Word to the Wise
Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - Wednesday in the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 3:1-6, 9-12 and Matt 11:25-27]But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?" He answered, "I will be with you....."[Exodus]
One of the most important moments in the Old Testament (and in the whole Bible) is the scene in which Moses responds to the sight of the burning bush in the desert and finds himself encountering God. This scene represents divine revelation in a direct form, in which God reveals God's own name to Moses and promises to be with Moses in the task of confronting Pharaoh and leading the "children of Israel" out of captivity and slavery. The moment of revelation and the task to be undertaken are related as two sides of one coin. However, contemplative commentators have often focused simply on the revelation in their search for closeness to God because of the starkness of the scene (desert) and the incredible knowledge of the name of God: "I AM!" Indeed, those two words, as I have noted in the Gospel According to John in these reflections, become one of the ways Jesus reveals himself.
Generations of preachers and ministers have found inspiration in the conversation in which Moses resists the call of God, protesting that he (Moses) has no standing to confront Pharaoh and has no ability to speak. God rejects all of Moses' protests and insists that Moses must do as God commands. I can recall my own resistance to a persistent "voice" that I had to give up a cherished plan to practice law in my hometown with my father and join the Dominican Order!
Getting close to God brings challenges to one's life. What Moses did in response to God's call has an impact on our lives as Christians every day! We may celebrate it in a special way during Holy Week but each celebration of the Eucharist recalls the Manna from heaven that God sent (which again is recalled in chapter six of the Gospel According to John). Today, an "ordinary" Wednesday we might give some thought to how God has spoken in our own lives and how we have responded. "Should I marry this person or not?" "Should I try to become a doctor, teacher, lawyer, engineer, etc., and how this has impacted other people. I find the words of God, "I will be with you.."to be a powerful reminder of divine providence. Moses remains a symbol of that power. AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
105 ms
4
