When all of us are together with the Risen Christ, then we shall understand our call!

When all of us are together with the Risen Christ, then will we understand our call.

Good Friday

In the time that we have left in our mortal bodies we are perplexed with so many unanswered questions regarding the significance of life itself.  As long as any of us does not encounter pain or severe disappointments the journey we are on appears simple.  However, when one of those intolerable occasions suddenly confronts our well-being, disrupting any one of us, we cry out to God with, “why me?”

Perhaps the most unwanted intrusion that can occur is not the pain or disappointment many get, it is when God calls us into a ministry where the steps needed require more than some are able to adhere with.  Abraham’s call was not a written contract which included vacations, sick leave, or bargaining issues for more money and notoriety.  The first order that came to him was; “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.”  The only promise God handed to Abraham stated;” I Will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you:  I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.  All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.”  (Gn 12: 1 - 3).

For many years the Israelites were held captive in Egypt and God decided their sojourn was over.  He needed a leader who would accomplish this decision and called, as with all the prophets he used, a man who was not a superhero or an intellectual giant that his enemies would listen to.  Instead he found a man who would learn to trust the Lord and followed through with his plan.  “Meanwhile 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 him 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 Moes decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.”  (Ex 3: 1 - 3).

Skipping ahead several verses, the task God would call Moses to was not one with easy obligations, but one filled with restrictive expectations that most people would quickly shun.  Moses has recently escaped from Egypt as an outcast, and now God is sending him back to confront Pharaoh, and demand he let God’s people go.  (Ex 5: 1 ff). 

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?”  He answered, “I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you;  when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain.”  “But” said Moses to God, “when I go to the Israelites and say to them, “the God of your fathers has sent me to you,” 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.”  (Ex 3: 11 -15).

Moses didn’t only have a contract to follow, he had the stamp of approval from God who gave to Moses the name of perfection and Truth:  I AM is sending me forth as the forerunner of God’s only Son as human history moves forth.

The final expose’ in this Easter message occurred at the Incarnation of Christ.  One more time, God needed a man whom he could trust with the culmination of the missions of Abraham and Moses.  However this mission was too critical for just any man in history.  So God became the one called who would see through the final days we call the Easter Triduum and the salvation that was predicted, and played out with three significant events.  (1) Abraham’s test to kill his son Issac, a sign of the crucifixion (2) the Passover were the sign of the Cross on the doorposts and lintel of the Hebrews homes, (3) the reality of the complete contract of God and his people.  God’s Son brings forgiveness through his Suffering/Death/Resurrection..

Ralph B. Hathaway