Word to the Wise
Monday, July 24, 2023 - Monday in the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 14:5-18 and Matt 12:38-42][The Israelites] complained to Moses, "Were there no burial grounds in Egypt that you had to bring us out there to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us?.....Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two, that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land. But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate that they will go in after them." [Exodus]
The lectionary divides the story of the crossing of the sea in two parts, but this year, the feast of St. James [July 25] falls on this Tuesday, so we don't get to hear the part where the Israelites get across and the Egyptians get drowned! Wednesday will pick up the narrative with the story of the Manna. However, there is another part of this story that always captures my attention because I have been a pastor and religious superior many times in my Dominican life. God and Moses go from hero to goat over and over again. Today is just the beginning. In today's scene everything is fine. Pharaoh has let the Israelites go (after the Lord slaughters every Egyptian first born human or animal!), then changes his mind and goes after them. The complaining starts when the Israelites look back and see the Egyptians coming!!!!
Time and again the Israelites will lose faith when the going gets rough and they will blame Moses every time. Instead of going forward with faith in God's deliverance, they keep looking back to the "good old days" of slavery in Egypt!!!! The adjective that Moses uses often to describe them is "stiff-necked." The pattern will be repeated with the stories of the manna, the quail and, worst of all, the golden calf!! No matter what God and Moses do, the Children of Israel are whiny and ungrateful, basically a "What have you done for us lately?" attitude.
The story of Moses and the Children of Israel has much to teach us about faith, trust and gratitude. Our own faith and trust in and gratitude for our leaders in faith - whether pope, bishop, priest or lay person - will be tested because they are human, too. Poor Moses is often caught in the middle between God's impatience and the ingratitude of the Children of Israel. It's no different today. God's command to both Moses (who does his share of complaining too, as we shall see) and the Children of Israel is worth remembering: "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Children of Israel to go forward!" AMEN