Daily Meditation: Numbers 21:4-9
Numbers 21:4-9
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the Red Sea road to go around the land of Edom. The people were discouraged by the journey 5 and began to complain against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”
6 Yahweh then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against Yahweh and against you. Plead with Yahweh to take the serpents away.”
Moses pleaded for the people 8 and Yahweh said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.”
9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.
Beloved, we are wretched, sinful, ungrateful and we are deserving of death. We are no better than the Israelites in the desert who began to complain. They even dared to grumble about the bread that You sent them to satisfy their hunger. Is it any wonder that You were angry and allowed their sin, represented by the serpent to strike and kill them with its venom?
You stand between and us and God like Moses, pleading with Him to spare our lives. Death is what we deserve but You offer to take our place and You are prepared to pay the price for our guilt. You not only offer but God permits that You make restoration to Him for our wanton abuse and destruction of His gifts to us. After a most brutal passion that ended in Your Crucifixion, hanging for three hours in unimaginable agony, You atoned for our sins and created the bridge that would enable us to return to the Father.
Mysteriously, You continue to make expiation for our sins until the end of time by becoming the Saving Victim for our sins. On the Cross You became the only means acceptable to the Father through which He has desired to save us. Through Your pierced heart and the Blood and Water that gushed forth from it, You have washed us, bathed us and united us to the Father making us His adopted children through You. Thank You.
Daily Mass Readings: Exodus 14:5-18, Matthew 12:39-42, Exodus 15:1-6
Exodus 14:5-18
Beloved, how readily we complain, find fault and grumble despite all the great things You have done for us. Every blessing is forgotten when we are faced with hardship and difficulties and we begin to complain. We prefer to be enslaved to our sinful past instead of reveling in the freedom of being children of God. You continue to plead for us at the right hand of the Father interceding for us day and night and You reassure us as Moses reassured the Israelites in these verses 13 Moses said to the people, “Have no fear! Stay where you are and see the work the Lord will do to save you today. The Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again! 14 The Lord will fight for you and all you have to do is to keep still.” Thank You and praise You Beloved.
Matthew 12:39-42
Despite all You have done for us we continue to ask for signs and wonders in order that we may believe. Like Thomas we want to put our finger in Your wounds - we are a faithless generation. We have no excuse in this day and age for our ignorance, all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge preserved by Your Church are available to us at our fingertips through the internet. Vast resources are available to us yet never at any time in our history have we been so woefully ignorant of the beauty, power and grandeur of our faith. Just as the Queen of Sheba marveled at the wisdom of Solomon, she will scorn us for having ignored what is greater than Solomon in our midst. Our cold indifference in desiring to know our faith, embracing it and living will be our condemnation in the end.
Exodus 15:2
2 The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he is my salvation.
He is my God and I will praise him;
the God of my father: I will extol him.
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