20210720 A REDEEMED PEOPLE OF GOD IN CHRIST
20 July, 2021, Tuesday, 16th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading |
Exodus 14:21-15:1 © |
The crossing of the Red Sea
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove back the sea with a strong easterly wind all night, and he made dry land of the sea. The waters parted and the sons of Israel went on dry ground right into the sea, walls of water to right and to left of them. The Egyptians gave chase: after them they went, right into the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
In the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and of cloud, and threw the army into confusion. He so clogged their chariot wheels that they could scarcely make headway. ‘Let us flee from the Israelites,’ the Egyptians cried. ‘The Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians!’
‘Stretch out your hand over the sea,’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘that the waters may flow back on the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen.’
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and, as day broke, the sea returned to its bed. The fleeing Egyptians marched right into it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the very middle of the sea. The returning waters overwhelmed the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh’s whole army, which had followed the Israelites into the sea; not a single one of them was left. But the sons of Israel had marched through the sea on dry ground, walls of water to right and to left of them.
That day, the Lord rescued Israel from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. Israel witnessed the great act that the Lord had performed against the Egyptians, and the people venerated the Lord; they put their faith in the Lord and in Moses, his servant.
It was then that Moses and the sons sang this song in honour of the Lord:
Responsorial Psalm | Exodus 15 © |
I will sing to the Lord, glorious his triumph!
At the breath of your anger the waters piled high;
the moving waters stood up like a dam.
The deeps turned solid in the midst of the sea.
The enemy said: ‘I will pursue and overtake them,
I will divide my plunder, I shall have my will.
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’
I will sing to the Lord, glorious his triumph!
You blew with your breath, the sea closed over them.
They went down like lead into the mighty waters.
You stretched forth your hand, the earth engulfed them.
I will sing to the Lord, glorious his triumph!
You will lead your people and plant them on your mountain,
the place, O Lord, where you have made your home,
the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have made.
I will sing to the Lord, glorious his triumph!
Gospel Acclamation | 1Jn2:5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Whenever anyone obeys what Christ has said,
God’s love comes to perfection in him.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn14:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 12:46-50 © |
My mother and my brothers are anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven
Jesus was speaking to the crowds when his mother and his brothers appeared; they were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him. But to the man who told him this Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.’
A REDEEMED PEOPLE OF GOD IN CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Ex 14:21-15:1; Ex 15; Mt 12:46-50 ]
The book of Exodus recounts how the sons of Israel were saved by God. The account underscores that redemption and salvation is the work of God, not of man. Moses was just an instrument of the Lord. “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea” but “the Lord drove back the sea with a strong easterly wind all night, and he made dry land of the sea. The waters parted and the sons of Israel went on dry ground right into the sea, walls of water to right and left of them.” Today’s first lesson concluded with how the sons of Israel saw the whole event. That day, the Lord rescued Israel from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. Israel witnessed the great act that the Lord had performed against the Egyptians, and the people venerated the Lord; they put their faith in the Lord and in Moses, his servant.” Indeed, it does not matter that some scholars suggest that the event was over dramatized by the Israelites and that it was simply a natural event. But in the mind of the writers at that point, they did not differentiate between what is natural or supernatural as there was no existence of science at that time. What is most important is that they saw it as an act of God, delivering them from their enemies.
As a consequence, the Exodus is seen by the Old and New Testament writers as an architype of salvation and deliverance. The Exodus was the beginning of the foundation of Israel as a people. It was also the event that formed them to be a people as they were in truth a motley crowd. Those who followed Moses into the desert were not just the sons of Israel but “a mixed crowd also went up with them.” (Ex 12:38) Being the foundational event, it was referred to later in the Old Testament, and even by the New Testament writers, St Paul and St Peter particularly, as the pattern for deliverance and salvation.
What is significant also is that the Exodus Event brings us back to Genesis, where the God of Israel was not just the deliverer but also the creator. Creation and salvation are closely related. As we have seen in the Plagues, Moses was demonstrating to Pharaoh and the Egyptians that it was not Osiris, the Egyptian deity known as the god of the underwork, who was in control of the cycle of floods from the river Nile, and who they relied on for agricultural fertility. Rather, the God who delivered them was also the God who created the world and was in control of nature. He has power over light and darkness, life and death, hail and water, insects and animals.
Just as God’s people were forced to leave the Promised Land, symbolized by the Garden of Eden in Genesis, and yearned to return, the march to the Promised Land was the beginning of the restoration of lost paradise. God told Moses, “I will bring you up out of the misery of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Ex 3:17) Indeed, the Promised Land, later known as Israel, is called the New Israel, the kingdom of God. The entry into Canaan, the “Promised Land” was but the first of the many instalments to prepare for the final return to Eden when Christ will win victory for us and where we will be in paradise once more. God said, “To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.” (Rev 2:7) The book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, ends with the image of Paradise where “the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city.” They bear “twelve kinds of fruit and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Rev 22:1,25)
Consequently, for us Christians, we look forward to our deliverance and salvation in Christ. St Matthew’s gospel 2:15 particularly referred to Hosea 11:1 to bring out the analogy of how the Holy Family fled to Egypt and then upon the death of Herod, returned to Nazareth when Jesus was a boy to remind us of how God allowed His people to take refuge in Egypt and then led them out of Egypt when Israel was still in its inception to become a nation. In the mind of Matthew therefore, Israel foreshadowed Christ as our ultimate redeemer. Indeed, Christ was not just the New Israel coming out of Egypt but also the New Moses leading the New People of God into the Promised Land.
Jesus in the gospels was presented as the New Moses, particularly by St Matthew and St John. He would be tempted at the mountain and it was there that He spent time in prayer and fasting, like Moses. (Mt 4,5) It was at the mountain that He instructed His people just as Moses did. Like Moses, Jesus gave the Living Water and the Bread of life. (Jn 4,6) When Jesus was reaching the end of His Exodus, He went up to Mount Tabor and there, Moses and Elijah, were seen talking to Him. “They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Lk 9:31) Departure in Greek means Exodos. Finally, at the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ final departure to the Father took place at a mountain in Galilee. (Mt 28:16)
Clearly, the gospels present Jesus as the New Moses who will lead the New Israel to the Promised Land, which is the Kingdom of His Father, where all of us will find fullness of life. “He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” (Rev 21:3-5)
Within this context, today’s gospel helps us to appreciate why Jesus came to establish a new family. “Jesus was speaking to the crowds when his mother and his brothers appeared; they were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him. But to the man who told him this Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?'” Although family ties were paramount in those days, more than ours today, yet for Jesus, it is our relationship with God that must come first. Jesus asked of His disciples, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:26) To someone whom the Lord called to be His disciple, the person responded, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:59f) Hence, we can appreciate Jesus’ definition of who would qualify as members of the Family of God, “stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.'” Indeed, what binds us is not so much biological ties but when we have the same mind, same heart and same vision.
This is what Christ does for us when we are baptized. As St Paul says, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom 6:3f) When we are baptized and live a new life in Christ, St Paul says, “in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:26-29) Indeed, we do not have to be Jews to be God’s chosen people but we simply have to do His will and obey Him. Obedience and living the life of righteousness in Christ makes us His family members. When we share a common experience, a common faith in God and in Christ, we become the People of God. It is our Christian fellowship and support for each other that make us truly the family of God. Our faith in God transcends race, culture, and language.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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