DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Exodus
3:1-8
(2/28-3/13)
Reading in Kellia for the Second Sunday of Great Lent
The Fire of God: Exodus 3:1-8, especially vs. 2:“Then the
Angel of the Lord appeared to him [to
Moses] in a flame of fire from the midst
of a bush, but the bush was not consumed.” Saint Nikolai of Zica
shares his personal reflections on the burning bush and invites us to join him
in considering its meaning for our lives: “Let me ponder on the burning
bush on Horeb: 1. How the
bush burned but was not consumed.
2. How the most pure Virgin, carrying the Lord within herself,
bore the divine fire but was not burned by it. 3. How the fire of divine grace
rejuvenates, heals and illumines my sinful soul.”
The association of the presence and action of God with fire
may be found throughout Holy Scripture.
Some instances of fire and God’s presence reveal the Divine fire
as grace-bearing, light-giving, or strengthening. Thus the fire of God comes to enable or
to renew. On the other hand, the
Apostle prays in the Epistle to the Hebrews, may we “...serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming
fire” (Heb. 12:28,29). Thus, also, the fire of the Lord may
fall to consume in judgment (see Num. 16:21). The terrible destruction of the cities
of
These two images of Divine fire seem opposite in character
and raise questions concerning the vengeance versus the mercy of God. Concerning the vision of the Prophet
Daniel, in which a fiery stream pours forth from the throne of the Ancient of
Days (Dan 7:9,10), Saint John Maximovich
says: “The more consciously and persistently a man strives toward God in
his life, the greater will be his joy when he hears: ‘Come unto Me, ye
blessed.’ And conversely: the
same words will call the fire of horror and torture on those who did not desire
Him, who fled and fought or blasphemed Him during their lifetime!” The deep truth of God as love, revealed
by our Lord Jesus Christ, may only be experienced, depending on the state of
our soul.
The recognition that the experience of the fire of God
depends upon our response to God is sobering and but also hopeful. Like the pillar of fire by which the
ancient People were led, directed, and protected by God (Ex. 13:21-22), so the
most pure Virgin Theotokos also was led, directed,
and overshadowed so that she might bear in her womb the all-consuming fire of
the eternal Word of God. As she
received the Uncontainable into herself, she was blessed likewise to give
physical nurture to the Fire of God upon Whom no one
may look and survive. The
appellation all-pure directs us to
consider the state of her heart and soul, which God knew and selected as
fitting for union with our nature.
No less, the term calls us to self-examination, prayer, and the ascesis of purification - to labor. May the fire of God illumine my
darkness!
Most significant for those who are called the faithful in Christ, is the announcement of a
purification and cleansing by fire that can make us fit vessels for the fire of
God. The empowering presence of the
Holy Spirit of God descending upon the Disciples at Pentecost, “...appeared
to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them” (Acts
2:3). These average, ordinary men were filled and shielded by the fire of God,
and thus received God’s fire as grace. Divine fire renews radically. Compare the change in the disciples -
their manner in the Gospel of Luke while with the Lord in His walks through
Galilee,
Were these the same men? They were indeed average and ordinary, like ourselves, but men who were able to say,
“...we have seen with our eyes...we have looked upon, and our hands have
handled...the Word of life....manifested to us” (1 Jn. 1:1,2), men purged by the fire of God.
O Holy Paraclete, come and what is rigid, gently bend, and what is
frozen, warmly tend.
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