Humbly exalted

The title given to the passage from Psalm 78 in the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, God’s Goodness and Israel’s Ingratitude, is a theme which applies to the relationship with the Divine from at least the time of Moses to our present day. The complaining of the Israelites, in the desert about the lack of what they perceive to be their rights and privileges echoes in our society through deep concern for “my rights”. Too often the “my” is taken to be a greater value than the “we”. The healing of the community by God in the text from the Book of Numbers is accomplished through the actions Moses who according to Friar Jude Winkler prayed to God for those who had treated him very badly. The hymn from the Letter to the Philippians is the means whereby Paul proclaims the depth of the goodness of God in the self limiting action of Jesus fully Divine and fully human, to be incarnated in the flesh and give Himself fully to humiliation, suffering and death to mark the mission of God as Love for all. The Gospel from John is the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus where the understanding of God as judge is replaced by the proclamation of the intention of God to bring us to relationship with Him. Friar Jude notes the glorious presentation of Love in this Gospel is the Love seen on the Cross and the mission of the followers of the Way is to “wash feet” in humble service with an attitude of thanksgiving and forgiveness that makes this love possible even towards those who hate us.