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“I Am, I Am”

By Lisa Sharon Harper

Scripture Reading: Exodus 3:1-15 (NRSV)

3 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 5 Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ 6 He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ 11 But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ 12 He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’

13 But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ 14 God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to you.” ’ 15 God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”:
This is my name for ever,
and this my title for all generations.

Reflection

When life overwhelms, when wars and rumors of wars flash across our phones, when rivers and seas rise to consume, when winds rip through our sense of safety, when the divine dignity imbued in every human soul is threatened by oppression or poverty—then, in those moments, breathe in. Breathe out… and remember who God is…and who God is not.

One of the greatest temptations in life is to look at the monsters in our lives and think they are greater than God: We are doomed in their wake. Whether it is an abusive leader or an oppressing government, they both tell a lie. They say to us: “I rule your life… I shape your destiny… You must live according to the rules I set for you.”

But the lesson of the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, the Abolitionist Movement, and the lesson of Moses is this: We—all of us—are created in the image of God. As such, we are created with the divine call and the capacity to exercise agency—to make choices that impact our world (Gen 1:26). Even under the thumb of oppression, we can look oppression in the face and say one grand “No.”

John Lewis said “No.” when he was beaten on Edmund Pettus Bridge, calling on the government of Selma to protect the voting rights of Black citizens.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton said “No.” when she wrote the Women’s Bible—for the first time in history, interpreting the Bible through a woman’s eyes.

Octavius V. Catto said “No.” when he canvassed in Philadelphia directly following the passage of the 15th Amendment, registering newly free African Americans to vote.

Disabled activists said “No.” for two centuries until the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990, requiring equal protection under the law for people with disabilities.

In this Exodus passage, God tells Moses to rise and say “No.” to his people’s subjugation. He is tempted, as we all are, to believe he is not enough. The oppressive powers of Egypt were God. Pharaoh was God. The Egyptian army was God. Who am I, Moses said. And God said you are in the lineage of the people who followed God. Let me remind me who I am. This is who I am. I am!

God is the creator of all. God was before Pharaoh. God created Pharaoh like God created the sea and the rivers and every person who leads governments and armies. God is creator, not us.

And to Pharaoh and every abuser and every oppressor, the good news is this: There is grace. The grace of breath. The grace of dependence on one greater than oneself. You are not God. You can exhale and be simply human—vulnerable—flesh. Creator God will be your protector, too.

Therefore, we all can cry “No” to that which crushes the image of God anywhere. And we all can utter the divine “Yes” to the God of grace who creates so that we all might flourish.

Breathe in and remember: I am. I am.

Breath Prayer

Breathe In: God is God.

Breath Out: I am not.