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Pentecost/Proper 21
Last month my daughter, Anna, and I spent
three days in the wilderness. Well, it was a pretty tame wilderness. The two of
us went backpacking along the Appalachian and Moormans River Trail. It was a
fun adventure, but it did have its stresses.
Along with not being 100% sure that we
were up to the task, the stress of the first day revolved around water, as in,
the first 9 miles of the hike didn’t provide any access to it. Now because we
knew this we prepared appropriately and packed enough to water to see us
through. Still I found it unnerving, which makes me very sympathetic to the
plight of the Israelites in our reading from Exodus when they make camp in the
wilderness only to discover there is no water to be found.
“Give us water to drink,” they demand of
Moses - venting all of their anxiety and fear towards him as they threaten his
life. Now thankfully, Moses isn’t hurt and to make a long story short, God ends
up providing water from a rock and all is well. All is well, that is, until the
next crisis comes along.
Because it’s always something, isn’t it?
For the Israelites, first it was slavery, the people despair, and God delivers
them. Then it was facing the Red Sea, the people are scared, and God makes a
way. Next was a crisis over food, the people complain, and God provides manna.
Today the problem is water, panic ensues, and God brings it forth from a
rock.
Are you noticing a pattern here? An
obstacle presents itself, the people freak out, God comes through, and then for
a while things are good. The people remember God’s faithfulness, they feel
connected and cared for until, OMG!, the next problem rears its ugly head and
the cycle starts all over again: obstacle, freak out, God comes through. But
this isn’t just the story of the Israelites. It’s sometimes my story and maybe
your story too.
Because don’t we all have times when it
feels like we’re taking two steps forward in our faith journey and then one
step back? Maybe that’s what it means when Exodus tells us that the Israelites
“journeyed by stages.” Because none of us go through this life on a straight
path from here to glory. All of us journey by stages as we wander through what
often feels like the wilderness. Figuring things out as we go - one day at a
time, sometimes one step at a time - and even then making a lot of missteps on
the way.
So why does God let us do that? Why
doesn’t the one whom we call Almighty just take over, claim control, and fix us
and everything in this world in one fell swoop? Because, as you may have
already guessed, that is not the way our God exercises power and authority as
Paul explains in our reading from Philippians that,
Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of
God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied
himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being
found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of
death-- even death on a cross. (2:5b-8)
With God there is no forcing, no dominating,
no controlling. No making someone do something even if it’s for their own good.
Rather God’s power and authority is love itself. A love that is relentless. A
love that is never-failing. A love that will go to any lengths to hang in there
with us until we turn, on our own accord, toward that love. Even if we are only
able to do it in stages, two steps forward, one step back, God will always come
through. Eventually, like the Israelites, we will get to where we need to go.
But that “where” is really not a physical place but an inner space. A space
deep inside where we know in the deepest parts of our being what always has
been true throughout the entire journey, that God is with us and God is in us.
The panic the Israelites’ experienced
over water came not from the lack of water, per se, but from the fear that
maybe God wasn’t with them after all. Is the Lord among us or not? they
questioned. When Moses struck the rock and the waters gushed forth - the answer
became crystal clear. Yes! The Lord is among you. And in our reading from Philippians,
we are reminded that God is not only with us but actually inside of us, Let the same mind be in you that was in
Christ Jesus...For it is God who is at work in you.
God is with you. God is in you. Now,
granted, that doesn’t make all the problems of the wilderness disappear. But it
does provide us with the solid ground on which we can journey even by stages,
trusting that in the fullness of time we too will reach the promised land.
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