Saturday 18 July

Exodus 12:37-42, Psalm 136, Matthew 12:14-21

The time of trial

The Israelites leave Egypt to begin a long journey to their promised land. We are told they were forty years in the wilderness; but that may not have been actual time. Numerology was important to the Jews, and the number forty represented the “time of trial.” Noah’s ark floated for forty days. Jesus had forty days in the wilderness. Each period was held by God and brought to some kind of fulfilment. Have we had a time of trial? How did it begin? How did it end? Where did we see God in it?