The call of Moses occurred as divine calls often do — unexpected and in the midst of the ordinary. The appearance was remarkable enough — a burning bush that was not consumed — but it was followed by a command to Moses to remove his shoes, making it very clear that this was a divine apparition/revelation. How did God describe Himself? First of all, the voice revealed that this was not a new God but the same God who had been in a covenantal relationship with the patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

There was continuity — God did not forget. Secondly, this God was compassionate and demanded justice — God had heard the cries of the enslaved people in Egypt and planned to liberate them. Moses was not too happy about being selected to carry out God’s plan of liberation so he asked for God’s name. After all, in whose name was he going to speak? But the only answer that God gave was to tell the Israelites that “I am” had sent Him. God was unwilling to carry human labels and psychological projections. God just is. To name someone or something implies having power over it and God refused to play that all-too-human game. This is a reminder not to try to bend God to our will or our ideas.

For many of the ancients, written texts — even Scripture — were elastic and malleable. They could be stretched and shaped to meet the situations and needs of the community at any given time. Paul reinterpreted allegorically portions of the Exodus story so that they referred to deeper spiritual realities — in this case, to Christ.

Events and people in the Old Testament were sometimes interpreted as “types” or patterns of future Christian realities. For Paul, the passage through the sea during the Exodus prefigured baptism. The food and drink provided in the journey through the wilderness signified the Eucharist, and the puzzling spiritual rock that followed them was actually Christ. The firm link was made between Israel’s salvation history and the coming of Christ — the two testaments of the Bible were seen as one narrative.

Paul retold the story in this way to whip the Corinthian community into line with some thinly veiled threats. He was upset with their factionalism, arrogance and flirtation with idolatry. Even though the Israelites were gifted with spiritual and physical sustenance and the presence of Christ, he insisted, many of them were struck down in the wilderness for their wickedness and infidelity. While today we would question the notion that God kills those who displease Him, the basic point that Paul made still stands: merely belonging to any group, even the people of God, is not a free pass for wicked and stupid behaviour. More rather than less is expected from those to whom more has been given.

Whenever an accident or disaster occurs many people start looking for explanations. They reason that the victims must have sinned or somehow deserved their fate. Tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes and even 9/11 are held up as proof that God punishes sin. Jesus referred to two contemporary events — a massacre of Galileans at the hands of Pilate and a construction accident. He denied that the victims were any more deserving of punishment than anyone else or that it was divine retribution. He then turned the story around and pointed it at His audience, telling them that unless they changed their ways they would suffer a similar fate due to the consequences of their actions rather than punishment. He ended with a parable that described God’s patience and care.

Like the gardener in the story, God resists the urge to cut down the barren tree. With tenderness and care, God tries to coax fruit from it. So it is with us — God does not give up easily and will continue coaxing us along on the path that bears spiritual fruit. Rather than looking for sin in others or the supposed reasons for the world’s misfortunes we should focus more on our own life with all of its pockets of darkness and areas for growth.