18th Week, Thursday, August 5
Numbers
20:1-13 / Matthew 16:13-23
God blessed you greatly; You must keep his commandments
Henry Ward Beecher makes this observation. Suppose someone gave you a dish of sand mixed with iron filings. You look for the filings with your eyes and you comb for them with your fingers. But you can’t find them. Then you take a small magnet and draw it through the sand in the dish. Suddenly the magnet is covered with the filings. The ungrateful person is like our fingers combing the sand. The ungrateful person finds nothing in life to be thankful for. The grateful person, on the other hand, is like the sweeping through the sand. That person finds hundreds of things in life to be grateful for.***
Do we look
upon God's commandments as opportunities for expressing gratitude to him? "God
has two dwellings: one in heaven and the other in the meek and thankful heart. "
Izaak Walton
***
Massah and
Meribah, the names of the two places occur in prayers. Massah means temptation,
a test; Meribah, strife or contention. Twice God gave Moses the order to strike
the rock Moses struck the rock twice and water gushed in abundance [verse Ill.
The miracle was of special significance then. The people needed the water and
God gave it to them on both occasions - at the beginning of their march through
the desert and at the end, and he gave it to the whole assembly of the people.
They must know that their God is not only powerful, but kind. Paul sees in it
Christ: "The rock was Christ", he says (1 Corinthians 10.4), God
alone can satisfy the thirst of the people, not only the physical thirst but
the thirst of the soul. He alone is the source of living water. The water is
the word of God. It slakes our thirst and gives us freshness and vigour.
"The rock is Christ" means: he not only is the firm foundation, he is
not dry stone, but true source of the water that will be an inner spring,
always welling up for eternal life [John 4.14]
***
Water is a
necessity of life, highly appreciated particularly by men living in an arid
country, like the Jews, or as they experienced in the desert on their weary way
to the Promised Land. Water easily becomes the symbol of God, who is at the
same time both a firm, reliable rock and life-giving water. Faith in this rock
is demanded.
***
Between hunger and thirst, it may be difficult to say which will affect us more adversely. But in the desert, where life is becomes so thin and fragile, hunger and thirst are factors that will have to be seriously reckoned with.
In the 1st reading, the Israelites complained first of hunger. Then it is thirst. And in the desert, thirst can have devastating effects. As it had on the Israelites. And also on Moses and Aaron. In their disgust and resentment with the complaints of the rebellious Israelites, Moses taunted them before he struck the rock twice to make water flow from it. Moses had reached the limit of his tolerance and patience and had only harsh and heated words for the people.
In the gospel, we also heard of some harsh words from Jesus to Peter. But those harsh words of Jesus were not said in disgust or in resentment, but rather to emphasize His commitment to His saving mission, as well as a reminder to us that we should not be an obstacle to the ways of God. In life there will be occasions when the dryness in our throats is not caused by thirst. Rather it may be caused by people who make us frustrated and angry and we burn with bitterness within.
In that
fiery moment, our parched mouths may spew out something nasty, only to regret
it later. Let us always come to Jesus, and let the saving waters from His Heart
put out the fiery anger and bitterness in our hearts and heal us so that we can
be at peace with each other.
***
Jesus faces
his apostles with the question “Who am I?” Peter, in the name of all, professes
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, even though probably
there is no direct recognition here yet of his divinity, but rather of his
divine origin. After this “confession,” the Lord gives Peter his mission as
head of the apostolic college and of the Church. Now that they know who he is,
he can tell them also of his passion, death and resurrection. Yet, this seems
too much at that time: Peter protests. His faith is not strong enough. He
thinks still in human terms. We profess to know who Jesus is. But do we too not
think too often in merely human ways?
***
Prayer
Our living
God, we too profess that Jesus is your Son, that he came from you and went back
to you. We thank you for our faith that
we have received as a gift from you. But
forgive us when it becomes difficult for us always to follow Jesus on his way
of suffering and death, even though we believe that it is the way to glory. Help us to think and live in your way, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
