BUILDING ON THE ROCK


THURSDAY, EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 

Num 20:1-13; Ps 95:1-2,6-9; Mt 16:13-23

Accessing the Water from the Rock

The readings today challenge our understanding of faith in God and His Word. Faith is, in fact, a gift from God, for it is something beyond what we have seen or experienced in the past. We say this because of the difficulty of the children of Israel in believing in God. Do we not experience the same difficulty individually in our lives? How many times has God worked miracles in our lives? We are still slow in believing the word of God. Faith is a gift from God that enables us to see, relate to, and commune with God. We extend the reality of God through our faith and make him real in our ambiance. The scriptures say that the rock that followed the children of Israel through their journey is Jesus Christ; that is, the word of God. The rock was a sacrament of God’s presence and providence, in addition to the mysterious pillar of cloud and fire that guided them on the way. The children of Israel needed faith to draw water and other provisions from the enduring presence of God. They suffered various wants and needs because of their unbelief, which finds expression in their cries and attacks on Moses and Aaron. Do we understand that our verbal and physical attacks on one another are indications of our unbelief?

The children of Israel attacked Moses and Aaron because they saw these two as responsible for their perceived woes. Their lack of faith prevents them from seeing the sacramental role of these two in the assembly of the Lord. “There was no water for the community, and they were all united against Moses and Aaron. The people challenged Moses: ‘We would rather have died,’ they said, ‘as our brothers died before the Lord! Why did you bring the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, only to let us die here, ourselves and our cattle?” They recognised themselves as an assembly of the Lord but failed to believe in God's providence. What we need at any time of need is not crying or wailing, but a prayer to the Father of all providence. Moses and Aaron did exactly that. “Leaving the assembly, Moses and Aaron went to the door of the Tent of Meeting. They threw themselves face downward on the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.” The glory of the Lord appears to us only when we act in faith. When we act with the grace of God through our faith, we must give all the glory to him by acknowledging him. We must not arrogate the glory to ourselves. Lack of corresponding faith in doing God’s will was the sin of Moses and Aaron.

In the Gospel, our Lord made it clear that faith and the corresponding vision of God are gifts from God, which we must cherish, for our communion with God rests on these gifts. Peter’s interest and enthusiasm for the person of Christ earned him the gift, for we must be interested in the mysteries of God around us. “Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said, ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.” The Son does not build the House or the Church/assembly of God on what belongs to us or any man, but on the gift of faith he gives us. The gift transforms our human nature into a house of God. The human nature, endowed with faith in the word of God, cannot be defeated by the underworld. We, who are baptised in Jesus Christ, are the building blocks of the House of God. We must live by faith to be in constant communion with God and be able to sing his praise and glory. “Come, ring out our joy to the Lord; hail the rock who saves us. Let us come before him, giving thanks, with songs let us hail the Lord.” Jesus Christ, our rock of salvation, is present to us always through faith. Trials will come; let us not stop singing in faith to the Lord who saves.

Let us pray. Draw near to your servants, O Lord, and answer their prayers with unceasing kindness, that, for those who glory in you as their Creator and guide, you may restore what you have created and keep safe what you have restored. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.          

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