April 7, 2011
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, "Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth'? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people. Exodus 32:11-12
[John] was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. John 5:35-36
Piety
Father, if we do not want to change, please create in us the change you desire and the desire to accept the change that you require.
Study
We are a pretty stiff-necked people just like the Jews that Moses was defending. One part of that definition is that we “refuse to be led.”
According to the Biblical Encyclopedia, the derivation of the idea was entirely familiar to the Jews, with whom the ox was the most useful and common of domestic animals. It was especially used for such agricultural purposes as harrowing and plowing. The definition continues: The plow was usually drawn by two oxen. As the plowman required but one hand to guide the plow, he carried in the other an "ox-goad." This was a light pole, shod with an iron spike. With this he would prick the oxen upon the hind legs to increase their speed, and upon the neck to turn, or to keep a straight course when deviating. If an ox was hard to control or stubborn, it was "hard of neck," or stiff-necked. Hence, the figure was used in the Scriptures to express the stubborn, intractable spirit of a people not responsive to the guiding of their God. (http://bibleencyclopedia.com/stiff-necked.htm)
Today, that word has come to mean stubborn and arrogant. Those who are described as such also probably refuse to be led even if they had their necks whipped with an iron spike.
Jesus seems pretty exasperated in today’s Gospel as he describes the people who refused to accept him and even though for a while they accepted the prophecy of John the Baptist who testified on his behalf. He stops short in John’s Gospel of using the same “stiff-necked” term that the Lord used with Moses. Yet with all the prophets, with all the signs Jesus performs for the people, and with the words of God which we have heard at Jesus Baptism and the Transfiguration, they were still pretty intractable.
Action
How can we loosen up our necks and change our attitude?
Perhaps one way is to be less focused on our selves and more focused on how God wants us to be. Easier said than done…but methods to achieve this abound. Many are described in Sister Mary Margaret Funk’s great little book Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life.
The steps are described by Fr. Thomas Keating in this short video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IKpFHfNdnE) but are summarized as follows:
1. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
2. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.
3. When engaged with your thoughts or distracted, return ever-so gently to the sacred word.
4. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.
If you add a few minutes of Centering Prayer to your daily routine, maybe you can be less stiff necked and more relaxed and able to be led where God wants you to be.
