September 10, 2010 – Exodus 18:13 – 19

The power of organization.  The “Jethro System”.  Still in great use today.  When I was first reading this I was thinking of our court system.  Many small items are taken care of at the bottom. If there is a disagreement on bigger things it goes up the chain, eventually to the top, in our case the Supreme Court.  Thinking about that comparison and how many Catholics are on the Supreme Court, I would think things would look a lot different than they do.  6 of 9 Justices call themselves Catholic.  The newest 3.  There have only been 12 Catholic Justices and that includes the 6 sitting right now.  Imagine if they voted and decided according to Catholic teaching and how that would filter down.  Of course the pessimist in me realizes if they followed Church teaching, chances are they would not have made it to the Supreme Court. 

This episode with not allowing anyone up the mountain may not mean as much to us now, but it probably did not too long ago.  This whole idea that only certain people could be near that Lord was a basic fact in the Latin Mass of the Catholic Church.  The priest, deacons, and servers were the only ones allowed up around the alter.  With changes, now, depending on your church, almost anyone is allowed to be up around the alter.  It is something to think about when we realize God is there.  Things need to be taken more seriously and reverently than they are.