IMPRISONED SPLENDOR

Suggested Scripture Readings: Numbers 20: 1-20;
John 14: 1 – 14

Scripture Reference: NUMBERS 20: 11  Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.  (1)

This rock appears to be quite ordinary in every respect. It was just another large chunk of lifeless granite. It offered no relief, whatsoever, from the monotonous stretches of desert aridity, as far as the eye could see in every direction.
The landscape prompted a somewhat menacing suggestion of the Creator, who, having wearied of sharing lifelessness more uniformly throughout creation, had just left rocks and burning sand everywhere on this desert floor. Could this landscape veil an even more ominous fact?  Following unwittingly their self-acclaimed leader,  Moses, from Egypt to some ever-receding destiny, would not these travelers leave their fossilized remains on the desert floor, as one more stark reminder of the reward of foolhardiness?

It is not an entirely unknown phenomenon that humans often bear revealing evidence of the surroundings they experience, and the fortunes or misfortunes that reward them. Deprivation, here in this text, is the hallmark of the Hebrews’ present experience. Food and water are in dangerously short supply, and the daily vision of the lifeless desert does nothing to quench their thirst; to lessen their pangs of hunger or to provide an appropriate setting to talk about God! The ubiquitous whispers of death creep through their souls!

 I have observed the evidence of the environmental phenomenon on the faces of some of the residents of a large fishing community which I once served. Several sea disasters had left many families bereft of their loved ones. The pathos that follows such a disaster is captured forcefully in a poem by E.J. Pratt, a Newfoundland poet.

                    ”   Erosion” (1931)
“It took the sea a thousand years,
A thousand years to trace
The granite features of this cliff,
In crag and scarp and base.

It took the sea an hour one night,

An hour of storm to place
The sculpture of these granite seams
Upon a woman’s face.” (2)

Neither is it hard to imagine how vulnerable those Hebrews felt! What human resources can be mustered to meet the stark prospect of certain death, made visible by the stark nothingness of the desert!  Fearfully they turn to Moses, the leader of this expedition. ” Why did you not leave us alone, in Egypt?  Slaves, indeed we were there, but we were slaves who had food and water! There we had life, but here, there is nothing for us but certain death! You and your glib talk about ‘ God’ and a land of hope and promise somewhere ahead! What can even God do in the face of desert dryness? Tell us, Moses,  Can He reverse the onward march of death, towards us?”

Let’s face it with them! There are times when we do feel vulnerable, when we lift our eyes and behold the vast armies set to take us down, by mocking all the dreams that have kept us ardent in our search for our promise land. Then to “Talk” about God seems like adding insult to injury! The time for mere talk about God is past! Now the demand is, ” Show us the Father, and that alone will satisfy us, nothing less will do!”
In this day and age, we may be depending too much upon
‘ words’ alone.  It is why God decided,long ago, that Words are never enough!  And so ” THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US.” If words are not enough, and religious language fails to relieve the human dilemma, then what’s left? “From whence cometh our help?”

Continuing with the narrative of Moses and his Hebrew followers through the threatening desert of Zin, it bears witness to something reassuring, as well as to something awe-inspiring, in and of itself.

Further theologizing and philosophizing in answer to persistent arguments, are under ban by the Great Silencer, God Himself. Without further commentary, He commands,  ” Strike the rock, there in front of you, with the rod you have in your hand, which symbolizes My presence with you all!” Moses obeys. Forthwith there gushes life-saving water, as well as the gripping evidence that God’s resources are available to the obedient. Resources are available, even though the senses strenuously deny that possibility!
Do not ever suppose that God’s imprisoned splendor shown in this inanimate object, ends with this incident in ancient history. Even more relevant for us are the words of Jesus, in the New Testament, ” Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he also do; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” ( John 14: 12).  Words and deeds must never be divorced from the reality of the ” Imprisoned Splendor” of the Holy Spirit in the souls of those who call Him Lord. Be not surprised at the life-giving stream that results from a renewed connection to the “Imprisoned Splendor” in your life, waiting to flow forth, to bless the world. The only retardant to that life-giving flow is unbelief.  All attempts to do anything less, than wait upon the Lord for the fulfillment of His promise to produce through us His Life-giving water, are like pointing to a mirage in the death-ridden desert, as a way to satisfy the thirst of a dying person!

“For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”(3)

O God, of our awe-struck wonder,
Come ever closer to us now as, in this solitude, we seek to focus our shot-spanned attention upon ‘The Wonder Of It All”, as it pertains to You.
We wonder how it is possible that those same hands that formed the complex intricacies of this magnificent universe, took the time to create a baby’s smile, that fills a mother’s soul with love.

How is it possible that the clod of earth from which we are formed develops a personality and bears the likeness of God?

How is it possible that Your hands worked upon that same clod of earth turning it into ” A Temple Of The Living God?”

How can it possibly be, that even when the influences of this world turn that clod of earth into a heartless stone, You make sure that within there is a hidden splendor that will one day burst forth?

We praise You, O God, that with the tenderness and the patience that forever characterizes our Heavenly Father, You make Jesus available to be present with us. We experience all kinds of wonders. We are somewhat like children returning home from kindergarten after our first real encounter with life.  Keep us wondering and keep us curious to the end of our journey. Keep our faith in Jesus strong, for to such belong the Kingdom of God. Amen.

HYMN:  The Wonder Of It All  ( Click)

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. It is strongly recommended that a reading of both scriptures prior to the reading of the meditation be undertaken since  the story will enhance one’s understanding of the meditation

2. EROSION. poem by E.J. Pratt

      E.J. Pratt: Complete Poems. ed. Sandra Djwa and R.G. Moyles.     Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989.

3.’Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 414

4. PHOTO: MUSKRAT FALLS, Newfoundland And Labrador