this week was a bit of a struggle. Using this text to discuss our own unhappy relationships was a bit of a stretch as the text was about a group of people (Israelites) being unhappy with Moses and God. Next week is also about broken relationships, which must have made sense on the day I laid out the sermon series, but did not make as much sense as I worked on unhappy relationships while not using material for broken relationships. I wish I had a redo on the sermon series outline process!
“Unhappy Partners” March 19, 2023 ; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp; Exodus 17: 1-7; Lenten 2023 series
Exodus 17: 1-7 10 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2The people quarrelled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ 3But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ 4So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ 5The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’
Introduction: Milton Brasher-Cunningham in his blog don’teatalone, describe life in the wilderness for God’s people.
Life for the Hebrew people was a mixed bag after they left Egypt. They were no longer enslaved, which was great, but they were nomads. They had no home, no place to go. They lived in the desert, so food was not easy to find. Yes, God sent manna from heaven every morning, but God sent manna from heaven EVERY morning. The menu didn’t change. Life didn’t seem to be changing. Whatever was coming next never seemed to arrive. (https://donteatalone.com/communion/lenten-journal-snakes-on-a-plain-2; March 11, 2018; blog don’teatalone,; Milton Brasher-Cunnigham)
This time in the wilderness is such a good time that Moses will name the place Massah and Meribah, which mean quarrel and test, because the Israelites quarreled and test the Lord.
Instead of bonding together over the wilderness experience their relationships were fraying.
they were unhappy with each other;
they are unhappy with Moses;
and they are unhappy with God.
Perhaps you know what it is like to be unhappy;
unhappy with the people with whom you are traveling through your life (literally and figuratively);
unhappy with life’s circumstances;
unhappy with someone or something, and you’re not even sure why.
We have frayed relationships - the orange fabric square you have this morning has a sheared edge;
as you touch or look at the ragged edge, perhaps you can imagine some of the ragged edges in your relationships that make you unhappy.
If you are at home, perhaps when you color in the orange, do it in jagged strokes.
The color orange - well, we needed the color orange for our art piece; maybe you can see it as a blend of red and yellow and be reminded of how we are bounded together in our relationships.
As we reflect on the story of unhappiness among the Israelites in the wilderness, perhaps you may have some insights for your own relationships.
Move 1: the fraying of relationships often takes place over time.
a. Not the first time the Israelites have been frustrated, mad at Moses, and maybe God.
1. In fact, This is not the first time the Israelites have lacked for water.
2. The first time, they had been in the wilderness for three days (Exodus 15:22). When they arrived at Marah, they found the water there undrinkable on account of its bitterness.
3. After the people complained, Moses called out to God and God provided a piece of wood, which, when thrown into the water made it sweet and potable (15:23-25a).(https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-26/commentary-on-exodus-171-7-2; Amy Erickson, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible Illiff School of Theology Denver, Colo.)
4. Here they are again - looking for water and getting cranky.
4. Unhappiness can build over time. Not one thing, but a series of things.
b. We might also notice the Israelites’ unhappiness over not having water despite the fact they know this problem is solvable.
1. Did not seem to matter that they had worked things out previously.
2. they had needed water before, and God had provided.
3. Surely God will provide again. no need to quarrel and test.
2. But they do. their unhappiness spills over.
Move 2: Often, the unhappiness we have is really about something else.
a. The Israelites say give us some water to drink.
1. Fair request.
2. Straight forward.
3. A request that had been taken care of previously.
b. But notice - Moses interprets the people’s concern about water as something more.
1. Apparently unfazed by the lack of water himself, Moses accuses the people of testing Yahweh: “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?” (17:2).(https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-26/commentary-on-exodus-171-7-2; Amy Erickson, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible Illiff School of Theology Denver, Colo.)
2. Moses has the insight that the unhappiness in the moment is about more than just water.
3. Parenting class years ago.
3. psychologist suggested we track when we got the angriest with our kids and when we seemed to not get angry.
4. Write down what your child did
write down what was going on that day in the parent’s life
write down the reaction you had as a parent.
Kind of interesting journal entries.
5. She suggested we might find that the angriest reactions would be more closely connected to when the parent was having a bad day than what the child was doing.
6. The anger in the moment had been building before the moment the anger was expressed.
c. Perhaps the water was not the root cause of their unhappiness in the wilderness.
1. Perhaps they feared that God would abandon them.
2. Or, they were concerned that their time in the wilderness would go on forever.
3. Maybe they were tired of being nomads.
4. perhaps this transformation process of becoming faithful people who trust in God was taking a toll on the Israelites.
5. As Moses hears their complaining, he knows it is about more than the water.
our unhappiness is often about more than the last thing that happened.
Move 3: To move forward and do the work of reclaiming happier times often requires risk and vulnerability.
a. We see this first in how Moses responds.
1. When God tells Moses “go on ahead of the people” (Exodus 17:5), the Hebrew verb is ‘br, “to cross over”, followed by the preposition liphnê, literally “to or before the face of.”
2.That is, Moses must cross in front of the people, and in so doing become vulnerable to their anger, fear, and insistence. In so doing he will also see the need that is written upon their bodies and in their faces, and he will have to confront and respond to the magnitude of their thirst. (Anathea Portier-Young, Associate Professor of Old Testament Duke University Divinity School, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-exodus-171-7-11)
b. to shift from our unhappiness might require us to be vulnerable with the person or persons with whom we are unhappy.
1. Acknowledge our own participation.
2. Be willing to give up some of ourselves to be in right relationship with others.
c. And it is not just Moses, but other leaders as well.
1. Moses is instructed to take with him some of the elders.
2. More than one party is involved in the unhappy situation.
2. More than one party is involved in dealing with unhappiness.
3. In other words, it is not just about what someone else needs to do.
4. About what we need to do.
5. Building strong relationships means recognizing our own complicity in what has caused the unhappiness.
6. We are in this together;
our unhappiness impacts more than just our own lives.
working through our unhappiness requires doing it together.
Move 3:And then there is the staff
a. Moses’ staff - the charm we gave our young disciples today to remember this story.
1. Presumably, it is the same staff Moses had in his hand when he first met God (Exodus 4:2).
2. In some ways, an ordinary object.
3. the support Moses used to keep his footing sure and his body upright, the weapon he could use to defend sheep—or himself—against attackers.
4. but, God turned it into an object of power through which Moses would work wonders in Egypt and part the sea to lead God’s people to freedom (Exodus 14:16).
3. With this staff a landscape could be transformed.
4. Earlier in Exodus, The staff set in motion thunder, hail, fire, and wind (Exodus 9:23, Exodus 10:13).
5. When Moses is standing before the Red Sea, he raises his staff and the waters part so the Israelites can pass through.
5. At Massah and Meribah, it will bring much-needed water out of the rock.
6. in the staff, we see God’s desire to give the Israelites what they need. (Anathea Portier-Young, Associate Professor of Old Testament Duke University Divinity School, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-exodus-171-7-11)
b. in the ordinary ways of our lives, God is at work, calling us to right relationship, guiding us through our unhappiness in our lives.
Conclusion: The people asked, “Is the Lord among us or not?” they discovered the answer in the God at work in their lives leading them from unhappiness to right relationship.
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