A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church
on Sunday 30 August 2020, the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, by Timothy Chan. The scripture readings that day were Exodus 3:1–15, Psalm 26, Matthew 16:21–28.
Good
morning friends, today we have read two familiar passages. One is the story of
God calling Moses to lead God’s people out of Egypt, and the other one is Jesus
challenging his disciples to take up their cross and deny themselves to follow
Him. These two passages are so rich, we could talk about the burning bush, we
could talk about the liberating character of God, we could talk about the price
of being a follower of Jesus. On top of all of these, I would like to talk
about identity in this morning. It was an interesting moment when Moses asked
God “What’s your name”, and we are going to reflect upon this question. Before
we dive into the scripture, let’s pray:
Heavenly
Lord help us to know you more through Your word, so that we can be a better
follower of You. Help us to understand our identity with You in our lives. May
our lives be transformed by your presence and love. In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
In the
beginning of chapter three, Moses is leading his father-in-law’s flock, doing
his shepherd thing. It sounds a bit different from what we have learnt about
Moses, being the great leader, and named the prince of Egypt. In this stage of
Moses’ life, he was going through an identity crisis, or to say, up to that
point of his life, he has been dealing with his own identity since the day he
was born. Let’s spend some time trying to understand what he was struggling
with. In Chapter 2:22, he calls himself “an alien residing in a foreign land”.
He was raised by his Hebrew mother, but he was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter
and was given an Egyptian name. In chapter 2, you may also see, he was trying
to help his Hebrew kinfolk and he ended up killing an Egyptian. When the
Pharaoh learned of it. He wanted him dead. Egyptians wanted to kill him, and
the Hebrews wouldn’t accept him, and they even identified Moses as an Egyptian.
Therefore, he must be very confused about who he really is. He wanted to help
the Hebrew, but he was rejected by his own people. Moses is both Egyptian and
Hebrew, but in other people’s eyes, he is neither of them.
When God
was calling him in the bush, asking him to deliver them. In verse 9 to 10
9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the
Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to
bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” God sees the same thing Moses
has seen. Same as Moses, God also wanted to help the Hebrew people. I believed
it is what Moses has always wanted too, but at that point, he was not sure. In
verse 10 Moses raised his concern to God, “Moses said to God, “Who am I that I
should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” After all he has
been through, he was not sure of who he is anymore, he was lost. He was indeed
in the wilderness of his own identity crisis. Today are we also asking
ourselves this same question? Are we trying to understand who we really are?
What we really want to do, and what kind of a person we want to become?
Today we
are living in a culturally diverse environment, many of our friends in KUC
might have been living in different countries, and in different cultural
settings before. Some of you might have good experience, but some of you might
not have a very good one. In Hong Kong, I am sure the most popular subject now
is netiehr the protest nor the covid-19, people are talking about migration,
whether they should be moving out of Hong Kong. Not only in Hong Kong, there
are also identities which are conflicting with each other. In America, how do
you understand yourself to be an American with your own unique cultural and
migration background? What does it mean to be an African American? This
identity crisis can be found not only within our national identity, it can be
also happening in every sphere of our lives. What does it mean to be a sexual
minority and a Christian at the same time? What does it mean to be a husband
and a son at the same time? My point is that we are all facing different
dilemma and tension between different identities every day. To a point that we
are like Moses, we might be confused of who we are, we might be doubtful of the
decision we make, and eventually we ended up in our own wilderness, losing
purpose and direction.
God knows
the struggle of Moses, instead of choosing for Moses, God says ““I will be with
you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you”. It is not
really an answer we want to hear. Most of the time, we would really want God to
simply just give us the answer, so that we don’t have to struggle with the
choices we have. I am sure most of us have experienced a similar scenario, we
want God to help us to make the right decision, and we were so afraid that we
would make the “wrong” choice. However, God is simply saying “I will be with
you”. God knows Moses was struggling with his identity between an Egyptian and
a Hebrew, but God is not bothered or concerned by it. What God sees is Moses’
yearning for justice and liberation for the Hebrew people. Even though Moses
was rejected by both people, but God knows that his hybrid identity is perfect
for this task. Sometimes the struggles bothered us the most would be a blessing
in some scenario. God promised to be with him, and He will also be with us, to
go through all the difficult choices we have in lives and help us to realize
the purpose of it.
Friends,
most labels for identity are socially constructed, let it be nationality, race,
political stance, sexual identity, even family hierarchy or economic status,
but God sees beyond all these labels. God saw Moses’ passion for justice, God
can also see through all these masks we wear or put on us and reach out to our
being and existence. No one can define who we are unless we let them do it to
us. Do we care about how the society and the world see us more than How God
sees us? Know this my friends, God is with us and He is the one who truly knows
us.
Well you
may ask, how are we going to understand how God sees us? We don’t even know who
He is! That is the same question Moses asked, “hey you said you are going to be
with me, but who exactly are you? I don’t even know your name?” God said to Moses,
“I am who I am.” “ehyeh asher
ehyeh” It’s such a long
name! oh wait, it’s not a name. God is saying He is who He is! Naming is
a powerful action in the ancient near east world. In the Genesis, God brings
all the animals in front of Adam, and ask him to name them. By naming someone,
the other person gains power and dominion over the named thing or person. It is
a display of power. If you want to understand why, you may try to think of the
nickname we have in our lives. You can think of how it has affected you, and
why different people address you differently and how it changes our behavior.
My Chinese name is Chan Ka, and my friends gave me a bad nickname 人渣, meaning scum/scumbag. I don’t like it
and whenever I am called that, I thought of maliciously ways to get my revenge
over them. My Mandarin name is pronounced Chen Jia, and a friend of mine from
China said “it sounds like building
home” and he said I am going to build house of worship for God. Wow, compare to
scumbag, it is much more meaningful, and because of it, I started thinking of
church planting when I was young. If naming is so powerful, then why God
doesn’t have a name?
In the
Hebrew, the better translation of “ehyeh
asher ehyeh” I am who I am shall
be “I will be who I will be”. God refused to be defined by anyone, including
himself. Therefore, God’s answer to his own name, “I will be who I will be”, is
the essence of His existence, which can be seen as a cycle of possibility and
actualization. Why I say it is a cycle? because God cannot be contained in the
present nor the future, but we can know Him through what He has done in the
past. In this story, even God is reluctant to name himself, but he mentioned
twice that “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.” (3:6, 15) Moses knows God through His relationship and
promises God has given to his fathers and ancestors. In that present moment,
Moses knows God on the Mountain, receiving this mission to deliver His people
from the land of Egypt. Then Moses’s future is somehow entangled with God’s
plan and purpose, like a knot. From that moment on, they share the same
mission, and Moses’ identity has transcended from being either Egyptian or
Hebrew, to become one of the most significant patriarchs of our faith.
God’s answer to His name is reminding us that in
God everything is possible. It’s also an invitation for all of us to be part of
His story. We know who God is through what God has done in our lives, and in
other people’s lives. These experiences are helping us to visualize how God
would do at this moment and how God would keep his promise in the future. Our
faith is not a faith of the past, our faith is also a faith of the presence.
Every day, as I have mentioned earlier in the sermon that we have different
choices to make, and different dilemma to deal with. Our faith is helping us to
follow the way of Jesus when we are put to make choices. Whatever we choose is
showing the world of who we are. In the Gospel, Jesus said to his disciples, if
you love another, people will recognize you are the follower of God. The prayer
of St. Francis is also challenging us “Where there is hatred, let us sow love”
In the face of difficult situation, God is with us to do the impossible. “I am
who I am” can also be understood as “I can be whatever I can be”. With God’s
help and presence, we can all achieve the impossible.
The Gospel reading today, Jesus told his
disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and
take up their cross and follow me.” It is an invitation to enable God to live
through our lives. Just as Moses and God shared the mission to help the
oppressed Hebrew people, Jesus is inviting all of us to bear the Cross with
Him. The Cross is a way of life. When Jesus said he was going to be killed and
be resurrected on the third day, Peter objected this idea and rebuked Jesus.
Then in verse 23 Jesus said to him “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling
block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human
things.” To take up our own cross, is to set our mind on the divine things, not
on human things. It is difficult to tell what is divine and what are merely
human, but it’s a commitment to let God’s will be done on us. By committing
himself to God’s mission to liberate the Hebrews, Moses has denied himself to
follow God. He surrendered his life to God, and let his life be available for
God to use. To deny ourselves, we are actually freeing up space for God to live
through us, to lead our life. Whenever we are letting it to happen, we are
rewriting our future, and actualizing our potentials and purpose of our lives
given by God.
Brothers and sisters, “What is your name?” who do
you want to be? God found Moses on the Mountain of Horeb, in his own wilderness
where he was lost and torn between his identity. But God has literally shared
his life with him and gave him a new meaning and mission. We are not defined by
how the world sees us, because the presence of God in our lives is the sign
that we are all loved and called by God. We are called to follow God which
requires us to let go of our ego, our pride, and control over our lives. It
might sound scary, but it can also be an assurance. In Galatians 2:20 Paul said
of his life following Christ as “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ
who lives in me.” God is looking for the Moses of this generation because He
has also heard the cries of the oppressed and persecuted for justice, equality,
peace and life. God is looking for those who are willing take up their cross
and follow God in the path of liberation and redemption. God is waiting and God
is calling. May we all answer his summon with confidence, knowing that God is
always with us and with God all things are possible. Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, August 30, 2020
