Live And Learn
Commentary
These three passages recognize that we all make mistakes -- and some of the mistakes could be disastrous. The question is whether we can learn from our mistakes. In Exodus we are reminded of God’s people’s lack of faith in the desert -- one that is perfectly understandable in a way. There’s no water in the desert. It’s easy to see why some of the people were sure they were going to die of thirst for lack of water. People who are very thirsty, very hungry, very afraid (like America post-9/11) don’t act rationally. Acting out of fear means we end up interning loyal American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. Acting out of fear means we demonize our Muslim neighbors after terrorist attacks by fanatics. The thing is -- these people in the desert had seen wonders that are hard to imagine: the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna in the desert. They had a past that might have sustained them in times of trouble. We too have a past as God’s people. We have the example of the saints and the martyrs of our past and those in our present. Despite this, many Christians believe Chicken Little that the sky is falling! The actions of the people in Exodus were memorialized in the Psalms so they would remember. We need to tell our stories so we remember: good stories, bad stories, and glorious stories.
We’re involved in a marathon, not a sprint. Paul, dictating this passage from Romans, shows that spiritual workouts, like physical workouts, create the stamina that will get us through tough times. There’s a logical buildup: suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us. Salvation by faith may happen in an instance, but endurance is necessary for the marathon we’re running, endurance will help us when we’re stuck in the desert without living water. That way we’ll actually learn and live: learn from our past mistakes and endure when we recognize that we’ve been here before and need to hold on just a little longer to get to a safe spiritual place.
The gospel story begins with thirst in a hot, dry, and hostile land. Jesus overcomes the barriers of gender, culture, and history. The kind of perspective that comes from good training helps Jesus turn the conversation from a rehash of old grievances to a story about living water and real life. Jesus is speaking to a woman who has made a lot of mistakes. She sees that the new life means moving past our mistakes to a better way of living.
Exodus 17:1-7
Once God’s people got past the Red Sea, it looked like they were home free! Everything was great. With all they’d been through -- the terror of the plagues, the escape from Egypt, the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea -- they should have been so grateful that the journey to the Promised Land should have been a cakewalk.
But the story of Massah and Meribah in Exodus 17:1-7 was not an isolated incident -- it was the third time they grumbled against Moses. They went so far as to suggest that God intended “to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst.” Despite their ingratitude, God’s response was to cause Moses to draw water from the rock. Isn’t this is our story? We, who among the peoples of the world have so much to be thankful for, are grumblings who mistrust and complain, in contrast to the endurance displayed by people around the world who have never shared our blessings.
This event was long remembered as a warning in scriptures like Psalm 81:7; 75:8; and Hebrews 3:8. God’s patience may seem inexhaustible, yet it might have limits.
Romans 5:1-11
Every four years there’s this ridiculous talk about how the winner of the 100 meter dash in the Olympics is the “World’s Fastest Man.” Ha! Show me the sprinter who could dash to the finish line after running five minute miles from the start to the finish of the marathon!
Enter the motivational speaker we call Paul. His words may seem trite, but that doesn’t make them any less true. The great masters of spiritual disciplines lived lives filled with troubles, not only from non-believers but also sometimes from religious authorities who felt threatened when God shared insight and wisdom. God’s grace was sufficient for them and will be sufficient for us. According to the apostle, struggles open up the door to the love of God, a love God expressed even when we were alienated from the divine, and which can lead to deeper relationship and stronger faith. Perhaps life’s struggles, like chicken soup, may well help, and certainly couldn’t hurt.
Don’t make the mistake of confusing a sprint with a marathon. Our lives are marathons of discipleship, requiring God’s grace as well as the growth that comes from learning from our past mistakes. The apostle Paul called upon the Romans to emulate the endurance of those who trained for the ancient Olympics. In our own lives suffering leads to endurance. No one would actively seek out such suffering, but it is a natural part of our lives. The lessons we learn when we have to push ourselves a little harder teach us, as Paul suggests, that we have it within us to endure past suffering, gaining character, as well as the assurance that with God’s help we’ll get through this. No, we don’t seek this kind of suffering -- but we grow through it.
John 4:5-42
This is as shocking a story as we can find in the New Testament. Why would Jesus allow himself to be seen speaking to a Samaritan woman? As a male in his society, Jesus should not be speaking to any woman anyway, but Jesus suggests he might take a drink from her jar, ignoring the rules of clean and unclean felt deeply on both sides of the Judean/Galilean-Samaritan divide.
. We already know there is something wrong with this woman. Women drew water together early in the day so that they could visit with each other, but this woman came at noon by herself, signaling that she is alienated from her community.
But having questioned his motivations in addressing her, the woman attempts to draw Jesus into the religious controversies that divided these two cultures, which were far more alike than they were different, suggesting that their shared ancestor Jacob belonged to her people and that this sacred well of Jacob’s belonged to her people by right.
Jesus won’t get drawn in. Instead he speaks of living water, and far from getting hung up on words (as Nicodemus did when he tried to puzzle out what it meant to be born again) is so taken by the concept of living water she convinces her whole village, from which she is estranged by her five marriages and current live-in boyfriend, that she is ready not only to receive this blessing literally but to accept Jesus as well.
Her dialogue differs from the grumbling at Meribah because she is willing to talk to Jesus eye to eye, instead of talking about God and God’s motivations for bringing them all the way out to the desert today. The passage includes one of the great I AM statements which pop up again and again in this gospel, in this case when Jesus insists that he is the messiah she has been looking for.
We’re involved in a marathon, not a sprint. Paul, dictating this passage from Romans, shows that spiritual workouts, like physical workouts, create the stamina that will get us through tough times. There’s a logical buildup: suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us. Salvation by faith may happen in an instance, but endurance is necessary for the marathon we’re running, endurance will help us when we’re stuck in the desert without living water. That way we’ll actually learn and live: learn from our past mistakes and endure when we recognize that we’ve been here before and need to hold on just a little longer to get to a safe spiritual place.
The gospel story begins with thirst in a hot, dry, and hostile land. Jesus overcomes the barriers of gender, culture, and history. The kind of perspective that comes from good training helps Jesus turn the conversation from a rehash of old grievances to a story about living water and real life. Jesus is speaking to a woman who has made a lot of mistakes. She sees that the new life means moving past our mistakes to a better way of living.
Exodus 17:1-7
Once God’s people got past the Red Sea, it looked like they were home free! Everything was great. With all they’d been through -- the terror of the plagues, the escape from Egypt, the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea -- they should have been so grateful that the journey to the Promised Land should have been a cakewalk.
But the story of Massah and Meribah in Exodus 17:1-7 was not an isolated incident -- it was the third time they grumbled against Moses. They went so far as to suggest that God intended “to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst.” Despite their ingratitude, God’s response was to cause Moses to draw water from the rock. Isn’t this is our story? We, who among the peoples of the world have so much to be thankful for, are grumblings who mistrust and complain, in contrast to the endurance displayed by people around the world who have never shared our blessings.
This event was long remembered as a warning in scriptures like Psalm 81:7; 75:8; and Hebrews 3:8. God’s patience may seem inexhaustible, yet it might have limits.
Romans 5:1-11
Every four years there’s this ridiculous talk about how the winner of the 100 meter dash in the Olympics is the “World’s Fastest Man.” Ha! Show me the sprinter who could dash to the finish line after running five minute miles from the start to the finish of the marathon!
Enter the motivational speaker we call Paul. His words may seem trite, but that doesn’t make them any less true. The great masters of spiritual disciplines lived lives filled with troubles, not only from non-believers but also sometimes from religious authorities who felt threatened when God shared insight and wisdom. God’s grace was sufficient for them and will be sufficient for us. According to the apostle, struggles open up the door to the love of God, a love God expressed even when we were alienated from the divine, and which can lead to deeper relationship and stronger faith. Perhaps life’s struggles, like chicken soup, may well help, and certainly couldn’t hurt.
Don’t make the mistake of confusing a sprint with a marathon. Our lives are marathons of discipleship, requiring God’s grace as well as the growth that comes from learning from our past mistakes. The apostle Paul called upon the Romans to emulate the endurance of those who trained for the ancient Olympics. In our own lives suffering leads to endurance. No one would actively seek out such suffering, but it is a natural part of our lives. The lessons we learn when we have to push ourselves a little harder teach us, as Paul suggests, that we have it within us to endure past suffering, gaining character, as well as the assurance that with God’s help we’ll get through this. No, we don’t seek this kind of suffering -- but we grow through it.
John 4:5-42
This is as shocking a story as we can find in the New Testament. Why would Jesus allow himself to be seen speaking to a Samaritan woman? As a male in his society, Jesus should not be speaking to any woman anyway, but Jesus suggests he might take a drink from her jar, ignoring the rules of clean and unclean felt deeply on both sides of the Judean/Galilean-Samaritan divide.
. We already know there is something wrong with this woman. Women drew water together early in the day so that they could visit with each other, but this woman came at noon by herself, signaling that she is alienated from her community.
But having questioned his motivations in addressing her, the woman attempts to draw Jesus into the religious controversies that divided these two cultures, which were far more alike than they were different, suggesting that their shared ancestor Jacob belonged to her people and that this sacred well of Jacob’s belonged to her people by right.
Jesus won’t get drawn in. Instead he speaks of living water, and far from getting hung up on words (as Nicodemus did when he tried to puzzle out what it meant to be born again) is so taken by the concept of living water she convinces her whole village, from which she is estranged by her five marriages and current live-in boyfriend, that she is ready not only to receive this blessing literally but to accept Jesus as well.
Her dialogue differs from the grumbling at Meribah because she is willing to talk to Jesus eye to eye, instead of talking about God and God’s motivations for bringing them all the way out to the desert today. The passage includes one of the great I AM statements which pop up again and again in this gospel, in this case when Jesus insists that he is the messiah she has been looking for.
