March 19-Ex. 17, this is a story on water as well-Instead of sparring the people are complaining. They are stuck on the merely physical, but Jesus leads to a two tiered understanding of the symbolic heft of water.While Moses' response centers on the conflict, God's reaction delivers compassion. In this text, God never condemns the grumbling Hebrews. Moreover, God grants Moses the reassurance of the Divine Presence: "I will be standing there in front of you" (verse 6). In response to the people's petitions, God becomes present and provides.. The term Massah reflects the Hebrew word "place of testing" while Meribah derives from the word is translated as "place of quarrel."The question--"Is the LORD present among us or not?"--is a deep question of concern when facing real threats. God's actions of presence and provision supply the answer needed by a fearful community.(Garber) Constant complaining dries up our hearts and minds.God does not complain about the people. God acts to relieve their physical issue.
We know how contentious water rights a can be. We know of the immense repair costs to the large dam in California and how its spillway threatened many. Ex 17 shows up in the psalms, so some importance to the water issue lasted into the history of israel. With flint Michigan and the fear of horrendous water pollution due to fracking, it continues to be a contentious issue.When I was a boy many of the streams ran bright red and were called sulfur creeks from what is now termed acid mine drainage, due to pollution from coal mining and its attendant waste products piled high in what we called slate dumps.they were virtually devoid of life.
Rom 5 Hogan-. God loves us so much that, even when we were (and are) weak; even while we were (and are) sinners... We have a faithful God who was and is willing to go to any length to reconcile us.Paul paints a picture of God that is in harmony with the portrait of God given to us by Jesus. This is the God who will search high and low for us when we are lost and have wondered off. Ours is the God who runs out to meet us, the prodigal daughters and sons.
Water is an infinitely fluid image.It is the physical necessity for life on this planet.It is precious-I grew up in the old mining area of SW Pa. when i was a child the creeks were orange and called sulfur creeks from mine runoff. Even in chemistry class, the pollutants in that water seemed countless.Around the same time Lake erie was declared dead due to algae growing in its polluted waters. It still has a long way to go, a sit was a dump site for years.You can fish for steelhead trout there.
John 4. Again we get the comic effect of someone staying at the physical plane alone when Jesus is moving to a different level. It is about having an encounter, as the light of Jesus' truth and love shines on our past and our future, and then go share his abundant grace gushing up to eternal life in us.(Stamper) This reads to me as a contrast to the previous long Nicodemus story.It too has lots of wordplay. This outsider is more advanced spiritually than the people of the Exodus.\living water =running water-abundance of water in spirit.This seems to me to continue Jesus speaking of being born from above through water and the spirit ( see John &:37-9); the waters of baptism apply here.All Christians can be searchers/seekers. We probe the depths of the divine in engagement with us.
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