Tuesday 28 March 2023
Numbers 21:4-9. O Lord hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you – Psalm 101(102):2-3, 16-21. John 8:21-30.
Lord, today I pray for patience
Perhaps the question lying at the heart of the readings today is put to Jesus by the Jews. “Who are you?”
The Israelites who followed Moses out into the wilderness, leaving slavery behind, came to a point where it was all too hard. Where was this all going? They had been wandering for forty years. Little water, sparse food, battling from one place to the next. It all got harder and harder, and where was this land of milk and honey, anyway?
The scholars of the Temple struggle to understand Jesus as he speaks of the Father who sent him, and foretells that only after his death will they ‘realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.’ The Israelites struggle to believe in the vision of the Promised Land, and to be faithful to their God’s providing. The followers and questioners in the Temple cannot accept the truth Jesus proclaims in his very presence before them. Faithfulness is a choice. Many will turn away. Many will follow.
O Lord hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.’
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