Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 245

Once more he measured off a thousand,

but there was now a river through which I could not wade;

for the water had risen so high it had become a river

that could not be crossed except by swimming.

Sometimes, in my study of our faith, grace and religion, I notice that good is bad and bad is good. Or, to put it more traditionally, "Every cloud has a silver lining." The river our prophet Ezekiel could not swim was a flood of grace. If the first several crossings he managed by wading, he gave up when the water was over his head.

That happens in our spiritual life sometimes. The death of a loved one, the breakdown of one's health, bankruptcy, the loss of a job: any one of these might be a flood of grace but it feels like a disaster. The wader who attempts it might be tumbled in the turbulence and washed out to sea, even to the Dead Sea. At such time we cannot imagine that,

Wherever the river flows,

every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,

and there shall be abundant fish,

for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.

Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;

their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.

The surly fellow in today's gospel was caught up in an unexpected -- and apparently unwanted -- flood of grace. After thirty-eight years of malingering by the Pool of Siloam he was pretty content to watch life from the shore. He wanted no part in other people's drama, least of all in the Gospel. When Jesus asked if he wanted to be healed he could not answer with a simple yes, which would have afforded him immediate entrance. Instead he repeated an old, shopworn excuse. When he later had an opportunity to give grateful testimony to Jesus's mighty work, he collaborated with the Pharisees. Finally, Jesus dismissed him with an idle word of warning, "Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you." (He gave a similar warning to the woman caught in adultery, though he may have said it with more compassion for the plight of women.)

This man's infirmity might have been a blessing for him, an opening to the mystery of suffering with the Suffering Messiah. He might have known the blessing of being despised by Jesus's enemies, and the pleasure of companionship with his disciples. Carelessly, he squandered his moment just as he had wasted the last thirty-eight years.

Water is wonderful; water is dreadful. It can refresh; it can suffocate. Some people hate to bathe or shower and will not go swimming. Others delight in the cooling caress of water. I've met people who never drink it; others who drink only water.

Water is a primal substance, not unlike the grace of God. There is neither life nor renewal without it.