“SEEDS OF LIFE”
Sunday, 11th September 2016.
Twenty Fourth Week of Ordinary Time
Exodus 32: 7-14;
Psalm 50: 3-4, 12-13, 17-19;
1Timothy 1:12-17;
Luke 15: 1-32
FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD!
In the reading from Exodus, we overhear a conversation between God and Moses. God is angry and Moses is trying to calm God’s anger. The ancient people knew that God loved them, so they expected that God would get angry when the people did things that no friend would do. Moses was angry when the people he had put so much energy into rescuing, were ungrateful. Moses couldn’t believe it when the moment his back was turned, they started creating a golden calf, one of the principal images of the Canaanite deity. Moses thought, “If I’m angry then God must be furious, how will I stop God from killing them?”
Like a friend, Moses comes between God and the sinful people. He asks God to remember that not everyone is involved in the wickedness. He reminds God that God has faithful friends who are thankful to have been guided safely through the desert. And like a good friend Moses goes so far as to remind God that if he does something hastily, God could lose face. The story ends with God deciding not to punish his people.
What an extraordinary story! It tells us so much about how our ancestors saw themselves in relation to God. Moses saw himself, not as child of God, but a collaborator, friend of God. When the people looked at Moses, they knew he took his friendship with God seriously and so they tried to learn from him.
When people met Jesus, they recognised the same close friendship with God. In fact they came to recognise that between God and Jesus was something closer than friendship. Like Moses, Jesus encouraged the people to see that friendship with God was available to all. In the Gospel reading we hear Jesus describing God in very comforting terms. First as a farmer who cares for his stock and works hard for their well-being. He also calls God a housewife who is upset by the loss of even a small amount of money and will keep searching till its found.
Do we see God as a true friend, someone to whom we really matter?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for being my friend. May I also be faithful to this friendship. Amen.