We tend to worry a lot about what other people think. In our first reading, we see the typical human response to that. God turns to Moses and informs him, “Go down to your people… for they have become depraved.” Moses had gone up to the mountain to receive a message for them from God, leaving Aaron in charge. The people began to grumble because Moses and God were not moving as fast they’d like.
God had delivered them from slavery. He had called down plagues upon Egypt to change the heart of Pharaoh and then parted the sea for them, preventing Pharoah and his armies from destroying them. On the banks of the red sea, they sang songs of thanksgiving, cheering for God. Now they demand a new god, one like the ones they had left behind—an idol.
Aaron let the people’s desires influence him and did what they wanted instead of what God had commanded. Aaron cared about what they thought, what they might think of him if he didn’t do as they asked. Jesus instead says, “I do not accept human praise.” He reminds us that the only voice that matters, the only opinion that has any weight, is God’s. That’s a good thing to remember as we draw close to Holy Week. Keep praying, fasting, and give alms. Not for human praise, but to show that we believe, and to draw closer to God.
I think this one sentence here tells us the goal of Lent in a nutshell. “But you do not want to come to me to have life.” Jesus is life. Through Him, we can receive eternal life, and in the worthy reception of the Eucharist, God has placed the ordinary means by which we can accomplish this. What is important is how God feels about us. We haven’t learned much as a society. Still here three thousand years after the Exodus from Egypt, we too are “stiff-necked people.” Our society is quick to turn from God and instead look for idols to fill up His place in their lives. We are always in such a hurry, unwilling to wait for God to “send Moses” back down the mountain. We want what we want, and we want it now. But right here, right now, in the tabernacle of every Catholic Church, is more than we could ever dream or desire.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori once said: “The soul that loves Jesus Christ does not envy the great ones of this world but only those who are greater lovers of Jesus Christ.” Let’s try to use Lent’s remaining time to become just that, greater lovers of Jesus Christ. Because in the end, all that matters is Him.
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent: March 18th, 2021