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Third Sunday of Lent - February 24, 2008 - Rev. Gary Strubel

In our opening Decalogue, the third commandment reads, "You shall not invoke with malice the name of the Lord your God." The more familiar one comes from Rite I, which reads, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." I prefer the latter because it suggests a more nuanced expression of the commandment, as we can both actively and passively take the Lord's name in vain. Invoking the Lord's name in vain denigrates prayer to express our doubt rather than our hope. It's sarcastic rather than sincere, in that we're blindly going through the motions, but expecting nothing to come out of it.

In our Old Testament reading, the Israelites are clearly disenchanted with their experience in the wilderness. The excitement of the initial blessing of deliverance has worn-off and the people are beginning to feel abandoned. For desert people, the presence of water symbolizes the presence of God. To have water is to be blessed by God, and to lack water is to be cursed by God. Thus, the people gang up on poor Moses demanding their blessing and the assurance of the presence of God. This is akin to using prayer as an ultimatum – if you're truly God and we are truly your people, then prove it. The Lord does indeed bless them with water, but the point of the story is clearly about their faithless demands rather than the blessing itself (a point that is echoed in our psalm).

In our New Testament reading, the same sense of faithlessness is present, though not as overt. This one regards the ancient antagonism between the Samaritans and the Israelites, who long ago parted ways over theological differences. Here we have the Samaritan woman drawing water from an ancient well, a symbol of past blessing, but a blessing that has long been absent with the people. They continue on with what they believe to be a faithful observance, yet they remain a despised people and they have resigned themselves to live as outcasts. They pray, but expect no answer.

Yet Jesus extends a call to accept "blessing" of living water. This living water is the presence of the Holy Spirit – the ability to recognize the present blessing and the presence of God in their midst. It's the prayer of hope. As an interesting aside, Jesus' own disciples appear to remain blind to this living water during this entire episode.

Often, our pain and frustration blind us to the presence of God in our midst. When we're sick, hospitalized, or down on our luck, we can easily and angrily tempt God in vain prayer. We demand healing and blessing. But we either do it as a proof for the existence of God, or we simply go through the motions expecting nothing – resigned to our misery.

Yet, God calls us to recognize his presence in the here and now. True, we are occasionally delivered from our dire straits, but a lot of times we're not. That doesn't mean that we aren't blessed -- just not in the way we demand it. The true blessing and power of Christ means that we will not be crushed by our present circumstances and allows us to recognize the blessing that are right in front of us.