Word to the Wise
Tuesday, July 18, 2017 - Tuesday in the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 2:1-15a and Matt 11:20-24]When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her sonand called him Moses; for she said, "I drew him out of the water." [Exodus]
The Book of Genesis ended with the story of Joseph. The Book of Exodus begins the story of Moses and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. This is no mere "epic" but a story that has inspired people of many generations who have found themselves in positions of oppression and slavery. I urge the Beloved Congregation to follow it either by reading the whole "unedited" version in your Bible or at least the first scriptures for the next few days. Today's episode follows the decree of Pharaoh (who knew not Joseph) that enslaved the Hebrews and ordered that male children be killed to prevent the Hebrews from becoming too numerous. Moses' mother hid him in a basket among some reeds by the river. The rest of that part of the story is in the text, as is Moses' act of killing an Egyptian in anger because the Egyptian was harming a Hebrew. Thus Moses fled Egypt to the desert of Midian. This will set the scene for the Burning Bush.
Moses stands as a giant in the Old Testament. Each of the significant events in his story finds an echo in the New Testament. Yesterday's first scripture about Pharaoh's decree to kill Hebrew male children finds an echo in Herod's decree after the birth of Jesus. The Gospel According to Matthew, from which the gospel scriptures for Sunday in Cycle A (and the current daily gospel) are taken presents Jesus as a new Moses and is roughly shaped like five "books" which echoes the five books of the Mosaic Law (the Pentateuch or Torah or first five books of the Old Testament). In reading and meditating on the life of Moses, we are not simply reading history. Moses is part of our daily life as Christians. AMEN
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