Oh How Quickly We Forget

Thursday, March 25

Readings – EX 32:7-14; JN 5:31-47

In the first reading, Moses has to kind of “talk God down” because God is upset that the people have gone astray and become “depraved.”  God basically asks, “Don’t they remember that they were brought out of Egypt and now they act like this?”  I can imagine Moses, nodding his head, saying to God, “I know, I know…”

In the gospel – and we’re reading from the book of John which can get a bit wordy and sort of abstract – Jesus is wondering out loud why the people do not recognize who is in front of them.  He says that they “search the scriptures” looking for a God who is right there in their midst.  At the same time they praise Moses and fail to see the work of Moses in Jesus’ own work.

I take two main points away from these readings.

First, how easy is it to forget the blessings and what we have been brought through.

I remember many years ago being in a bad car accident in which my family missed being badly injured by the distance of a foot.  I swore after that day that I would be grateful for life, their lives, my life…for everything!   And I sustained that for about a month.  And then I started to forget.  Periodically I’d remember, but the gratitude faded a bit in its intensity.

Maybe the same has happened to you.  A situation caused you to be so grateful for something or someone and the half-life of that gratitude was somewhat short.  It’s not the case for everyone, but it’s probably true for a lot of us.

Second, how easy it is to miss what is right in front of us sometimes.  We might long for something – an insight, a relationship, an experience – and what we’re looking for is already in our midst.  We just fail to recognize it.  There are a lot of spiritual stories from many traditions that drive home this very point.  What we often seek already exists close to us somehow – if we cultivate the ability to recognize it.

Our Lenten practice for today might focus on both of these things.  Maybe we can remember a blessing that we’ve been given that we need to keep saying thank you for (and may have forgotten to).  Maybe it’s someone we appreciate or a situation we came through.  Whatever the case, say thank you.

And secondly, think about what you are seeking these days.  Is it possible that it already exists in your midst?  May you be given the gift of recognizing it.