Proximity and Promise
“The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day [God] called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.” These two words seem to be interchangeable in these verses: the word “cloud” and the phrase the “glory of the Lord.” And yet, in our minds, the word “cloud” and “appearance… like a devouring fire” don’t seem anything alike at all. I can understand the frustration of the artist who drew the picture on our bulletin cover today. How do you draw something that is simultaneously a “cloud,” settling on the mountain, and the “glory of the Lord” with the appearance “like a devouring fire?” Was this fire on top of the mountain simply a gigantic version of the fire that did not consume the burning bush that Moses saw in the wilderness many years earlier? This fire looked like a devouring fire… and yet, Moses walked calmly into it when he was commanded to do so by God. How many of us, I wonder, could walk into something that looked like a devouring fire? Could we survive the proximity to God for the promise of what God might do in our lives?
The image of fire is oddly appropriate for this encounter that Moses has. Fire is a paradox. It is something that we need and use, and yet, it is also something that we fear. Long before humans arrived in North America there was fire. Fire came with the first lightning strike and will remain as long as Earth exists. Unlike earthquakes, tornados, and wind, fire is a disturbance that depends upon complex physical… chemical… and biological relationships. In these days of low humidity and high winds, fires are a powerful natural force that is sometimes unpredictable and potentially destructive. But, we have learned that fire is necessary to certain species of plant life and that fire can provide certain benefits. Fire provides heat and warmth on cold winter days. We use it to craft things like art glass and to forge things like swords and sheet metal. Fire in the wilderness actually helps the production of flowers and fruit in some herbs and trees. It improves nutrient cycling in the soil and elevates the pH of the soil. Fire improves the nutritional quality of plants that are eaten by animals. And, paradoxically, fire actually reduces wildfire conditions by eliminating the accumulation of dead vegetation and scrub in our forests. Yet, as a raging inferno out of control, it can also kill and destroy.
Moses encountered the glory of the Lord’s presence on Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is an imposing crop of rock that rises out of the desert on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. As a child, I always imagined it to be a very tall mountain, like Mount Everest, that took days to climb… which would explain why Moses was gone for forty days and forty nights… but it’s not. It is possible to climb Mount Sinai in just a little over two hours… which is why so many tourists climb it to see the sun rise, as I did in 2003. In this passage, the Lord’s glory is likened not only to cloud, but also to a devouring fire… like the two images of God that the children of Israel followed through the desert… a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The people waiting for Moses below the mountain were able to see the fire, and thereby to know that Moses was in the presence of God. If this low mountain was covered by a devouring fire… then the people were close to the flames as well. I wonder what they thought as they watched this drama unfold. Were they so jaded by years of miracles… the cloud by day and the pillar of fire in the night… manna every morning… water pouring from the rocks at Massah and Meriba… that they did not even watch the spectacle? Or was the sight of a fire devouring a mountain sufficient to get their attention?
Moses went up Mount Sinai in response to the Lord’s invitation and command: “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there…” And Moses waited on the mountain, where the glory of the Lord covered it, for six days. Only on the seventh day did the Lord call to Moses out of the cloud, presumably inviting him further up the mountain… into the fire and into his presence. Moses entered that holy space… crossing the boundary between the earthly and the divine… at God’s command. Here, he went a step beyond his encounter with God in the burning bush… where he kept a safe distance. Here Moses was in the very presence of God and his proximity to God allowed God’s promise to be fulfilled.
In those days, it was thought that human beings could not look on God and live (Exodus 19:21)… for the divine presence was so powerful and so overwhelming. And yet, Moses remained in the cloud on the mountain… in the presence of God… for forty days and forty nights… and lived… which explains why Moses is revered in Judaism to this day.
A devouring fire is a fearful sign. It is one that suggests both purification and destruction. The presence of God and the word of God can both be like a devouring fire in our lives. Both are unpredictable and uncontrollable. Both are capable of changing our lives completely… of destroying all that has been before… and providing fertile ground for all that is to come. I know that I have read Bible stories… like the story of the escape from Egypt and the Exodus… and been frustrated with the obtuseness of the children of Israel. It took almost as long for them to believe in God and God’s actions to set them free as it took Pharaoh to accept it. I wonder if we are as obtuse today. Do we see the power of God at work in our lives… or are we so jaded that we do not even recognize it for what it is? Have we been so lulled into feeling secure in God’s love that we have forgotten God’s holiness? Have we gotten so wrapped up in the busy-ness of our lives that we cannot see what we are doing from God’s perspective?
Moses was invited by God for a time away from the day-to-day routine of life. He spent forty days and forty nights alone with God. It changed him. This week, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a time when we are invited to spend time alone with God. It is forty days and forty nights set aside for introspection… for examination of our lives and our priorities… for being in the presence of God… for purification and renewal. Forty days out of three hundred and sixty-five… well, out of three hundred and sixty-six days this year. You and I are invited to spend time alone with God during that time. I wonder how many of us will really take advantage that invitation. Will you dare to walk up the mountain… to step into the cloud… into the devouring fire… and take your chances with God? Or will you be one of those who stand at the foot of the mountain and wait? I wonder.
As we come to the table today… to share the bread and wine that symbolize the sacrifice that God made for you… and for me… let us all consider this invitation from God… an invitation not just to partake of the body and the blood of Christ… but an invitation to come into God’s presence… and to allow the presence of God to change our lives. Can you let go… for forty days and forty nights? Will you let go… for forty days and forty nights? Will you step into the fire… for as Garth Brooks wrote, “Life is not tried, it is merely survived, if you’re standing outside the fire.” It is proximity that brings the promise. Amen.
Exodus 24:12-18