Wednesday
of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Exodus
34:19-35; Matthew 13:44-46)
Today’s
reading from Exodus provides a positive outcome to Israel’s tragic idolatry. After worshipping the golden calf, the nation
has been purged and punished. Moses has
reestablished the covenant between God and Israel and will remain until death
its leader more respected than ever. He also bears a mark of glory. For the
time he has spent with the Lord on Sinai, he emerges with a resplendent face.
For much of
the Christian era Moses’ face was misunderstood. A mistranslation rendered the Hebrew for
“radiant skin” “sprouting horns.” For
this reason Michelangelo’s magnificent sculpture of Moses shows two horns
sprouting from the top of Moses’ head. It was not a ridiculous idea as the
horns of bulls and rams symbolized power in the ancient world. However, in this case the words tell of a projection
not of horns from his head but of shafts of light from Moses’ face. Light is God’s first creation and ever
representative of his glory.
We will
soon hear of Jesus’ resplendence in the account of the Transfiguration. More than Moses over the Israelites, he is
our justifier and leader. His paschal
triumph has made an end to the sin of the world.
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