Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent 2023
Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying,
"Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people,
whom you brought out of the land of Egypt
with such great power and with so strong a hand?…
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
and how you swore to them by your own self, saying,
'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky;
and all this land that I promised,
I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.'"
So the LORD relented in the punishment
he had threatened to inflict on his people.
-Exodus 32:11, 13-14
The great Prophet Moses stands out as one of the most significant figures in all of Sacred Scripture. And yet, for many of us, the story of Moses and his importance for the People of Israel has been limited to the cinematic scope of films like “The Ten Commandments” (1956) or “Prince of Egypt” (1998), which only try to tell parts of the stories of Moses and the Chosen People.
In a General Audience given in 1998, Pope Saint John Paul II explored how Moses is a central figure for both Jews and Christians. In this talk, he also explored how we see the life and mission of Jesus prefigured in the story of Moses. These reflections offer us some important insights that can help us develop a fuller understanding the Readings for this Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent.
“As liberator of the people from their slavery in Egypt, he symbolically anticipates the true exodus of the New Covenant, constituted by the paschal mystery. As legislator of the Old Covenant, he prefigures Jesus who promulgates the Gospel Beatitudes and guides believers with the interior law of the Spirit. Even the manna that Moses gives the hungry people is a basic figure of God's definitive gift. ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world’ (Jn 6:32-33)... Christ thus presents himself as the true and perfect fulfilment of what was symbolically foretold in the Old Covenant.”
In today’s Readings, however, we also see Moses as a man of profound prayer, standing before God as an intercessor (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2574).
Recognizing God’s anger at the People who have made an idol for themselves (the golden calf), even after God has freed them from bondage in Egypt, Moses begged for mercy, asking God to spare them despite their sins. God heard Moses’ prayer and “relented in the punishment” he had threatened.
Icon of Moses from the Iconostasis of Kizhi monastery, Russia (18th century)
In the Gospel, we hear Jesus confronting those who opposed his ministry. Faithful to the traditions of Moses, they were unable to recognize the revelation of God present in Jesus’ teachings and the signs he performed. To try to help his critics understand more deeply who he was and meaning of his mission, he remarks: “If you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" (John 5:46-47). What they knew to be true of Moses is also true—and more than true—about Jesus:
Liberator.
Legislator.
The One who feeds his people true bread from heaven.
Intercessor.
Moses was the one who stood between the People and God, pleading for mercy and asking for blessings, despite the People’s unworthiness. Reflecting on this, Pope Francis has remarked: “Scripture habitually portrays him with his hands outstretched toward God, as if to form with his own person a bridge between heaven and earth” (General Audience, June 17, 2020). Moses has become a bridge—a pontifex—who prays for his people and who does not condemn or reject them. In this way, Pope Francis continued:
“Moses stands as “the first great prophet of Jesus, our advocate and intercessor. And today, too, Jesus is the pontifex; he is the bridge between us and the Father. And Jesus intercedes for us; he shows the Father the wounds that are the price of our salvation, and he intercedes. And Moses is the figure of Jesus who today prays for us, intercedes for us.”
As we take comfort in the prayer of Savior and the mercy that we receive through him, we are also invited to pray for others, even as Moses prayed for his own people. Despite one’s failings or faults, their sins or good deeds left undone, each of us is a child of God and we are all members of the Household of God. It is not our place to condemn but to recognize that just as we have received mercy and forgiveness, it is our duty to place those who might stand in need of forgiveness before God, joining our prayers to those of Jesus. We do this, even as we are humbly mindful of our own sins, weaknesses, and temptations.
Reflect today on those places in the world where there is no justice or peace, on hearts that have become hardened or that have lost hope. Commend them to God and offer a prayer of thanks for the graces with which God so graciously blesses you.
We invoke your mercy in humble prayer, O Lord,
that you may cause us, your servants,
corrected by penance and schooled by good works,
to persevere sincerely in your commands
and come safely to the paschal festivities.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
