Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2017

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Exodus 17:7
Theme: The Lord Is Present

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

Agitation is often symptomatic of underlying fear. The Israelites were unsettled in the wilderness and complained of thirst. The deeper issue was their doubt about God’s provision; about His very presence. They queried, “Is the Lord among us or not?”1 Moses must have gotten tired of managing complaints. It was a long and trying time in the desert. The people were not exactly models of godly behavior. Yet, God’s patience did not waver. These were His people. He would chastise them, but He would not abandon them. He stood with them at Meribah.

It was a large mass of people in the wilderness so movement required significant coordination. What becomes evident as the time in the wilderness drags on is that the people are failing the test of faithfulness. They had witnessed the mighty power of the Lord and yet they were still full of discontent. Granted, it was a difficult transition. Yet, the rewards were great. The Promised Land awaited them, but most did not reach it. Meanwhile, God gives them water to sustain them, just as He had given them mana and quail.

The episode of acquiring water from the rock becomes a defining one in Moses’s own life. It was due to this incident particularly that Moses wasn’t allowed to enter the promised land himself.2 Apparently Moses was initially commanded to speak to the rock to obtain the water. His action of striking it with the staff, though effective through the Lord’s power, was nevertheless a sign of disrespect. Nevertheless, he was a forgiven child of God and Jesus meets him on the mount of Transfiguration.

Many, however, lost faith completely in the desert. What were their defining sins? St. Paul mentions idolatry and sexual immorality specifically, and then says, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”3 The Scriptures are clear about sins of sexual immorality including homosexuality. All the doubt that’s been created in people’s minds recently stems from the human desire to be unrestrained, not from any new evidence that sexual promiscuity of every sort is acceptable in society or a right handed down by God. But we note too, that in the general context of our sinfulness, sexual sins are often lumped together with all manner of ungodliness. The apostle says, for example, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy, nor drunkards nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”4

Paul is talking about the condition and attitude of unrepentance, not about sinning out of weakness or ignorance. If I pursue unrestricted greed then I’m no better than an idolater or a homosexual offender. Different complications may arise from different sins, but all are reprehensible to God. He then says, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”5 There is no sin that the sacrifice of Christ hasn’t atoned for. No one is beyond the reach of His grace.

It’s important to be clear when we share the love of God with others. The deception comes if we think we are being loving apart from being truthful. There is no contradiction between truth and love. If I am convinced that someone’s soul is in danger, I cannot love them by confirming them in their unbelief. I cannot love them by promoting their falsehood. It doesn’t mean, of course, that you act in arrogance or self-righteousness yourself. If someone is in doubt, if they are frail, if they are struggling under the burden of guilt, I certainly cannot love them by harshly presenting them truth that I’m convinced they are obligated to believe. The Holy Spirit must do the work.

Perhaps Moses would have liked to have another chance at bringing water from the rock. We can’t change our history. We can’t rewrite the past. We can’t go back in time. We can’t undo the sins we have committed. So, what does the Spirit want us to do? Celebrate our sins? Ignore them? Deny them? Justify them. They are celebrated all too often when people reflect on the unsavory things they did in their youth with fondness. They are ignored all too often when people just leave them unaddressed. They are denied all too often when people go to great lengths to disassociate with reality. They are justified all too often when people find reasons to excuse their hurtful behavior. The Spirit calls us to confess them, seek forgiveness, and receive divine pardon.

Where are you going to for help? To whom are you looking for strength? How can peace of mind and stillness of conscience be obtained? It’s telling that for some time now many of the books found at Christian book stores are spiritual self-help guides. But you can’t find divine pardon by looking to human sources. There was only one who was worthy to be hung from a cross. He sacrificed His own life, shedding His blood so that we could have the certainty of divine favour. That certainty is not a “conjured up” religious state of mind. It’s not a blind hope invested in a mythical tale. The Son of God was crucified under Pontus Pilate, He died, He was buried, and on the third day He rose from the grave. He did that for you and for your salvation.

It doesn’t mean, of course, that peace with God is easily grasped by the human heart or cherished by the human will. Just look at the struggles the Israelites had! The heart is treacherous. But the Scriptures tell us that even when the conscience is still fragile, still stirred up, still full of anxiety, the pardon is just as valid and certain as if God himself smashed down the wall of our prison and set us free. He grants you this freedom in your baptism. He renews it through Holy Communion. Peace of mind is one gift of forgiveness but it is not the requirement for its validity. The certainty of forgiveness is a serious matter that is authenticated by Christ’s work and promise alone. Refusal to acknowledge the validity of forgiveness calls into question the sacrifice of Jesus, the shedding of His blood, His self-giving to cover the debt of sin. The death and resurrection of Christ weren’t for show. God reconciles us to Himself to us through Christ putting our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west6, “I, even I am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”7

Meribah is an historic name. The connotations aren’t very positive in the biblical context. The name denotes the quarreling that characterized the people’s actions. Yet, the situation provided still another opportunity for the people to witness God’s faithfulness. He had already delivered them from the mighty power of Pharaoh. Would He not be able to provide for them in the wilderness? At Meribah the people asked, “Is the Lord among us or not?”8 The answer is an emphatic “Yes!” and the name Fountain of Living Waters expresses that truth. Jesus is the living water. He quenches every thirst of the desert traveler. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.”9 He said, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”10

+ In nomine Jesu +

Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
1 October 2017
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Exodus 17:7 2 Exodus 20:11-13
3 1 Corinthians 10:11 4 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
5 1 Corinthians 6:11 6 See Psalm 103:12
7 Isaiah 43:25 8 Exodus 17:7
9 John 6:35 10 Matthew 28:20