CT - Catholic Telegraph

A look at the history of salvation

Third Sunday of Lent (A), Exodus 17:3-7. Lectionary 028, Feb. 27, 2005

Our survey course in salvation history continues. On the first Sunday of Lent we heard about the very beginning of the story of God’s love for His human creatures — the story of the first sin that infected every human being and made salvation necessary. Last Sunday we heard about the call of Abraham, the founder of the people and its first shepherd. We learned how God brought him out to a new country, a new mode of life. On this third, Sunday we hear about the second great shepherd of God’s people, about the leader that brought God’s people out of Egypt, the guide who found them a formless gathering of tribes and who, under God’s guidance, made them into a people with a land of their own. It’s impossible to talk about salvation history without talking about Moses.

This Sunday’s reading shows us the Israelites in the first months after their departure from Egypt. Pharaoh had been persuaded to let them leave Egypt, and then changed his mind. The people escaped Pharaoh’s chariots and charioteers, passing dry shod through the Red Sea, thanks to the intervention of God through His servant Moses. The Egyptians were destroyed as they attempted to catch up with the Israelites. Moses led the people on. As God’s agent he provided the people with drinkable water at a place called Marah. Then, in response to the people’s demands for bread and meat, God sent them manna and quail to eat.

This Sunday’s reading shows us Moses and the people in crisis once more. As they move through the wilderness, they are thirsty again and there is no water. They demand that Moses do something. After all, it was he who had brought them so rashly (as they now thought) out of Egypt. Moses turns to the Lord. "What shall I do with this people?" He is afraid that they will kill him. God instructs Moses to take the staff he had stretched over the Red Sea. With this rod he was to strike the rock in front of them, and they would have water. Moses did as he was instructed and, sure enough, there was water for these quarrelsome people. They called that place "Massah and Meribah," "test and quarrel," and they remembered what happened there for a long time. They had quarreled with the Lord and put the Lord to the test.

There are several things worthy of note in this episode in the history of Moses’s role in the salvation of the people.

First of all, God tells Moses to use the same staff to strike the rock that he had used to make the Red Sea open up. The point here is not that the staff was endowed with magical powers, but rather that what God would now do was part of the same plan that brought the people out of their Egyptian slavery.

Secondly, the primary issue here is not so much the people’s thirst as their doubt about the wisdom of God’s plan for them. "Why did we have to leave Egypt? Why didn’t God leave us alone back there where we were at least a little more comfortable?" When God’s providence makes demands on people, they are inclined to think that God really doesn’t know what He is doing. They complain. They want to be liberated from what is really God’s generosity toward them. The Israelites in the exodus were world class complainers. Like Adam and Eve - and most of us at one time or another - they wanted to be in charge and couldn’t understand why God wasn’t doing things the way they would have preferred.

Thirdly, this episode in the exodus looks forward to God’s continued generosity toward the dozens of generations still to come. Just as God saved and refreshed His people in the desert by giving them water, so also God continues to save and heal and refresh people today through His gift of water, this time through the water of baptism. God still looks after His people, only now it is not in response to physical thirst, but in response to their thirst for eternal life. For the Israelites in the desert, water meant life. For God’s people of today, water is the vehicle through which we receive eternal life.

Any number of passages from Exodus could have been used to introduce us, in this overview of salvation history, to the great Moses who brought God’s people out of Egypt and led them as a people into the land that God had promised to Abraham. The editors of the Lectionary chose this passage, a passage about water, a passage that ties in with the Gospel reading (John 4:5-42). Jesus and the Samaritan woman dialogue about living water and about how to get it. Jesus gradually leads the woman to understand who He is and what He offers her. Just so, Moses in the desert strove to bring his people to understand, through the gift of water, the firmness and complexity of God’s plan for them and the extent to which God was willing to go to bring them to their final home.

For Reflection and Discussion.

In what ways does God provide for me?

Have I ever grumbled at God’s providence for me?



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	*Overtures* Reflection on the first readings of the Sunday liturgy By Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk A look at the history of salvation Third Sunday of Lent (A), Exodus 17:3-7. Lectionary 028, Feb. 27, 2005 Our survey course in salvation history continues. On the first Sunday of Lent we heard about the very beginning of the story of God’s love for His human creatures — the story of the first sin that infected every human being and made salvation necessary. Last Sunday we heard about the call of Abraham, the founder of the people and its first shepherd. We learned how God brought him out to a new country, a new mode of life. On this third, Sunday we hear about the second great shepherd of God’s people, about the leader that brought God’s people out of Egypt, the guide who found them a formless gathering of tribes and who, under God’s guidance, made them into a people with a land of their own. It’s impossible to talk about salvation history without talking about Moses. This Sunday’s reading shows us the Israelites in the first months after their departure from Egypt. Pharaoh had been persuaded to let them leave Egypt, and then changed his mind. The people escaped Pharaoh’s chariots and charioteers, passing dry shod through the Red Sea, thanks to the intervention of God through His servant Moses. The Egyptians were destroyed as they attempted to catch up with the Israelites. Moses led the people on. As God’s agent he provided the people with drinkable water at a place called Marah. Then, in response to the people’s demands for bread and meat, God sent them manna and quail to eat. This Sunday’s reading shows us Moses and the people in crisis once more. As they move through the wilderness, they are thirsty again and there is no water. They demand that Moses do something. After all, it was he who had brought them so rashly (as they now thought) out of Egypt. Moses turns to the Lord. "What shall I do with this people?" He is afraid that they will kill him. God instructs Moses to take the staff he had stretched over the Red Sea. With this rod he was to strike the rock in front of them, and they would have water. Moses did as he was instructed and, sure enough, there was water for these quarrelsome people. They called that place "Massah and Meribah," "test and quarrel," and they remembered what happened there for a long time. They had quarreled with the Lord and put the Lord to the test. There are several things worthy of note in this episode in the history of Moses’s role in the salvation of the people. First of all, God tells Moses to use the same staff to strike the rock that he had used to make the Red Sea open up. The point here is not that the staff was endowed with magical powers, but rather that what God would now do was part of the same plan that brought the people out of their Egyptian slavery. Secondly, the primary issue here is not so much the people’s thirst as their doubt about the wisdom of God’s plan for them. "Why did we have to leave Egypt? Why didn’t God leave us alone back there where we were at least a little more comfortable?" When God’s providence makes demands on people, they are inclined to think that God really doesn’t know what He is doing. They complain. They want to be liberated from what is really God’s generosity toward them. The Israelites in the exodus were world class complainers. Like Adam and Eve - and most of us at one time or another - they wanted to be in charge and couldn’t understand why God wasn’t doing things the way they would have preferred. Thirdly, this episode in the exodus looks forward to God’s continued generosity toward the dozens of generations still to come. Just as God saved and refreshed His people in the desert by giving them water, so also God continues to save and heal and refresh people today through His gift of water, this time through the water of baptism. God still looks after His people, only now it is not in response to physical thirst, but in response to their thirst for eternal life. For the Israelites in the desert, water meant life. For God’s people of today, water is the vehicle through which we receive eternal life. Any number of passages from Exodus could have been used to introduce us, in this overview of salvation history, to the great Moses who brought God’s people out of Egypt and led them as a people into the land that God had promised to Abraham. The editors of the Lectionary chose this passage, a passage about water, a passage that ties in with the Gospel reading (John 4:5-42). Jesus and the Samaritan woman dialogue about living water and about how to get it. Jesus gradually leads the woman to understand who He is and what He offers her. Just so, Moses in the desert strove to bring his people to understand, through the gift of water, the firmness and complexity of God’s plan for them and the extent to which God was willing to go to bring them to their final home. For Reflection and Discussion.** In what ways does God provide for me? Have I ever grumbled at God’s providence for me?

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