Memorial of Saint John Mary Vianney, priest

Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this desert
where we and our livestock are dying?
Why did you lead us out of Egypt,
only to bring us to this wretched place
which has neither grain nor figs nor vines nor pomegranates?
Here there is not even water to drink!”

Today’s story ends on a bitter note of sadness. Moses, the greatest prophet of all Jewish history, was barred from entering the Promised Land because of a momentary spate of anger. Exhausted by the continual carping of his people, he challenged them to watch him bring water from the rock. He failed to give God the credit for his generosity and he misrepresented the mercy of the God Who Provides. That slip was, in effect, the death of Moses. His lieutenant Joshua had to take over from there, leading them across the Jordan River to the conquest of Jericho and the apportionment of Canaan.

In a moment of crisis Moses imagined himself as the Provider for God’s people; he usurped God’s prerogative as Savior and Lord. His failure is very familiar and very human. The Jewish prophets never forgot, and never failed to teach, that God is the King of Israel; and God will provide for his people.  

Moses has stood between God and the people, representing one to the other throughout his life. He has been the priest offering prayer and sacrifice and bringing petitions to the Lord for the sake of his people. He has been God’s spokesman, his prophet, bringing the law, the covenant and blessings from the Lord to his people. Necessarily, Moses’ person and preference have disappeared into his ministry. He cannot represent himself to God or the people. He can never say what he supposes God might say, but only what God says. He cannot misrepresent the people as better or worse than they are. The strain on himself must be unbearable.

And yet, placed between the Lord and his people, Moses enjoys a most singular privilege. In his extended visions of God he prefigures Jesus, of whom St John says, No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.  

Moses’ fate may be compared to that of Jesus, whose career also ended in apparent disaster. But their failure is that narrow gate through which salvation enters our world. Moses, like you and I, could not live a perfectly obedient life. As blessed as he was, that grace was reserved for someone else. He must finally step aside, as would John the Baptist, to offer the Lord Jesus to us. We see in Moses’ story the failure of all leadership. No president, congressperson, judge, priest or parent can take the place of Jesus. No one can say, “This is what God demands.” No one deserves our uncritical obedience. Rather, we test every spirit in the crucible of community and recognize our leaders as fallible brothers and sisters in the Lord.