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Moses Strikes the Rock!
Feb
24
Written by:
Sunday, February 24, 2008
3rd Sunday of Lent
February 24, 2008
In this Sunday's first reading from Exodus 17, Moses has a big problem. The Israelites have been journeying through the Sinai desert for quite some time. Now, once again, "the natives are restless." Over and over again, the Israelites grumble about their condition. At times, they are so mad that they are almost ready to kill Moses and return to slavery! This time, they are out of water, and they have had enough. "Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?" they cry to Moses. "Was it just so that we could die here of thirst in this desert?!"
Israel's' 40 year desert journey makes one thing very clear: time and again, the people of God are only one step away from disaster and ruin, yet somehow, they always survive. You can't help but have some sympathy for them: after all, they were actually out of water, none was in sight, and it seemed as if, once again, they were going to die. And no one had ever seen water come out of a solid rock before, either!
All of these biblical stories, though several millennia old, ought to sound pretty familiar to us. After all, aren't we also on a lifetime trek through the wilderness of this world? Like the Israelites, doesn't it sometimes seem as if God is punishing us, or has abandoned us? Don't we too at times come very close to disaster?
What this lesson really teaches us is that it is the individual's response to the trials of this life that constitute all of our gains or losses in the spiritual life. In other words, the trials of our lives are actually opportunities in disguise. God wishes us to grow in grace, in trust, in patience, in goodness, in hope, in perseverance, in faithfulness, in detachment: in short, to build up our spiritual muscles. In a way, that is what Lent is really all about. These spiritual muscles are built up by resistance, by trials. They are necessary if we are to become the people we were meant to be.
Whenever I go on a pilgrimage, whether on my own, with a group or as the chaplain, I know that there will be difficulties. All travel involves difficulties. The minute you leave home, your life is not your own: you have become a pilgrim. But that is the only way to receive the blessings that travel affords us. In the same way, no one ever became holy just by sitting on the couch and thinking about it! It is through the crosses of life that we are purified and made ready to enter the kingdom of God. So, instead of grumbling, we are called to be people who are thankful and trusting in God, no matter how tough the circumstances are at the moment.
Father Gary
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