17/07//2021

The Israelites, descendants of Abraham , were not the only ones to leave Egypt in the Exodus. We are not told anything about them. They are grouped together  as peoples of "various sorts" .and could be the source of the backsliding and "golden calf" that greeted Moses when he descended from his encounter with the revelation of the Lord. "The chosen people" have many instances of backsliding recorded against them without the assistance of foreigners. The owner of the vineyard  sends many messengers to his tenants and they refuse them all with violence even to the extent of the Crucifixion of the Son 

Today's psalm is a beautiful praising of the Lord and of all his deeds. It also contains "The first-born of the Egyptians he smote" followed by the response. "His love is everlasting". Again we are faced with one of life's realities God cares for us but pain happens. Everlasting Love is more than a counterpoint to the pain of this world. This world is a temporary place it is not the Truth of  the  Kingdom of eternal Life  to which The Son shows us the Way.

Matthew quotes Isaiah. The disciples and Jesus were descendants of the Exodus and the the first church is a development of the synagogue and included Temple worship, the ritual slaughter of animals as offerings to God. They even met in the the Portico of Solomon. We must accept that everything in the Old Testament results in John the Baptist and that that break with the past was not instantly realised with the Resurrection.

Dear Lord I do not always understand the workings of your providence.  Let me accept the promptings of Your Holy Spirit so that the Way the truth and the  Life become intrinsic to my being.