Moses

After the great adventure with Joseph the Dreamer and hearing about their migration to Egypt, generations have passed and history has been forgotten.  Pharaoh felt threatened by the increase population of the Hebrews, and wanted to control it using violent means.  But Moses' life was miraculously spared.  

Who was Moses?  Moses grew up as a prince of Egypt. Moses grew up as a son of Pharaoh.  He probably received the finest education that Egypt had to offer.  He learned all about the gods of Egypt.  He had everything that he could possibly need and want.  He probably learned how to ride a chariot and probably owned quite a few of them.  Riding a chariot will probably be like riding a motorcycle today, so just imagine him riding a Harley Davidson. 

But his whole life was not true.  He was not an Egyptian but a Hebrew.  After defending a fellow Hebrew by taking another life, he decided to flee into the desert.  

Here is someone that had everything, and in one fell swoop, he lost all of it.  In the desert, he had to strip away all the unnecessary things such as his gold bands around his arms and neck.  In the desert, things that were valuable like gold, no longer was important.  He needed the bare essentials, such as food, water and shelter.  In the desert, just as when we go on retreats and missions, God gives us a better perspective in terms of our needs and wants.

Now that Moses is in the desert and rebuilding his life in Midian, God appears to him at the lowest point in his life.  Then God asks Moses do something unthinkable, to return to Egypt.  God has heard the cries of his people, and God sends Moses to bring the people out of Egypt.

You can imagine that Moses was thinking about how he had left all of that behind and now God wants him to return and confront Pharaoh.  

Moses must realize that his life is not about himself, but it is about God.  He must live his life not for himself but must live it for God and for God's people.  This story is essentially not about Moses but about Almighty God.

At the burning bush, God appears to Moses.  Moses was familiar with the many Egyptian gods and many of them had a face, a statue built in honor of them.  But this God of the Hebrews did not have a face or a statue.  God appears in a bush that is lit on fire but strangely the fire does not consume the branches.  

God uses the covenant language.  I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. 

Moses asks God: who are you? What is your name so that I could tell Pharaoh. 

God replies: I am who I am.  Here, you can imagine Moses thinking: Can you say that again?  Can you please repeat that?  I just don't get it. 

How could he, since God is mystery, and cannot be fully captured in a statue built by human hands. Surely in the fullness of time, God has revealed to humanity His face, and that is Jesus.

God will show forth his authority and power over the Egyptian gods and there will be a a great contest.m between the Egyptian gods and the God of the Hebrews.  It will be like Elijah versus the priests of Baal on Mt Carmel.  

The contest will occur through the ten plagues.

But Moses has to completely and absolutely trust in God.

Moses and the 10 plagues

Each plague apparently corresponds to an Egyptian god; there's Hapi, who was the god of the Nile, and Heqt - the frog god (or goddess). But those were the only two we heard about so far.

Of all the plagues, as horrible as they are, the worst is the last plague, the death of the first born.  

Before God sends the angel of death to take the lives of the first born, God instructed the people to slaughter a lamb and to takes it blood and sprinkled it on the lintel and the doorposts.  

Just think about the shape as they spread blood on the lintel and on the doorpost.  Doesn't it look like the shape of a cross?

The angel of death will pass over the houses that have the blood of the lamb covering it.  Wouldn't it be the same to say that our lives are spared because we celebrate the Lamb of God at the Holy Mass.  Are not our lives also spared because of the great sacrifice.  It gives meaning, value and purpose to the celebration the Holy Prayer at Mass. 

The first Passover in Exodus 12 foreshadows the Passover of the Lord.  

For Moses and the Israelites, there will be much trial and tribulations as they leave Egypt and enter the promised land.   But as one theologian said, it is not just about being them out of Egypt, but bringing Egypt out of them.  Even outside of Egypt, there will still be within them some of the other habits and practices that needs to be purged.  So that the promised land is not just about a physical location, but that it occupies within their hearts.  

Hope in God I will praise him still, my savior and my God.