God's Promise to Be with Moses and with Us

In today's first reading, Exodus 3: 1-6, 9-12, Moses encounters God in the burning bush.  curious that the bush is not being consumed, Moses approaches the bush, saying to himself: "I  must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned."  As he approaches the bush, he hears a voice announcing his name"   "Moses! Moses!   ...'Here I am,'  Moses responds.  "Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.  I am the God of your father,..., the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."  God then tells Moses that he has heard the people's cry and is aware of the fact that the Egyptians are oppressing them. He wants Moses to lead God's chosen ones out of Egypt. Moses questions God:  "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?"  God says to him: "' I will be with you."

Imagine being Moses, a man in hiding out of fear of being killed by Pharaoh for killing an Egyptian in retaliation for his murder of one of Moses' kinsman. "Me go back into Egypt?  You have got to be kidding, God! I killed a man there!  I will be put to death!" God, of course, knows Moses' past crime and yet chooses him to confront Pharaoh and to lead the Israelites out of slavery!  Our sins are not a deterrent for God's choice of us to do the work of liberating others from that which enslaves them.  In fact, God has liberated Moses from his sinful past and empowers him to be a liberator with God's help.  The same is true for us! Or is it? Do we cooperate with God when God calls us to partner with Him?  Or do we resist, offering God every excuse in the book of why there is no way that we can do what he is asking of us?

What if Mary has said no to God?  What if Jesus had likewise refused to become one of us and show us the way to the Father and reveal the Father's love for us?  Both Mary and Jesus, however, said yes! They held nothing back! Nothing!

What am I, what are you, willing to do for God, for other's well-being, in accord with God's will for us and them, namely that we be reconciled to God and one another, that we become recipients of the fullness of life that Jesus came to give us?