The Mission

 Exodus 3-4          Psalm 15             John 20-21

 The call of Moses in Exodus 3 and 4 begin the story of the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham hundreds of years before. Moses has been living a quiet life with his family for about 40 years far from the people of Israel. His attention is caught by a burning bush and he draws closer in an attempt to figure out why the bush is not consumed by the fire.

 God speaks to him from the fire and in one of those interesting dialogs between God and Moses the call to return to Egypt is made. Assured those that sought his death are themselves dead and he won’t be remembered Moses is instructed to return and lead the people out of Egypt and into the promised land. He finds a number of excuses because he is not the right man for the job. God meets each objection with a promise to go with him. Don’t miss the anger of God when Moses uses the voice God gave him as an excuse not to do what is asked of him.

 We should remember that Moses’s brother and sister have remained in Egypt and lived under their rule. Now they are called to work together to bring the people out of what has changed from invited guests to slaves. Moses and Aaron gather the people to being the process.

 Psalm 15 once again reminds us that those that live by the ways of God will be blessed.

 The end of the Gospel of John describes the post resurrection reaction from the women that came to complete the burial ritual. The struggle to believe that Jesus has been raised from the grave was just as difficult to believe then as it is now.

 There is also the interactions between Jesus and Peter asking if Peter really loves Jesus and then Jesus warning to Peter that the cost of continuing to fulfill his mission would be costly. It is always encouraging to me that the post resurrection disciples, even though they had lived with and learned from Jesus, still struggled to see what the future could hold.