Bible Text: Exodus 17:1-7 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes
Scientists say that a person can survive without water for approximately 3 days or 100 hours. While I haven’t tried it, apparently a person can survive 8 to 10 days without food. But imagine you are in the desert. Out of curiosity I looked up how long one might survive in the desert without water. Apparently the Sinai Peninsula has an average temperature of 36C (or 97F) in the summer. Specialists in organ failure say that at 90F survival time is decreased by a factor of two. Meaning that in the desert, with limited activity, one might survive 2 days or 50 hours without water. But then when you consider walking in said desert, carrying all of one’s possessions, then the survival time line is shortened further. Scientists say that under hot conditions with sustained sweat and no water one can survive seven hours. That’s not a long time. So imagine being an Israelite, walking in the Sinai wilderness, with all your possessions, livestock and family, without water. Last week may have been a story about God’s provision but today it’s about wondering where God is.
Within the first verse of Exodus 17 there is a very important statement. It says that the whole Israelite community set out and travelled AS THE LORD COMMANDED. Directed by God the whole company of Israel is moving in stages across the wilderness. Some of you may have also caught that they are travelling through the Desert of Sin but I would caution us to make any connections with the English word sin. Rather it refers to a geographical area that was between Elim and Mount Sinai, within the Sinai desert, and it loosely translates as “The moon”. The point is, however, that the Israelites are doing what they are told, travelling as God commands, going where God leads and stopping when God says stop. So, they know that God is with them, but in a state of deep thirst and fear they ask, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Desperation causes them to look at their situation and ask: Where is God? We don’t need to be wandering in the desert to ask that question. We look at the various natural disasters, the various acts of violence, the ridiculous behaviour of world leaders, the greed, the oppression, the destruction that faces our world and we thirst for peace, generosity, goodness, and we ask out of desperation and fear, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Moses, the one who bears the brunt of all this anger, fear and distrust, is also concerned for his own safety. While there may not be vegetation or water in this barren land, there certainly are a lot of rocks and he fears that the people are about to stone him. Moses cries out to God in prayer and says, “What can I do with these people? Any minute now they’re going to kill me!” God of course has a plan, but it involves some creativity, participation and vulnerability. First Moses must go on ahead of the people. In Hebrew the verb means more like “to go in front of or cross over”. Moses must walk in front of the people and by doing so become vulnerable- he has to walk in front of all the people who want to kill him. But not only that, he is also then forced to see their vulnerability, their desperation, the magnitude of their thirst. Moses must look at and recognize their need.
But Moses does not do this alone; he is not the one who finds the solution. Moses is also instructed to take some of the elders of Israel and his staff. These elders, like elders within any community, hold with them the connections to the past. As Dr. Anathea Portier-Young says, “These elders carry the trust and the hurt and the hopes of the people. In this new moment they will witness God’s presence and saving action in the present. They will participate through their own ministry of courageous presence.” While the miracle of water from a rock seems to be a pretty passive miracle, it is not. God requires that Moses and the elders participate by being present to the needs of the people. They have seen the vulnerability and need, and now they take all the past examples of God’s presence and witness to another miracle. But Moses’ staff is also an important piece that links the past and present. This is the same staff that Moses had on him when he saw the burning bush, the same staff that parted the Red Sea, it will be the same staff that causes thunder and fire. This is an ordinary object, usually used by shepherds to assist when walking through rough terrain or fending off predators, that participates in powerful miracles.
Moses uses this staff to strike the rock from which water begins to gush out. It is a creative solution and one that most people would find hard to believe. A rock is a surprising resource. God also says, “I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.” Horeb is one of those sacred places that has a lot of meaning. The word Horeb loosely translates as “heat or Sun” and when we consider that they are in the wilderness of Sin, or the moon, this makes sense, but it was also at Horeb that Moses saw the burning bush. The people are on sacred ground where Moses first witnesses the creative presence and power of God. It is also the place where the Ten Commandments will be delivered. Therefore life is created in this place in many ways, through the gift of salvation, through the gift of water, through the gift of instruction, but most importantly through the gift of God’s presence.
There is a distinct lack of trust in this story because the Israelites forget, time and time again, that God has responded to their needs, but this is not unique to the Israelites. We often question, “is the Lord with us or not?” Or like the chief priests we question the authority of Christ’s teachings. Or like the two brothers we say one thing and do another. But the good news of the text in Exodus is that not only will God provide for the things we need but also that God accompanies us on these journeys of despair and doubt. The key is in knowing that God’s presence is manifested in vulnerability and creativity and through participation. One commentator posed the questions, “Who are those in our midst who thirst for water, who lack what they need to survive? What surprising resources will your landscape yield to meet those needs? On what rock is God standing in our midst?”
In a world where more communities are divided than unified, where we are constantly faced with the sense that God has abandoned us, or where natural disasters cause us to question God’s presence at all, a Sunday like today, World Communion Sunday, is a good way to see God in vulnerable, participatory and creative ways. When we come to this table we come as vulnerable human beings, knowing that we don’t deserve the grace that is symbolized in the bread and juice. This table is for those who love God a little and want to love God more, it is for those who come every time and for those who are new, it is for those who come with a clear conscious and for those with heavy concerns on their minds. It is for those who said they would do the work and didn’t and for those who said they wouldn’t but changed their minds. On World Communion Sunday we participate in this service with people across the globe. And in this communion we
recreate the ways in which God feeds our souls and quenches our thirst. Come and participate in the creative ways in which God provides for our needs. Amen