Word to the Wise
Thursday, July 23, 2009 - Thursday in the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
[Exodus 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20a and Matthew 13:10-17]Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke, for the Lord came down upon it in fire. The smoke arose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. The trumpet blast grew louder and louder, while Moses was speaking and God answering him in thunder. When the Lord came down to the top of Mount Sinai, he summoned Moses to the top of the mountain.
Today's scripture from Exodus describes another very important step in the journey of the Chosen People. God summons Moses to the top of Mount Sinai to give him his marching orders, as it were. These would include the Ten Commandments and ultimately the rest of the Mosaic Law. All of this takes place in the midst of what scholars call a "theophany" - an event of God's self-revelation. The description in today's scripture would probably be characterized in modern parlance as "special effects!" Moses sounds like a trumpet and God sounds like thunder and the mountain seems like an erupting volcano! Of course, God does not always appear this way. We should remember the tiny voice that spoke to Elijah at the mouth of a cave, for instance. Or we might remember Moses' first encounter with the Burning Bush! Great natural settings seem to preach loudly about their creator. The Pacific surf that I see each year and the immensity of that ocean are very suggestive to me. The Grand Canyon or the Rocky Mountains or even a small running stream or a desert sunset are other examples. In the Old Testament, prophets had to denounce the Chosen People for worshiping natural things as if they were God. God is not a "special effect" but certainly may be associated with creation. Perhaps another way of putting it would be, "the inventor is not the invention." But we can certainly appreciate both in God's case as long as we remember that we worship the former and appreciate the latter! AMEN
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