Sermon 6

SERMO 6

On that which the Lord appeared to Moses
IN THE BURNING BUSH

God appeared to His saints in many ways.

When the holy readings were read, we focused our attention on what was written in the first reading that was recited to us, and we take care to briefly share with your Holiness what the Lord suggests, lest receiving the divine mysteries carnally, you not only fail to profit but also decline. It appeared first to our sight from that divine reading that God appeared to Moses. However, God does not deign to appear by His substance as He is, except to pure hearts. For it is written in the Gospel: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." But God, when He wished to appear to the bodily eyes of the saints, did so not by Himself but by a visible and sensible creature, as much as this flesh can perceive, either by a sounding voice, that is, to the ears, or by fire to the eyes, or by an angel appearing in some visible form but bearing the person of God. Thus let us understand, brothers, that God appeared to Moses. For that majesty which made heaven and earth, which rules the entire world, to which angels always adhere contemplating its beauty with pure minds, could not appear to mortal human eyes, except by assuming a visible and sensible creature pertinent to these visible eyes of the body, since even the Wisdom of God, by whom all things were made, would not appear to human eyes unless it assumed mortal flesh.

Did the Angel of God appear to Moses or God Himself?

Just as the Word of God, that is, the Son of God, took on flesh so that He might appear to human eyes, so God always, in order to appear to the eyes of men, deigned to appear in some visible creature. For you have it most clearly in the Acts of the Apostles that an angel appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Is this Scripture true, and the other false? Or is the other false and this one true? But what? If we are Christians, if we believe rightly, both are true. Therefore, if both are true, how did God appear here, and how is it said that an angel appeared there, except that the Spirit who acted and spoke in the Acts of the Apostles, saying that an angel appeared, explained this text on how God appeared? That explanation is an exposition of this obscurity. So that you do not understand that God appeared by Himself, it is explained there to you how God appeared through an angelic creature. But why do you wonder that it is said, when an angel appears: "God spoke," and "God called Moses," and he approached the place, and "The Lord said to Moses"? Because the angel is not considered as a temple, but the inhabitant of the angel. For the angel himself was the temple of God. For if He deigns to dwell and speak in a man, as when a prophet speaks and it is said: "God said," how much more through an angel? And when it is said: "God spoke through Isaiah," what was Isaiah? Was he not a man bearing flesh, born of a father and mother like all of us? And yet he speaks, and what do we say in his utterances? "Thus says the Lord." So how is it God, if it is Isaiah, except that God [speaks] through Isaiah? Thus, when the angel speaks here, it is said that God speaks. Why, except because it is God through an angel?

The bush signified the people of the Jews.

Therefore, given the resolved question, also note this: the symbol of the matter seems to be that which appeared in the bush, and the bush was not consumed, was not burning, and appeared as if it were fire, and did not burn the bush. Do we think the bush signifies something good, when it consists of thorns? Thorns signify sinners. Therefore, the bush signified the people of the Jews full of thorns, full of sins. And although the great majesty of God appeared among the people, their sins were not consumed, just as this fire did not burn the thorns. For if the fire had consumed the thorns, it would signify that the word of the Lord spoken to the Jews would have consumed their sins, and that law would have ended their iniquities. Thus the fire is in the bush, just as the law is in the Jews; thus are the thorns of the bush, just as are the sins of the Jews; thus this fire did not burn the thorns, just as the law did not consume the sins there.

The Name of God.

But God speaks to Moses (you already know those things, and we should not keep you longer, because of the scarcity of time): I am who I am; He who is has sent me. For when he asked the name of God, this was said: I am who I am. And you shall say to the children of Israel, He who is sent me to you. What is this? O God, O Lord of ours, what are you called? "I am called" He said. What is, "I am called"? Because I remain forever, because I cannot be changed. For those things which are changed are not, because they do not remain. For what is, remains. But that which is changed, was something and will be something; yet it is not, because it is changeable. Therefore, the immutability of God has deigned to intimate itself with this expression: I am who I am.

Another name of God.

What is it, then, that he later said another name for himself again, when it was said: And the Lord said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this is my name forever? How is it that I am called that because I am, and behold here another name: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Because as God is unchangeable, he did everything through mercy and deigned himself, the Son of God, to take on mutable flesh, remaining what the Word of God is, to come and to help man. Therefore, he clothed himself in mortal flesh he who is, so that it could be said: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

What signs were given by God to Moses?

Then observe the signs that God gave to Moses. When he said, "If the people say to me, 'God did not send you,' by what signs shall I show that you have sent me?" It was said, "Cast the rod that you have in your hand." He cast the rod, and it became a serpent, and Moses was afraid. Again the Lord said, "Take it by the tail." And it became a rod as it was. He gave another sign: "Put your hand into your bosom." And he put his hand in. "Take it out." He took it out, and it became white like snow, that is, leprous. For the white color on human skin is defective. "Put it back into your bosom." He put it in, and it regained its color. He gave him a third sign: "Take water from the river, and pour it on dry ground." He took it, poured it, and it turned into blood. With these signs, the people will listen to you. If they do not listen to the first sign, they will listen to the second or third.

What is the sign of the serpent?

We shall strive to explain, as much as the Lord aids us, what these signify. The rod signifies the kingdom, the serpent mortality. For death was presented to man by the serpent. The Lord deigned to assume that very death. Therefore, the rod coming to earth had the appearance of a serpent, because the kingdom of God, which is Christ Jesus, came to earth. He was clothed in mortality, which He also fixed on the cross. However, your Holiness knows that when that people in the wilderness, stiff-necked and proud, murmured against God, they began to be bitten by serpents and to fall from these bites. In His mercy, God gave a remedy which provided present healing to some, but proclaimed future wisdom. He said to Moses: Hang a bronze serpent in the midst of the wilderness on a wooden pole, and tell the people: Whoever has been struck should look at this serpent. And those struck men looked at the serpent and were healed. And the Lord bears witness to this sign in the Gospel. For when He was speaking to Nicodemus, He said: Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. This means whomever has been struck by the serpents of sins should look at Christ and will have healing in the remission of sins. Therefore, brothers, this is the mortality that was assumed by the Lord, which the Church, His body, must possess, of which man is the head in heaven. Thus, the Church has mortality, which was inflicted by the serpent's persuasion. For we owe our death to the sin of the first man, but afterward, we shall attain eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But when does it come to life and return to the kingdom? At the end of the age. For this reason, he held the tail, where the end is, to call it back to its former state.

All things are signs of the future people.

What about that hand? It is certain that that hand also signifies the people themselves, the bosom of men. What is the bosom of Moses? The secret of God. When a man was in the secret of God, he was safe and of good color. He went out from the secret of God, Adam advanced from paradise, offended God, and became corrupt. Therefore, that hand became white; but it returned to the bosom, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and received its color back. But what about that water? That water signifies wisdom. Often indeed water is placed in the similitude of wisdom, and it is said: It will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. But that water is wisdom, which on earth has been transformed into blood; does it not show us the Word made flesh and dwelling among us? Indeed, it shows us. Therefore, all these are signs of the future people, and mysteries concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. And if there are any other sacraments in the old Books, whether we understand them or not, they desire the seeker, not the critic. Therefore, let us ask, seek, and knock so that it may be opened to us. To them, the future sacraments were foretold; we see the present ones in the Church.

sermo 7