3LC22.   Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15.     “An angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in fire out of a bush.”  When Moses approached, God said, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers.”  Seeing the affliction of his people in Egypt, God announces that he has come to rescue his people from the hands of the Egyptians.  God reveals that he is “I am who am” or Yahweh.  He is to be remembered as the God who is kind and merciful, always thinking of and pouring out his goodness on his people.

Luke 13: 1-9.  Jesus points out that failure to repent for our sins leads to the destruction of our souls.  The Holy Spirit has been given to us in our baptism.  Daily he pours his divine grace into us so that we are enabled to become a holy people.  If we fail to cooperate with that grace so to grow in holiness, we will be like the tree that was cultivated and fertilized but did not bear fruit.  We will be cut down and perish.  God, because he loves us dearly, pours his grace into us but he demands fruitful results.

1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12.  Paul uses the example of the Hebrews in their exodus from Egypt to point out that God was with them but, since they were not always with God, few of them who left Egypt reached the Promised Land.  Paul is warning us not to be complacent and think that we are doing all there is to be done.  We must live in the hands of the Lord and not our own.  On our own we can never become a holy people.