"Almighty and most merciful God, drive from us all weakness of body, mind, and spirit; that, being restored to wholeness, we may with free hearts become what you intend us to be and accomplish what you want us to do; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."
Psalm 106:6-7, 19-23, Exodus 32:7-14, and John 5:30-47
The patience that God has with the people of Israel seems to be about up in today's reading from Exodus. After delivering them from slavery and feeding them with bread from heaven and giving them water from a rock, they can't remain faithful even for a moment. They take the time that's available to them; melt down all of their possessions that remain; and they create a golden calf for worship and veneration. With a white-hot anger, the Lord vows to be done with all of them.
Moses, though, intervenes on their behalf. Moses pointed out the relationship that God had with these people through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the promises that God made to them. Pleading for God to realize that these are the same people he loved enough to take out Egypt and care for in the wilderness, God's anger subsides.
Clearly, we all have the capacity for weakness in our lives. As our collect states this weakness can happen in body, mind, or spirit. In these moments of weakness we act in ways that make us a whole lot like the people of Israel there at the bottom of the mountain. We find ways to put something up between us and God or we might even put something up in place of God.
Fortunately, we, too, have an advocate for us. In Christ we have someone who's says, "This is how humans are; this is how they live" while also giving us a marker or a way to know how to point to God. As we draw closer to Holy Week, may we remember what it means to have such an advocate so that we might reconciled to God and such an example so that we might know how it is God calls us to live so that we might be saved.
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