In For A Penny, In For A Pound
by Rev. Jonathan Gale
26th May 2013 (Evensong)
Exodus 3: 1 – 15
Moses at the Burning Bush
3Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ 4When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 5Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ 6He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the Lord said, ‘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, 8and 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. 9The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ 11But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ 12He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’
The Divine Name Revealed
13 But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ 14God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to you.” ’ 15God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”:
This is my name for ever,
and this my title for all generations.
John 3: 1 – 17
Nicodemus Visits Jesus
3Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ 3Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ 4Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ 5Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” 8The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ 9Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ 10Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
11 ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Last Sunday night I had a dream about an old girlfriend – someone I had known towards the end of my schooldays and who subsequently became a Baptist and married a friend of mine. I woke up recalling that she had accompanied me to three different dances – which really hasn’t much to do with anything in particular except that the idea of a dance is pertinent to Trinity Sunday.
There is an early theological concept which has gained modern popularity amongst quite a few theologians called perichoresis. It is an attempt to describe the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit and has been described as a kind of dance within the Trinity, a description of the “interpenetration” of the three persons of the Trinity. The relationship between the three members of the Trinity was described by early Christians as an eternal ‘holy dance’ of each member around the other two.
Part and parcel of this thinking is that the hospitality within the Trinity is extended to believers and that we therefore are invited to engage in the dancing. This is God’s love at work, working actively to draw us to himself.
Now our natural (and I use the word advisedly) – our natural tendency is to exercise good manners about the generosity of others – you know: don’t appear greedy by being too hasty to accept an invitation or gift, and this causes us to hold back a bit.
Which reminds me of a Boer general (whose name escapes me now) who failed to follow up a military advantage against the invading English forces reasoning, “If God gives you his little finger, you don’t take his whole hand.” The good man was wrong both militarily and theologically.
God is not a god of half measures. The idea of moderation in all things was in English church history, at least, an overhang of both Deism (which promoted the idea that God was uninterested in us) and the Anglo-Catholic backlash against the Reformation. In English high society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the worst thing you could be was enthusiastic. You could floor anyone in an argument if you managed to manipulate the conversation to a point where you could justifiably accuse your opponent of being anenthusiast.
We get a pretty clear picture of how God feels about holding back in Revelation 3where the risen Christ speaks to John in a vision and conveys this message to one of the seven churches where says 14 ‘And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation:
15 ‘I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
This is heavy language.
In our reading from the Book of Exodus this evening we find an enthusiastic God spectacularly appearing to Moses in a burning bush. Moses, a former prince of Egypt, has leadership qualities and God has decided he wants him for the task of leading the Israelites out of Egypt. He’s also spent the last forty years as a herdsman in what the King James version describes as the backside of the desert (Exodus 3: 1) which is probably more pertinent to the work God has in mind for him.
I find it interesting how Moses begins with curiosity when he sees a burning bush but then begins to argue with God as soon as he encounters God’s enthusiasm.
God gets to the point rather too quickly for Moses. 10So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ he says in verse 10. Verse 11 follows with: 11But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’
We’ve probably heard of Moses’ excuses before. He then rather pathetically says, “But if they ask me what your name is what am I to say?”, followed by a few others, including,“But I am slow of speech.” God, of course doesn’t accept Moses’ excuses any more than he accepts ours today, and Moses is given a new job at the age of eighty: which also says something about God. God doesn’t retire us. Not even in death, but that’s another conversation.
God is enthusiastic and he expects an enthusiastic response. Enthusiasm is akin to faith and overcomes fear.
In our Gospel reading we see another leader exhibiting curiosity. Nicodemus, however, in spite of his curiosity, is so keen not to appear enthusiastic about the Lord that he visits Jesus by night. The first verse of our reading says: 3Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus by night
He begins the conversation O so politely: Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’
Jesus, of course gets straight to the point: 3Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’
Now I’d like you to notice the way Nicodemus tries to avoid getting spiritual. He dives for cover into logical left brain thinking. 4Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ He asks a question but it’s a rhetorical one: he’s really saying; you can’t enter your mother’s womb a second time so therefore you can’t be born again.
Jesus is not to be put off because he knows what Nicodemus needs. So he continues with: 5Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” 8The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’
Nicodemus is beginning to regret his curiosity. He came to this religious meeting expecting to gain some knowledge but the preacher is pressurising him into a spiritual experience.
Have you ever been in this situation? I have. Scores of times. You see whether we are Christians or not our old nature (what St Paul calls the flesh) behaves the way we naturally behave: “Dear God don’t invade my privacy!”
I can’t say this earnestly enough. If you’ve not consciously surrendered yourself to God following an experience of the gentle pressure of the Holy Spirit demanding you do so, I entreat you to rouse your curiosity and to look out for your burning bush. Look out for God calling you. Or more pertinently, like Nicodemus, seek out Jesus. I can assure you he will speak to you, and he will, whatever your felt need, lead you to whatever you real need is.
And when you surrender to whatever it is he places before you, something mysterious, wonderful and very real will happen to and in you. One thing you can be certain of: you will never be the same.
So whether, like Nicodemus, God is calling you to a spiritual rebirth, or whether, Like Moses, God is calling you into a new ministry, don’t shy away. Don’t ignore the curiosity God places within you because you fear where God may lead you. God never leads without being right beside us all the time.
Fear is natural. Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God. God didn’t tell him it would be easy, but he did say he would bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
As our Gospel reading concluded tonight: 16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
No matter what God calls you to, he’s inviting you to a dance! It’s a party with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And unlike my girlfriend, he’s not going to go off and marry someone else. When you find yourself dancing with God, it’s for keeps!
Hear what God is saying to you tonight.
God bless you.
AMEN.