Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with him there and proclaimed his name, ‘Lord.’”Exodus 34:5
This morning before heading to Mass, I read over the readings for today, which were Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 and John 3:16-18.
The above verse was the first verse out of today’s reading that jumped out at me — maybe because I’m reading The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross and the whole idea of God in darkness and light comes through so much in his work. Also, though, I think the word stood struck me, because I get the sense that God didn’t sit with, or recline with, Moses leisurely, no, he stood with Moses and proclaimed himself.
In the second reading, the verse that struck me was this in verse 11:
Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
The word and this time jumped off the page. To me, it almost reads like an if-then proposition. If you will mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, then the God of love and peace will be with you. Or it reminds me of the Scripture where two or three are gathered…
And finally in the third reading, the verse that struck me was verse 17:
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that world might be saved through him.
Here, the words that jumped off the page were saved through him. It is not by our power that the world is saved, it is through Jesus’ power. Sometimes I think we think we can save the world by our good works or by preaching the Word of God, when really it isn’t us. It’s not that God doesn’t “use” us in the process, but we need to keep it all in perspective.
