The experience of Israel at the time of the exodus,
when they journeyed from Egypt to the land of promise, has always been used as
an image of our own journey to God. Our
first reading for example is required reading for the vigil of Easter, for the
crossing of the Red Sea is an image of baptism.
To cross from the slavery of sin to the land of freedom we have to cross
the water, meaning we have to be baptized.
The crossing is an image of our baptism.
The trials that they had to endure in the desert, the dependence and
trust in God that was formed and developed in the insecurity of the desert
speak also of our own journey. That is
why we call our own spiritual experience, our journey to God as an exodus
experience. It is in this experience
that we were cleansed, we were tried, we were made to rely on providence, we
were stripped naked of our pride; it is in this experience that our weaknesses
became too glaring to deny, it is in this experience that we learned to
surrender. The exodus experience is a
necessary experience for it is in the desert that we form a relationship with
God. We could not understand the gospel
today if we did not walk our own exodus, if we have not come to experience God
in a relationship – as a mother, as a sister, as a brother.
People nowadays think of religion as an affiliation to
some organization. Again we are reminded
in this gospel that religion is not an organization we affiliate ourselves to,
it is not a set of creed we adhere to, but it is a relationship because at some
point in my life God walked with me, God was a pillar of cloud during the day
and a pillar of fire during the night.
God walked with me, God is so real to me. This is the difference that marks a true
believer.
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