Every park in Chicago had a concrete water fountain, even the tiny Fellger Playlot where I could get a welcome drink on a hot summer day on my way to Grandma and Grandpa Szlavik’s home. It was just less than a mile to their apartment, but some days it felt like the Israelite’s 40-year journey through the wilderness.

A recurring theme in the story of the Exodus are the complaints of the Israelites about being thirsty. My favorite is Exodus 17:6 where Moses strikes a rock at the command of God and water gushes forth. That story is taken by Paul and given a Christian spiritual interpretation: “all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ,” (1 Corinthians 10:4).

Do you find Paul’s interpretation surprising in that it declares that Christ was with the Israelites? You won’t find that in the book of Exodus, but it is an essential Christian belief. God is always the Holy Trinity so the Father, Son and Spirit must have been with the people of Israel even if they didn’t understand that. Furthermore, the stores of the Hebrew Scripture and interpreted as pre-figuring Christianity. So in the passage Paul connects the Exodus to both baptism and communion.

I like the idea that Christ gives us spiritual refreshment. There are days when life seems like a pointless wandering in the wilderness. Christ gives us the nourishment we need in our life’s journey. I couldn’t get by without the life-giving water that is Christ,

Read John 4:13-14 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne