Exodus 3:14 (New International Version)
"14 God said to Moses, "I am who I am . ^[a] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "
(biblegateway.com, which is an amazing site, by the way)

here is my interpretation of this passage:
Moses is about to deliver God's word.  He is fearful and asks God who he should say the messege is from.
God answers very simply,"I am who I am. Say the great I AM has sent you."

I see this as meaning more than its surface value.
Instead of making up a name by which to have the Israelites call him, God adresses Moses's fear with a simplistic but strong answer.
"I am who I am."

This passage helps me define God a lot, because it shows that he is not stuck up on formalities like words and titles, but simply wants us to know him as who He is. This stops us from drawing boundaries and saying "My god, not your god." This lets us find what God means to us, who He is to us and see Him for who he is.

He is also speaking to Moses, and trying to pacify his fear of delivering the messege.  Moses was afraid of public speaking due to his speech problems, but i think God is reaching deeper yet.
Moses is fearful of what the Israelites will think of him when he delivers this messege, and God is setting a poignant example for him, as well as us today, of what kind of mentality to have:
"I am who I am."
I am confident in who I am, i know who I am, and i am who I am for a reason.
In a world where the media is constantly trying to get us to feel bad about who we are, a world of pressure and cosmetics, it is so very important to be able to be strong in yourself and what you believe in.
It is important to stay in touch with YOU, and not who everyone else is trying to sculpt out of you.
and remember that God made you that way, and it is your destiny to be who and what you are right now.

so in times of doubt, remember that God wants you to be who you are, because he made you that way.
be bold and strong in who you are, because no one can take that away from you.
remember God's divine plan for you and use God's own mantra:
"I AM WHO I AM"

Today's readings are from Ex 17:3-7, Ps 95:1-2,6-9, Rom 5:1-2,5-8, John 4:5-42

In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes seven predicate "I AM" statements: "I am the bread of life" (6:48), "I am the light of the world" (8:12), "I am the gate" (10:9), "I am the good shepherd" (10:11), "I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25), "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6), and "I am the true vine" (15:1). Each of these seven statements build upon the divine name revealed to Moses in the Book of Exodus, "I AM WHO AM," or simply "I AM." The name of YAHWEH has a profound ontological significance in that it reveals that existence itself is part of the very nature of God's being. God's existence is necessary, because existence itself is part of who He is. Jesus builds upon this divine name and reveals something more about His own identity. For while the identity of Jesus, as the incarnate Son of God, is encompassed by the divine name revealed to Israel, this YAHWEH is being revealed more fully and completely in Jesus the Christ. In today's Gospel reading, Jesus makes a further connection between Himself and the YAHWEH revealed through Moses. Just as Jesus Himself put the form of flesh onto the divinity of God, so too does Jesus' coming flesh out our own understanding of who YAHWEH is.

Our readings today begin with the story from Exodus, when Moses has led the Chosen People out of the hands of Pharaoh and into the desert. They are here being taught to further trust completely in the providence and care of God, though their hearts are hard and they grumble every time there is difficulty. They cry out to Moses that they can find no water, and they are sure that they will now die of thirst. Moses takes their plea to the LORD, who instructs him to strike at the rock, and YAHWEH Himself will stand in front of him, on the rock itself, so that when Moses strikes, YAHWEH will cause water to flow forth, and the people's need will be satisfied. This miracle provides one more example of God's care for His people, hopefully to finally cause them to trust that He will never abandon them. This is why the Psalmist proclaims, "Oh, that today you would hear his voice: 'Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works." The land where the miracle of the water occurred was called Meribah and Massah because it was there that the Jews quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD in our midst or not?"

In the Gospel today, Jesus approaches the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, and He asks her for a drink. She is astonished, because Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans. Her heart too is still hardened, and so she does not recognize who it is that asks. He tells her that if she did, she would ask Him for a drink, because unlike the water from that well, unlike the water from the rock at Meribah and Massah, this Jesus has water which will cause a person never to thirst again. Drink of the water which Jesus gives, which is the Holy Spirit, and that water will become a spring which wells up to eternal life. By receiving the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and who is made available to all of us because of the coming of Christ, our natural thirst for God and the blessings which come from communion with Him are eternally fulfilled. The indwelling of this well of the Spirit refreshes our wearied soul, heals our wounded spirit, invigorates our lifeless heart.

So how is it that we gain access to this life giving water, this Holy Spirit of God? How else, but by faith in Jesus Christ? St. Paul tells us as much in today's reading from Romans. He writes, "Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand." This grace which comes from faith puts us at peace with God, for sin has put us at enmity with God, an enmity which we have no hope of reconciling without faith in the One whom God sent to grant us peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. This peace is the grace in which we stand, the grace being offered to all. We know it is being offered to all because, though Christ says that salvation is from the Jews, which it is, Christ in today's Gospel, by offering His life giving waters to one who is not a Jew, she then represents all the Gentiles, and indeed she represents the Church and her mission. Salvation comes from the Jews, and through the Jews by Jesus Christ is offered to all who choose to believe in Him.

It is the Jews who prepared the harvest. It is we who reap the fruit. The prophets and the patriarchs toiled for the harvest of salvation, sowed the seed of God's Word, and so through them the true vine was born. From this vine we receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and this fruit is reaped by all who believe in the vine itself, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who Himself declared to the Samaritan woman, and through her to all of us, that He is indeed the Anointed, the Messiah, the one who grants us peace with God and eternal life in the happiness of His being. So let us not be like those Jews in the desert who quarreled and asked, "Is the LORD in our midst or not?" Let us believe in the Christ, and know that He is always at work within us through the action of the Holy Spirit.

Peace in Christ,
Michael