Renewing our faith in the Lord
Exodus 14:10-14
Pharaoh was already near when the children of Israel looked
up and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them. In great
fright they cried out to the LORD. And they complained to Moses, “Were there no
burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert?
Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did we not tell
you this in Egypt, when we said, ‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’?
Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the desert.”
But Moses answered the people, “Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see
the victory the LORD will win for you today. These Egyptians whom you see today
you will never see again. The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to
keep still.”
Do you
know what “the wall” is? No, I’m not
talking about the Pink Floyd song. It’s
what I experienced around the seventh week of studying Spanish in Mexico. I had tried my best to learn the language,
and I had even eaten spicy food and even drank Tequila, hoping that would
help! But nothing worked, and I wanted
to give up. But for some reason, I kept
going for three more weeks (mostly because the bishop made me), and something
miraculous happened. I got over the wall
and started learning extremely fast.
Words automatically came to mind, sentences formed themselves, and I was
having fun, and I didn’t even need the Tequila!
You see the wall was a psychological barrier making me want to give up,
but on the other side of the wall was another world, a better world. Another kind of wall is the “seven year
itch,” where married people have long finished their honeymoon, and now wish
their honey was on the moon! Divorce
rates are extremely high around the seventh year. But if you stay faithful through “the wall,”
you’ll find another world, a better world, on the other side: your 25th and
50th wedding anniversaries.
In the
first reading from Exodus, the Israelites have hit “the wall” and want to give
up following Moses. It may well have
been about seven days after they had left Egypt, and they see the Egyptians in
hot pursuit and the Red Sea in front of them blocking their escape route. They complain to Moses, “Why did you bring us
out of Egypt? Far better for us to be
slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the desert.” But Moses pleads with them to be faithful, and
not to give up. And God makes the Red
Sea into two walls on either side, allowing them safe passage. If we have faith, God will change our walls
of frustration and doubt into walls of salvation, where a new world, a better
world, awaits on the other side.
Did you
know that God also hit a wall once? God
created the heavens and the earth in six days and then he stopped. But God didn’t stop because he felt like
giving up, he stopped to show us what to do when we feel like giving up. Every seven days we should “rest in the Lord”
we should renew our faith in him so that we can keep going for another seven
days. That’s the meaning of the Sabbath,
or our Sunday, a day to rest but also to renew our faith. Some people say they come to Mass here to get
their “Father John Fix.” But they really
need a “faith fix,” a reminder that God can change our walls of desperation
into walls of salvation.
We all hit
walls sooner or later – studying Spanish, in our marriages, in our jobs, indeed
every week – but if you get your faith fix, you’ll see a better world awaits you
on the other side. And you won’t even
need the Tequila.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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