Exodus 33:12-23; Matthew 22:15-22

Without wanting to be either flippant or blasphemous, I don't think it out of line to say that there is something a little odd about the story where Moses gets to see the back side of God. This is Moses, the one who went up the mountain and brought down the tablets of the law; the one at whose uplifted rod the waters of the Red Sea parted and then came back together; Moses, the person who filled more roles than any other in the Torah -- prophet, priest, military leader, spiritual guide, political genius. And all Moses gets to see is the back side of God? This does not bode well for those of us who pick up a stick and find that we have neither a snake nor a rod in our hand -- just a stick. What will we get to see of God? Naturally the answer lies in the …