{"id":362,"date":"2014-06-15T05:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-06-15T05:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcmetheology.wpengine.com\/?p=362"},"modified":"2014-06-15T05:00:51","modified_gmt":"2014-06-15T05:00:51","slug":"moses-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/moses-father\/","title":{"rendered":"Moses’ Father"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Moses<\/a>
\nThis Father\u2019s Day is a particularly special one in my household as it is my first. My wife and I welcomed our son, Moses Elias Coleman, into this world on July 16th, 2013, and thus we will be celebrating Father\u2019s Day with an 11-month-old. While reflecting upon this fact I could not help but notice the serendipity of Father\u2019s Day coinciding with the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity this year. Further adding to this happy coincidence is the first reading from today\u2019s Mass for the Most Holy Trinity featuring, you guessed it, a scene from the life of the prophet Moses. The synchronicity of these events, however, is not confined simply to the names of persons. The biblical passage in today\u2019s first reading is one which I often use in the classroom in order to demonstrate the harmony of the Old and New Testaments. More specifically, today\u2019s first reading shows that both Testaments agree that \u201cGod is love\u201d (1 Jn 4:16).<\/p>\n

The biblical passage in question relates the story of God\u2019s theophany to Moses atop Mount Sinai. Previously, Moses had asked God for a glimpse of the divine \u2018glory\u2019 (kabod). In response to this request, and because Moses had found favor with the LORD, God promi\"Mosessed to reveal His \u2018beauty\u2019 or \u2018goodness\u2019 (tub) to the prophet (Ex 33:17-19). But rather than simply display His presence, God also speaks His glory to Moses. While passing over Moses, God utters His divine name (see Ex 3:14) \u2013 a very intimate act \u2013 and then verbally communicates His presence. God says: \u201cThe LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity\u201d (Ex 34:6). This revelation of God\u2019s nature, i.e., \u201cslow to anger and rich in kindness,\u201d is almost axiomatic in the Hebrew Scriptures (e.g., Nm 14:18; Neh 9:17; Ps 85:15; 103:4-8; 145:8; Jl 2:13; Jon 4:2; etc.). In other words, later prophets and psalmists discerned well that this phrase reveals \u2013 as much as human words can \u2013 something essential of God\u2019s divine nature.<\/p>\n

To put it plainly, when Moses experiences the LORD\u2019s divine presence, what is revealed to him is God\u2019s \u2018loving-kindness\u2019 (chesed). He sees not God\u2019s righteousness, or even holiness, but His love. God\u2019s glory is His love. In the original Hebrew, this word connotes a mode of loving which is relational and covenantal. It is not \u2018unconditional,\u2019 but calls for a response in kind from the beloved. Like a father loves his child, so too does God love Israel; and this love \u2013 as the above passage demonstrates \u2013 is part of God\u2019s innermost being. \u201cWhen Israel was a child I loved him,\u201d God says through the prophet Hosea, \u201cout of Egypt I called my son\u201d (11:1). But simply because this love is \u2018conditional,\u2019 does not mean that it is coerced. On the contrary, God gives us the freedom (brings us \u201cout of Egypt\u201d) and patiently waits for His covenantal love, His paternal love, to be reciprocated by His children.<\/p>\n

Turning to the New Testament, perhaps the best-known illustration of God\u2019s paternal love for us is c\"Rembrandt'sontained in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32). Although much can be said of each of the main characters in this parable, the father in this story mirrors well the love and patience which our Heavenly Father has for each one of us. When his spendthrift son asks for his inheritance (which is tantamount to saying, \u201cI wish you were dead so that I could have my money now!\u201d), the father honors the freedom of the son and acquiesces to his request. Upon the son\u2019s return the father spies him from \u201ca long way off,\u201d suggesting that he has been vigilantly awaiting this moment, and embraces his son with neither reserve nor hesitation. Despite living a life of debauchery and impurity, squandering his inheritance on prostitutes and tending to unclean animals, the son\u2019s sincere contrition and confession are enough to send the father into a flight of rapturous joy.<\/p>\n

When I recently taught this passage to my undergraduates I decided to relate a personal experience in order to underscore the love and patience of the father in this story and, consequently, the love and patience which our heavenly Father has for each one of us. When my son was about 4 months old a situation arose in which I was left alone with him while he was crying inconsolably. There was nothing I could do to relieve him of this condition. He w
\nanted Mama, as all 4-month-olds do, and Papa quite simply would not suffice. So there I was, on the sofa, with the red and tear-soaked face of my son emitting a pulsating and animalistic cry from over my left shoulder, while I gently and calmly patted his back with my right hand. This continued for quite some time\u2026at least in my mind. And so it is with our heavenly Father, who patiently waits for us to calm down from the disruption and disorder of our sins and respond to His paternal love with filial devotion.<\/p>\n

This Father\u2019s Day let us remember that whenever we as fathers are \u201cslow to anger and rich in kindness,\u201d we incarnate the glory of God, the love of the Father. Whenever we give or receive paternal love, we are experiencing \u2013 in a limited and analogous way \u2013 a love whose source is the inner-Trinitarian life of God. And, let us also remember, that this love calls for us to become by adoption what Christ is by nature, i.e., sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. Jesus doesn\u2019t want just servants, he wants siblings!<\/p>\n

Anthony Coleman<\/strong> teaches theology for Saint Joseph’s College Online.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Father\u2019s Day is a particularly special one in my household as it is my first. My wife and I welcomed our son, Moses Elias Coleman, into this world on July 16th, 2013, and thus we will be celebrating Father\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,1],"tags":[116,186],"class_list":["post-362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-family","category-uncategorized","tag-fathers-day","tag-moses"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}