BATTLE FOR OUR INHERITANCE


MONDAY, FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Exod 1: 8-14,22; Ps 124; Col 1:15-20; Mt 10:34-11:1

The Carriers of the Promise

The book of Exodus continues the story of the children of Jacob in Egypt. Just as a new Pharaoh arose who knew nothing of Joseph, a generation of children of Jacob grew up who knew nothing of the promise God had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; therefore, they saw no need to return to the land of Canaan that God had promised their fathers. The word of God is ever alive and active, for God watches over his word. The Israelites started having discomfort in their comfortable sojourn in Egypt. God created the discomfort for them to fulfil his promise to Abraham and his descendants. He caused Pharaoh to start persecuting them. “‘Look,’ he said to his subjects, ‘these people, the sons of Israel, have become so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us. We must be prudent and take steps against their increasing any further, or if war should break out, they might add to the number of our enemies.’” The children of Israel would see Pharaoh’s change of attitude as a great discomfort and evil against them, not knowing that the persecution and evil were allowed by God for their good. The persecution and evil came to them because they were carriers of divine promise, though they were unaware of the promised blessings. But God called forth the persecution and hatred that he might fulfil his word on them.

The fact that God destined them for blessings and inheritance of the land of Canaan means that they cannot dwell perpetually in Egypt. Their ignorance of the plan of God for them would make them not appreciate the hatred and the plan to discomfort them in Egypt. The same applies to us, Christians; for the story of the children of Israel is meant to be a type of our Christian life and journey. The temporary sojourn of the children of Jacob in the land of Egypt foreshadowed our temporary sojourn in this vale of tears. The prince of this world and his cohort seek to enslave the souls God created to inherit the eternal life of heaven. Satan and his workers know about the inheritance God promised the faithful souls, and they use every means to enslave souls to sin and eternal damnation, as the Egyptians did. “The Egyptians forced the sons of Israel into slavery, and made their lives unbearable with hard labour, work with clay and with brick, all kinds of work in the fields; they forced on them every kind of labour.” The redemption of the children of Jacob from their bondage and slavery in Egypt through Moses and the blood of the lamb of Passover foreshadows the redemption of Christians by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, whom God sent to be our Redeemer. The dynamics of their persecution and sufferings in Egypt have meaning in the justice and mercy demands of God’s permitted will.

The same conclusion applies to our persecutions, trials, sufferings, and death in this world. The Christian souls are redeemed, purified, and transformed into Jesus Christ through all that the Father allows to come to each Christian soul. Our transformation into Jesus Christ is our entrance into the promised inheritance of God. Our Lord reveals that all our trials are within the providence of the Father’s will when he said to the Twelve. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” The coming of Jesus Christ made the battle, which was on different guises, now clear and distinct; the ultimate battle is for the divine inheritance or disinheritance. Jesus is our heavenly inheritance. Hence, Satan would use anyone ignorant of this singular and most important fact to fight us. “Anyone who prefer father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow my footsteps is not worthy of me.” Our Lord identifies the battle and a means to unite ourselves with him and be part of the redemption of others. “Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.” We pray for the grace to acquire the wisdom of the serpent and the innocence of doves.

Let us pray: O God, show forth the light of your truth on us who go astray seeking the comfort of this world, so that we may return to the right path, give to all Christians the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ and to strive after all that does it honour. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.  

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