“Who, Me?”

Text: Exodus 3:1-15

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now that we’ve passed the Festival of the Reformation and the Feast of All Saints, we turn our eyes to the end of the church year. These next three weeks are an opportunity to focus on that time when Christ has promised to return. It’s a time which calls for the Church to prepare for her King. To be ready. And in this preparation, there’s a strong sense of calling. Hearing the voice of God and responding to it is the work of the kingdom to make ready for the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The issue becomes our response when we hear that voice calling us and it’s not all that different than when we hear others calling to us in our lives. How do we respond? Are we prepared? Do we feel ready?

So often in our lives we find ourselves in situations where an opportunity is laid out. And with that opportunity comes a call to action. Picture this. You’re in a roomful of people and someone has just laid out a challenge and asked for a response.  And all the people turn their heads as if to say, ‘Who, Me?’ In that situation, where there’s a room full of people, it’s fairly easy to fly under the radar. Stay out of sight and hope not to make eye contact with the one looking for the volunteer. We see the same response when someone calls out a group for a mistake that’s been made. It happens often with children, but also with adults as the group looks around collectively saying, ‘Who, Me?’ and then looks for someone else to point at to take the blame. We’ve all been in these situations. We’ve all been the one saying ‘No, it was him and not me.’ And we’ve all been the one asking that question, ‘Who am I?’ as we’re asked to do something we don’t really feel qualified for. When really the question we should be asking is not

WHO AM I, BUT RATHER WHO IS GOD?

This morning, we heard a familiar account from Exodus which takes place in the wilderness of Sinai at the Mountain of the Lord, where Moses is tending the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro. If you recall, Moses had left Egypt forty years earlier under a pretty dark cloud, having murdered an Egyptian who was mistreating his people. So, obviously being called back to Egypt to face Pharaoh, especially with the strong demands God wants him to make, causes Moses a great deal of concern and fear. If anyone ever had reason to say, ‘Who am I?’ it’s certainly Moses. So, let’s take a closer look at this account and see what God is saying to us today about how we’re to respond when He calls us to do things we feel unqualified to do.

These are God’s people who are stuck in slavery in Egypt. People with whom God has established a covenantal relationship. We hear at the end of Chapter 2 that the Israelites are crying out to God for their rescue from this slavery. This is the same cry that comes forth from the mouths of those who come to Jesus in His time on earth, fully knowing that He would be able to heal them, save them, resurrect their family members. It is a cry of desperation, but also a cry of confidence, knowing that the One to whom they cry is capable of delivering them from their situation. “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel – and God knew.”

As is often the case, God chooses to use an unlikely servant to accomplish His work. And this time He chooses Moses. A man, who like each of us, has a past. Moses’ past includes murder and running away from his people. Your past might not include those specific sins, but it does include a daily life of sin, from which we often find ourselves running. Seeking to get away from what we’ve done, when what we really need to do is stop. Turn to God in repentance and allow His forgiveness to wash over us.

Moses responds to God’s request in the present with less than great enthusiasm. Actually, he responds, as I believe we do many times, whether we say it out loud or not, with a strong and resounding, ‘Who, Me?’ Actually, he says, ‘Who am I?’ As the preincarnate Son of God, the appearance of Jesus Himself, is speaking to Him out of the burning bush, giving him a mission, Moses essentially says to Him, ‘Why would you want me? I don’t want to do it. I can’t do it.’

How often are we exactly like Moses? We’re excited to see God. We desire to be in His presence. We show up on Sunday morning to worship Him. We come to His table and receive His gifts in the sacrament. The burning bush is here, and He calls to us out of it and we say ‘Here I am.’ But then when He places a task in front of us, we ask the same questions and give the same excuses Moses did. ‘Who am I? I can’t do what you’ve asked. I’m not qualified. I’m too busy. I’m afraid.’ We come up with all the excuses in the world, when really what we should be doing is asking a different question. It’s easy to ask the question ‘Who am I?’ as we doubt our abilities and fear our own failure. It’s much harder to ask the question ‘Who is God?’ because this is an admission that it doesn’t matter who we are. What matters is who God is.

Moses asks ‘Who am I?’ and God tells him that what will matter to the people he’s being sent to is who is sending him. The One who sends Moses is the One the Israelites will know by His very name. I AM WHO I AM. And not only does God promise that his reception will be favorable because of who is sending him, but He also promises that He will go with Moses. He will use Moses. He will protect Moses and He will bless Moses. And God tells us the same things. When He places a task in front of us it is not simply an order. ‘Do this or do that.’ It is a command attached to a promise. Wherever God sends us and whatever He asks us to do, He promises to be with us. To guard and protect us. To bless us and our efforts which are done in His name. And most importantly that whatever the task placed before us, it matters not whether we feel we have the gifts to accomplish the task. Because what is important is not ‘Who am I?’ but rather who God is.

And who God is is the One who sent His Son to redeem us. The One who promises us everlasting life because we have faith in the salvation won for us by Christ on the cross. We are who we are because of who God is. We are changed through Christ. As we heard last week when we celebrated All Saints Day, we have experienced a great reversal from sinner into saint. Not because of anything we’ve done or in any way because of who we are, but because of who God is. I Peter 2:10 tells us, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Before God made us His people we were a selfish people. Unwilling and unable to do that which He calls us to do. But as His people we have been given the ability to respond to His call because He promises to be with us, to protect us, and to bless us. So, when God calls us to do His will, let our response not be ‘Who, Me?’ but rather a recognition of who God is. Because He says to us when He asks us to be His light in this dark world, ‘I AM with you. I will go before you. I AM your strength. I AM your protection. And I will bless you and everything that I have asked you to do.’

When we begin to see God’s calling in our lives to reach out to others with His joy and peace as a blessing and not a burden, we will see all the opportunities He places before us to serve Him. And when we are reminded that it is not by our own ability that His will will be done, we can more fully rely on Him to do His work through us. Just as Moses eventually surrendered to God’s calling to lead His people, let us also acknowledge the calling God has placed on each of us so that others might benefit from knowing the One who gives us everything we need, not only for this life, but for life eternal. What is God calling you to do, to which you might respond, Here am I, use me? AMEN.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.