22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

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…
~Exodus 3:7
 
For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
~Matthew 16:26
 
Hebrew.
 
What is in a name? The very first time the term “Hebrew” is introduced in the Bible, it comes abruptly, with no explanation, just as its companion Abram.
 
There are stories of an identified underclass in the Ancient Near East known as Hapiru. According to Anthony Bartlett in his book Signs of Change, the Hapiru were “’a loosely defined, inferior social class composed of shifting and shifty population elements without secure ties to settled communities.’ Constant warfare, displaced peasantry, disinherited clans, refugees, scattered warriors: this creates the perfect conditions for outlaws, mercenaries, indentured labor, slaves.”
 
It all seems a little unsavory, until Bartlett (p. 32) says it plainly: “the people who will become Israel are drawn sociologically from the disenfranchised underclass of the ancient near-eastern world known as Hapiru.”
 
That catches us, perhaps all the more when we realize that this is the crew—unsavory or not—Yahweh chooses a relationship with: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6).
 
It is not about power—political or otherwise—then. It is about relationship, about steadfast love--hesed. This is the I Am who I Am Moses and ultimately Moses’ Hebrew people re-encounter in the beginning of their journey to emancipation.
 
That there are political implications to this as well as spiritual ones, there should be no surprise—not for Pharaoh, not for the seat of the Roman Empire ensconced, according to Matthew's narrative, in Caesarea Phillipi. Not for Moses, and not for Peter who cannot unseat this way of power from his expectations for Jesus. And Jesus’ own response to Peter may suggest Jesus is fully aware of the temptations of power that create rivalries and tear us apart.
 
Here comes a defining moment for the way of this God known in Yahweh, known in Jesus. And known in those who would want to become followers, who want to save their lives. Who do we say Jesus is?
 
Enter into worship this Sunday morning at 10:00am in-person or online.
 
 
Readings: Exodus 3:1-15 † Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26 † Romans 12:9-21 † Matthew 16:21-28
 
About the Art: A photograph of an arrangement of leaves from an Euonymus alatus, or “Burning Bush.” Schumacher, Joe. Burning Bush, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/55954 [retrieved August 19, 2026]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jschumacher/6386697855.

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