Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "The Lord Is Among Us" 

Text: Exodus 17:1-7

These exotic locales are fine, I suppose, but they fail to capture the historical possibilities available to reality TV programs. Looking back over the length and breadth of human history, many great adventures of survival come to mind. Few survivor stories have stood the test of time as well as that of the "wilderness sojourn" related in chapters 15 through 18 of the Book of Exodus.

Just imagine going to Hollywood to pitch a program called "Survivor: The Wilderness of Sin." Catchy title, don’t you agree? And, instead of a mere $1,000,000, the prize is nothing short of "The Promised Land." Of course, part of the challenge is that the winner will not be declared for 40 years. . . . But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; instead, let’s back up just a bit to appreciate how to package the concept.

First, there would need to be a "prequel" mini-series. During the initial episode of this prequel, we would see the tribes of Israel in Egypt, suffering under Pharaoh’s harsh rule. The Lord would send Moses to Pharaoh, and the plagues would begin. First, there would be the plague of blood, then the plague of frogs and the plague of gnats, followed by the plague of flies, the plague on livestock, and the plague of boils. These would be followed by the plague of hail and the plague of locusts.

Just imagine the cliffhanger potential of the plague of darkness to carry the audience into the second night of the prequel – where we feature the Passover and the death of the firstborn.

On the third and final night of the prequel, the tribes of Israel would depart from Egypt. Accompanied by the pillars of Cloud and Fire, and led by Moses, the Israelites cross the sea, with a dramatic parting of the waters by Moses and his staff. In the final scene of the prequel, we witness the destruction of the pursuing Egyptian army as the waters close over them – accompanied in the background by Miriam and all the women of Israel, playing their tambourines and dancing to the tune, "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."

At this point, after the exodus from Egypt, the stage has been set for the amazing and miraculous reality experience called "Survivor: Wilderness of Sin." The first episode (Exodus 15:22-27) would involve making bitter water sweet, but as it does not appear in the Lectionary cycle, it will have to remain among the "lost" episodes of our series – of course, you will be able to see this episode on the DVD of the first season. Just be patient.

The second episode of this reality program would involve feeding the tribes — fortunately, this does not involve any "Fear Factor" grubs and insects!

For those you who missed that episode last week, here is a quick plot summary: the Israelites’ complained about starving during their journey through the wilderness of Sin. The Lord heard their complaints. Moses told the people that they would receive meat (quail) at twilight and bread (manna) in the morning. Thus filled, the people survived another crisis, sustained by the Lord.

The third episode – which we will see today – involves not food, but water. Here is the plot summary: now camped at a place called Rephidim, the Israelites quarrel with Moses and complain that there is no water to drink. Moses responds, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" (v.2b). The scriptures provide no direct answer to his questions. Nor does Moses – or the Lord – immediately provide water for the people to drink. So, it is not surprising that the people continue to thirst for water and keep up their complaints against Moses.

So Moses cries out to the Lord – and the Lord answers, instructing him to go to a certain rock at Horeb, a place known as "the mountain of God." Horeb was a sacred place where Moses once had encountered God in a burning bush (cf. Exodus 3). So, as commanded, Moses set off for Horeb, accompanied by some of the elders of the Israelite tribes.

Arriving at Horeb, how would Moses know which rock the Lord wanted him to find? No problem – the Lord would be standing there on the rock! Once he had located the rock, Moses was to strike the rock with the same staff with which he had struck the Nile – so that water would flow out of the rock and the people might drink.

The story goes on to relate that "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?" (vv. 6-7). Right here the story comes to an abrupt end, with viewers left to ponder this ultimate question – as we go to commercials and do the trailer for next week’s always popular episode – the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).

Viewing the wilderness sojourn as a "Survivor" series, and this specific miracle of "water from the rock" as a key episode in this reality series, may provide us with a new perspective on what the people of Israel – and their leader Moses – were going through in those ancient days. Without a doubt, this story demonstrates the centrality of their Lord in their survival.

But did you notice that the people had to do something about responding to the sustenance provided by God? First, Moses had to go some distance to get to the rock, and then he had to possess the proper tool and know how to use it in order to obtain the promised water. God certainly could have poured out water on the tribes of Israel where they were, but God didn’t chose the easy path. Moses had to take definitive action in order to bring forth the Lord’s gift of water from the rock. It is not enough to develop a plan; we must make it happen.

Of course, we must be careful in how we view this episode of "Survivor: The Wilderness of Sin." It is too simplistic to see God as a universal remote control device to be turned on and off according to our human needs. We ought not judge God by what we seek. Despite what some prosperity-oriented televangelists say, the reality of God does not necessarily correspond with our "pursuit of property." Spending and consuming to excess is not covered by the phrase in the Lord’s Prayer in which we pray "forgive us our debts…"

The reality of God in this story about "water from the rock" reminds us how God’s relation to humankind is expressed through nature. Imagine that Moses has just struck the rock and water gushes forth. What is the immediate challenge? Finding some way to get the water to the people or bringing the people to the water. The Book of Exodus is silent on this point, although some later rabbinic commentators adopted the view that Moses and the elders hauled this very special rock and its water back to the people – and then kept it with them for the whole period of forty years as the tribes of Israel wandered in the wilderness.

Let me push this point a bit harder. It seems to me that getting the "water from the rock" was meaningful only in the context of the people of Israel being thirsty. If they already had had plenty of water, they would have been complaining to Moses about their other problems – so Moses would not have gone to Horeb in the first place. The water became important only because it contributed in a very important way to the survival of the tribes of Israel during their wilderness sojourn.

Now, using this same reasoning, think about the recent Hurricanes called Katrina and Rita. What turned these weather events into natural disasters – and thus converted them into reality television programs through 24/7 coverage on CNN and The Weather Channel – is the presence of people in the path of these storms. Despite what some doomsday televangelists may say about these storms being God’s judgment against New Orleans’ "Big Easy" lifestyle, casino gambling along the Gulf Coast, and the general Sodom and Gomorrah qualities of contemporary American society, most reputable theologians would argue that Katrina and Rita are not evil per se.

We give human names to hurricanes, even though we do not name tornadoes or earthquakes. By the way, hurricane names are "retired" if a hurricane has been really big and destructive. According to NOAA, it’s like when a sports jersey or number is retired after a really great athlete leaves a sport.

In the end, however much we try to anthropomorphize hurricanes, the weather is just the weather. The ranking of hurricanes into categories – and then preparing for their consequences according to our measurement of their wind speed and atmospheric pressure – is a human folly, not God’s. The effects of hurricanes and other weather phenomena become "evil" only in the context of human decisions that place the poorest people at the greatest risk of death and destruction. Just take a good look at the full page illustration in this morning’s newspaper about the potential pattern of flooding along the Trinity River if a really big storm were to come to the Dallas area.

We human beings have created a way of life and built structures in such a manner that some folks are at much greater risk than others in the face of so-called natural disasters. It is no act of God that many of the poorest folks in our society live crowded into the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans – or into Dallas’s own, euphemistically named Cadillac Heights. It is no act of God that the poorest, the most infirm, and the most marginal were left behind in New Orleans. And it is no act of God that some persons went about looting and pillaging when the opportunities arose during the hurricanes.

Yet, even in the midst of disasters and their all too human consequences, God does get into the act. Especially in moments of great human suffering, God provides for us. Whether in the midst of a 40-year journey through the Wilderness of Sin or in the wake of Hurricanes named Katrina and Rita, we can cry out to the Lord – and receive answers to our prayers. These answers come less often through the formal programs instituted by governmental structures, and more often through the acts of willing individuals and concerned groups – even churches like our own.

In the end, the question to be taken away from "Survivor: The Wilderness of Sin" is simple and straightforward, "Is the Lord among us or not?" The preparation for, the experience of, and the aftermath following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita provide an equally simple and straightforward answer. Yes indeed, the Lord is among us.

Thanks be to God. Amen.