I wonder what Moses was really thinking when God spoke to him through the burning bush and told him he had to go back to Egypt. He certainly didn’t seem keen.
Moses was born into a Hebrew family in Egypt, the son of slaves. You might know the story from Sunday School, of how Moses was hidden in a basket on the river and the daughter of the pharaoh finds him. If not, check out the book of Exodus for his life story.
Pharaoh’s daughter decides to raise him in the palace as her own. He lived a privileged life of luxury while the Hebrew people - his people - were oppressed, working as slave labour. As an adult, he sees an Egyptian beating a slave and responds with anger, killing him. Fearing the pharaoh, he runs away, wandering for awhile, lost and alone until he finds himself in Midian. He settles down there, meets his wife, builds a family, caring for sheep for his father-in-law. It’s a good life, a comfortable life far from Egypt, far from the suffering of Hebrew slaves or fear of punishment for his actions. Thank goodness he could leave that all behind.
And then, God says “I have a job for you. I need you to go and lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt and into freedom.”
I imagine Moses first response was more likely “me and what army?” But God says nope, just you. And me, I’ll be with you. Moses comes up with a few reasons why he shouldn’t go. But God has answers and God’s sending him on a mission. Why wouldn’t he want to go?
Well, life was good for Moses. It was peaceful and prosperous and all that other stuff was far in the past. Midian was a long way from Egypt and Moses didn’t seem to hear the cries of his people as clearly as God did. Why would Moses want to give up his new life to go back there? And how’s this going to work again? I’m just going to tell Pharaoh to let them leave and the people will follow me? I don’t think it’s going to be that simple.
It isn’t. It’s going to be dangerous, it’s going to be hard, it’s going to be a struggle. And Moses has no idea how it’s all going to work out.
But I wonder if, in that moment, Moses realized that the peace he thought he’d found wasn’t whole. I wonder if he didn’t begin to think that true wholeness isn’t just in the self, but in how one offers oneself to the peace of others. And sometimes that’s a struggle.
Martin Luther King Jr. is often credited with saying that true peace isn’t the absence of tension and conflict, but the presence of justice. I think that’s what God was calling Moses to, to bring justice and freedom, to bring equity and opportunity.
Moses had a choice and he could have said no. His life was peaceful and prosperous, but he chose to give that up in order to help others find that promise as well.
Remembrance Day reminds us of those who sacrificed in war for that same reason. And in today’s world, we’re surrounded by so many people in need of justice and peace. What will we choose to do?
