Today’s text: Exodus 33:7-23
Prayer Pointers:
For your friends
For honesty in daily interactions
Saint Gregory of Nyssa, in commenting on this text, especially noted the idea of God talking with Moses as a friend, as an equal and then writes: "[the virtuous life] looks like this, in that… we do not avoid evil because we are afraid, nor seek gain from God because we hope for some reward, but rather we are glad to be God’s friends, and we see that relationship like any other friendship: that we would soon die than betray or fall from being a good friend….”
In our own day, friendship has a different feel; our sense of “friendship” does not carry the idea of near-kin that it would have had in the past. Friendship was an important part of a person’s life in a time when there were few other resources or options for protection, comfort and even joy, and to betray a friend, whether actively by doing something harmful, or passively by simply not helping, was scandalous behavior.
But, whether or not we feel or sense a deep obligation to those we call “friends,” let us not forget that we are in the same position as Moses, for Jesus has called us his friends (John 15:14-17), and has made of us near-kin to each other.
Easter Joy ~ Pr. Dave Brooks