Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Lectionary: 401

"So I told them, ‘Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.’
They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.”

We've all heard lame excuses but Aaron's story takes the cake. Jewish devotion, with its reverence for God and its confidence that nothing happens which is not God's will, had no truck with superstitious nonsense, and even less with bald faced lies.

But, as recent headlines have shown, there are a lot of people who believe anything. As President Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time." 

Some people believe the former president won the 2020 presidential election, despite all the evidence; and despite the fact that he told the world in 2016 he would not accept a loss and would claim the election was rigged. 

 

More recent headlines concern the millions who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and its variant. They want to be more assured of its effectiveness. But they have already decided they will never be assured. They have no faith and, as any Protestant will tell you, "Without faith you cannot be saved." 

Moses demand of Aaron, 

“What did this people ever do to you that you should lead them into so grave a sin?

Many people do not believe in Truth. To their minds, there is no such thing. But without a commitment to truth they are pathetically vulnerable to exploitation. They believe what appeals to their "common sense" although common sense has little experience, less memory and no knowledge of history. They assume what they believe is true and shun the hard work of honest research. And they're encouraged by their cynical leaders who cash in on their naivete. After fashioning a fictitious world to their own liking, they weep like abandoned children when it collapses. 

Moses continued to rebuke Aaron, the cynical leader: 

“You have committed a grave sin.

I will go up to the LORD, then;

perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin.”

It falls to those who know and love the Truth to atone for the sins of our fellow citizens as we try to reconstruct a functioning democracy.