September 28, 2025 -:A Burning Bush and God's Holy Name

Reading:  Exodus 2:23-25; 3:1-15; 4:10-17 

Pastor Emillie taught us that what we read during the beginning of the Narrative Lectionary year 4 will support the Gospel of John, which starts in January. So far, Genesis connects the upcoming John readings to themes like creation, Word, light, covenant, temple, Passover, manna, water, and Spirit.

Exodus connects us to Jesus as the bread of life, living water, and the lamb of God. We start on this reading where Israel groans under oppression. Their cries rise, and the text tells us God “heard,” “remembered,” “looked,” and “took notice.” These verbs matter. Before God calls Moses, God listens. Today, we can sometimes feel that God is silent. The God we encounter in Exodus is not distant or indifferent; God is responsive and is moved by human suffering. This God is stirred into action by lament.

When Moses encounters God at the burning bush, the first revelation is not a theological treatise but presence: fire that does not consume, holiness that interrupts the ordinary. Moses is told to take off his shoes to recognize that the ground is already sacred.

Liberation begins in the awareness that God is present where we stand, even in the wilderness of exile and oppression. I hear an echo here of what came to Jacob in his dream or when he finally meets Esau face-to-face, Jacob does not hide behind masks anymore. He takes action recognizing his past mistakes, not because he has suddenly become blameless, but because he is finally facing the one he wronged. 

At the heart of this story: Moses asks for God’s name. In the ancient world, knowing a name meant having a relationship, a point of trust. God does not give a fixed, controllable label. Instead, God offers mystery: Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh, translated as “I Am Who I Am,” or “I Will Be Who I Will Be.” God’s identity cannot be pinned down, yet is revealed in relationship, in action, in promise. This is not a God to be owned or wielded, but a God who will be faithfully present in unfolding history.

Moses resists the call. He names his inadequacies, his stammering tongue, his fear of leadership. God does not deny his weakness but answers it: “I will be with your mouth.” Still, when Moses cannot imagine himself as enough, God provides Aaron. It seems to me that two primary truths are revealed:

• God’s calling is not about solitary heroism, but about shared vocation and
• God hears the cries of the oppressed and acts, oftentimes through us.  

To know God’s name is to be drawn into that work of liberation, even when we individually feel unqualified. Our inadequacies do not disqualify us; they become the space where God’s presence and community sustain us.

In Jesus, there is the resonance of I Am. We live lives that embody God’s liberating presence among the poor, the excluded, and the broken. To know God’s name, then, is not to solve a riddle but to join a story: the story of a God who hears, remembers, and comes alongside us, calling us into the work of justice and freedom.