Lessons from the bush

Today, the story from the book of Exodus invites us to the scene of Moses at Horeb, where he encountered the burning bush.  There is always a part of me that wants to skim such stories when I encounter them.  My first instinct is to say ah, the story of Moses and the burning bush, and leave it there (without reading through the details).

However, read it we must.  Listen to this word, we must ... if we are to glean the wisdom that it wants to offer for today.  How else will we hear the advice that is offered?  How else will we learn of its wisdom?

Moses was being a good son-in-law.  The beginning of this account tells us that he was tending the flock belonging to his father-in-law Jethro.  This was (and is) a good and just thing to do.  While he was going about the daily task of leading the flock to pasture, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire ... and the bush, though on fire, was not consumed.

The sight of a burning bush that is not consumed should have scared him.  Instead it peaked his curiosity.  How often do things happen around us, causing us to react in fear?  Do we run away from such happenings, or do we tend to be more curious about things out of the norm, and want to investigate them further?  In fact, it was when he came closer to inspect the situation that God called to him.  Here then is the second part of the mystery.

Even if we are aware of God calling to us, such calls don't always involve spoken words.  They do however cause us to be curious, cause us to wonder (and sometimes to wander).  If we come closer, God can begin a conversation, and who knows where that might lead.  Actually, the concept of a conversation with God was almost unheard of in Old Testament times.  Then, God was understood as a far-off and menacing entity.  Perhaps we too have grown up with such a concept, but the more we enter into the personal encounter of prayer, the more we discover that this relationship with God is not a scary proposition.  It is a very intimate encounter with one who loves us deeply.

Jesus, who knew this intimacy perhaps most profoundly, revealed the loving heart of the Father, His Father, our Father, our Creator.  Who better to introduce us to the Father than the Son?  The image he presented was and is vastly different from the human understanding of a God who is far-off and menacing.  Instead, Jesus reveals a tender, loving gentleness.  In fact he praises God for having hidden these truths from the learned and the wise ... and for revealing them to mere children.  Those of us who consider ourselves wise in this world need then to learn the lessons preached by Jesus: become like mere children in the way we trust his promise.  Allow him to reveal to us the tender love of the Father, for no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.