April 12 2011
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
By Beth DeCristofaro
From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road, to bypass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” (Numbers 21:4-5)
(Jesus) said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” … So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” (John 8: 23-23, 28-30)
Piety
O LORD, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you. Hide not your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily. Let this be written for the generation to come, and let his future creatures praise the LORD. “The LORD looked down from his holy height, from heaven he beheld the earth,To hear the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die.” (from Psalm 102:2-3, 19-21)
Study
The Egyptian Desert is a pretty intimidating place. There is stark, ravished dryness stretching out seemingly infinitely. But there also are achingly beautiful spots. However, most of what I have seen of it is from the air or from a boat. If I was in the middle of it without a reliable jeep and several full water bottles, however, I could begin to see why the Israelites were at times so very wretched. Survival in the desert is chancy. Survival takes all one’s focus. Survival is not grand or glorious. And in their case, their narrow focus was one of blame.
Jesus’ words to the Pharisees could apply to the Israelites. The Israelites chose to focus only on the arid desert and their own limited vision. The Pharisees clung to their arid beliefs and their rigid definition of faith rather than chose to “do what is pleasing to God.” In contrast, the psalmist sings a song that acknowledges pain, frailty and mortality without censure or despair but rather sung in a trusting hope in the mercy of God.
St. Francis de Sales said “We should live in this world as though our spirits were already in heaven.” Perhaps this is what Jesus is trying to get the stiff-necked Pharisees to understand. We do not reject the world but we reject the world as all-there-is because God is all and God is for us through the sacrifice and redemption of Jesus.
Action
It is perhaps too simplistic to say that the desert of life can be seen as a place of beauty or a place of despair. Life can be pretty daunting. But God’s graces can help us the live at the oases of faith, hope and love. We can experience forgiveness, joy, gratitude and generosity even in the dry spells. We can do that only by acknowledging that not only is the world not all-there-is but that I, myself, is not-all-that-is. God did not leave Jesus alone. God does not leave us alone.
