Holy Ground
Notes
Transcript
Can you think of an ordinary day that ended up being extraordinary?
Everything was going along as it always does - then something happens and suddenly - you appreciate what it means to be alive, to be human - and maybe that day - that moment - significantly changes you and sets you in a new direction.
I think of a sunny day in Southern California nearly 24 years ago when Krista’s water broke, and on that ordinary day I would witness the miracle of new life and become a father.
Moses had such a day. One moment he was busy with the mundane - shepherding a flock of sheep. How many days have been just like this one - moving the herd from one spot to another?
The next moment, Moses at the ripe old age of 80, finds himself in the presence of the Lord, and not only that, the Lord knows his name, and not only that, but Moses hears that he - of all people - will deliver the Hebrew people out of bondage.
All because he noticed something out of the ordinary. A bush on fire, yet not consumed. A dry, prickly, thorny bush - most likely an acacia bush - out in the middle of nowhere burning in an unusual way.
How many of us would have seen the bush and said “hmmm…that’s weird” and kept on moving? "I ain’t got time for that.”
Moses had a whole herd of sheep to deal with. He had a destination he needed to get to and you don’t just stop animals on a dime. But we read that Moses thought to himself “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
In contemplating this passage, I wonder how many burning bushes I’ve passed by. Invitations to encounter the Lord that I have been in too big a hurry or to self absorbed to have taken the time and “turned aside to see.”
Make no mistake, this is an invitation.
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
The Lord was inviting Moses to draw near. Something out of the ordinary meant to capture his attention.
Have you ever been heading somewhere and you notice a person having a breakdown of some sort? The world seems to moving right along around them, but something in their demeanor, something in their movement, a look on their face, maybe the tears in their eyes - something is out of the ordinary.
Have you ever considered that this may be a burning bush? That God is looking for you to turn aside and see? That He is waiting for your response.
That is what I mean when I say that wonder how many burning bushes I have passed on by.
When God saw that Moses turned aside to see - when God saw that he got Moses attention - he called him by name. And I love Moses response.
“Here I am.”
That response indicates that I am present, I am listening, you have my attention.
Here I am.
God can do so much when we simply say “Here I am.”
In the book of Isaiah, there is a powerful passage in the 6th chapter when Isaiah is commissioned by God to be his prophet. Isaiah is caught up in this vision of heaven and sees God sitting on the throne with mighty Seraphim - angelic beings - singing praises.
Listen to Isaiah describe what happened next.
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Here I am. You have my attention. I am yours. I will go where you send me.
Some of you, as I read this passage, may be thinking of the hymn by the same name, “Here I Am, Lord”
Join me if you know it - first stanza and chorus.
I, the Lord of sea and sky
I have heard my people cry
All who dwell in dark and sin
My hand will save
I have made the stars of night
I will make their darkness bright
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night
I will go, Lord
If You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart
If you desire a deeper, stronger faith, those three words are a great starting point.
And what does the Lord say to Moses after hearing those three words?
Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
What makes the place holy ground?
God’s Presence.
It is God’s presence that makes the ground holy.
Terrance Fretheim, in his commentary on Exodus, writes, “God chooses a mountain in the wilderness named Horeb (“wasteland”) as the place of revelation. Moses’ encounter with God takes place far removed from the sights and sounds of the religious community. There is no temple nearby where he might expect a divine appearance, no sign that this is a holy place. It is an ordinary, everyday journey for him with no “religious” intentions. The setting is the wilderness, and Moses’ vocation is mundane indeed. Yet it would not be the last time that God appeared to shepherds in a wilderness with an announcement of peace and goodwill. It would not be the last time that God chose a nontraditional, nonreligious setting for a hearing for the word.
Moses was standing on holy ground because God was present.
So what is up with the command to take off his shoes?
As a shepherd, Moses would likely be wearing sandals to protect his feet on rocky soil. God tells him, before you draw nearer, take off your shoes.
I’ve read the opinions of several theologians and historians.
Most share that it was, and still is in some places, a sign of respect to remove ones shoes. Some say it is a sign of submission.
Another commentator, and I failed to write down her name, believed that it was God declaring ownership of the land on which Moses walked. For there was an ancient custom related to the redemption of land or persons that involved taking off one’s shoe.
This is actually recorded in the book of Ruth.
In Israel, in former times, this was the practice regarding redemption and exchange to confirm any such matter: a man would take off his sandal and give it to the other person. This was the process of making a transaction binding in Israel.
So there is that. And all of that may very well be what is going on.
But I can’t help but sense that there is more to it.
God, by his own divine initiative, is stepping from behind the veil that separates heaven from earth. He is revealing Himself to one of his own creations.
Have you ever slipped off your shoes and felt the grass between your toes? Or stood on the shoreline at the beach barefoot as the waves recede and your feet sink in?
There is something very earthy, very real, very grounded in taking off your shoes and standing on holy ground. to be connected with the dirt that the Lord created humans from as you stand before your Creator.
Moses is not the only one to be told to do this.
Later, his successor, his protege, Joshua has a similar encounter with the Lord. It happened as he was preparing to lead the Israelites to capture the walled city of Jericho.
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Again, the Lord appears in the most unlikely of ways - and his very presence makes the ground holy.
I want to share a poem with you that I came across this week that I think ties in really well...
EVERYDAY GRACE
by Stella Nesanovich
It can happen like that:
meeting at the market,
buying tires amid the smell
of rubber, the grating sound
of jack hammers and drills,
anywhere we share stories,
and grace flows between us.
The tire center waiting room
becomes a healing place
as one speaks of her husband's
heart valve replacement, bedsores
from complications. A man
speaks of multiple surgeries,
notes his false appearance
as strong and healthy.
I share my sister's death
from breast cancer, her
youngest only seven.
A woman rises, gives
her name, Mrs Henry,
then takes my hand.
Suddenly an ordinary day
becomes holy ground.
As I wrap this sermon up, sometime in the next 15 minutes, my hope is that you will be more aware, even looking for, the burning bushes that God brings into your life. The moments when your ordinary day may turn extraordinary - if you take the time to turn aside and see.
Because if you belong to Jesus, you are already standing on holy ground. Remember, what makes the ground holy is God’s presence. And God is present in you.
Sometimes, all we need to do is say, “Here I am.”
When we do so, we are not only following in the steps of some of giants of the faith, like Moses, we are also following the example of our Lord.
This is clearly seen in the 10th chapter in the book of Hebrews. The author of Hebrews is teaching about how the sacrificial system, the shedding of animal blood to cover the sins of the people, and how it could never satisfy the debt of sin - all it really did was remind people of their sin. But then he writes this in Hebrews 10:5-7
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’”
Jesus said to his Father, “Here I am - send me.”
Before he went to the cross - he took off his disciples sandals and washed their feet - they were standing on holy ground.
When he was arrested, a crown fashioned by a thorny, prickly bush was pressed down upon his head.
Here I am - send me.
And when he hung on the cross, his work complete, he finally breathed his last breath and said “It is finished.”
The debt of our sin was paid, but that was not the end of the story. He rose from the grave, it became obvious that Moses delivering the Hebrew people out of Egyptian slavery was a foreshadowing of Christ leading all who would follow Him out of slavery to sin and death. He set the captives free.
And on the day of Pentecost, as the apostles were gathered together, a mighty wind blew and “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” This fire did not burn them, but it did consume them.
For from that moment on, each one of them would answer God’s call by saying “Here I am - send me.”
He is calling you too.
God will interrupt our mundane, comfortable lives with a calling we don’t feel equipped to handle. Remember when God calls, he will equip you. All he wants is for you to say, Here I am.
Amen.