Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Today I had a pretty important test in my Pentateuch class. That's right, Pentateuch. If you're unsure, the Pentateuch is the first 5 books of the Bible. Tradition tells us Moses authored the entire Pentateuch, but their is pretty much no chance of this being factual. Unless, he was able to document his own death. Probably not, but then again, he did make water come from a rock, and he did part the red sea, and he did have a long flowing beard (possibly), which I will have one day (possibly). Anyways, I spent a solid hour hammering out exegesis on certain parts of the text, such as, Genesis (the binding of Isaac), Exodus (basically the entire book), and Numbers (umm...I forgot already). I then wrote a "well constructed essay" with all the joys of an intro, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, all in about 20 minutes. I defended the idea that God was in complete favor of the Israelites as his chosen people throughout their Exodus.
A few minutes after turning in my test I found myself sitting in the chapel on campus. We have adoration on Wednesday's. I went in and knelt down; I wasn't really praying, I wasn't really doing anything, and I had a thought...
God in the Old Testament seems kind of crazy, he just seems distant (to me at least). And I thought to myself, I just spent an hour trying to think about God, trying to write about God and all the craziness of the Exodus: Him inflicting plagues on the Egyptians, fighting for the Israelites, parting seas, and sending Manna from heaven for food. And if the Israelites actually saw God, they would die from his majesty...and here I am looking upon the same God, face-to-face. All that thinking and writing I just did to please my professor/GPA, and here is the fullness and complete answer to all those questions. I'm sitting with the same God that did all those crazy things. That same God that seems so ancient and confusing, is in the same room with me (well, I'm in the same room with him). That is crazy. Seriously, it's crazy. The Eucharist is crazy. We get to hang out with God. And when we go to Mass, the God that the universe can't contain, is in the palm of your hand, is resting on your tongue. It's crazy. We need and should want as much Eucharist as we can get because the Eucharist is Jesus himself, and Jesus himself provides the model for how we are meant to live.
The Eucharist is a pledge of the glory to come and is meant to lead us into the next life.
Heaven and earth collide. (In the words of Howard Dean...BYAH!!!)
3 points if you read this one (keep track of your points - winner gets a prize).
