Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
These days, the term “fear of God” has become lost to us. You may have heard the commonplace assertion that the “God” of the Old Testament is angry and scary, in contrast with the “God” of the New Testament who is loving and kind. Today we have two readings, one from the Old Testament’s book of Exodus, and one from the New Testament’s gospel of Matthew. Our Catholic tradition believes that these are not competing images of God, but complementary pictures of the same Trinitarian God. The first reading resonates well with the phrase “fear of God.” God descends with trumpet blasts, peals of thunder and lightning, in the midst of a cloud of smoke and fire. It’s no wonder that the people trembled. What we see here is that God is powerful; the dramatic effects indicate the importance of the event. This God, who is powerful and strong and all-knowing: this is our God. And we ought to fear God, not in a hide-under-the-table sort of way, but in a manner that acknowledges that God is distinct from us and worthy of all glory and honor and praise. God is worthy of respect in a way that no person and no thing in this created world can be. Too often we think of God in some sort of casual way, as just there when we need Him, to be a nonjudgmental support who answers all our prayers, despite their infrequency and our overall spiritual laziness.
This attitude is a sort of self-centered approach, wherein we act as though the world (and God) revolves around us. In fact, however, God is not separate from us or the world in this way. Our God, who descended to trumpet blasts for a conversation with Moses on Mt. Sinai, also comes to us as Jesus, the innocent babe in a manger who becomes the man who endures persecution, suffering, and crucifixion for our sake. God, whether portrayed to us in the dramatic or the humble person of Jesus, deserves our respect and attention. We ought not put God on hold to do what we want; we ought not delay in doing his will because we know he will forgive us for our delinquencies.
In today’s gospel passage, our God Jesus calls his disciples blessed because they have eyes that recognize Jesus for what he is, and ears that hear his gospel message. This is crucial to what it means to fear God. In other words, the fear of God means having open eyes and ears, being aware that the world was created and ordered and redeemed by God out of his great love for us. It means acknowledging God’s grace in our own lives rather than taking the credit for ourselves.
In the first reading, the LORD tells Moses that he will descend so that the people might always have faith in them. As we already know, the faith of the people will continue to be inconsistent- sometimes faltering, sometimes steady. Even with the tremendous gift of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, our own faith also is inconsistent as we forget the value of the fear of God.
Today, let us take the time to think about the awesome power of God. Let us pray that we might have eyes and ears that are open to his power and glory, without which we would not have been created or redeemed. Let us pray that we might always honor God and humble ourselves before him.
Maria Morrow