Don’t Forget

So I have this bad habit of putting things down in random places around my house and then because I get busy or distracted I have a hard time remember where I left it. So then I have to retrace my steps again from place to place and look at each of the places I walked by until I find it.

Or there are other times when I am so caught up in my work or in a conversation with another person that I forget that I was supposed to meet up someone or go have lunch with a friend.

And the more I talk to people the more I have this sneaking suspicion that I am not the only one who suffers from forgetfulness.

Pop quiz, Do you remember what the first reading today was about? I know it was like so 10 minutes ago and it’s hard to remember… forgetfulness is a real thing. And sometimes it’s because we’re too distracted…

Do you know what was one of God’s greatest complaint about the Israelite people in the Old Testament? It was not that they were unfaithful or that they did not follow the commandments. Although both of those things were bad and God pointed these out to them again and again.

But one of God’s greatest complaint in the Old Testament was that the people of God had forgotten Him. He says to the people again and again: “You forgot!” 

“You forgot, how I saved you, you forgot all that I did for you, and because you forgot, you quickly became unfaithful and turned towards idols that could not save.”

Psalm 106 says, “They forgot God their savior, who had done great things in Egypt”…

Proverbs 3 says, “My Son, do not forget my teaching, take to heart my commands;”

Lastly, Jesus at the Last supper commands us, “Do this in memory of me…”

In the first reading today, in case you had forgotten… we heard Moses relaying to the people of Israel, the Lord God’s instruction to celebrate a feast, a thanksgiving feast. And this thanksgiving feast is something that God intended for them to do to continually call to mind what He's done for them.

And what's God done for them? He had rescued them. He rescued them from slavery in Egypt.

And because of this one event, this dramatic rescue from slavery in Egypt, this was the event that would define the people of Israel. It's suppose to be what gave them their identity. And it was the major motive for their worship of God.

So what do we hear in the first reading? We hear this: “When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. He brought us up out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm… 

Then it says: “Therefore.” (as in: because of all of that…)

You should declare: “I have now brought you the firstfruits of the products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And having set them before the LORD, your God, you shall bow down in his presence.”

You see… this thanksgiving feast was supposed to be a response to God’s overwhelming act of saving the people from slavery.

At this point in the Deuteronomy, the Israelite had been wandering the desert for 40 years and they are at the doorstep of the promised land. And God wants them not to forget all that he has done for them. They had been slaves for hundreds of years in Egypt. There were living tools of the king of Egypt, the Pharaoh. They were oppressed and He could do whatever he wanted with them. He could enslave them, he could torture them, he could kill them. Their life was one of absolute and total despair. And the Lord God had rescued them from all of that! He freed them.

They didn't read about this in a book. They experienced it. In the process, he showed himself to be a God who saves.

And the people of God learned they were worth saving. And God gave them this feast to be a means by which they would never forget what he did… But as we will see, they forgot.”

And the question that the Church is asking all of us today by giving us this first reading is this: “Did you forget? Have you forgotten all that God has done for you?

Have you forgotten that this Eucharist, this Thanksgiving Feast, is a response to all that God has done for you? How he ransomed you from slavery to sin? How Satan had enslaved the whole world and because of that you were oppressed by sin, temptation and ultimately death? Have you forgotten that through the waters of Baptism and the Blood of Christ, you have been snatched out of Satan’s hands and now have been given the dignity of being children of God?

If you have forgotten, brothers and sisters… that’s ok. If you’ve been too distracted, the Church, in her compassion, understands… This is precisely why the Church gives us Lent every single year. Because if you’re like me, our memory isn’t all that great and I can be pretty forgetful. And so in the next 40 days, the Church will slowly and in stages remind you and me all of what God has done for us. We will be invited to relive and to experience again God’s overwhelming love for us in the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And to respond to this overwhelming love of God with Eucharistic thanksgiving.

You see, this is a response to God’s love. You and I are supposed to be here because we are overwhelmed by what God has done for us.

And so God’s command for us is simple: “Don’t forget. Remember the Cross”.