The Hebrew Bible contains a lot about the stories of Moses beginning with his birth all the way through his death and even beyond. Over the course of his long life, this great prophet Moses witnessed the amazing things that God did to him and to the people of Israel. Probably, as a Hebrew child, his miraculous escape from getting killed and then being raised in the Egyptian Royal household could be unbelievable things for Moses to ponder. Some biblical scholars agreed in saying that he was in his forties when he escaped from Egyptian authority and left Egypt.
In his mid-life adulthood, many more amazing things began to happen to him, after getting married to a foreign Midianite woman Ziphorah who came from a people living a semi-nomadic way of life in the south of Canaan. It was here, in the land of Midianites that Moses began to have some of the most important experiences in his life. Scholars also have the understanding that he began to know more about the power of a God who is the One and only God, especially through his father in law, Jethro (a priest of the Midianites). Even some Jewish mystics have the opinion that it was from the Midianites, particularly from Jethro, that Moses discerned and learned about the ancient faith experiences of One God, known to his forefathers: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. This understanding of One God would have been contrary to his former understanding of Egyptian culture and religion that believed in many gods. No doubt, as the Acts of the Apostles states that Moses, having been raised by the daughter of Pharaoh, he would have had a good education in Egyptian gods, their religious beliefs, Egyptian arts, and sciences (Acts 7:22).
Then, at the point of his mid-life, something very special happened to Moses as he encountered God in the burning bush in an unexpected way. He experienced the unique revelation of God as “I am who I am” in the burning bush. Whatever the picture of a burning bush meant to the minds of the ancient people, that unusual episode bears marks of a mysterious and awesome experience of God burning within them. Certain mystics call this kind of experience as ‘inward light’ or ‘inner light.’ Since the light was coming from within, the bush was not burning. Hence, from the burning bush, which was not consumed, Moses saw an inward light that led him to experience a conversion in himself. This conversion experience of Moses is an indication for us that it is from within our souls that we are called to experience God.
When we have this experience, we begin to understand ourselves as those who are on a holy ground or holy state. On this holy state, God knows of your pains, sufferings, and needs and wants to deliver us from our helplessness and imprisonments to a state of hope. On this holy state, when we are afraid, God assures us that He is with us as I am who I am.
Every Sunday during Advent when we light the candles in the Advent Wreath, let those lights help us to be open to the light of Christ. On Christmas, we light the Christ candle in the middle of the Advent Wreath. It tells us that Advent leads us to the Light of Christ. Let Christ heal your inner darkness!
— Fr. Niranjan Rodrigo, Ph.D.
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