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In the Bible, thirst usually means more than just the
physical need for water. Thirst can uncover deep
faithlessness and insolence (Exodus 17:3-7). Likewise,
slaking thirst can well indicate the wellspring of
living water unto eternal life (John 4:4-42). The Third
Sunday of Lent is to provide us with the opportunity to
recommit ourselves to our choice for Christ.
Shallowness of trust
In any
land where sustenance and growth are to be wrested from
a parched earth, water is a precious commodity and an
absolute necessity. Abundance of water is rightly valued
as divine blessing, and thirst a symbol of man’s need
for God. Israel in its passage to freedom through the
desert was delivered against the threats of the
wilderness. Bereft of human resources, without God to
guide and care for them, the desert could be their
grave.
Confronted with the lack of water, the people betrayed
the shallowness of their trust in God. God delivered
them out of bondage in Egypt, and the previous
narratives about the manna and quail underscore His
constant and providential care for them. Yet, because
there was no water to drink, they bitterly grumbled and
insolently asked, “Is the Lord present among us or not?”
They challenged God’s authority by quarrelling with
Moses for leading them out of Egypt and bringing them to
the desert, suggesting that it was not done out of
divine goodness but malevolently so that they would die
of thirst in the wilderness. And Moses feared that he
would be stoned by the rebellious mob.
Divine
patience
The
people have not recognized God’s love for them in the
signs and wonders of their own past. And God performed
yet another sign of loving kindness, responding to their
faithlessness by giving in to their demand. As God
delivered them from slavery through the leadership of
Moses, now again through the service of Moses He gave
them the water they needed. As the staff of Moses was
formerly used to divide the water of the sea to let the
people pass through in their exodus, so now the same rod
was to be used per divine instruction to strike the rock
whence water was to issue, witnessed by the elders of
Israel. In Horeb, the mountain whose name means “dry” or
“desolate,” God brought forth life-giving water from a
lifeless rock via a wadi or dry creek down to His
thirsty people encamped at Rephidim.
This
curious story reveals the people’s startling
faithlessness and lack of trust in God, whose abiding
care and miraculous concern for them had been untiring.
They dared to put God to the test, hence the place where
this happened was called Massah, meaning “testing,” and
Meribah, meaning “dissatisfaction,” a monument to their
rebellious lack of trust. God’s boundless compassion for
sinners is what the people’s thanklessness and rebellion
encountered in the wilderness.
Living
water
Jesus’
own fatigue and his request from the Samaritan woman for
a drink from Jacob’s well set the stage for the
encounter-dialogue with Him. Paradoxically, Jesus asks
for water when in fact He is the one who gives living
water the gift of God, a divine bounty that is a
principle of spiritual life. This is not the kind drawn
from a well, which is merely water incapable of
permanently quenching the thirst of those who drink from
it. It is the water only Jesus gives, and it satisfies
one forever.
Jesus’
offer of the water of eternal life to a thirsty believer
happens to the Samaritan woman as Jesus reached out to
her, a sinner, and a woman at that, and a member of a
despised people. He took the time to help her understand
and be open to the water of life. Her coming to faith
with many of her Samaritan townmates underlines the
universality of the divine invitation to the saving
water. The Jews’ refusal to believe in Jesus is
contrasted with those outside the Jewish tradition who
do come to faith in Him as the Christ. And even the
disciples of Jesus needed to be clarified about his
food, what slakes his thirst and stills his hunger—doing
the will of God.
Alálaong
bagá,
people are in thirst, not only for water but for meaning
in life, not only the Israelites in the desert but also
the Samaritan woman who went to the well to fetch water.
The people of Israel needed more than just water; the
Samaritan woman was looking for self-dignity and
purpose. What do people thirst and long for? The devil
at the beginning of Lent thought he knew what to present
to us even as he tempted Jesus himself in the
wilderness. Many people, to the point of frenzy and
self-destruction, thirst for money, possessions, power
and honor. More, more, more—how much is enough? When is
it too much? What do we choose? Our choice for Jesus as
the giver of the living water can only be made in faith.
For more of my reflections and works, visit my blogsite:
http://alalaongbaga.multiply.com. |
