There are several options for our readings this week, so what you see above may or may not be proclaimed at this Sunday’s Mass.
Our first reading this week from the Book of Exodus is entitled: “The Call of Moses.” This is a passage we are all familiar with wherein we are told that God called Moses from a burning bush to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land.
Notice in this passage that Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro; in the previous chapter, the father-in-law’s name is Reuel. This passage takes place on Mt. Horeb; later in chapter 19, the mountain will be called Sinai. Moses is addressed by “an angel of the Lord, who appeared to Moses in the flaming bush; yet we are told God himself spoke to Moses from the burning bush.
These are insignificant points (except to biblical scholars), but they make us aware that a single author did not write the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. These books are composed of oral traditions that were passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years by different groups of people trying to pass their heritage on to their children and grandchildren before these traditions were eventually written down in various forms and then collected and edited into their present form. It is also important for us to see that the final editors didn’t think it was necessary to “homogenize” these accounts: If some know the mountain as Horeb and others know it as Sinai, so be it. These authors were not trying to write a documentary of factual history; they were writing a history of the faith of the Jewish people.
But, more important than the history of this passage is what it reveals to us about the faith and beliefs of these ancient people, and it reminds us that our Christian faith today comes to us from these ancient Jews. It was an ancient belief that prosperity was a gift from God as a reward for fidelity; conversely, disaster was a punishment from God for infidelity. The Jews could have interpreted their slavery in Egypt as such a punishment from God. But in this passage, we are told that God also has compassion: “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt…..I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians.” Not only does God show compassion for his people but he will lead them from a land of slavery into a land of prosperity – a land flowing with milk and honey – and it is not a land they have earned through fidelity; it is simply God’s free-will gift to those who will accept it. An important theme of this passage, which will connect to our gospel, is that prosperity is not a reward from God, and bad times are not a punishment. Bad things can happen to good people through the actions of bad people in the world. When bad things happen to us or those we love, are we inclined to blame God or to ask: Why me God? God is not the author of evil; God only permits the evil caused by others so that we will recognize that evil, repent of our sinfulness, and seek God’s forgiveness. As St. Paul reminds us; where sin abounds in the world, God’s grace abounds all the more.
How is Moses to deliver these people from Egypt? Moses is a fugitive from Pharaoh for having committed murder in Egypt and was doubted by his own people who questioned his authority. Is it irony or is it prophecy that Jesus was thought to be a criminal and was doubted by his own people? Can Moses return to Egypt and survive? Only if he has faith in the God who sent him and said: “I will be with you.” Can Jesus survive those who want to kill him in Jerusalem? He will only survive if he has faith in the God who promised to raise him from the dead and to make all things new through his Passion.
When the Israelites ask Moses who is this God who sent you to us, what is he to answer? In ancient times, knowing someone’s name meant you were thought to have a special relationship with that person, some knowledge of that person. If God should reveal his name to the Jews, then God would become personal to them. In response to Moses’ inquiry, God reveals his name: I AM! In other words, I am the absolute and necessary entity; nothing exists without me. I am the source of all creation.
The theme of punishment versus reward is carried on in our gospel this week, which is entitled: “A Call to Repentance.” There is apparently no historical documentation for either of the two incidents mentioned in this gospel where people were either slaughtered or died by accident. But Jesus uses the two incidents against the belief that these people died as a punishment from God. Their death came swiftly and unexpectedly, and no one knows if they had prepared themselves through repentance. Jesus’ warning is: “If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.”
But repentance requires conversion of heart, and conversion of heart requires acknowledgment of sins committed, and acknowledgment of sins committed requires passing judgment on one’s own conscience. No one would be inclined to the conversion of heart if not impelled by the Holy Spirit to desire that conversion and the forgiveness that comes with that conversion. However, we have to be open to the impetus of the Holy Spirit. But time is not unlimited to us to repent. St. Paul reminds us in our second reading that even many of those who accompanied Moses in the Exodus and were led by God through the desert failed to repent and died in their unbelief.
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree reminds us that God is patient with us and allows us time to come to that conversion. But his patience will only last so long. Now is the time for repentance and conversion; we could, at any moment, suffer the fate of those in our gospel passage this week. Were they prepared? Would we be prepared?
Reference: ©LPi
