God was in the cloud of the tent of meeting in the first reading for mass today. Out of love for His people, God came down from heaven and dwelled among them in a visible way. It is difficult for human beings to believe in something they can not see, but the cloud’s physical presence was God’s way of letting His people know that He was real. God dwelled in the tent of meeting in the form of a cloud by day and a fire by night so that the people would be assured of His abiding presence, and His love, care and concern for them. As long as God was with them, they did not need not to be afraid of anything. He would not leave them or abandon them in the wilderness. They were assured of His love for them with His constant presence and the people need not be afraid of the future or their journey into the unknown, because He was with them.
God the Father loved His people so much that He came to them in person. God does not have a physical body, but He was present with them in person as a Spirit, and sent the plagues among the Egyptians. He parted the Red Sea. When Moses’ staff pointed over the waters, God held the waters up high on both sides of the Israelite people as they passed through the Red Sea. He, Himself held the waters at bay and protected them. When the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites, God fought for his people by clogging the Egyptian’s chariot wheels and revealing His very self to them in order to frighten them, and show them that they were fighting against His will. When the Egyptians saw that it was God Himself they were fighting against and still they did not stop pursuing His people, God drowned them all.
God brought His people out of Egypt by His own hand. He created food for them out of nothing, just like He created the universe from nothing. God Himself provided food for His people, the manna from heaven because of His great love for them.
God continued to be present to His people in person, in the fire of the burning bush and when He revealed himself to Moses. The ten commandments were written by His own hand and given to Moses, because He understood the confusion, disorder and lawlessness the people were experiencing in their new environment. He gave them, and us, guidance in how to live a happy life and a life pleasing to Him.
It wasn’t enough though, for God to be a spirit that the people could not see. He came and dwelled among them, day by day so that they would no longer be afraid. Since the people could not see Him and know for certain that God was with them because of their lack of faith, God instructed Moses on how to build the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant. A Holy place. A place where He was present, His real presence among them in a tangible way they could comprehend. God’s dwelling place. It is the same with all of our tabernacles throughout the world today, where Jesus dwells with us in the visible form of bread but also in the spiritual reality of the Lord’s own body.
Over time, it wasn’t enough for God to simply be present to His people in a Spirit form. A form they could not see or understand. God wanted to be with His people in person, that they might know that He loves them as a person, not just as a spirit. God knew their sins and how they caused the death of their souls, the death of love. So many of His children He had lost through the death of their souls, hearts that turned away from Him and their sins continued to defile their souls. God came to Mary in the form of the Holy Spirit and through the angel Gabriel and asked her if she would give life to His son, a real, human person in the form of a tiny baby who would be named Jesus. God wanted to be a human person among His people. A part of Himself remained in His son Jesus, when he came into the world in the form of a human person when Mary said yes. Jesus was born of flesh and the Holy Spirit. Mary became the living flesh of the ark of a new covenant that Jesus would form with His people. Christ was born as a human being, to touch His people and heal them. Mind, body and spirit. How much He loves us, to do this for us! Christ gave his life and his body for us, for the forgiveness of our sins and is still with us personally, every day of our lives in the form of living bread. He is so intimately a part of our physical lives that he is actually a part of us. Christ dwells within us now. Our bodies are a tabernacle made of flesh and we are made holy by his presence. We defile the holiness of this temple when we sin.
In the gospel today, Jesus said “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old”. The old and the new testaments are the treasures of God’s word, the knowledge of God. These words record the passage of time, the passage of our growth as a people. God grew with us. He himself did not grow, but He has been with His people through every passing generation. God accompanied His people in their journey to the promised land and now Jesus accompanies us on our own journey to the promised land, the Kingdom of God. Love flows through the generations in the human hearts that dwell in Him.
Jesus told us a parable in today’s gospel about the kingdom of heaven being similar to a net cast into the sea and drug ashore full of all different kinds of fish. The good fish was pulled from the net and gathered together, but the bad was thrown out. Jesus takes us out of the world too, from all walks of life wherever we are scattered throughout the world, in much the same way that God gathered the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, into one people and led them out of the country. All of the people who were not His, were left behind.
Jesus collects us out of the world to be his own people. We are his, not just until the end of time, but for all time. We will live forever in his love. That is all that God wants. This is all that Jesus wants, is for us to come to them. To live with them, and to love them. To be their family. God is our Father and we are His children. God loves his children very much. He loves you and I unconditionally and completely. We are His. We belong to Him. We are His treasure in the world. He gathers us together in His loving care and He will never leave us. We belong to Him and we are His forever. Nothing can take us from His hands. We are loved and we are safe, in His loving care.
