What If?
Moses and the Burning Bush by Eugene Pluchart
With the exception of Jesus, of course, the LORD has never had a friend like Moses. No other human has been vested with such authority. No other person has spoken to God at such length, so regularly, face to face “as one speaks with a friend.” Scripture says God put His words in Moses’ mouth and His authority in Moses’ hands. It was an awesome, beautiful partnership, but it got off to a rocky start.
Imagine the absurdity of arguing with a bush! We know the LORD was in that bush. Moses knew it, and yet he was caught completely off guard. He could feel the flame of God within His soul God, but he could not wrap His head around the experience - much less the content of what he heard. He wanted to believe God would deliver his people, but up until that moment it seems he had never given much thought to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We have no indication that he had prayed or sought the LORD. Most of his life Moses had lived as an outsider - both to Pharaoh’s house and to his kinsmen. Why should he be chosen as a prophet now? What if the Israelites refused to receive him?
This is the question Moses posed to the LORD in many different ways during that meeting. What if the Israelites asked who sent him? What should he say? What if Pharaoh did not believe? What if the people would not listen? Moses objected until the anger of the LORD burned against him. In fact, Moses’ reluctance almost cost him his life! Yet the LORD proved true to every promise He made that day.
This weekend I heard a homily on a parallel passage from the gospels. In Luke 10, Jesus appoints seventy-two men to go and preach in Judea and Galilee - “every place that He Himself was going to come.” (As an interesting aside - seventy-two is the number of direct descendants which Jacob brought into Egypt. This is no coincidence, I think.) These seventy-two disciples were given a charge as daunting as Moses’. Jesus said to them “ Go; behold, I am sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one along the way. …. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is served to you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
It is remarkable to me that these men did not respond like Moses. They did not ask “What if no one listens? What is no one feeds us? What if we cannot heal the sick? What if the people run us out of town and stone us as false prophets?” It seems like these were all legitimate questions - but apparently, having been with Jesus, these disciples were filled with a joyful confidence. They were, at least, willing to try. And their faith was justified! One of my favorite descriptions of Jesus occurs when these seventy-two men return reporting that “even the demons were subject to us in Your name.” When Jesus saw their joy, “He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”
I wonder what Jesus meant by saying that these disciples were infants? Was it that these men were uneducated? or young? Or was it because they trusted Jesus just like a child would trust a parent? How were they different from Moses, who was much harder to convince? Moses was a learned man, raised in Pharaoh house. He was an old man of 80 when the Lord called him. For all this, I think he was more scared than jaded. He had never seen the works of the Lord in the same way those young disciples had seen the miracles Jesus performed.
I appreciate the challenge our deacon gave in his homily. When God calls, the deacon suggested we respond with joy, like the seventy-two disciples. He suggested that we say to the Lord, “even if!” rather than “what if?” Even if I have nothing to eat - I will rejoice in the Lord’s sending! Even if no one listens - it is an honor to proclaim the gospel! Even if I do not see the day of the Lord’s return - it is a gift to prepare His way!
I pray that many “babes” in our day will hear the call of the living God. I pray that many will see wonders like Moses saw. I pray that Jesus will send out thousands upon thousands to heal in His name and proclaim the good news. And I pray that these young men and women will respond with a hearty “even if!” like the disciples in Luke 10. I expect to see “Satan fall like lightning” before the day of Christ’s return.