Saturday, October 10, 2020

The Virtue of Patience

HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – PROPER 23, YEAR A

OCTOBER 11, 2020 

 

TEXT:                        Exodus 32:1-14

 

 

In the first lesson today, Moses had ascended Mt. Sinai.  Unknown to the mass of Hebrews he had liberated from slavery in Egypt and was leading through the wilderness, he had received the a covenant from God while he was up the mountain.  They assumed he was lost; they did not know where he was and if he would even return. The biblical expression of 40 days and 40 nights was mean to convey an indefinitely long time.

 

These are the same people who had been fed by manna and quail in the wilderness, had been delivered through the waters of the Red Sea, had been given water from a rock, and had been led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  They had much to look back on – and much to be thankful for.

 

Yet, in Moses absence they had grown impatient.  They felt lost and abandoned.  They were like sheep without a shepherd – and even without a border collie to guide them.  They were at wit’s end.

 

So, they turned to their own devices. Their sense of being alone led them to abandon the hope for a Promised Land that Moses had instilled in them.  They asked Aaron to forge an idol for them.  And he did.

 

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How quickly people become impatient.  How soon they lose their sense of perspective and hope.

 

These days – our time now – can lead to such impatience and grasping at straws.  Just in the past week I have encountered three major automobile accidents that were, in all likelihood, caused by someone who had become so impatient that the driver took dangerous actions.

 

I know we all feel impatient.  I, myself, have commented that I am so tired of all the chaos – with Covid, political divisions, economic struggles, the threat of destructive weather, and its aftermath.  I suspect we all know that feeling. And we wonder if it will ever end.

 

Let me share a theological point here:  Moses came down from the Mountain. More importantly, Jesus came down from the cross and out of the tomb.

 

We are a people of patience and a people of hope.  On matters eternal, we see the grave is a gateway to greater life. On matters of less importance, our waiting patiently will allow us to enter a new world and a deeper relationship.

 

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