In the Old Testament reading today God reveals his name to Moses. He calls himself “Lord” and says he is slow to anger and rich in kindness. Moses asks the Lord to receive him and his people as their own. He says they are stiff-necked (stubborn), and asks for pardon for their wickedness and sins.
In the second reading, Paul tells us how to live, “Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the love of God and peace will be with you. It is like a response to what Moses has explained to God about their limitations.
In the third reading, the Gospel, the answer to Moses request, is the promise of Paul that God is with you is revealed: God so loved the world that he gave his only son…”
I recently heard a podcast that explained how this was a new concept for the early Christians, who were actually made up of Jewish people and also the other people living at that time. It’s easy for many of us to take that statement and belief for granted now, but there are probably still lots of people who have never heard that in our present day. That God is providing us with help, for things we can’t do on our own. A way out of our stubborn habits that are keeping us from living in peace the help is revealed to us in Jesus’ encounters with the people he meets sharing about the kingdom of God. With Jesus there are concrete examples of how God is slow to anger and rich in kindness, like being forgiving of a tax collector who was taking advantage of the people he collected taxes from when he confessed to Jesus and promised to rectify his actions and by healing people of their illnesses.
Is there something you need help with that you can find solace from in reading the Word of the Lord?
Possibility & Light 