My three year old grandson got himself in a lot of trouble last week. While riding the tractor across the creek with his father, for some unknown reason he picked up his father’s cell phone and tossed it in the creek. He’s three. He knew better than to throw a cell phone. He knew better than to just pick up his father’s phone. But he probably did not know that water and cell phones do not mix. He could not know the cost of cell phones or the stress his action put on the family. He deserved to be punished for what he did—yet the punishment could not fit the crime. You can’t require a three year old to work to pay for the phone he ruined! In addition to punishment, Eli needs extra limits and teaching before it is safe for him to be near the creek with a cell phone again. He needs accompaniment and training: he needs the people who love him to start with where he is and shape him to who and how he needs to be. Such is the situation with the Israelites in today’s readings.
Today’s Reading in Context
Today’s first reading is the end of the book of Exodus. We began the story of the Israelites sojourn to and delivery from Egypt on July 8 with the story in Genesis of Jacob and Esau (Isaac’s two sons; Abraham’s grandsons). We quickly went from Jacob to Joseph and how he helped his family escape starvation by forgiving them and bringing them to Egypt. Just two weeks ago we had the story of Moses and the burning bush from the beginning of Exodus. In these two weeks the readings have covered the book of Exodus. The Israelites have escaped Egypt, received the 10 Commandments, traveled with God for a year, and sufficiently disobeyed God that God realized that they are like my grandson Eli: They need accompaniment and training before God can let them return to Canaan.
Because the Israelites made a golden calf to worship while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai talking to God, God told the Israelites they must wander in the desert for 40 years. But God does not leave them. He does not give up on them. He does not turn away. Instead we have read the past two days of how they are to make a Meeting Tent where they can talk to God as He travels with them the next 39 years. In chapters 35-39 of Exodus, the chapters between yesterday’s readings and today’s, God gives very specific directions for construction of the tent and the Ark of the Covenant within it where God will live.
Beginning the Second Year
Today God and the Israelites enter into this long journey of accompaniment and training. They begin by being obedient. “Moses did exactly as the Lord had commanded him. On the first day of the first month of the second year the Dwelling was erected. It was Moses who erected the dwelling….He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil, thus screening off the ark of the commandments, as the Lord had commanded him.”
And so God came to be with them: “Then the cloud covered the meeting tent, and the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling.” And God led them: “Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling, the children of Israel would set out on their journey. But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward.”
I have seen maps of the Israelites journey through the Wilderness. It was a circular route. It lasted a generation. One way to look at it is that God wanted a whole generation of children to grow up formed by being led and fed (manna and quail) and accompanied by God. He wanted a whole generation to be under the discipline of putting God first, foremost, and only.
As we will see during the next couple of weeks, this was no more a straight line spiritual journey than it was a straight line physical journey. The Israelites tried God’s patience many times in the Wilderness and afterwards in the Promised Land.
Yet there was much goodness in them and in what God taught them about Himself. When Jesus came to give the people a clearer picture of God, His ways, and His glory, the Law and the instruction of the Israelites was not taken away. It moved to a higher level.
Today’s Gospel and Accompaniment
Jesus talked about that in the Gospel today. As he continues to describe the Kingdom of God in terms of similes, he says, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”
The laws, sense of being the Chosen People of God, and the culture of the Jews which went back to those 40 years did not end when Jesus came. But Jesus took the old beyond law and Wilderness discipline. He was God’s Presence with a human face, a human life, and human love.
As Eli moves from being a toddler to being a boy, he has to learn self-discipline. He has to learn to question his impulses and control them. He has to learn to think of consequences before he acts. His parents do not expect him to figure this out by himself. They do not punish him with a severity his actions would justify. Nor do they say, “Well, kids will be kids” and accept unacceptable behavior.
With more or less patience they accompany him, limit him, teach him, impose consequences on him, and support his development he matures. It is discipline—absolutely! AND it is a discipline of love—absolutely!
How does all this relate to me today?
Well, there is the obvious application that I do things that are not of God’s standards. I sin. God doesn’t give up on me. He accompanies me, sometimes as I wander in the wilderness of the consequences of my poor choices and sinful behavior. God disciplines me with love.
Accompaniment for Missionary Disciples Today
But I want to make another application today. I want to make the application that in the situation in our Church and world, we as disciples are called to the discipline of accompaniment with those whose actions and lifestyle do not reflect the demands of their Baptism—contemporary Israelites. Pope Francis, as our Holy Father and leader, calls us to this frequently in his documents and addresses.
In Evangelii Gaudium he quotes the Catechism: “Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors.” (Evangelii, paragraph 44, CCC 1735)
He goes on to say,
“If the whole Church takes up this missionary impulse, she has to go forth to everyone without exception…Let us go forth, then, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ…If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life. More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us, ‘Give them something to eat.’” (Evangelii Gaudium, paragraphs 48-49)
A Call for Accompaniment
As we go forth, it seems to me, we go forth as God went forth with the Israelites and as his parents go forth with Eli: accompanying with our own examples of both the joys and disciplines of discipleship, with no compromises on the standards of where we ALL need to eventually be (formed in the image of God), but with acceptance that when a child is three, he cannot understand the cost of a cell phone, nor is a person who doesn’t yet have a loving bond with God likely to see the value of obeying his precepts.
We are called to be the human face of God today, especially to those who are on the edges of Church and Kingdom.
That is often a stretch for me. Yet it is an example of the mixing of the old (attending to my own holiness) and the new (seeing my brother and sister’s holiness as my concern) that Jesus talks about today. It is what God did in the desert, what God did when He became God-with-us, Emmanuel. I don’t quite know HOW to do it, so it is a journey for me, too.
Prayer:
Lord, You keep teaching me! You keep calling me to REALLY be a missionary disciple. You want me to spend time with and love those who are not as close to You as my friends. This is my call to an accompaniment of love. Lead me and guide me, Lord! Be with me as I try to be a missionary disciple and don’t quite know what I’m doing. I feel like the Israelites wandering in the desert. I worry I’m going to make a big mistake like Eli. Help me to often go to the Meeting Tent and spend time with you, so you can instruct me, teach me, and discipline me in Your ways of love. Thank You, Lord, for calling me, continuing to call me, accompanying me, being patient with me. I love You!
