Day Twenty
The Rev. Kathi Johnson
Pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church,
Grand Prairie, Texas
Psalm 42
Ezekiel 47.1-12
Jude 17-25
I’m going to state the obvious here: sometimes too much water can be too much of a good thing.
I’m thinking of recent flooding in parts of Central Texas – an area that has, over recent years, seen widespread destructive drought. One big rain system comes in - and the earth is soaked, and then beyond soaked, and then flooded. Destruction of another kind sets in – the destruction that comes with too much water.
I have lived most of my life in flash flood country. As a kid, I walked through flooded streets – and once, over a flooded bridge (bad idea) – in Houston. Later, I learned how to drive in torrential rainfall. I also learned not to drive – at all, ever - on a roadway when I can’t tell how deep the water is.
I’m fascinated, therefore, by this reading, in which the narrator talks about the water rising around him. Notice there’s no real panic or concern – just a collection of observations about the water coming up to his ankles, and then his knees, and then his waist. Even when he comments on the water being impassable, he’s not really worried about it.
Actually, we find quite the opposite: there is joy in this abundance of water, flowing out from the Temple. There is a sense that Creation will be relieved because of this flow of living water. The seas that were once too salty for life will become places of abundant life – the fish will swim, the trees will grow, and there will be fruit on the trees for food and leaves for healing.
This is the vision Ezekiel has of life restored. Keep in mind that he has this vision while the people of Israel are living in exile. Their Temple? Gone. Their homeland? Distant. But here is Ezekiel, receiving visions of glory restored - of life restored – and sharing his visions with anyone who will listen to him.
Think about it for a minute – when do we need these types of visions? These visions of new life and healing – are they more important to us when everything is fine, and life is perking along with few problems? I don’t think so. I think these types of visions must be given to us when we are exiled, or isolated, or frustrated beyond belief, or punctured by deep grief. These are the times when glorious visions of new life are most needed because these are the times when hope is so very important.
Hope can be so elusive to us, which may be part of why Paul includes it in this glorious section of Romans 5: “…suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Hope doesn’t disappoint us, Paul says, and yet sometimes, I kind of want hope to shove off. Because Paul really nails it here – hope is born in circumstances that are less than ideal.
But hope is relentless, too. Much like those flood waters or like the love of God itself, hope just keeps on coming. We are people of hope. We are people of great hope, because God has given us not just a vision of new life, but new life itself. We are the trees planted by the river of living water. We are the ones called to bear fruit and offer healing.
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O God of new life, we thank you for visions of hope during times of trial. Help us to live our lives full of hope, so that we may reach others with your love and healing. Amen.
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