hate his people
and to deal deceitfully with his servants.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
Then he sent Moses his servant
and Aaron the man he had chosen.
Through them he showed his marvels
and his wonders in the country of Ham.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ps129:5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt11:28 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 11:28-30 © |
My yoke is easy and my burden light
Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’
THE GOD WHO REVEALS IS THE GOD WHO SAVES
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Ex 3:13-20; Ps 105:1,5,8-9,24-27; Mt 11:28-30]
After asking the question, “Who am I?”, Moses asked God who He was. Moses said, “I am to go, then, to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.”‘ But if they ask me what his name is, what am I to tell them?” In asking for the name of God, Moses was not only making clarifications for his people but for himself. To ask for the name of God is more than just a name. Rather, to know His name is to know His being and His essence. This is why in all cultures, giving a name to a child must be done carefully because the name expresses who the person is and what he is meant to be. For Moses, it was not sufficient for him to tell the sons of Israel, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you.” For if he did not know His name, how could he claim to have seen God or heard Him speak? Otherwise, how would they have confidence in him or in the God whom he claims to have spoken with. Perhaps, by this time, some of them would have forgotten who the God of their fathers was.
And so God said to Moses, “‘I Am who I Am. This’ he added ‘is what you must say to the sons of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” What does it mean? Why does God call Himself the I Am? It must be noted that the name “I Am” is a verb not a noun. It is strange that God described Himself as a verb. This is significant because it means that God is not someone who is static that we can domesticate and capture completely. This God is therefore alive and cannot be captured by any image or concept that we can give to Him.
It shows the dynamism of God; one who is, so to speak, not just acting but in action. He is very much involved in the lives of His people. As He said earlier, “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.” (Ex 3:7-9) This God is One who is not oblivious to our suffering, and certainly not a distant, cruel God or even a retired architect of the world. He is always acting in our lives and our history, even when we are unaware.
In calling Himself the “I Am”, God reveals Himself as eternal and immutable in His divine essence. God is the eternal present. He has no past or future because He is eternally present to us and always. God is changeless. It is significant that one of the titles of God in the Old Testament is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Even though generation after generation had passed, things had changed radically, yet God remained faithful to His promises to Abraham and his descendants. Even though they might have forgotten Him, God had never forgotten them. Our God of the Covenant is a faithful God and unchanging in His love and fidelity to us. This is simply because as St Paul said, “if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Tim 2:13)
Finally, in calling Himself the “I Am”, God indicates His nature as self-subsistent and self-existent. God simply is. He does not owe His existence to anyone because He is existence. This is why God is self-sufficient. He does not depend on anyone. It was out of His love that God created us and revealed Himself to us. This is the reason why God is all powerful and all sovereign because He exists in Himself. The symbol of the burning bush lies in the fact that the bush was kept burning all by itself without being burnt up. So, like the burning bush, God is perpetually in action and never consumed by its own activity.
Consequently, the name of God is indescribable because it is too awesome to pinpoint His being exactly. So God said to Moses, “‘You are to say to the sons of Israel: “The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name for all time; by this name I shall be invoked for all generations to come.” Because God’s name is so sacred, the Hebrews, out of respect and awe for Him, declined to utter His name. And so in the scripture texts only the consonants, YHWH are written. In our translation of this unutterable word, “The Lord” is used, even though some would add in the vowels so that His name could be pronounced as Yahweh.
In the light of this revelation, therefore, Moses could then go confidently as the Lord instructed him to “go and gather the elders of Israel together and tell them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, has appeared to me, – the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.” As the Lord who was faithful to the promises made to their fathers, God was now intervening in their lives to liberate them from the land of slavery. He was to repeat exactly the same words God had said to Him earlier about how He had seen their suffering and would bring them to the Promised Land where milk and honey flowed. Moses was to speak to the elders of Israel so that he would not undertake this mission alone but with their help. With the authority that God had vested in him and with the signs that would accompany his authority, the elders would listen to his words and support him. He would have the courage to tell Pharaoh to let the people go. God who is all powerful would demonstrate His power over Pharaoh through Moses. But it would be God who would be doing the work. God said, “For myself, knowing that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless he is forced by a mighty hand, I shall show my power and strike Egypt with all the wonders I am going to work there.”
Indeed, we can see clearly that when God reveals, He also saves. Revelation is salvation. There are some who claim that they can be saved without revelation. In other words, I can live an honest life even though I might not know God. Yet, the truth is that revelation and salvation go together. We can be saved only when we walk in truth and in love. So God reveals Himself to us for our salvation. This is clearly stated in Vatican II, Dei Verbum. “In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (Eph 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (Eph 2:18; 2 Pt 1:4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (Ex.33:11; Jn 15:14-15) and lives among them, so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.” (DV 2))
The Lord Jesus who is the I Am in person said, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” (Jn 8:58) The Lord said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev 1:8) Jesus said, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Mt 11:27) Confident of our Lord who is the revelation of God in person, the revealer, the Lord invites us, “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.” When we know the love of God for us, we will be able to carry the yoke with Jesus for the love of God and humanity. When we are assured of God’s love and share in His knowledge and will, even though the journey might be difficult and the demands of love is trying, we will be able to overcome all our enemies as Moses did, not with our own strength but the strength that comes from Him, and especially His love that will support us. So let us come to the Lord, bask in His love and enlightened by His word, for as He said to St Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9)
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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