Passion Sunday, 2010

 Excerpts from the Passion Reading

•Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.”

•Pilate then said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death.”

•A third time Pilate said to them, “What evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death.”

•The other criminal rebuked the first and said, “…we are getting what we deserve for our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong.”

•When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.”

Jesus is your Paschal Lamb.

You all know that the term “Paschal lamb” refers to the Jewish Passover in Egypt where God instructed the Israelites to kill an unblemished lamb and put the blood of the lamb on the lintels of their doorposts. The angel of death would see the blood and ‘pass over’ that household. The Israelites were also instructed to make sure that every member of the household consumed at least a small portion of the roasted lamb.

From the long Gospel reading of the Passion, I pulled out the above passages that speak of the innocence of Jesus because the unblemished lamb of the original Passover was a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus, our paschal lamb, on the cross. Jesus went to the cross unblemished so his death could in no way be construed as just punishment. It was innocent blood that was spilled on our behalf. Because of our baptism where we die with Christ and because of our belief in Jesus, the blood of the lamb has marked our spiritual ‘lintels’. We are identified as God’s chosen, the ones who are saved from the power of sin and death.

The above parallels between the first Passover and the death of Jesus astoundingly show us that God was always thinking of our salvation from the beginning. But there are other parallels not often emphasized. Here are a few:

•According to the law, the Jews were to select their sacrificial lamb on the tenth day of the first month, four days before the actual sacrifice. According to John, Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth day of the first month. The people then acclaimed him as their Messiah. He became the 'Chosen Lamb' on the exact day the Passover lambs were traditionally chosen. 

•When Jesus and his disciples sat down for the Last Supper, (Seder) it was the beginning of the 14^th day of the first month (the biblical day begins at sunset). They were having their Seder meal early because Jesus knew that when the rest of the Jews were having their Seder meal, he would be dead and buried. At the last supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist. “This is my body…this is my blood…” All those who were present partook of a small portion of the sacrificial Lamb, Jesus.

•During the Passover, Jerusalem was filled with thousands upon thousands of Jews singing and reciting the traditional Hallel psalms (113-118).  Their voices would have been heard outside the city walls. While Jesus hung on the cross, those who were with him would have been able to hear phrases like, "The cords of death entangled me . . . I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, I pray, save my life!’… I kept my faith, even when I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted’… precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of his Righteous Ones . . . Open for me the Gates of Righteousness . . . The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone… Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

•When Jesus was nailed to the cross it was the third hour, the hour when the first male sacrificial lamb (the Tamid) was slain in the temple and its blood collected to sprinkle on the altar. When Jesus died, it was the ninth hour – the hour the rest of the sacrificial lambs chosen by Jewish families and communities were ritually slain in the temple.

•A ritual instruction for the preparation of the Passover lamb was that no bones be broken. After Jesus had died, the soldiers came and broke the bones of the two men on either side of him but when they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead and so they didn’t break his bones. Psalm 34:20 also states, “…taking care of every bone, the Lord will not let one be broken.”

In these modern times, we have difficulty relating to the idea of sacrifice. It seems so bloody and primitive. Surely all of us at one time or another, secretly or out loud, have wondered, “How could a loving God demand his ‘pound of flesh’ and send his son to die?” And right there is where the mistake is made. We envision God the Father in heaven sorrowfully watching his only son die on a cross. It was tough but it had to be done. “This hurts me more than it hurts you” type of thing. We forget that Jesus kept emphasizing to his disciples, “The Father and I are one” and, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”  Where was the Father when Jesus was on the cross? On the cross with him. The mystery of the oneness of the trinity means that because of his huge love for us God sent himself to die for us, to become the ‘once and for all’ sacrifice. There was no “You go and I’ll stay here and watch.” It was, “Let’s go and bring our children home.”

Throughout the Old Testament, God kept telling his people that burnt offerings and sacrifice were not what pleased him. What pleased him were love, mercy, compassion and humble hearts. So, why would he have created laws requiring sacrifice if it wasn’t what pleased him? Because God always works with his people within the capacity of their understanding. Having lived in Egypt for over 400 years, the Israelites were used to the idea of sacrifice to appease the gods. The Lord instituted very tight laws that specified what could be sacrificed: animals, birds and produce, etc. But not people. These ancient Israelites had been exposed to cultures where babies and virgins were regularly sacrificed to keep the gods happy and that seemed normal to them. God was moving them out of that kind of despicable idea of sacrifice and the perception that he could be that kind of God and as a young nation they needed strict laws to teach them the way to live morally upright lives, just as young children need very clear rules and standards to teach them the right way to live. But the people as a whole just could not get their heads around the idea that their inner hearts and the actions that come from a willing and loving spirit were what blessed God. They kept falling, just as we do today, into following the letter of the law. The "good" Jews were impeccable in their observance of the law, making the proper sacrifices, saying the proper prayers, observing the proper feast days but “their hearts are far from me,' says the Lord.” 

The death of himself, the unblemished lamb, on a cross was the end of useless ritual sacrifice, sacrifice that did nothing to really cleanse the heart. It was the beginning of a new relationship with God, a new covenant based on outrageous love, not on blind dead law.

“He died for your sins.” What does that mean?  I have an analogy that may give you some sense of what it means.

You mothers are going to particularly relate to this. How many times have you witnessed one of your children exposed to harsh or painful circumstances that tore your heart apart? Watching your baby scream when he got a needle…seeing another child bully your child…hearing your toddler cry inconsolably as you left her with a babysitter for the first time…watching your child get on a school bus for the first time, knowing he was scared to death…listening to your child tell you how the other girls made fun of her and excluded her from their group…seeing your child being benched in an important game…seeing your child fail an exam and being humiliated by the failure… These examples are the relatively minor experiences of childhood; I didn’t even get into the more critical experiences such as a serious illness, watching your child die, having a child with developmental problems or knowing your child has been in an accident, etc. I just want to evoke in you the memory of what it’s like to agonize for your child. Those of you who have not experienced motherhood may relate to seeing a partner in pain and anguish or a beloved pet suffering silently and unable to help itself anymore. The love that is felt is a love that would gladly substitute oneself to take on the suffering and relieve the other of the pain, the loneliness, the humiliation and especially the fear.

Jesus went to the cross with this exact same love. He died so you could live. Do you deserve that love? No, but that was never part of the equation. When you ache for your child, your partner, your pet, do you stop to think, “Does he or she deserve my love and my anguish?” You do not. True love does not keep score. True love, given the chance, rushes to the rescue and does whatever it can to save the one who is suffering. God suffered in your place. If sometimes you look at your circumstances and feel that you are still suffering terribly in spite of his sacrifice, it’s because you have no idea what kind of suffering you were really headed for: the suffering of death with no hope of resurrection and the suffering of living without the possibility of an intimate relationship with a loving God, a God who never lets go and who will do whatever it takes to rescue you and get you home.

Jesus became, for you, the second Adam, the second Moses, the New Covenant, your Way Out, the determined and stubborn Gardener of your growth and fruitfulness, your Ocean of pure, clean and enlivening Living Water, the illuminating Light in your heart, the Presence of God, your Resurrection and your Life - and he died as your Paschal Lamb.

Feel the love. Hold the Lamb. 

Fifth Sunday of Lent, 2010

Sunday, March 21^st, 2010

Third Scrutiny. John 11: 1- 45 Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.

Excerpt verses 17-27

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

If anyone asked you, “Do you believe in life after death?” your answer would be, “Absolutely!” That belief is a basic and foundational tenet of our Christian faith. As St. Paul said, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied,” (1 Corinthians 15:19) meaning that if Christ did not rise from the dead all our hopes and beliefs are pretty silly.

But what if someone asked you, “Do you believe in life before death?”

Life after death for most of us is a somewhat unreal far away concept, something that’s going to happen down the road sometime. There are times when the reality of death hits home such as when someone we love dies or when we have a close call, where death could have been the outcome. Unless we are very sick with a life threatening illness, most of us don’t live with the reality of death and resurrection on a daily basis.

In the gospel, Martha was facing the reality of death. When she met Jesus, like all of us when we find ourselves in very painful circumstances, she wanted to blame him. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died…” But, because of her relationship with Jesus, there was something within her that nudged her toward a further expression of her developing trust in him.  “But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”  She wasn’t setting the agenda and she wasn’t indicating that she expected Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead; she was just expressing her faith that he truly loved her and would be there for her and Mary no matter what. When Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again”, she didn’t assume he meant immediately. She thought he was talking about the belief the Pharisees held – and which she obviously held as well – that eventually everyone who had died would be resurrected.

Then Jesus said something to her that we need to pay close attention to. He said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’

Note that Jesus did not say, “I will be the Resurrection.” He said, “I AM the resurrection.” He had not gone to the cross and died yet; that was still in the future. He was telling her that right in that present moment he was her resurrection and life as well as Lazarus’s. He was saying to her that everyone who believes in him will live. Then he said that even if they die, they will live.  Death is not the prerequisite to Resurrected Life. Belief is. Resurrected Life is ours right now, if we believe. This is not a “somewhere down the road theology”. This is present moment, right now, every day of your life theology.

In last week’s gospel, Jesus told the healed blind man that he was the Light of the world. Then he asked the man, “Do you believe in me?”  In this week’s gospel, Jesus tells Martha that he is the Resurrection and the Life. Then he asks her, “Do you believe?” He knew Martha well. He knew what she believed and didn’t believe. So why did he ask her? Because Martha needed to speak it. She needed to look into his eyes and say, “Yes, Lord, I believe.” The blind man who was healed needed to look into Jesus’ eyes and say, “Lord, I believe.” Jesus once asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus didn’t need to hear what his disciples thought. The disciples needed to speak it.

You need to do that. Every day you need to take time to look at Jesus through the eyes of faith and say, “Today, Jesus, you are my Resurrection. Today you are my life.”

Paul says in Romans 6:3,4 and 8:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

… if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

We are called to live the resurrected life…before we die.

I found this wonderful quote by a Jewish scholar:

“The importance of all this (the resurrection) can not be adequately expressed in words. A dead Christ might have been a Teacher and Wonder-worker, and remembered and loved as such. But only a risen and Living Christ could be the Savior, the Life and the Life-Giver--and as such preached to all people. And of this most blessed truth we have the fullest and most unquestionable evidence.” (Alfred Edersheim, the British scholar and author of the last century. His book, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, was originally published in the 1880's and is still considered one of the most authoritative sources on the subject.)

All of us need to come back time and time again to this incredibly important basis of our whole faith and each one of us needs to ask the question, “Do I believe in Life before death? Am I daily seeking the One who will give me newness of life?” 

Jesus came to be the second Adam, the second Moses, the New Covenant, your Way Out, the determined and stubborn Gardener of your growth and fruitfulness, your Ocean of pure, clean and enlivening Living Water, the illuminating Light in your heart, the Presence of God, your Resurrection and your Life. 

Do you believe?

Fourth Sunday in Lent, 2010

March 14^th, 2010

Gospel Acclamation: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Excerpts from the Gospel, John 9: 1-41

Verse 5: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’

Verses 35 – 38: Jesus said (to the man healed of blindness), ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him.

Just to put these two excerpts in context for you: This is the gospel account of Jesus healing a blind man by making mud out of dirt and saliva, spreading it on the man’s eyes and then telling him to wash at the pool of Siloam. When the man did this his sight was restored. The Pharisees then interrogate the man and his parents to discover if he was actually blind in the first place and then who it was who dared to heal him on the Sabbath.

By saying he was the light of the world, Jesus was making an enormous claim. He was not just claiming to be one who was an extraordinarily good person or a sensitive prophet; he was establishing himself as the dwelling place of God and the Word of God. No wonder those Pharisees were incensed with him. To the Jews, fire and light indicated the holy and awesome presence of God.

We have been looking at Jesus as the second Moses so let’s look at a few places where fire and light were significant signs of God’s presence in Moses’ life. Last week, one of the first readings was about Moses and the burning bush. The fact that the bush was burning was not significant because dry bushes often spontaneously ignite in the heat of the desert. What caught Moses’ eye was that it was not being consumed. The fire, indeed, was the living presence of God and Moses was instructed to take off his sandals for he was standing on holy ground.

Another light filled indication of God’s presence in Exodus was a pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the wilderness. By day, it was a pillar of cloud (another indication of God’s presence) and at night a pillar of fire. God directed Moses and the people to build a Tent of Meeting or a tabernacle for his presence and when the pillar of cloud and fire rested on it, the people stayed where they were and when the cloud and fire moved on, the people moved on. So, the light not only signified God’s presence and blessing; it guided the people safely through the wilderness. 

Not only did the Jews associate light with the presence, leadership and living word of God but also with the coming of the promised Messiah.  The Jews were taught that the name of the Messiah would be “Light”. When Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World”, he was saying, “I am the Messiah.” There was no ambiguity in the Pharisees’ minds that that was his claim.

The coming of the Messiah, the Light, had enormous implications for the Jews. To them it meant they were to be saved from political bondage and be raised up as a free and victorious nation.  We know now that Jesus didn’t come to save us from the bondage of Roman domination; he came to save us from the bondage of brokenness and sin. These are all familiar concepts and they roll off the tongue almost glibly. What you need to determine is what does Jesus being the Light of the world mean for you personally, today, in the midst of your family concerns, challenging relationships, deep inner wounds, the anger you carry, frail physical health, career struggles, loneliness and way too many demands on your time and on your emotions? Where is the Light right now? Is his light a constant reality in your life? Do you believe in the Light?

One of the common hazards in the spiritual life is the slow shifting of heart knowledge into head knowledge. It happens so subtly that we’re not always aware that it is happening. Some of you may have had one or more deep encounters with Jesus sometime in your life, perhaps at a Cursillo, a Renewal weekend, a guided retreat or maybe at a mission in your parish. You may have had a small epiphany while listening to a homily or while reading a spiritual book. For a while, God or Jesus seemed close and very real and you felt his love and felt there were changes in yourself. But then other desires, struggles and difficulties arose in your life and that reality of God started to fade a little. Many of you may not be able to actually pinpoint any particular time when you’ve had an identifiable encounter with Jesus.  You were taught about Jesus, God and your Catholic faith and you believe it and try to live as good Catholics. Every time any of you go to Mass and recite the Creed, you definitely mean it but perhaps your heart isn’t really moved one way or another and there are probably lots of times when you recite it and can’t even remember doing so because your mind was elsewhere. 

This is natural and not a bad thing. God’s people are often called to walk without being spiritually stimulated or excited: ...for we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

But it is also true that it’s easy to forget that your heart needs the light of Christ and the living Word of God in order to see and grow. What you know intellectually, while helpful, doesn’t always shine brightly enough to illuminate, guide and feed your heart and spirit.

This is the reason I pulled out the second excerpt above. Jesus healed the blind man and this was wonderful for the man. He was probably floating on air with his sudden ability to see – so many possibilities and adventures in having sight awaited him. Eventually, though, sight would become less extraordinary to him. He would get used to living in the blessings of all that light and become less and less excited by it. He would know that he had been the recipient of a miracle and he would know that he had encountered a very special person in Jesus but he needed more. Jesus found him again and completed the healing. He asked the man, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” It was necessary for the man to say directly to Jesus, “Lord, I believe.” And then worship Jesus face to face. 

Saying “I believe in you, Jesus” and then worshipping him is often an act of the will and an act of sheer faith but are very necessary to “keeping the flame alive in your heart” as we are exhorted in the rite of baptism.  “I believe in you, Jesus. You are my Light.” are words your heart needs to speak and to hear – often. Don’t wait for Mass to say these words. Say them when you wake up, say them in the car, say them as you go about your daily work, say them before you go to sleep. Sometimes, as you say them, take a few seconds to decide what those words actually mean for you. Do they mean you are dependent on him to deal with every situation you face in a day and every person you encounter? Do they mean you want to follow him as closely as you possibly can because he is the loving light and without him, you are in the dark? What does it mean to you to be in the dark? How long have you been struggling in the dark without him? How close are you willing to stay to him? How often, outside of Mass, do you read and ponder on scripture so that your heart can exposed to the light of his Word? How much do you believe that he wants to be your light – your only light?

Jesus came then, to be the second Adam, the second Moses, the New Covenant, your Way Out, the determined and stubborn Gardener of your growth and fruitfulness, your Ocean of pure, clean and enlivening Living Water, the illuminating Light in your heart and the Presence of God.  In you and for you.

" But to you who give worship to my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; (Malachi 4:2)

Worship him now. Don’t ever stop.

Third Sunday in Lent, 2010

March 7th, 2010

(Excerpt from Luke 13: 1-9)

Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’
(Excerpt from John 4: 5-42.  First Scrutiny…story of Jesus and the woman at the well.)

Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’

The Gospel you hear this weekend will depend on whether there are catechumens in your parish. For the catechumens who have gone through the Rite of Election, this is a time of scrutiny, a time of self searching and repentance and a time to bring out, then strengthen all that is upright, strong, and good (from the RCIA Document). All Catholics are encouraged to engage in this time of scrutiny.

At first glance, the two Gospels from which I have taken excerpts are disparate in theme. What precedes the first excerpt above is Jesus sternly warning people that unless they repent they will suffer the same fate as some other Jews who were killed by Pilate or were killed when a tower fell on them.  In the second Gospel, Jesus is speaking to a Samaritan woman and offering her living water. He doesn’t warn her that unless she repents she will suffer death and punishment. He is gentle and compassionate in his interaction with her.

The Fruitless Fig Tree
The reason I pulled out the parable of the fig tree that bore no fruit is because of our natural propensity to hear condemnation and not hear the solution. It would be so easy to listen to that reading, squirm inside at the “hellfire and damnation Jesus” and miss what he was really saying to the people. The owner of the fig tree feels the tree is useless and wants to cut it down. But the gardener wants to work with the tree and fertilize it and bring it back to health. The gardener wouldn’t have suggested that if he thought it was a useless exercise. In this parable, Jesus is the determined Gardener. He was telling the people that, no matter who they were, they needed to repent. Just because some Jews suffered and died in different circumstances didn’t mean they were more sinful than the ones Jesus was talking to. Everyone is broken. As Paul says in Romans 3:23 “We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” In telling the parable of the fruitless fig tree, Jesus was saying that if they turned to him (repentance), he would be the one to heal them and make them fruitful in spite of the fact that they had all fallen short.

The emphasis and focus in Jesus’ mind was on repentance and forgiveness, not on the sins committed. This emphasis is actually part of the Jewish doctrine. The Talmud holds that a repentant sinner attains a more exalted spiritual eminence than one who has never sinned. Chew on that one for a while.

So, Jesus is the Gardener, the one who desires to tend and feed your roots and bring your dead branches back to life. Your responsibility is to turn to him with a true desire to be changed in mind and heart. You are called to allow the Gardener to do his job, a job that also entails delicate transplantation. He’s going to get you back to that garden if it kills him.

And it did kill him.

The Woman at the Well
Living water: a term we’ve heard so often that it has ceased to have great meaning in our lives. Perhaps, because water is generally so readily available to us, we forget the crucial value of water to all life. But even if we do have distinct memories of how hard it was once when the pipes froze or when there was a drought in our area and we had to be careful, these memories don’t always translate over to the spiritual life so that we can truly appreciate that Jesus came to earth in order to be Living Water for us.

Living water: the opposite of stagnant water. Living water: water that burbles and flows. Living water: water that pounds and shapes, tumbles and shakes; water that’s turbulent and alive, clear and clean. Water that not only sustains the life near it but, more importantly, sustains the life within it. We are meant to be within it, not just near it.

The way we experience sacramental water in church is a simple and easily understood sign of something that is, in reality, much more abundant and overwhelming. Jesus came to submerge us in unfathomable oceans of Living Water. Moses struck the rock as God instructed him and good water came gushing out of it. Jesus, the second Moses, didn’t just strike a rock – he became The Rock out of which water gushes for his parched people.  Jesus met the woman at the well of Jacob, a well, legend says, where water gushed to the very top and overflowed and people didn’t have to let their buckets down deep and work to draw it up. How appropriate that Jesus should speak of Living Water at this well.  

My husband and I love to walk by the ocean, preferably where the waves are rolling and pounding. When we lived close to the ocean, we made it a point to get there as often as we could and both of us always came away feeling refreshed and more relaxed. It was as if the ocean had the power to untie knots. Then I discovered that the ocean actually does have that power. It’s a scientific fact that bodies of moving water – storms, the ocean, rivers, waterfalls, fountains etc. – create negative ions and negative ions have the capacity to alleviate minor depression, relieve stress, improve immunity and are essential to high energy and a positive mood. If Jesus came to earth today and was speaking to us about himself, he might very well say, “I am the Negative Ion.”

O maybe, “I am that I Am Ion.”

A music ministry group I once sang with used to sing this wonderful song based on Psalm 46. There is a river, a great flowing river, and it makes glad the city of God. Broad are its waters, and deep are its voices. Its songs are of peace in the house of the Lord.  Also in psalm 46 it says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God!’  The gladness of the River of Living Water is easily missed as is the depth of its voices because it’s hard to stand still long enough to listen, long enough to say ‘Thank you for all that you are to me’, long enough to hear the voice of the Beloved call out, ‘You are my Beloved. Come, let me flow into, around, over and through you. Let me soak you in my love and forgiveness so that your branches will bear new life.” 

Sometimes you forget that you not only have complete permission to wade into his cleansing waters, but he invites you to come and jump in the deep end and get drenched. Very often his followers can be seen off to the side, scrubbing themselves, trying to get clean before they come to him, an activity which is pretty much equivalent to scrubbing layers of mud off with a damp toothbrush when he’s got torrents of water to do the job and do it completely. That’s why he’s there – to wash you and make you clean in his love. You can’t do the job. No one can, except him.

Jesus came, for you, to be the second Adam, the second Moses, the New Covenant, the Way Out, the determined and stubborn Gardener and your Ocean of pure, clean and enlivening Living Water.

What a God!