Ex.3:1-8,13-15, 1Cor 10:1-6,10-12, Luke 13:1-9
Theme: The God who Notices.
In a house, a husband always reading papers and, on his phone, not noticing what goes on around him. One morning the wife dressed up and asked the husband “what do you think? Don’t you like the dress, dear?” Without looking up he asked What dress dear? “The one I am wearing” of course, you haven’t notice, have you? You have forgotten our anniversary again. The trouble is that you just don’t notice any more, do you? “It really makes me wonder.”
When people fail to notice, or no longer have the time, we begin to wonder about the quality of their love. It is difficult to ignore people and claim to love them at the same time. Which makes awareness a very important virtue because it is the precondition of love. Love presupposes awareness; it grows in awareness.
It is very important for our faith to believe that God cares enough to notice what happens to us, that his reaction to events is not: “I don’t want to know.”
In today’s first reading, we heard about the revelation of who God is. The story tells of God revealing himself to Moses, even though Moses hides his face from God, he hoped that God would not close his eyes from the pains of his people. The first part put that fear to rest for it shows God to be God who notices: “I have seen the miserable state of my people… I am aware of their suffering.” God does see what is happening; therefore, there is reason to hope.
The revelation to Moses shows a God of action who is moved to act on what he sees. He cares deeply about what happens to his people. Through Moses we know that God sees and is moved to act on what he sees. But the question is whether God will stay awake on human suffering. Will he keep on caring for his people or will the day come when he will run out of mercy?
The answer is in the name of God, “I AM WHO I AM.” The very name of God affirms his fidelity and staying power. He will never be a “has been” God for he will always be “I am.” His name is an assurance of his presence: “I will be there.” So, there is the good news that God does not take people on and the drop them at the first sign of trouble. Over against our infidelity, his name affirms his unchanging fidelity to us.
Conclusion:
In the revelation to Moses, we have an insight into the ministry of God: the one who pays attention, who is moved to save his people, and who stays constant in his love. In Jesus, we can see the tree truths written large. But what about in ourselves? How do we pay attention to people’s misery/suffering? Do we act on what we see? Are we faithful to our name of Christians? To answer these questions, we would have to give ourselves away like God did.
Fr. Alex Osei
SSC-USA Spiritual Director