Psalm 5, 6; Deut. 4:15-24; 2 Cor. 11:1-21a; Matt. 6:16-23
Moses takes the people back to the start, the first two commandments, you shall have no other gods before Me and you shall make no images of Me. Everything begins there, with the understanding that it is Yahweh who has redeemed and rescued them from Egypt and therefore it should be impossible to have other gods before Him. He is their God by virtue of what He has already done for them, they owe Him their allegiance. As they saw nothing on the mountain that day they cannot make a representation of their God, the day for His true image to be seen awaits the incarnation.
Jesus tells us we are to set our store by God, serve Him alone, and in all things maintain joy in Him. When we fast we do not do so that the world may see us and know we are holy. We fast that the Lord may be our portion and so why would we look gloomy? We fast from the things of earth that we may feast our soul on the creator of all that is. It is clear that Jesus never set His store on things of earth and He tells us that we are to live as He did, with eyes fixed on the Father and eternity. Can we actually live such a transcendent life? We are indeed called to such a life whereby we pass through things temporal so as not to lose things eternal as the Collect says. We can only do that by keeping Him first and having no other gods before Him.
Apparently Paul’s personal presentation among the Corinthians was not with great pomp and show and for that reason the Corinthians were not impressed with him. In contrast to that, others came who acted superior to him and he refers to them as “super apostles.” We gravitate towards celebrity rather than humility, self-promotion rather than selflessness. We see it in our Christian culture today with super preachers and teachers being for many their main source of nourishment. Paul came to connect people to God, not to himself. He served rather than being served. It is not us but the Lord.
Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
Make music for thy Lord to hear,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou fire so masterful and bright,
That givest man both warmth and light.
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
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