In the Exodus story that we hear this weekend, as the Israelites are escaping the bondage and oppression of their lives in Egypt, as they travel to the promised land, Moses presents God’s law to the people. The laws of conduct that God gives them at Mount Sinai are reiterated again and again by the prophets as the people repeatedly stray from God and turn their back on him throughout the history of the people of Israel.
The widows, the orphans, the poor, the oppressed, the stranger – they were the most vulnerable and the most at risk in the ancient Mediterranean world. Today, in our world and in our own community right here in Pearl, we may think that we can easily identify these members who are most at risk, who are orphans and the strangers. But some individuals may feel like they are orphans or strangers in their own community and they are not so readily identifiable. What we see on the outside and on the surface can be so different from the reality that is going on inside a person. We may see someone who appears happy and content, confident and successful in life, but inside they may be struggling just to make it from one day to the next, they may be insecure and lacking in self-worth and confidence.
God tells the people of Israel that if they do wrong against those who are most vulnerable in their society, those they’ve wronged will cry out to God, and God will surely hear their cry. God’s wrath will flare up at the people of Israel, and the Israelites themselves will become widows and orphans. The point of all of this is not to instill fear in our hearts, to make us afraid of God and be fearful of punishment or retribution, but rather it is a call to awareness, to look at how we treat others, especially the least among us in our society. Since it is often so difficult to determine who the least among us are, we are to be watchful in how we treat all of God’s children.
Many times the message we hear in Sacred Scripture gives us pause to think, it gives us a reason to be challenged. This weekend, we also celebrate our parish’s patron saint, St Jude, also known as Judas Thaddaeus, He was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Tradition holds that Saint Jude preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya. Tradition states that Jude suffered martyrdom about 65 AD in Beirut, together with the apostle Simon the Zealot, with whom he is usually connected. The axe that he is often shown holding in pictures symbolizes the way in which he was killed. He is known to help out people in desperate situations, which is one of the reason so many of the faithful have a great love for St Jude and a devotion to him. St Jude, pray for us.
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