When Epiphany Is Demanding | 2/1/26

• Reflection Questions

  1. How would you describe your own "preparedness" to see and follow unexpected signs from God in your daily life?

  2. Looking back at your own journey, have you ever experienced an epiphany that felt more like a demanding challenge than a comforting blessing?

  3. When you feel a sense of compassion for others, does it ever lead to a feeling of "righteous anger" that prompts you to act?

  4. What are the specific "excuses" you tend to lean on when you feel nudged to do something that feels risky or outside your comfort zone?

  5. Do you ever find yourself hoping God will "send somebody else" to handle a difficult task, even when you know it's something you care deeply about?

Transcript:

I am grateful to be here and be able to offer a message today as a part of your "Everyday Epiphanies" series. As Steve and Marisa have both been reminding us for the last few weeks, epiphany happens for people who are prepared to see and follow and open to surprises along the way. Epiphany happens for people who are prepared to see, willing to follow, and open to surprises along the way. 

But before I begin, let me invite you to bow your heads and pray for me as I share this message with you, as I will pray for you in receiving it. Let's pray together. 

Oh God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, for you are our rock and our Redeemer, our deliverer. Amen.

In thinking about epiphanies, I was reminded of some different kinds of epiphanies. Sometimes epiphanies are when someone is overwhelmed by the love of God, like when the Samaritan woman at the well encountered Jesus. Sometimes epiphanies are when a person is led to change their mind, like when Peter had a dream about the clean and the unclean animals on the sheet, and his heart was opened to someone who he previously was sure was considered unworthy of God's embrace. Sometimes epiphanies transform our lives, like when Paul quite literally saw the light on the road to Damascus and made a decision to follow Jesus.

And then there are those epiphanies that we don't necessarily want to have: the epiphany when God asks something of us that we don't want to give; the epiphany when God calls us to do something that we don't want to do; the epiphany that challenges; the epiphany that is demanding. I've had a few of those in my lifetime, and I bet you all have had at least one or two as well.

Pondering an epiphany that is demanding led me to think about Moses. Most of you probably remember the story of Moses and the burning bush. We learned about it in a Sunday school class or in Vacation Bible School somewhere along the way, and we have that image of Moses stopping and talking and listening to that burning bush. You might not remember the details, though, of what happened before that, or what followed.

So let me begin with just a little bit of background for us all. Moses was born when the Israelites in Egypt had multiplied and become exceedingly strong. That's what Scripture says: "multiplied and become exceedingly strong." That made the new king fearful that they would become more numerous and more powerful than he. He sent out people, therefore, to intentionally oppress them.

We'll just sit with that for a minute. He became more ruthless and made their lives bitter. He even told the Jewish midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, that when the Jewish babies were born, if it was a boy, they should kill it and throw it into the Nile to drown. Now, they were a little conniving, and so they decided that they would just report back that the Jewish women were so strong that they gave birth to their babies before they even got there.

You all remember that Moses was born, and then when he was about three months old, his mother tried to save him by placing him in a basket at the water's edge, and the daughter of Pharaoh found him and took him in as her own son. And he was raised in the palace. Now, as a grown man, Moses was out on the street one day, and he saw his people being treated cruelly, and he was moved with compassion and rage, and his anger overcame him. And he killed the Egyptian.

And then he left town and ran to the wilderness of Midian, where he ended up at a well, the gathering place in town. And then it was there that he saw the daughters of the priest of Midian being bullied by some shepherds who wouldn't allow them to draw water. Again, Moses was moved by compassion, and he ran off the shepherds, and he drew water for the daughters. And when the priest of Midian learned about the noble measure that Moses had taken, he then gave one of his daughters to Moses in marriage.

Now that's a whole other issue, but we're not going to talk about that today. So Moses settled in the land and became a shepherd, and it's while he was shepherding that this epiphany happens. So read along with me from Exodus chapter three, verses one through 15.

One day Moses was keeping his flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire, and out of a bush he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why this bush is not burned up."

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." Then he said, "Come no closer. Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 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.

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 suffering, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the 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. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me, and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" He said, "I will be with you, and this will be a 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." 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?"

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.'" 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 forever, and this is my title for all generations." 

The word of God, for the people of God, and God's people say, "Thanks be to God."

So there's Moses one day just out in the wilderness, watching over his flocks, minding his own business, when he notices a bush that is on fire, but it is not being consumed. So the first thing to note is that he is prepared to see—he's curious. 

Perhaps my favorite scene in the Ted Lasso series—how many of you know the Ted Lasso series? Yes, a few of you out there. Perhaps my favorite scene in the Ted Lasso series is when he schools his adversary, Rupert, at the game of darts, and then he educates them with the Walt Whitman quote: "Be curious, not judgmental." If you haven't seen it, just Google "Ted Lasso dart scene" and you'll find it.

Moses is curious. He's open to surprises along the way, and epiphanies happen to people who are open to surprises along the way. Moses stops, and he looks, and he listens. He's paying attention. And then God speaks to him with an epiphany. God says, "I have seen, I have heard, I have known, and I have come to deliver." "I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cry on account of their oppressors. I know their sufferings, and I have come to deliver them and to bring them up."

And Moses, Moses is all for it. God has seen. God has heard. God knows the suffering of Moses' people, and God wants to deliver them. That is good news. It's a banner day in the wilderness. Moses, who we know from history is a man of deep compassion, he's all about this—until the last sentence.

In that last sentence, God says to Moses, "So go, get going. I will send you to the Pharaoh, to my people, to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." Wait, wait. What? What did you say? And then the excuses begin to flow. "Oh. Me? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? And if they ask me who sent me? Who sent me on this mission? Who should I say that you are? And what if they don't believe me or listen to me?" And then finally, "Wait, wait. I'm just not a good speaker. You don't want me to speak."

Moses makes excuses, and God overrides each and every one of them, describing the ways that God will be with Moses. "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" "Well, you see, I will be with you." "And what if they want to know who sent me on this mission? Who do I tell them sent me?" "I am who I am. I will be who I will be." Basically saying, "I am the source of all and all that is or will be." "And what if they don't believe me or listen to me?" And God says, "I'll give you some miracles that you can just pull out and share." And then finally, "Wait. I'm not a good speaker." "Well, fine. I'll send your brother, Aaron, to be with you."

After all those excuses, then finally, Moses faces up to what he's really thinking: "Oh, Lord, my Lord, please send somebody else." You knew it, I knew it, Moses knew it. All those questions, all those concerns were simply excuses because he didn't want to do it. He was elated and comforted that God had seen and heard, that God knew the sufferings of the Israelites, and that God wanted to deliver them, but he did not want to be involved.

Moses, of all people, knew that offering compassion and care for others can be quite costly and painful. Remember his past. He knew the consequences of standing up for those who are bullied and beaten and oppressed. We all know that sometimes the epiphany, sometimes the thing that God calls us to do, is simply too demanding, too challenging. It's too risky and altogether frightening. At times, all of us try to make excuses for failing to do what we fear, deep in our hearts, God is calling us to do.

I would imagine there's been a time in your life when you have responded like Moses: "Not me. Lord, please. Please send somebody else." I know I've been there in mine. What if God had released Moses? What if God had said, "No worries, Moses. I'll go to Plan B. You keep tending your flocks in Midian"? Moses would have missed out on the most important calling of his life. He would have shut his ears to this epiphany and missed out on being used by God to deliver an entire nation of people from slavery to freedom.

He would have missed out walking alongside those Israelites through the wilderness and shaping them and forming them to be God's own people. And he would have missed out on seeing the Promised Land. And yet it was still frightening. It was still difficult. I mean, after all, he did wander in the desert with the Israelites for 40 years, and although he looked down and saw the Promised Land, he died before he entered it.

Sometimes an epiphany from God is demanding. In these times in which we are living, I've been thinking a great deal about other times of heartbreak and oppression because, as historian David McCullough says, "History shows us how to behave." History teaches, reinforces what we believe in, what we stand for, and what we ought to be willing to stand up for.

In light of MLK Day a couple of weeks ago, I was reading some of Reverend Doctor King's speeches. I was thinking about the fact that Doctor King sometimes struggled with his epiphany, his calling from God to step into the civil rights movement and to provide leadership. I'm thinking there were plenty of times when he was frightened and overwhelmed and ready to give up. But he responded to God's epiphany even though it was demanding.

On April 3rd, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech. His speech ends with him acknowledging the threats and challenges, even acknowledging his imminent danger. He closed by saying, "And then I got to Memphis, and some began to say the threats or talk about the threats that were out, what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead, but it doesn't really matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody else, I would like to have a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned with that now. I want to do God's will. And God's allowed me to go to the mountaintop. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I might not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! And so I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the Lord."

Martin Luther King was assassinated on the very next day, April 4th, 1968. Scripture reminds us that God sees. God hears. God knows the suffering of the people. And God entered into their suffering and deeply felt what they were having to endure. And God did not choose to remain safe and secure in some heavenly home, untouched by the sorrows of the world, but came down and delivered the Israelites through the person of Moses.

And you know what? God has seen. God has heard. God knows the suffering of the people. And so God has chosen not to remain safe and secure in some heavenly home, untouched by the sorrows of the world. But God has come down to earth in the flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ to deliver us. Thanks be to God.

I'm going to lead us in a prayer. It's the words from a hymn that we'll sing again in a minute. And as I pray, I invite you to muster the courage to have eyes to see and ears to hear, to put away your fear, and to commit to these words, to answer God's epiphany, to get going because God needs you, and you, and you, and you. God needs us. In these times, God relies on us to deliver.

Will you pray with me? We heed, O Lord, your summons and answer, "Here are we." Send us upon your errand; let us, your servants, be. Our strength is dust and ashes, our years a passing hour; but you can use our weakness to magnify your power. From ease and plenty save us, from pride of place absolve; purge us of low desire, lift us to high resolve. Take us and make us holy, teach us your will and way. Speak and behold, we answer; command and we obey. May it be so. Amen.