Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

As we begin this seventeenth week of Ordinary Time, we continue hearing the stories from the book of exodus. The first reading for today is another dramatic one. After he has met with God on Mt. Sinai, Moses walks down the mountain only to find that the Hebrew people have made an idol. Moses’ brother Aaron has helped them to turn their gold jewelry into a golden calf, which they are busy celebrating and worshipping. Here is the God that has done so much for them – led them out of Egypt, rescued them from Pharaoh’s army, and fed them during their time in the desert…and yet the people are still enamored with the habits they picked up in Egypt. One of God’s reasons for wanting his people out of Egypt was so that they could have the freedom to worship him again. Ironically, we see that while you can get the Hebrews out of Egypt, you can’t get the Egypt out of the Hebrews. It’s no wonder that Moses is upset with the people. His role in leading them has taken enormous sacrifice on his part. And if they were going to continue to worship false gods, he might wonder, why has he dedicated his life to leading them away from Egypt? Moses, however, does not end in bitterness by walking away from the people. Instead, he chastises them and goes back up the mountain to plead with God for divine forgiveness. Today’s passage ends with an ominous line: “When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin” (Ex. 32:34). This is another line which brings to mind the “angry God” of the Old Testament, as it is commonplace to assume, especially given that God does in fact smite the people for their disobedience.

What is strange, then, is that the responsorial psalm has such a positive refrain: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good” (Ps. 106:1a). How can God be good if he punishes and smites? These readings really challenge our contemporary understanding of God and of ourselves. One theme we see here is that of worship. From the beginning, humanity is meant to have a relationship with God, a relationship of adoration and gratefulness – not because God needs it, but because this is what best defines us. We are most ourselves when we are worshiping God, in a relationship of grateful adoration. The Hebrew people, however, have made an idol. They have not only offended God, but they have debased themselves by worshiping a mere image.

In this sense, then, we see that there can be a positive outcome from God’s having punished the people. God is good because he does not completely destroy all the Hebrews, as he could have done as an act of justice. He has mercy on some, calling them away from false gods and back to himself. God continues to bless the people because he continues to be their God and to let them be his people, regardless of their constant sins against him.

I wish I could say that this making an idol and worshiping false gods was something that only the ancient Hebrew people did. But unfortunately, it is something that we all continue to struggle with today. Now, granted, we don’t make large calf statues out of gold and engage in revelry around them. But we do enjoy seeing our bank accounts go up, and we follow the lives of the stars, and we like our cars to be shiny, and we are proud of our worldly success. In short, we make idols out of the things that the rest of our society also worships. Whatever time is left over is the time we give to God.Because of our continued weakness in this area, God gives us his own son Jesus. Today this Jesus speaks to us in the gospel of Matthew about the Kingdom of Heaven. Both a mustard seed and leaven start small but produce great results. We have a renewed opportunity in Jesus, an opportunity for salvation through the one who is the way, the truth, and the life, and whose life, death, and resurrection transforms our own existence. We give thanks to God, for God is good for saving us in Jesus and continuing to save us in Jesus. We will continue to sin. But we will also continue to have God’s grace in the sacraments of the Church and elsewhere. God ought to punish us, like he punished the Hebrew people. Instead, Jesus redeems us and refocuses our attention on the one Trinitarian God. Jesus reminds us that we are made for God and are only content when we are with God.

Today, take some time to reflect on the idols in your life. Think about how you might consciously focus your attention on God so that every moment of your life is about worshiping God. Let us pray that we always seek forgiveness and divine mercy when we recognize the sin and idols in our lives.

- Maria Morrow