A Reflection on the first reading for June 3rd, 2018: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

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​Exodus 24:3-8
When Moses came to the people
and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD,
they all answered with one voice,
"We will do everything that the LORD has told us."
Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and,
rising early the next day,
he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar
and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
Then, having sent certain young men of the Israelites
to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls
as peace offerings to the LORD,
Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls;
the other half he splashed on the altar.
Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people,
who answered, "All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do."
Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying,
"This is the blood of the covenant
that the LORD has made with you
in accordance with all these words of his."

​The book of Exodus is about God leading the people of Israel out of Egypt. It is about hoping and longing and believing and obeying. God made a covenant with His people. A covenant is more than a contract. A covenant with God is a visceral, deep,and profound promise of the heart, mind and soul to obey God. This is the Creator of the universe promising abundant life to His wayward and oftentimes stubborn people, asking for their obedience in return. God gave them everything and they threw it away, time and time again.

I read Exodus and I find myself wondering why God put up with their whining for so long. Moses told them what God was asking them to do, and they said they would do everything He asked.

Then I think about my own life with God; how I fail to keep my promises to Him, how I lose sight of His grace when things are not going according to my plans. How I don’t trust Him. My life was not supposed to look like this. Divorce was never supposed to happen to me. How could God allow him to do this to me? Anger is one of the stages of grieving. The psalms are great when you feel like God has let you down. He can take it. And as I read them, the anger subsides and I slowly confess my own sins, and begin to thank God for His love and His patience, His grace and His mercy; for His son Jesus and His Holy Spirit. I forgive, and a new day begins.

Exodus isn’t just about leaving, it’s moving forward, moving on. The people of Israel were being set free from slavery in Egypt but they didn’t always like God’s ideas of freedom. They would have to submit to God, to humble themselves, to sacrifice and to obey God if they wanted what He promised. We are no different. In my early life as a Christian, these words came to me one night, “freedom is in obedience.” Jesus said, “if you love me you will obey me.” Why would He say that? Why did God tell Moses to tell the people to obey Him? Because God is perfect love and love obeyed is life giving…abundant life. Obedience to the will of God is the freedom to be all we are meant to be. It’s a one-day-at-a-time thing.

What I love most about the Word of God is that it is full of people like me, some better and some worse, ordinary people doing extraordinary things, by submitting and obeying. When I read Scripture I like to put myself into the story, to make it real for myself, to experience it, not just read it. It’s food and I’ve come to need its nourishment daily. Like the people of Israel, I often fail to keep my promises to God. But He never breaks His promises to me. So I go back to His word and I surrender again and again. I obey Him because He can be trusted, because freedom is in obedience.

Judy Savoy​

"God is perfect love and love obeyed is life giving… abundant life!"
​Ora Reflections (Judy Savoy)