Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent 2020

Whose people are wandering in the desert? Our Psalm today recounts that Moses withstood the Lord in the breach who was exasperated after the people chose to exchange the glory of their worship of the Lord alone for the image of a grass-eating bullock. Let us examine this exchange between Moses, striving to lead the people through the desert to the Promised Land, and the Lord, who had first called them to freedom. We know that in the years before the discourse in the breach we hear today, in another encounter, the Lord spoke from the burning bush to Moses. As the curiosity of Moses increased at the fiery shrub, he approached with sandals removed in awe at the wonder of God’s presence. The Lord said, “I Am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” while Moses hid his face in reverent fear. Thus, even before the signs and wonders in the sight of Pharaoh, the parting of the Red Sea, the defense by a pillar of fire, or the manna, Moses was convinced that the foundation of his mission lay securely on the Lord’s faithfulness to the covenant already ratified.

Now, in the breach, Moses is wrestling with God, like his ancestor Jacob before him, with all his heart, fiercely, with the resolve and even stubbornness of someone who has given his whole life to the cause ahead. Notice the pointed way they debate. “The Lord said to Moses, go down at once to Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt.” Hear the emphasis on “Your.” After the Lord outlines the ways in which the people unfaithfully practiced idolatry with a molten statue of a calf, Moses turns in response to God, imploring, “why, O Lord, should your wrath blaze up against Your own people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt?  Whose are they? Who really brought them out of Egypt? Is Moses not the one directly commissioned by God to lead them out? Are they not truly the Lord’s own chosen people?

As the story of our salvation continues to unfold from this moment of heated discourse, we see Jesus as the fulfillment of the covenant referenced in the days of the burning bush. It is even more vital to acknowledge, then, that we are the members of Christ’s Body. At the heart of our service to others is the truth that Jesus is present especially in the least ones, those in most need of his mercy.

Looking at the reception of this teaching in the life of the Church, we see Saint Teresa of Avila as one of many saints in history who have struck this chord in their writing when she said that “Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” The people we encounter, sometimes in the distressing disguise of poverty and dysfunction, are indeed God’s people just as much we belong to each other. Asking God to care for his own in prayer carries a simultaneous encouragement to pray for the grace to make the intentional effort to care for those in our lives; God’s people and our people.

So, my challenge for you today is to persevere in our Lenten mission of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, not that we may complete an arbitrary obligation, but that we may understand more fully that we are God’s very own. May we come to realize, all the more, that when we sacrifice for each other, it is the Lord’s own love that enables us to do so joyfully. Then, we can sing with the words of our Psalm today; remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.