Word to the Wise
Monday, July 28, 2025 - Monday in the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 32:15-24, 30-34 and Matt 13:31-35]As [Moses] drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. With that Moses' wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets down and broke them on the base of the mountain. Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire and then ground it down to powder, which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink. [Exodus]
The Old Testament contains many vivid passages, but the description of Moses' reaction to the golden idol, made in his long absence up on the mountain with God, has to be one of the most colorful! [It even gave rise to the old pun about Moses breaking all ten commandments at one time!] The story has many lessons to teach about fickle faith and poor leadership.
The fickle faith of the children of Israel is continually on display from the time they leave Egypt until almost Jesus' day. In the time of the great prophets, false "gods" were always available from surrounding cultures and seemed to offer greater benefits. Moses was up on the mountain with God 40 days and nights and his brother, Aaron, could not stand up to the demand for a "consumer God" that would be immediately available.
This is not just ancient biblical history! False Gods that offer immediate gratification and escape are a constant challenge to our faith. Faith that requires perseverance in good times and in bad can be unpopular. A consumer faith allows one to go shopping for a "better" one. Cultural idols are a dime a dozen! Money, power, sex, substances - those are common examples.
Leadership can be influenced by some of these false idols. Power is ever a temptation and money seems to get into the picture at all times. Moses' colorful wrath was only as good as the one incident with the golden calf. Even great leadership figures like David and Solomon showed weaknesses for those temptations. And even Jesus' apostles were not immune to the false gods. Leadership is important and necessary, but we cannot escape blame by making our own faith dependent on that of the leaders'. The story of the golden calf has a perennial message to us all. AMEN