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The ornaments to print out for the Jesse Tree
Understanding the  Jesse Tree

Monday of the Second Week of Advent
Exodus 2:4-20 (NRSV)

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; 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 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 the 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 sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that 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; 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 shall be the 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.”

The story of Moses carries a special place in the history of God’s people because we recount how God worked to free His people from slavery and called them into His own people.  The call of Moses, the charge of being sent to mighty Pharaoh, the leading of a people who at times rebelled, doubted and challenged him, the giving of God’s law in the 10 Commandments and the wandering in the desert for 40 years with the people only to never enter the promised land himself are all powerful themes of a not only a great leader but a deeply spiritual man of God.  However, he did not start out that way.  When God called him, the Bible recounts that he was fearful, doubtful that he was the right person, and doubtful that he would be successful. He even asked the name of who is sending him since he was not even sure of who was calling him.  Too often we wait for absolute certitude before we act, especially when it comes to faith and God.  God calls each person to offer their gifts to the world He has created and yet few respond because of fear, doubt, pride and uncertainty.  God says that He will be with us in our response and it is only in living  out our response can we see how God was there.  The truth of God’s promise to be with us is seen in the concrete events of a life that first trusted He would be faithful and so acted in His name.  Jesus coming at Christmas claims such a truth.

Many years after Joseph, God's people were still living in Egypt, but they were living as slaves.  God wanted to rescue his people from slavery and bring them to a land of their own. God did this using a man named Moses.  When God's people were finally freed from Egypt, He gave Moses some instructions to share with the people.  God's instructions were called the Law. The Law of God points to our need for a savior. It shows us just how imperfect we are and how much we need Jesus.