Sermon

The Third Sunday in Lent (Year A, RCL)
February 24, 2008

The Reverend Arnold Taylor

We’ve just heard two stories about water. One is about the Hebrew children in a wilderness...with no water to drink. The other is about Jesus asking for a drink of water and never taking it. Then he offered water to the Samaritan woman that wasn’t H2O at all! See? No Water! All of which suggests that this will be a rather dry sermon!

Jesus offered the Samaritan woman “Living water.”Does that mean it’s got bugs in it? No, this is a figure of speech. The “Living Water” Jesus offered was the Holy Spirit that leads to eternal life. And I’ll say more about that later.

The theme for this third Sunday in Lent is this: “Is the Lord with us?” Those Hebrew Children in the wilderness must have asked that same question: “Is the Lord with US?”

Recall that: According to a commandment of God (according to Moses), the Hebrew Children been led out of the hard bondage of slavery in Egypt, where they’d carried heavy stones to build the Pyramids, and been beaten up if they physically couldn’t do the job, and now Moses had led them out of all that, across the Red Sea to this admittedly wilderness place called Rephadim.

Wow! Thank you, God! Nice place! No lashes across our backs, no masters bellowing at us like drill sergeants, no traffic, no smog, no air strikes, no Starbucks - but wait! No water! See? ...Be careful what you ask for!

Friends, this is proof that God is a Man. If God had been a Woman , She would have seen to it that they had water to drink, and all kinds of Kosher goodies.

However, I submit - without scholarly verification - that the water referred to here is a colorful way of saying: “The absence of the Lord, and a thirst for the Lord.” The Hebrew Children really were crying out: “Is the Lord with us?”

After a several weeks in the wilderness they began to yearn for a better life than a primitive existence. They yearned for a house, a stove in the kitchen, stores to go to, and Moses had led them nowhere. God had delivered them, but not far enough. God had delivered them from one hardship to another and they angrily cried out to Moses, “Where is God now? Is the Lord with us, as you say, or not?

Have you ever found yourself in a spot like that - thirsty for something better in life -times when your best efforts fell flat -- times when your juices for life have run dry and you’ve thirsted for help from God - or just anybody - and it didn’t come? Have you ever asked the question, “Is the Lord with me or is He not?” If you haven’t, stick around. None of us gets through this vale of tears without a wilderness experience.

Well, Moses sets the standard here. That is, he took another shot at lifting up life.

In spite of the apparent absence of God , expressed here as an absence of water, he turned yet again to God; and, according to the story, God had Moses take up the rod with which he had parted the waters of the Red Sea so that the Hebrew Children could escape their bondage.

Now, whether that rod was a big stick (and I don’t think it was) or leadership authority, as in the “rod of Jesse” (and I don’t think it was) or a theological understanding (which I think it was) Moses took up the rod - that faith in God. And what did he do? It says he struck a rock and water gushed forth, a colorful way of saying that there came a new burst of faith.

Here, in my undocumented opinion, is what really took place: He called some elders together, as it says right there in the story, and held a big time tent meeting with those clergy types and inspired them, and they inspired the people. The encouraging word went forth, even as we hope it will from this place!

Okay, the colorful Biblical description is that water gushed forth from the rock. If that really was water, and those people were as thirsty as the story would have us believe, imagine a thousand men, women, children and animals all in dire need of a drink of life-giving water, let alone a bath, each on the verge of death from thirst, scrambling, pushing, shoving, swearing, kicking and yelling at one another about who’s most needy. People do that for a seat on the Metro, let alone for death dealing thirst.

When the UN drops food in the midst of starving people in Africa, it’s a mad house!

This kind of scramble is left out of the story. Why? Because it has nothing to do with the point that’s being illustrated here.

So, what is the point? I’ll tell you what the point is: when your hopes and dreams are dashed and God seems to be absent in your life, it’s time to go back yet again for a renewal of faith and resolve.

God doesn’t fix things by magic; although I’ve witnessed many occurrences that were miraculous, one of which happened right here at St. Mark’s. It amounts to this: When the Holy Spirit of God takes hold within the heart and soul good things do happen that enable us to deal with the hurts, the pain, and the aloneness that give a person the sense that the Lord is not with us. Been there, and He’s done that: Personal experience. Time and again.

The first step is gaining salvation from the wilderness experience is found in the seeking of that Spirit of God - that “Living water,” hitting “the rock,” so to speak. The next step is found in the drinking of that water, that is, receiving that Spirit of God within the heart and soul. The next step is to move out in actions that flow from that sense of the Presence of the Spirit of God within.

Each of those steps can happen in a number of ways -in private prayer, at a tent meeting, or with a spiritual advisor or mentor, plus, we have an offering right here that has dramatic possibilities. It’s called Holy Communion, a returning and rest, and a sending forth to a deeper dimension in life.

As Fr. Abernathy will announce, this Holy Meal, the Presence of Christ, the Holy Spirit - God, if you will, is open to all, regardless of where you are in your pilgrimage.

Sure, we use the Bible as a launching point, and follow a time tested Prayer Book ritual, but what really matters is the desire to have that Presence within the heart and soul. That’s what makes all the difference - the hitting of the rock, so to speak.

The bread and wine represent the Presence of Christ even as the water represented the Presence of God for the Hebrews. I invite each and every one to take that Presence within the heart and soul so that as you go forth from this place that Presence will go forth with you and be a part of your decision making as you face the dry places in your life, and you don’t have to be a died-in-the-wool Episcopalian to make that happen. What counts is that desire to have that Spirit of Christ within, that Spirit of love and concern for others.

Again, this is not the only way to have that Holy Spirit within, but, as many around that Holy Table will attest, if asked, it works.

So, each and every one is herewith invited in due time to step up to the rock here in the middle of the floor, with a host of friends and neighbors and let the water gush forth. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.