The background to the story in today’s first reading is the freedom of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses. This story reminds us about the continuing presence of God with his people. God worked signs and wonders through Moses and Aron which caused the Pharao to free the people. The Lord went with them as a pillar of cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night. the Lord fought for them. That means the people were under the protecting hands of God every moment of their lives. The only condition was that the people put their complete trust in the Lord and believed in him.
The Lord promised through the prophet Isaiah that he will be Immanuel- God with us. we read in John’s gospel that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. We experience this continuing presence and care of God through the incarnation of Jesus and especially through the Holy Eucharist. It is in him that we live, move and have our being, as St. Paul would tell us. The only demand that he places before us is that we trust him with all our heart and strength and that we believe that he will fight for us in our troubles and he will show us how to go about.
It is the same invitation that we have in the gospel, to be a member of the family of Jesus.