February 28, 2016

The Third Sunday in Lent

I’m not much of a suburban gardener. Most of the plantings around my house were put there by the former owners. In my back yard, I have an ornamental tree. I always thought it was an ornamental pear tree, as there are many in my neighborhood. To my surprise, last year it started growing apples! The pear tree, which is really an apple tree, always was what it was – no matter what I thought of it.

This is our existential question in lent. Who are we – really? What are we becoming? We may appear to be one sort of people but our identity may be quite different. What does God intend for us? Are we apple or pear? Are we bearing fruit? Are we becoming our true selves or are we wasting away as false selves?

Moses has an identity crisis. He lost his old way of life and began a new life as a shepherd with the Midianites. He sees a burning bush. What is this? A person once asked a Rabbi why God chose a common thorn bush. Why not something spectacular, like a cedar tree? The Rabbi replied, “Even though you are ignorant, you have a good question, so you deserve an answer. God used a common thorn bush to show us that God is everywhere.”

God pursues Moses through his life. He is an Egyptian prince, a murderer on the run, and a simple shepherd in the middle of nowhere – except that God is even there! “Let my people go!” God declares. “When they ask for a name, tell them ‘I am who I am has sent you.’”

God seeks justice and righteousness. God seeks that all people are living rightly and that all people seek God’s rightness. Not only does God want this for us, this is who God is. It is God’s nature. God’s desire and God’s identity are one. God is what we know as integrity. This is also what God wants from us – that we live with integrity – that our words match our actions.

God uses imperfect people to reveal who God is. God uses Moses, who is far from perfect. He has issues with anger. He is held back with fear. God uses him anyway and makes him a prophet who speaks truth to power. Moses stands up to Pharaoh. Moses leads his people into unknown paths. He leads the people to freedom and a new relationship with God.

Our identity is not in the great works of God that we witness. We are children of God because of how God works in us. Paul reminds the Corinthians that even though the people of God saw the cloud of glory and even though they ate manna in the wilderness – they still died. Our salvation is not a birthright. We are not saved simply because of what we know and what we have seen. We are saved through God’s transformation.

We know God in a new way. Therefore we are urged to live in a new way. God has given us new life. What good is it if we don’t live transformed lives?

I think this is some of what is annoying Jesus. The worriers or the gossips have their tales to tell. Some poor people were killed by Pilate as they were offering sacrifice. Some other people were killed when a tower collapsed. Tsk, tsk. Ain’t it awful?

We are surrounded – bombarded – with endless reports about how rotten the world is. War, disease, and corruption are everywhere. How do we cope? Should we be smug if we are safe? Jesus gives us a warning. Those unfortunate people did not die because they were worse sinners than other people. (Sin may be the reason – but not everyone who suffers deserves it.) Jesus warns us to look to our own lives. If we do not repent, we will die just like those unfortunate ones.

We are used to hearing the call to repentance in lent. We remember that we are to turn away from our sin. We forget the important turn towards life. We are called to turn around – to stop walking the path that leads to destruction and take the different path that leads to life.

Sometimes that path is simply turning aside to see the burning bush. Sometimes that path is choosing to live differently. Sometimes that turn is towards our true selves – and rejecting our false selves.

Moses was a prince, a murderer and then a shepherd. Then he discovered he was a child of God and that made all the difference. Remember that you are an apple tree no matter how many people think you are a pear tree. If that is what you are, then create what you were made to create – and be a child of God.