Readings (Year C):
Exodus 3:1 – 8a, 13 – 15
Psalm 103: 1 – 2, 3 – 4, 6 – 7, 8, 11
1 Corinthians 10:1 – 6, 10 – 12
Luke 13:1 – 9
Reflection: A name you can trust
There was a farmer whose barn was filled with John Deere tractors and plenty of Duct Tape.He had a son, and when a toy was broken, his son would come to him and the farmer would say, “Don’t worry—I’ll fix it! I learned from the best: John Deere, and Duct Tape!”
Okay, that’s cheesy. But it shows the importance of trusted names. In today’s high-tech, fast-changing world, many of us struggle to know: who can we trust? Sources we used to rely on—news, social media—are censoring what they tell us or sharing false information. In a time of discontinuity, we ask: What names can we trust? And that’s what Moses is asking, in today’s reading.
I’ll bet that for most of you this story is familiar. You can probably remember the voice of God addressing Charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments movie, “MOSSESS!” We can easily imagine the burning bush and see the future prophet removing his shoes on holy ground.
God calls Moses to free Israel, and Moses is understandably frightened by this task. So he asks God, “When I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me’…if they ask, ‘What is his name?’ What am I to tell them?”It’s a fair question. In such a crisis, they need a name they can trust. But at first, God’s reply, in verse 14, seems enigmatic. “I am who I am.” What does that mean?
In verse 15, God reveals the divine name. In your English translation Bibles, that name is rendered as “the LORD” (all in capital letters). But in Jewish readings, the name is never spoken aloud. Jewish readers use the word for “LORD” in place of the name which is translated by Gentiles as “Yahweh.”
What is the meaning of that divine name? In the text it seems as though just hearing the name will enable Israel to trust God. So how is that name so efficacious?
Here is a biblical detail with enormous ramifications, and a great encouragement for us in these uncertain times. The divine name in verse 15 is the same basic word as “I AM” in verse 14. The word is the same, but in verse 14 it’s in first person “I AM” and in 15 it is third person. And that also ties in with verse 12 in this dialogue, where God says “I AM with you.”
The divine name occurs 6,807 times in the collected books of the Bible. Whenever you are reading your Bible, and you see that capital L-O-R-D…you’re seeing Yahweh. And every time you see it, that can be a reminder—it is God’s name, “I AM” and God is saying, “I AM with you.” Always. In everything. God will be with you. Yahweh—the name of God—is literally a name you can trust.
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