Second Thoughts
Jul 24: Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Sometimes it’s good to question your initial impulse, but sometimes it’s best to stick with your first instincts. Today’s readings give us examples of both—a time to repent and a time to forge ahead.
Reading 1
Ex 14:5-18
When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them. They exclaimed, "What have we done! Why, we have released Israel from our service!"
So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiers—six hundred first-class chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all. So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh that he pursued the children of Israel even while they were marching away in triumph. The Egyptians, then, pursued them; Pharaoh's whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers, caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea, at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Pharaoh was already near when the children of Israel looked up and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them. In great fright they cried out to the LORD. And they complained to Moses, "Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said, 'Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians'? Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the desert."
But Moses answered the people, "Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today. These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two, that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land. But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate that they will go in after them. Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots and charioteers. The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers."
After letting the Israelites go, the Pharoah changes his mind and decides to re-capture them. The Israelites, having been free for about 12 hours, see Pharoah catching up and decide maybe this was a bad plan after all.
Moses is the only one who sticks to his guns. And what guns!
Responsorial Psalm
Ex 15:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
He is my God, I praise him;
the God of my father, I extol him.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
The LORD is a warrior,
LORD is his name!
Pharaoh's chariots and army he hurled into the sea;
the elite of his officers were submerged in the Red Sea.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
The flood waters covered them,
they sank into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O LORD, magnificent in power,
your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
Technically, today’s first reading doesn’t show Moses parting the Red Sea, just God’s promise to do so. But of course, we know what’s coming.
Instead, we get this song recounting the events at the Red Sea.1 It’s one of the oldest written parts of the Bible, probably originally a separate poem that was added into Exodus when it was finally compiled.
Alleluia
Ps 95:8
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Unlike, you know, Pharoh.
Gospel
Mt 12:38-42
Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."
He said to them in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here."
Remember, the whole reason Jonah fled from God’s command to preach to the Ninevites is that Nineveh was Israel’s enemy. He didn’t want God to forgive them! And so he was swallowed up for three days.
Jesus, on the other hand, allowed himself to be swallowed up in the tomb for three days, specifically because he does want to save us.
So, just as his offer is greater than Jonah’s, so much more important is it for us to repent! If the Ninevites can do it, so can we.
It’s unlikely that it was actually at the Red Sea, which was too far south for the route the Israelites took. The actual Hebrew, yam suph, means “Sea of Reeds” or “reedy sea.” It was probably a smaller, unnamed body of water south of the Gulf of Suez.