GOING IN THE COMPANY OF GOD


SATURDAY, FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Exod 12: 37-42; Ps 136:1,10-15,23-24; Mt 12:14-21

Going in the Company of God

The children of Israel, following the will of God, left the land of Egypt after many years of sojourning there. A great crowd of people left the land of Egypt for the promised land of Canaan. The strength, protection, and communion of the crowd that left Egypt depend on their continuous obedience to the word of God. For as we have noted, the safety of all who seek the face of God is in their keeping the word of God and following his divine will. They left in a hurry as the Lord planned it, for he who leaves the land or place of sin and darkness to light must hurry, so as not to be corrupted by desires of sinful pleasures. They left without much provision for the journey, but the will of God is enough provision for those who follow him. It is the bread from heaven. As the saying goes, ‘many are called, but few are chosen,’ the crowd of people of different and assorted characters would be made homogeneous by the demands of divine will in the desert. “People of various sorts joined them in great numbers; there were flocks, too, and herds in immense droves.” Since the people set out at the command of the Lord, their direction and destination are the prerogatives of the Lord, who leads them through Moses.

Like the people of Israel, the Christians are on a journey to the heavenly promised land. We all commenced the journey at the invitation of the Son of Man, who is our new Moses. The Son of Man is out of the waters of the mystery of Godhead. He represents the will of God for our salvation from sin, death, and evil. Our setting out from the Egypt of this world must be in a hurry, listening to the voice of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who guides us on the journey and knows the safest way through this wilderness of sin and valley of death. Listening to the voice of the Lord and obeying the divine will communicated to us daily is the demanding part of the journey. Just as the children of Israel left Egypt with meagre resources and in need, nothing we possess now can prove sufficient for the spiritual journey before us. The success of the journey depends not on material strength or wealth, but on the grace of God, which Jesus Christ makes superabundant for us on the way. God wrought the initial wonders for the children of Israel to evoke faith, love, and trust in God, who established his presence among them in the form of a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day. Their song of praise, given in the psalm, demonstrates these feelings. “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. He remembered us in our distress. And he snatched us away from our foes. Great is his love, love without end.”

The pillar of cloud and fire for the journey of the Christian people was the Son of Man during the day of his human ministry, and the Holy Spirit during the night of his mysteries. The Eternal Word established his presence among us for the heavenly journey of all people and nations to the heavenly promised land when he took our human nature and dwelt among us. Through his passion and death, which is our Passover, he has liberated us from the slavery of sin and death, taking us spiritually out of this world en route to heaven. By the miracles he worked in the Gospel, he confirms our conclusions above. “Many followed him and he cured them all, but warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah: Here is my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, the favourite of my soul.” The Israelites had a type of the Son of Man in Moses, who is considered a faithful steward in the House of God. The Son of Man is the Son in the House, the heir of all things. Thus, he forbids people and spirits from making him known. We must believe in his divinity to receive salvation. He forbids or limits physical contact and knowledge because it does not promote faith, which is where salvation lies. Faith makes him available to all peoples and nations as the prophecy foretold. “He will not bawl or shout, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break the crushed reed, nor put out the smouldering wick till he has led the truth to victory; in his name the nations will put their hope.”

Let us pray: O God, who show the light of your truth to those who go astray, so that they may return to the right path, give all who for the faith they profess are accounted 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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