Exodus 33:12-23
12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
Where Do You See God?
The Congregational Church of Easton – Oct. 22, 2023
I don’t normally preach on the Old Testament, but today’s reading in Exodus is so interesting, I couldn’t resist. Let me give you some context. After the Hebrew people had crossed the Red Sea and escaped the Egypt9ians, they came to Mt. Sinai. Moses went up the mountain, and God gave him the ten commandments. He was on the mountain a long time, and the people became anxious. The chapter before today’s reading begins like this:
The people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain. They gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come on! Make us gods who can lead us. And for this man Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t have a clue what has happened to him.
So they took their wives and daughters’ golden earrings, melted them down, and made a golden calf, which they worshipped with music and dancing.
God knew what was happening and told Moses he would destroy them for worshipping an idol. I’ll read from Exodus 32:
But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you promised: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky….” Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
So, Moses went back down the mountain in a rage and dashed the two stone tablets at the feet of the calf. There was a big confrontation. Then Moses went back up the mountain to beg God to forgive the people. In the course of their conversation God told Moses he wouldn’t lead the people of the of the desert to the promised land. He’d send an angel to guide them.
Now, in today’s lectionary reading Moses once again gets God to change God’s mind, and God agrees to go with the people on the rest of their journey.
I go into all this detail, because I want to show how intimate the relationship between God and Moses is. They’re almost like an old married couple squabbling with each other. As I reread today’s passage, pay attention to this intimate quality of their relationship. I’ll reread Exodus 33:12-16.
12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
Moses is adamant that God has to go in the midst of them, otherwise they’d be no different from any other Palestinian tribe.
This has important implications for us here at the Congregational Church of Easton. What makes us any different from an organization like Rotary? Both we and Rotary have good fellowship, good food, and serve our community. What makes us different? Moses would say it is God being in the midst of us. That’s what distinguishes us from other non-profit organizations. I’ll come back to this point in a minute.
I’ll continue with verse 17:
17 …the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.
That’s the end of today’s reading. It’s SO interesting. Moses can’t see God’s face, only his back. One of today’s commentators asks how the powerful holiness and glory of God can live in the midst of a sinful people without destroying them. He says, “That is the key question with which Exodus 33:12-23 wrestles.”
The answer was to build a tabernacle or tent of meeting that the people could carry with then on their journey. God would enter the tabernacle and Moses and others could go in and talk with him.
Our Fairfield County clergy group read an article by Thomas Keating, who says:
You can’t see God without going through death because the intensity of his naked presence would burn you up an turn you into a grease spot. [!!!]
The Israelites found a way to go on their journey with God in their midst without being turned into grease spots. They would carry God’s tent or tabernacle with them. That way God could lead them.
What’s the parallel with us today? It’s crucial that we have a tangible way of seeing God in our midst if we want to be different from Rotary. The question I would like us to wrestle with this morning is how do we let God lead us if we can’t see God? We don’t have a tabernacle.
Where DO we see God? If – eventually – we can answer the question of where w see God, maybe that will give us clues as to where God is leading this church.
Let’s start with where you, individually, see God. Where do you see God? You’ll need to decide that for yourself. But let me suggest some possibilities:
I know at least one of you gets a good deal of spiritual nourishment from gardening. Others of you FEEL God in worship or prayer. That’s pretty close to actually seeing God. Another way is to see God in other people.
Seeing God in other people is what Jesus was talking about in our first reading when he asked people to show him a coin. The Pharisees had asked him whether Jewish law allows people to pay taxes to Caesar. So he asked them to show him a coin. Whose image is on this Coin, Jesus asked. Caesar’s, they said. The give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.
Well, what belongs to God? You and me. Genesis 1:27 says we are created in the image of God. God’s image is stamped on us, just like Caesar’s image was stamped on that Roman coin. If that argument doesn’t persuade you, look at it this way: We see God in Jesus, right? The apostle Paul Tells us Christ lives in each of us. So, when we look at each other, we see the Christ in them. So, the Bible tells us in many ways that we see God in other people.
Where do you see God? These are some options: seeing God in nature, seeing or feeling God’s presence in worship or prayer, and seeing God in other people? Think about it, where do you see God?
But Moses didn’t just see God, or God’s back. He had an intimate conversation with Him. When you’re having an intimate conversation with someone – when you really let your hair down and are vulnerable with each other, empathy happens. Love flows.
I love having one-on-one conversations. When another person and I are really connecting in an intimate conversation, I can feel the presence of God. I do see God. Try it yourself. The next time you have a really depthy conversation with someone see if you don’t feel the presence of God.
Let us pray. Thank you, God, for all the ways you show us your Glory. Thank you for your radiance in the midst of the Congregational Church of Easton.
