Year A: Third Sunday of Lent

First Reading: Exodus 17: 3-7

 The path to freedom is not an easy one. To be the leader of those on the path to freedom is even harder. If anything goes wrong - it is always seen as your fault.

Moses was challenged many times on the journey to the Promised Land - and today’s challenge is recorded because it links so well with the Gospel.

The Israelites are in the desert and have come up against the most fundamental problem - the lack of water there - and blamed Moses for bringing them to such a “God-forsaken” place.

God promises a sign - a sign that will be witnessed by the elders of Israel as a response to their putting the Lord to the test.

Moses follows God’s instructions and goes to the rock at Horeb and strikes it. There, before the gathered people, water flows - more than enough to quench their thirst.

The sign shows the people that God has not abandoned them and will provide for them - even drawing water from the most unpromising places.

It is an episode that is miraculous in itself - but again it is worth thinking about the responses of those who witnessed it. Was it something they tried to explain away? Or was the hardness of their own hearts melted - and the living water of faith in God allowed to flow?

What does it mean for me?

Waterlily Put yourself in the shoes of the witnesses and consider what it might mean for you.

Do we allow God to touch us -Christ to live within us - so that the wellsprings of grace flow - and never run dry?

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