Thursday of the Fourth Week in Lent
(Exodus 32:7-14; John 5:31-47)
“The world is too much with us,” the poet William Wordsworth lamented two hundred years ago. If anything, the presence of the mundane has increased in the interim. Because of its inherent goodness, the world has been glorified and idolized. Many people make gods out of its characteristic representatives -- money, sex, and power.
Of course, the condition is much more than two centuries old. It befalls the Israelites in the desert as the reading from Exodus today indicates. The golden calf stands at once for God and a pagan deity. Its representation of power and glory is supposed to convey the idea of the awesomeness of God. But defying God’s prohibition of craven images, the calf becomes a testament to the human will’s tendency to chuck God aside in order to pursue its own desires.
As Moses pleads with God for mercy toward the stiff-necked people, Jesus argues with the people to accept the testimony of their invisible God. In a significant albeit gentle way Jesus has demonstrated that he is from God. His words contain wisdom and his deeds bring relief to the poor. But the people, forever seeking demonstrations of dominance, fail to recognize his prophecy. We must not be so blinded by the glitter of the world. We must let go of inordinate desire for money, sex, and power. We must seek Jesus’ wisdom and goodness.
