Exodus 3:1-15

Moses at the Burning Bush

3 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There 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. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When 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.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He 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, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He 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 serve 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?” 14 God 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.’ ” 15 God 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 forever,
and this my title for all generations.

Fascinating Old Testament lesson!  In antiquity, persons wanted to know someone’s name in order to have power over them…Moses is trying to find the identity of God and God responds with “I am”…he goes on to say that “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc”…basically a God of relationship.  In so doing, God’s turning Moses into the mystery of identity…the I am that is in all being, all creation.  What a statement…and, to think, that this voice of the burning bush, this “I AM” resides within us!!!  And all around us…

Let’s get on with the gospel lesson as it works out another power play over Jesus that Jesus would have none of…in fact, calling Peter out and calling him into his deeper “I AM” identity.  

Matthew 16:21-28

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

The Cross and Self-Denial

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

27 “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

The Rally Day picnic last week with our congregation and the Nepali congregation was simply another good moment in our church’s history.  I love that we have  demonstrated what we’ve been preaching, that we engage others and show hospitality as well as receive it…and more than simply sharing our space, it’s building relationships that are transformative, not just transactional.  

Really, it’s great to think about this tradition of Rally Day, even with some creative and adaptive twists that we’ve done over the past few years.  Things evolve, as does our identity as a congregation.  Rally day is a part of our identity at Fleming Road UCC, a welcoming congregation to different cultures within our community.  

In our gospel lesson, we see Jesus not celebrating his identity, but giving a somber declaration, a prophetic word, that he must suffer, that he will be betrayed, and that he will be killed.  Peter would have none of this!  He had put his identity and expectations in and on Jesus instead of the Christ Presence that was in Jesus and emerging in Peter, his true identity.  Peter’s sense of self, his image, was wrapped up in a triumphant Jesus, a victorious Messiah.  Yet, Jesus says that tragedy must come first, that suffering is a key part of our identity with Christ…and oftentimes we need those kind of disruptions for our truest selves to emerge, or to be born again if you will.

Life is filled with suffering.  We do all that we can to avoid it, but it’s there.  Look at folks struggling with their health during the pandemic, mental heath as well, job insecurity and an unknown future, look at the millions of refugees fleeing corruption and wrecked countries, look at the effects of human trafficking all over the world, look at the violence against people of color and the racism and sexism being spewed upon us in so many directions.  

Look at our own lives.  We experience depression, anxiety, physical loss in our lives, emotional ups and downs, job losses, transitions we feel we aren’t ready for, death.  

Jesus knows this and addresses it head on.  Peter rebukes Jesus for saying this, yet Jesus gives a strong response as a Rabbi should and would do to one of his disciples, “get behind me Satan”.  Don’t deny what I’m saying or will experience.  And, he’s telling Peter, you have to go through suffering in order for something to emerge within you.  You have to move from a fixed mindset and heartset to an open mind and heart.  Jesus is frustrated, frustrated with the lack of awareness and desire for true growth in Peter…but Jesus loves Peter and wants Peter to understand that he cannot hide from suffering.  

Neither can we friends.  Jesus goes on to say in our text this morning that in order to be a follower of Jesus, we must deny ourselves and take up Jesus’ cross, the way of suffering.  We must be willing to enter into the darkness of our lives, the lives of others, and this world.  This is a hard word, but if we are to enter into life, true life where we grow and become all that God intended, if we want to experience true joy, we must be willing to suffer, to lean into the darkness of our lives and even embrace it.  We must enter into the tragedies in and around us and learn and grow from them…  

Richard Rohr says this:  “the genius of the biblical revelation is that it refuses to deny the dark side of things, but forgives failure and integrates falling to achieve its only promised wholeness, which much of the point of this whole book.  Jesus is never upset at sinners, he is only upset with people who do not think they are sinners!  Jesus was fully at home with this tragic sense of life.”

Jesus does go on to say that if we deny ourselves, if we take up our cross, if we are willing to look at our lives and become aware of who we are even in our suffering and darkness, then we will find Jesus with us.  Jesus will not give up on us.  

Jesus didn’t give up on Peter, and doesn’t give up us.  Peter is often called the rock.  Jesus said that he’d build his church on this same Peter that he rebuked.  He believed in Peter.

And, this same Jesus believes in Fleming Road UCC.  This church which is a part of the church universal that he anointed Peter to be a leader of.  Like Peter, we have to be vulnerable, and authentic, and also realize that we need healing and growth.  

We have to change, we have to think differently, we have to open the doors of our church to others, we have to move beyond the way we’ve done church and think differently in order to build community with those around us. 

Friends, yes, God’s story, and ours, is filled with suffering and tragedy, but the story doesn’t end there.  Yes, Jesus is betrayed, Jesus suffers, Jesus is killed.  We are betrayed, we suffer, and we die.  Yet, there is resurrection.  There is new life.  There is a Risen Christ.  WE will rise with the Christ, and, in fact, we are rising daily with this Christ, even as we experience suffering.  We are learning to trust as we here the story of Jesus and of life over and over again…developing faith in the midst of uncertainty, living through the tragic as well as the triumphant, while staying committed to the authenticity that God is birthing within us. The world around us is looking for that authenticity and a willingness to embrace the messy world we all live in, knowing that we aren’t alone in the messiness or the suffering.  God is with us, and Lord willing, a community of folks around us.  

This is good news!

It is also a good reminder that we are called to share in our suffering.  Communion reminds us of our connection to one another, to God, to Jesus through living in the Christ Presence, and to the whole world really.