"And Pharao calling Moses and Aaron, in the night, said: Arise and go forth from among my people, you and the children of Israel: go sacrifice to the Lord as you say."
Backtracking a bit: Pharao was ruler over a strong and wealthy kingdom, home to a diverse group of peoples, including a thriving Hebrew people, skilled in animal husbandry. To retain control over his kingdom, he consulted with his advisors, and determined that being ethnically different from his people, these Hebrews might rise up against the Egyptians during a period of war. To prevent this, he exerted greater control over them buy subjecting them to cruel slavery. When Moses and Aaron approached him to allow the Hebrews to go to the desert, Pharao resisted. He resisted each and every request, even when his resistance was met with increasingly harsh consequences. Finally, at the death of his son, he relents.
Pharao has seen a great deal of BAD happen because of his resistance. It would have been easier if he simply said "sure...three days", but he didn't. While each of us can speculate the "why", one aspect is "control". Pharao wanted to control everything he could. He was lord of his house, he was the ruler of all the peoples in his land. In his religion, HE was part god. Along comes two guys, one from the desert, who had fled Egypt years ago, and the other from Gessen, wherein the Hebrews dwelt. They claim that their God wanted sacrifice in the desert, contrary to Pharao's wishes. He chooses control.
How often do we as men think we are "in control"?. To be fair, we must have control of our passions, we must have control of our thoughts, we must have control over situations if we are to be successful in our endeavors. However, modern man assumes he can control everything. We assume that we have this amazing ability to "defeat" a virus through our own controls...despite there being no inclination in the history of humanity that such a thing is even possible. The ability to control things is all around us.
Pharao bristled when presented with a paradigm outside of his control. He pushed back, HARD, against that paradigm. He pressured the Hebrews still the more. He even made his own people suffer rather than give up control. He wanted things on HIS terms. We are encouraged to do the same thing. We somehow believe we are worthy of having everything done our way, from our hamburgers to the music at Holy Mass. We are encouraged by the incessant catering to our desires to be outraged when things don't go our way. We bristle when things run counter to what we can control.
As Catholic men, we must recognize that we were born into a system with defined authority structures, structures we cannot change nor can we control. When God created Heaven and Earth, He did so with specific, immutable laws and roles for each creature. There are physical and spiritual roles, each with their own responsibilities and authority. We cannot control that which is outside of our authority structure...and expect good things to come of it. When we do, we will be humbled, there will be consequences. As men, we must be open to accepting that which is within our ability to control...and humble enough to accept that which is beyond our control. When we operate within our ordained roles, and within our ordained authority, we will prosper, even if only spiritually, because that is all that matters.
