Water From the Rock

Water From the Rock

A Communion Meditation

Rev. Dr. Tom Sorenson, Pastor

October 1, 2017

Scripture: Exodus 17:1-7

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

We were dying of thirst in the wilderness of Sinai, and to say the least we weren’t happy about it. Oh sure. We had suffered in Egypt. We were slaves there. We had no freedom. Our masters abused us the way slave masters always abuse slaves. They did it in your country too not all that long ago. Our masters forced us to do all the backbreaking work that they didn’t want to do themselves. They forced us to do more of it than anyone should ever have to do. We worked from sunup to sundown, and sometimes longer than that. They beat us if they thought we were slacking off. It was a hard life, and unpleasant life, quite a brutal life back in Egypt where we were slaves; but here’s the thing. At least we had water to drink and food to eat. Maybe our masters gave us water and food only because they knew we couldn’t work without them, but at least they gave them to us. We suffered, but we didn’t die of hunger. We suffered, but we didn’t die of thirst. Maybe you who have never been really hungry don’t understand what that means. Maybe those of you who have never been close to dying of thirst don’t get how important water is. Maybe you take it for granted. We took it for granted until we didn’t have it, out there in the wilderness of Sinai where it is so dry it’s hard to see how any life survives at all. We very nearly didn’t.

So along comes this fellow Moses. We didn’t know who he was, but he said our god Yahweh had sent him to lead us out of Egypt and take us to a good land flowing with milk and honey. Let me tell you, to a Hebrew slave in Egypt that sounded awfully good. And besides that, the Lord kept doing all of these terrible things to the Egyptians trying to force them into letting us go. When they finally did let us go they changed their minds and came after us with all of their massive military might. We thought we were done for, but Yahweh saved us with that nifty trick of parting the Red Sea to let us pass, then closing it down and drowning all of those wretched Egyptians. So we thought we had it made.

We thought we had it made, that is, until the food ran out. God took care of that one with the manna from heaven. Nice, although it did get a little boring after a while. Then there was no water. We had children to take care of. We had cattle to tend. And of course we needed water ourselves, and there just flat wasn’t any water anywhere. And there was old Moses leading us around in circles in the desert with no apparent plan for where we were going or how we were supposed to survive on the way there. So yes, we complained to him. We said “Give us water to drink. Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Moses didn’t like when we complained of course, but that sure seemed like a reasonable question to us. Why indeed? Is dying of thirst better than living as a slave? We sure didn’t think so.

So it turned out that God had Moses go and strike a rock with his staff. Just how that was supposed to produce water escapes us, but it did. Hes whacked something called the rock at Horeb, and out came water. Lots of water. Enough water for all our people and all our animals. Weird I know, but that’s what happened. And eventually Moses did lead us to that good land flowing with milk and honey though he never quite got there himself. Water from a rock. Who knew?

Folks today a lot of us are a lot like those ancient Hebrews nearly dying of thirst in the desert. Yes, most of us have enough physical water. Lack of literal water isn’t our problem. But a great many people today are dying of thirst nonetheless. They are dying of spiritual thirst. Their bodies have plenty to drink, but their souls do not. So many of us today thirst not for actual water but for righteousness. For truth. For some reliable source of strength, courage and hope. Those deep human needs are in awfully short supply today. You see the effects of that drought all the time. Violence. Violence on the world stage, in our cities, in our homes. Hatred. Hatred of anyone different whom we can so easily if so wrongly blame for all our problems. Drug addiction. Alcoholism. Family breakup. Consumerism that tries to water the soul’s dryness by buying things the advertisers say will make your life complete, only those things never do. We end up as thirsty as before but with some new bangle, some new gadget, and probably a sizable credit card bill to go with it. Oh, we have water all right, but we sure don’t have all the water we need. We sure don’t have the kind of water we need.

The Hebrew people got water from a rock in the desert. We don’t live in a desert, but we have a rock too. We call him the Rock of Ages. Jesus Christ is our Rock. He is our help and our salvation. He forgives our sin. He lights the way in a world of darkness. He gives our lives meaning in a world in which so many lives seem to have no meaning. He gives us hope in a world where things so often seem hopeless. He waits to receive us at the end of our lives though death seems so absolute, so final. The ancient Hebrews had the rock of Horeb. We have Jesus the Rock, the rock of our lives, the rock of the world.

The rock of Horeb gave the ancient Hebrews water. The Rock of Ages doesn’t give us water exactly, but he gives us something else. He gives us the bread and wine of the sacrament of Communion as signs and symbols of his unfailing presence with us and for us. The ancient Hebrews slaked their physical thirst at the rock of Horeb. We can slake our spiritual thirst at the table of our rock, at the table of Jesus Christ. Jesus gave us the table of Communion on that last night of his earthly life. He said take and eat. He said take and drink. He said that when you do you make me part of your life. He said that when you do you enter fully into communion with him and with the God he knew, the God he was. He said when you eat the bread and drink the cup remember me. He said come, partake, and remember. Just as the water from the rock of Horeb gave water to thirsty bodies so long ago so Jesus gives food and drink to hungry and thirsty souls today.

So in a few minutes come. Servers bring the elements to you, but as you receive them imagine yourself coming to the table of Jesus Christ. Feel his presence. Feel him lift you up. Feel him lift you out of whatever is heavy on your heart today. Feel the peace, the strength, the hope, and the meaning that only he can give. Peace, strength, hope, and meaning are the water from our Rock. Water for our thirsty souls. Water to get us through the day, through the night, through the week, through our lives. There was water in the desert for our ancient brothers and sisters in faith. There is water here this morning for each of us.

So come to the table. Eat Christ’s bread. Drink Christ’s wine. Know that Jesus loves you more than you can possible comprehend. And know that that love is truly the water of life. Thanks be to God. Amen.