Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
What are things we remember from childhood? For some of us it is a favorite toy, a place, or a setting like a family dinner. As a child one of the things that seem clear in my mind is my father giving his children rules to live by. These rules must have seemed devastating at times. Yet, as a parent now the boundaries that both of my parents gave me helped become the person I am today. Much of the wisdom I have passed on to my own children. In the readings today we are reminded of the gift of the law and how our observation of the rules offers us a spiritual freedom.
Moses, one of the spiritual fathers of Israel, desired to pass on the statutes and decrees of the Lord. He did so in hopes the people would faithfully live this law in the Promised Land. Moses did not simply communicate the rules to the people, he taught the Israelites to live within the spiritual boundaries the Lord had given them. For Moses, the people of Israel would give testimony not only to their own children but to all of the nations if they observed statutes.
Moses did not want the people of Israel to forget all that they had learned so he encouraged them to be on their guard, lest their actions show that they had forgotten their faith. If someone observed us interacting in the world, while driving in heavy traffic, or in quiet remote place would our actions reflect Christ?
In observing us, would people see in us an encounter with Christ? When the circumstances of our lives get stressful, do we allow those realities to abolish our boundaries?
"Lord, help us to be a faithful witnesses, a true encounter of Christ, that we think talk and act like Jesus now and forever. Amen!"
- Michael Montgomery