12 July 2021
Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
“Our help is in the name of the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.” (Ps 124:8)
For the next three and a half weeks, the first reading during the weekday Masses will be from the book of Exodus, which begins with this key description of Pharaoh after the time of the Patriarchs: “A new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt.” (Ex 1:8) Joseph, we recall is the innocent man who had suffered being jailed, and the foreigner who had risen to a position of responsibility and service so great that his wisdom had helped the Egyptians to survive seven years of famine. That Joseph was eventually forgotten. And what replaced the memory of this ex-convict who had kept the country from starving to death? Fear of his descendents’ prosperity. This fear drives Pharoah first to enslave the Hebrews, and then to attempt to eradicate them by slaughtering their sons.
After such a terrifying account of the corruption of one who wields the power of the state in the first reading, it may be disconcerting to hear Jesus say in the Gospel: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” (Mt 10:34) Our Lord, however, does not speak out of the murderous amnesia of Pharaoh. The metaphoric sword of which Christ speaks is not one that takes human life, it is not a sword which establishes a false peace by the elimination of supposed enemies. Rather, it is Christ and his word dividing us from the vain complacency which arises when we treat as secondary the One who loves us more than anyone else. It is the surgical sword of Christ which opens our hearts to appreciate the worth of a cross carried for the sake of Jesus, and the infinite reward awaiting those who offer even a cup of cold water to the needy ones Jesus has sent. Pharaoh put his trust in his own sword and crimes. Let us pray for the grace to put our trust in the merciful, and challenging, love of the Lord who created heaven and earth.