Stiff Necked rejection by the beloved

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary remind us of the long history of the movement of people who experience the works of Divine liberation in their lives toward God and then turn back again toward the idols and habits which replace God with something more controllable. Our "stiff-necked" resistance to listening and living completely in the Way of God is not due to the absence of evidence of the favour in which we are held by the Divine. The psalmist's words declare this dualism in our nature which experiences the Divine yet turns toward our own gods. The relationship of Jesus and the Father continues to be proclaimed in the Gospel of John. Works and Scripture testify to the people of Jesus place as One coming in the Name of the Father. The identity, or Name of Jesus, comes from the Father and that identity is the I Am of Moses. Our relationship with God is the source of our identity, our name. Identity is defined by relationship. I am husband in relation to my wife. I am father in relation to my children. I am instructor in relationship to my students. I am beloved in relationship to God.