water from the rock

"... Today’s reading - the story of the water coming from the rock in the wilderness - is a case in point. Taken only as a one-off literal event, it has very little to say to us. Once upon a time, several thousand years ago, the Israelite people got thirsty and disgruntled in the desert and, on instruction from God, Moses whacked a rock with a stick and fresh water came gushing out and the people lived happily ever after. So what? Often we have done nothing more with such stories than make them some kind of test of faith - do you believe that this miracle literally happened? Well, whether I do or whether I don’t, what difference will it make to the shape of my discipleship tomorrow? I’m willing to believe that it happened, but I’m not likely to be part of a thirsty tribe in the desert any time soon, and even if I am, there is no promise here that the same thing would happen again. So what are we to do with it?

Now this story from Exodus, this story of the water coming from the rock is using some symbols to make a similar point. The truths about God and us which are evident in this story continue to be true and evident in many situations, and that we can therefore see things here which hold true for us.

Is it not true that the Israelite people can symbolise us today in our tendency to point the finger at the community leaders as soon as we feel dry and undernourished? And isn’t it true that the wellsprings of spiritual nurture are bubbling away underneath us but we are often oblivious to them? And isn’t it true that God is always ready to provide more than enough to sustain us, but that often fail to either expect God to do anything or to ask God to do anything? Christ is the rock whose wounding becomes a source of life and spiritual hope for us, and that too is part of a pattern of the way God acts.

This story reminds us that even when everything seems hard and dry and inhospitable, those seeds or springs of love and grace are there, perhaps hidden beneath the surface, but ready to break through if we will prayerfully listen for the voice of God and discern which rock God is calling us to knock on and crack open."

http://www.laughingbird.net/SermonTexts/0429.html