As we near the end of the church year for 2007, the 24th Sunday after Pentecost for November 11 provides these three readings: Exodus 3:1-15 (Burning Bush); 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, 13-17 (Coming of Jesus Christ) and Luke 20:27-40 (God is God of the living). The sermon text is Exodus 3:14, “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.”
You can understand Moses’ reluctance to return to Egypt to free Israel from bondage when he has a price on his head for murder. First he tells God that he is not capable of doing this himself. God replies that He will certainly be with him. Moses realizes that the people of Israel will ask who gave Moses these orders so he asks God what is His name. God replies, “I AM WHO I AM.”
From a L&G point of view, the task of the preacher is to indict every member of the congregation with the accusation of Law that all are like Moses. But what exactly is Moses’ problem? Is it really that he does not think himself capable of bringing the people out of Egypt? No, his problem is that at this time he doesn’t believe that even God is capable of bringing His people out of Egypt.
Thus, if there is Gospel in this text, God’s answer must hold the key. How is the name of God Gospel? First, what does “I AM WHO I AM” signify. Just as most names have some meaning–my last name Baker probably originates with someone who baked bread–so also the name of God has important significance. The preacher’s task is to help the members of the congregation understand the significance of God’s name for their lives.
Does “I AM WHO I AM” simply refer to the fact that God exists? So what? To answer that question is really the goal of a sermon. The listeners are asking “So What” to your sermon because what good is it if it has no relevance to life? They already know that God exists so providing that meaning for the name of God is not helpful. The task of each sermon is to supply an analogy that clarifies what at this point is somewhat unclear.
There is a cartoon character that comes to mind who uses a similar phrase to the name of God. His name is Popeye. First time I heard him use it was when Olive Oyle had agreed to go on a date with Popeye but then Bluto, the big bully, said he was taking her out instead. Popeye replied, “No you are not.” Bluto said, “Who is going to stop me?” Popeye retored, “I yam who I yam!” puffing on his pipe with great vigor.
What did he mean? Popeye was telling Bluto that he had already promised Olive Oyle that he was taking her on a date and no one, including big bad Bluto, was going to stop him from keeping his promise. The name of God is not just for the purpose of having something to call upon in prayer. It means that God will keep His promises.
The “I AM WHO I AM” is a form of the copula verb “to be”. It is the word “Yahweh” with a guess that the vowels are “a” and “e” because the original Hebrew was without vowels. A bad transliteration is the word “Jehovah” which is the result of not realizing that the vowels finally put over the 4 consonants were from the word “adonai” which means small capital “lord.” The Israelites were so hesitant to use the name for God that the vowels for “adonai” were put there instead reminding them to say “adonia” rather than the real word “YHWH”.
The paraphrase I find helpful is “I fulfill what I promise.” For behind the name is the promise of God to Abraham that the people of God would populate the promised land of Canaan. And no one, including big bad Pharoah, could possibly get in the way of God keeping His promises. What is so interesting is that the sign which God gives to Moses that God will keep His promise is that Moses will return to this mountain (Sinai)AFTER the people are freed!
The members of the congregation, like Moses, daily sin much deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment primarily because they do not believe that God will keep His promises. That needs to be flushed out during the sermon depending on the particular personality of the congregation and how sin commonly raises its poisonous head in a way common to these people. Then the signs of God’s faithfulness connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ need to be stressed which, of course, are the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In this way, both the accusation of Law and the good news of the Gospel are applied during the sermon.
Name:Tom Baker