THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT - (cycle C) 1998 

---

The call to Moses from the burning bush indicates God's patience with a reluctant yet inquisitive prophet. This shepherd, Moses, speaks: "I must turn aside (or go over) and look at this remarkable sight." To turn aside (this translation is more meaningful than 'go over, indicates Moses' desire to understand this mysterious theophany (which is manifestation of God, a way of revealing h@elf). Moses is willing to change direction (t= aside) and take a chance that this phenomenon will ultimately be a good experience. This God is the same one who was present in the lives of the great patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and who will now bring to freedom those held in slavery in Egypt.

It is unfortunate that our text for today omits four and a half verses, so that we do not hear God's call to Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. We do not hear Moses' reluctance to take on the task, and of the sign that God will give to authenticate his will. We pick up the dialogue in verse 13 (having omitted verses 8b-12), as Moses asks God for a name. God's self revelation, in our English Bibles, is a title that speaks both of being and action. God is "I AM WHO I AM," or"I AM WHO AM." And he tells Moses to tell the people: "I AM sent @ to you. 11 So God initiates the action with Moses, calls him to he his prophet and a leader of his people, patiently revealing the divine plan and the part that Moses is to play in it.

Four verses of Psalm 103 respond to this action of God. Last Sunday I told you that the psalms have the words we need to voice our prayer. These verses today bless and praise God who is both just and merciful, or "kind and merciful" or "gracious and merciful." There is specific mention of God's self-revelation to Moses: "He has made known his ways to Moses" (vs. 7) This psalm is an obvious link to the first reading, and prepares us well for the divine justice which Paul speaks of in the First Letter to the Corinthians, and for the mercy proclaimed by Jesus in the gospels.