Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent
Third Sunday of Lent: Reading I, Year C
Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.”
When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
He answered, “Here I am.”
God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers,” he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
But the LORD said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Moses said to God, “But when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”
God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.”
God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.
“This is my name forever;
thus am I to be remembered through all generations.”
The First Reading for the Third Week of Lent focuses on Israel’s exodus from Egypt. It gives us a bird’s-eye view of God’s dealings with the Israelites and points us towards Holy Week and the New Exodus which Christ inaugurates at the Last Supper and through his death. As God in his compassion sent Moses to lead Israel out of their bondage, so too does he come to each of us this Lent, offering to lead us out of the bondage of our sin. He longs to purify our hearts so that we would desire him alone.
In our reading today, God calls Moses and initiates the first Exodus. God sees the suffering of his people. He speaks to Moses through a bush which is on fire, but is unconsumed by the fire. As Moses walks towards the bush God commands him to “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5).
Moses is not only walking towards a fiery, unconsumed bush, he is walking towards a Consuming Fire, who is God. Lest we get all too comfortable coming to God and leaving unchanged, let us remember that this Consuming Fire will completely transform Moses. But like the fire, he doesn’t utterly consume what comes near to him. Rather, this Consuming Fire is a purifying fire. He will burn up all that is not of him in each of us. He will consume all of our desires for lesser things—for things which could never really make us happy—and so free us from the bondage of these slave drivers.
Don’t let this “Consuming Fire” business unsettle you. God initiates the Exodus out of compassion. He calls Moses because he sees the suffering of his people, and he wants to lead them out of it. Because of his great love for us, God sends Christ to this earth to free us from the bondage of our disordered loves and lead us back to God. He is a God of compassion.
Purity of heart is what Lent is all about. We exchange what is consumable for what is inconsumable and receive a purer gaze on our Lord. Lent is also our yearly exodus. We too are in bondage in Egypt, enslaved by desires that rob us of a single-hearted desire for our Lord. Each year at Lent, God asks if we would allow him to enter the hostile land of our hearts and consume the fears and false gods. God longs to consume these things, and put into us a pure and simple love for him, and for those around us.
Let us rejoice and be transformed! This is our God. In love, he himself comes to deliver us from our captivity.