God is where people are
In the years of the Exodus and the settlement in the Promised Land, the Tent is the sign of God’s presence among his people. When they march, God marches with them. When they move the Tent, God moves with them, for God is where his people are. It is a saving presence, a covenant presence, and so a presence of love. When later a Temple is built, it is powerless to contain him. Since Christ, God is with us in Christ, the new Temple. We ourselves become God’s temples as the prolongation of the Body of Christ. God is where people put their trust in him, in those who suffer, especially the poor, where people gather in Christ’s name, where people eat the Lord’s body, where people love one another.
The parable about the net full of fish, good and bad, is very close to the parable heard a few days ago about the wheat and the weeds. It ends with the statement that the scribe in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. Jesus came “not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to complete them.” Therefore, the disciple, when he welcomes what is new, does not reject what is old. He treasures both.
Reading: Exodus 40:14-19,32-36
Moses did everything God commanded. He did it all.
On the first day of the first month of the second year, The Dwelling was set up. Moses set it up: He laid its bases, erected the frames, placed the crossbars, set the posts, spread the tent over The Dwelling, and put the covering over the tent, just as God had commanded Moses.
When they entered the Tent of Meeting and when they served at the Altar, they washed, just as God had commanded Moses.
Finally, he erected the Courtyard all around The Dwelling and the Altar, and put up the screen for the Courtyard entrance.
Moses finished the work.
The Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling. Moses couldn’t enter the Tent of Meeting because the Cloud was upon it, and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling.
Gospel: Matthew 13:47-53
“Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.”
Jesus asked, “Are you starting to get a handle on all this?”
They answered, “Yes.”
He said, “Then you see how every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.”
When Jesus finished telling these stories, he left there, returned to his hometown, and gave a lecture in the meetinghouse.
Prayer
Faithful God,
you are present wherever people seek you
and call upon your name.
Your Son is here among us
as we have come together in his name.
Make us deeply aware
that you and your Son are also to be found
where people give themselves to one another
in genuine friendship and unselfish service.
Help us to encounter you
from person to person
in all our brothers and sisters.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.