Stand up, cry out and carry on!

WORD 2day: Monday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 21, 2025: Exodus 14: 5-18; Matthew 12: 38-42

Look at the images given to us today - the raging waters, the pressing enemy forces, the stone hearted beneficiaries, the swallowing sea monster, the gulf that separates the south and the north, the hard headed wicked generation - there is everywhere threat and the so-called evil stands out. What are we going to do?... Stand up, Cry out and Carry on!

Stand Up against the evil: Jesus never feared the pressurising crowd. He was able to stand up and call a spade a spade. He was able to chide them on their face - you evil generation. A person of God needs that spirit to be bold, to stand up against the evil and to stand up for the truth.

Cry Out to the Lord: It is never by my own power that I can fight the powers of evil. No I cannot. I need to cry out to the Lord, just as Moses did. Moses was mindful of the fact that he was about God's business and it belonged to God to accomplish whatever has to be, in and through God's servants. In whatever we do, we need to acknowledge the presence of God and the workmanship of God.

Carry On with the Lord: Never give in to the pressure of pleasing the clamouring crowd. The world will keep shouting at you, criticising you and giving you easier and more pragmatic alternatives. But what matters is to carry on with the Lord. That is what we see with both Moses and Jesus - they never obeyed the crowd, they never gave in to the expectations of the world. They carried on with the One who had called them: their Father!