(Listen to this homily here).
Our first reading from Numbers records the wanderings of
Israel for forty years in the desert.
Over and over again they complain.
Consider the example from today: “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!”
What?
The complainants grossly forgot some important details
in their whining. Like the
plagues. Or the crossing of the
Red Sea. Or the manna which God
was miraculously providing. And
this food was wretched?! All that
God did and the Israelites whined about being hungry?
Lest we judge—how often do we complain? Spiritually speaking we have everything
we need to receive God’s grace. We
have been baptized, confirmed and are fed with Jesus’ Body and Blood. Materially speaking, did you walk to a
well with unclean water to drink this morning? Did you get to eat today? We are in a first world country—do we keep things in
perspective?
Back to the Israelites—they were punished by serpents
and many died. Yet the cause of
the punishment became the cure: “Moses
accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and
whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent,
he lived.”
And
this is what Jesus did. The cause
of calamity—the fall of humanity—became the cure in Jesus Christ. Like the bronze serpent, the Son of Man
was lifted up for our salvation. What
do we have to complain about?
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