Sermon: 17th Sunday after Pentecost
Season of Creation 4
27 September 2020 –
Archdeacon Mark Long
Exodus 17:1-7;
Psalm 78:1-4, 11-15; and Matthew 21:23-32; NRSV
Welcome to the 4th Sunday in the Season of Creation, and today’s theme: “Water is Life.” In my last few sermons I have reminded us of how many days we have spent in lockdown, but it struck me yesterday that sometimes focusing on the numbers can make the journey seem harder than it is. This particular lightbulb moment struck me yesterday around 60km into the Pie Run Cycle Race from Greyton to Riviersonderend and back … my body was aching after a particularly steep hill combined along with riding into a strong westerly wind. Watching the kilometres click over so slowly on my cycling speedometer brought me close to pulling over and retiring from the event, unsure that my legs could possible make the next water point a kilometre or two away away, let alone the finish line nearly 30km away. It helped to click over to the cadence reading, and to focus on keeping the pedals revolving at a steady pace. Similarly, watching the days of lockdown click past can mesmerise us and distract us from seeking to live life to the full within the limitations of the difficult journey that COVID-19 has forced on us. Our theme today uses the word water, it also uses the word life. While Scripture never promises an easy life it does promise abundant life,[1] and it is beholden on us to discover and live that abundance no matter the limitations we experience.
You may remember from last week that the Israelites, as they journeyed from Egypt towards the promised land, were somewhat querulous about the lack of food they were experiencing, and that God provided food sufficiently and abundantly for the needs of the day, everyday. A few chapters on in Exodus in today’s reading and they are whinging again, this time about the lack of water. Key to their complaint is not actually the lack of water, but after all that God has done to free them from Egypt and sustain them in the desert, it is really their lack of trust in God’s ability to provide for them that is at stake here. Today’s Psalm reflects on this, saying, “They forgot what you had done, and the wonders you had shown them.”[2] They had quickly taken for granted God’s daily provision of manna in the morning and quail in the evening, and had become focused again on the difficulty of the journey instead. It is testimony to God’s mercy, that in the words of the Psalm, God, “… split the hard rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink from the great deep.”[3] The reference to the “great deep” is again testimony to God’s mercy as this is no superficial gift, referencing as it does the abundant resource used as a foundation for Creation itself: “… the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”[4] This gift, too, amazing as the moment of provision is, will quickly be taken for granted by the Israelites.
It wasn’t long ago that we were praying fervently for God to break the drought in the Western Cape. Tweewaterskloof dam, which was but a puddle not too long ago, began overflowing yesterday. My question is, “Are we able to see this as God’s mercy and abundant provision, or have we also moved on, taking it for granted that because we’ve now had a season or two of good rain that we can forget that this incredible resource is God’s abundant provision in our lives; and do we remain aware of the need to conserve this resource that is so critical to the survival not only of human life, but life itself?” When we acknowledge something as a special gift, we are more likely to use the gift with great care. When we compare our own responses to God’s provision in our lives, and acknowledge our own lack of trust in God’s willingness to sustain us, it helps us perhaps be a little more compassionate in our response to the Israelites’ demands of God. Apart from the broken drought, many around the globe experience the economic, political, and social hardships brought about by the present pandemic, and as South African’s we are not alone in our frustration (even anger) with our leadership. Are we able to look beyond the broken nature of humanity, and trust that God does truly have our interests at heart, does hear our cry, and will answer?
Today’s Gospel reading refers to “John’s Baptism”[5], and it is a bit of a stretch to link this reference, considering its context, with today’s theme that “Water is life”. However, there is a link to the broader themes I have raised this morning as it touches on legitimacy, particularly Jesus’ legitimacy, and the equivocal nature[6] of the leadership offered by the Chief Priests and Elders. A few chapters back in Matthew Jesus has effectively occupied[7] the Temple, challenged the economic framework of power in place at the time, and in today’s reading the equivocation of the Chief Priest’s and Elders effectively underlines Jesus’ authority as God-given. However, the authenticity of Jesus’s authority is already verified in Matthew’s Gospel by the healing and reconciliation his ministry has brought about in a variety of interactions. Matthew effectively proclaims that Jesus is the water of life in that his life and ministry continuously demonstrate God’s mercy, God’s provision, and God’s willingness to sustain life abundantly (as we have seen in Exodus); and God does this within the context of the difficult life experience of Judeans under the oppressive and violent yoke of Rome.
The gift we are offered in today’s readings is a reminder that whether or not we trust God, God can be trusted; that where we question the legitimacy of our temporal leaders due to their apparent equivocation in dealing with the real needs of the poor in our society, and the corruption that feeds off resources that should serve this need, God’s authority remains legitimate; where we are restless and impatient with the restrictions the pandemic imposes on us, God offers abundant life within these limitations. I am not suggesting we shouldn’t be restless and impatient, because this also is God’s gift to us as it leads us to question and seek possible doorways to embracing the abundance of life that God promises humanity (as experienced by the Israelites on their desert journey in Exodus, and by the Judeans as they seek freedom from Rome’s oppression): it is an opportunity for God to sustain and heal and renew. We come with our agendas and expectations, and God uses these as a platform from which to transform our expectations by aligning them with the purposes of the Kingdom: this is certainly the testimony of Jesus’ life and ministry, and it is the experience of people of Faith throughout the millennia.
In closing, I ask, “Dare we trust that this may be true for us, in our own time and context, that God may transform our expectations and in so doing immerse us in an abundant experience of life? Dare we trust that God is trustworthy? Dare we drink the water that is life? Dare we?”
Let us pray,
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