Get your mind out of the...

Today’s readings feature people who have problems getting and keeping the right perspective on things.

In the first reading (Nm. 21: 4-9), the children of Israel, who have experienced wonder after wonder and miracle after miracle, complain about the heavenly food they receive. Psalm 78 describes the situation well:

They believed not in God,
and trusted not in his salvation:
Though he had commanded the clouds from above,
and opened the doors of heaven,
And had rained down manna upon them to eat,
and had given them of the corn of heaven.
Man did eat angels' food:
he sent them meat to the full.
Psalm 78:22-25

And still they complained!

In the Gospel (Jn. 8:21-30), the people are quite clueless, almost comically so.

"For if ye believe not that I am he,
ye shall die in your sins."

Then said they unto him, "Who art thou?"

And Jesus saith unto them,
"Even the same
that I said unto you from the beginning….
When ye have lifted up the Son of man,
then shall ye know that I am he…"

The translators translate our Lord’s words “Ego eimi” as “I am he” to keep the people’s confusion plausible, but “Ego eimi” also means “I am” – a direct reference to the following classic statement:

And God said unto Moses,
I AM THAT I AM:
and he said,
Thus shalt thou say
unto the children of Israel,
I AM hath sent me unto you.
Exodus 3:14

Thus one may read our Lord’s words as follows

For if you do not believe that I AM,
You shall die in your sins….

When you have lifted up the Son of man,
then you shall know that I AM…

The people misunderstood primarily because they had the wrong perspective: their minds were not in the right place.

As we go through life, it is vitally important that we gain and maintain the right perspective on reality.

It is too easy to get bogged down in minutiae, to focus too much on short-term things, or to take things solely at face value.

We need to use well the minds that God gave us, not simply react instinctively or emotionally.

Most of all, we need to pray continually for the grace to have the same perspective as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that no matter what the world may throw at us or what we may be called to endure, we may be able to say in our own way:

Ye are from beneath;
I am from above:
ye are of this world;
I am not of this world….

He that sent me is true;
and I speak to the world
those things which I have heard of him….

I do nothing of myself;
but as my Father hath taught me,
I speak these things.

And he that sent me is with me:
the Father hath not left me alone;
for I do always those things that please him.

We need to keep our minds and our hearts always in Christ.