Repay Good with Evil

In Exodus 19, Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:20-20:17). Then follows another tradition of Moses drawing near the thick darkness of where God was and received the ordinances God gave to the people of Israel (Exodus 20:18-23-33). Then follows yet another tradition in which Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders of Israel went to worship and eat with God. Later, Moses alone went up into the cloud on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights. God gave very detailed instructions on the cultic rules and two stone tablets of testimony written with the finger of God (Exodus 24:1-31:18). In all, three different traditions are assembled in the Book of Exodus to tell us of the giving of Torah to help Israelites keep the covenant with God.
We have barely finished 4 weeks in this season of Lent. Forty days are really long especially when the situation is difficult. Forty days proved to be too long for the Israelites to stand in the wilderness. They repaid good with evil and angered God. They had lost Moses their leader for so many days. Therefore, they demanded Aaron to make them gods to lead them on their exodus to the Promised Land. This is the story of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-35).
At first, when God called Moses, He described Israel as "my people".
Then the LORD said, "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings." (Exodus 3:7)
When the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf, they had chosen to forsake Yahweh. Of course, God was angry. Since the Israelites disowned Him, God disowned them in return. Tit for tat, fair enough. This time, instead of calling Israel "my people" as before, God described her as "your people", referring to Moses. Was God angry with Moses as well?
And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves." (Exodus 32:7)
The God described in these chapters took on human characteristics. He behaved like a man distained by his lover. He had all the reasons to be angry. Yet God was clear-minded enough to recognize the potential greatness of Moses. He offered Moses a position similar to that of Abraham. Yahweh was willing to restart His salvation project from scratch.
And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people;
now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation." (Exodus 32:9-10)
Now, God recruited Moses on His side. He distanced Himself and Moses from "this people". So, God was not angry with Moses.
True to his greatness, Moses politely declined God's offer. Probably he had seen enough bad sons raised by good fathers. Perhaps he had foreseen the destiny of his future seeds fare no better than those of the Israelites. Moses rightly declined and managed to persuade God to repent His evil plan.
But Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does thy wrath burn hot against thy people, whom thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
Why should the Egyptians say, `With evil intent did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people (Exodus 32:11-12).
Moses successfully returned the ball to God's court. The Israelites were "thy people", not Moses'. He managed to restore the rightful place of Israel in the grand salvation plan of God. However, the Israelites failed miserably both God and Moses. They did not listen to the exhortation of Moses and rejected Jesus.
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren -- him you shall heed -- (Deuteronomy 18:15).
When Jesus healed a sick man on Sabbath in Jerusalem, the Jews rejected him and wanted to persecute him because Jesus had breached the Law of Moses according to their interpretation. When Jesus further called God his father, they were furious and wanted to kill him because for them, it was blasphemy. Jesus defended himself and had the following to say.
Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope.
If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? (John 5:45-47)
Perhap Jesus was referring to the Deuteronomy verse above. Since the hearts of the Jews were hardened and rejected Jesus, it showed that the Jews did not believe in the writings of Moses.
In our intercourse with our fellow men, very often, we repay good with evil. In a similar vein, we do the same to God. God wants us and helps us to lead a good life. We don't appreciate that and want to do it in our own ways and very often, we repay good with evil.
Yesterday, an S.2 boy fooled around in the classroom, throwing a plastic water bottle at his classmates. He missed and the bottle flew out of a closed window, breaking it. Together with the shattered glass, the bottle gained momentum and fell onto the car of Emily five storeys below, smashing the rear window. Bad luck? Repaying the good the school rendered him?

My God, help our students and us see the consequences of our choices and actions. Deliver us from our egocentricism. Grant us the grace to make up for all the evils we have done. Amen.