12Jul 12 July, Tuesday of Week 15

Exod 2:1ff. Moses’ upbringing at the Egyptian court and his flight into the desert, after killing an Egyptian taskmaster for mistreating an Israelite.

Matt 11:20ff. An easier judgment will be passed on Sodom than on the Galilean cities where Jesus preached and worked miracles.

Faith and Miracles


Moses, whose birth and youth are described , reappears before Pharaoh years later as a miracle worker who invokes the ten plagues (Exod chaps. 7-12), a section that is passed over in the liturgy. Given this tradition about Moses’ miraculous power, it is notable that he does not use this for his own self-promotion but had to flee for his life into the wilderness of Sinai. At his birth, Moses’ mother and sister had to resort to all kinds of ingenuity to save the infant’s life, for God did not miraculously intervene.

In his youth, Moses was prepared for his later vocation of bringing the slave people Israel out of their slavery. Already sensitive to any oppression or mistreatment of others, he could not stand by, uninvolved, on seeing an Egyptian striking a Hebrew. Nor could he tolerate the sight of a Hebrew man being beaten by another, but asked the culprit, ‘Why are you striking your brother?’ A passion for justice burned already in the young Moses, preparing him for his role as liberator in later years.

First Reading: Exodus 2:1-15




Gospel: Matthew 11:20-24



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