Sunday 1 October 2017
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Exodus 17:1-7 (NRSV)
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
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It's a good thing I'm not God. Just reading these passages week after week as of late makes me shake my head in frustration. The people grumble against Moses and Aaron and God so much they become like the joke of the comedian of our day who talks about someone stuck in the shower endlessly because the directions on the bottle say "rinse, lather, repeat" but no direction to "get out and try it again tomorrow."
In spite of their behavior, God continues to provide for them. And with each passing time we wonder if maybe at last they will no more grumble but rather have confidence that God will provide all that is needful. Somewhere in that hope, of course, we need to embody these people and that hope. We don't hear this in order to make fun of our spiritual ancestors. This is intended to show us that God does always provide, and that we need not grumble, but rather trust in God.
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Fr. Timothy Alleman
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