No Easter without first suffering
JOE MILLER JR.
Exodus 17:1-7 John 4:5-42

Joe Miller Jr. is pastor of First United Methodist Church in Newton.

How quickly the Israelites forgot everything that God had done for them. The Lord brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand; led them with a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night; parted the Red Sea; and fed them with manna and quail from heaven.

Yet, as soon as they got thirsty they berated Moses (again). In spite of the blessings they received from God, they still did not trust God. However, before we criticize the ancient Israelites too strenuously, we must realize that they are us.

It is our sinful human nature to ignore God when things are going well; to forget the many blessings that we have received; and to whine to him when things are going badly. If the Israelites were ungrateful, the Bible reminds us of what it is like to be human and what God is like. Rather than abandon these stiff-necked people, he actually provided them the water in spite of (not because of) their insolent behavior.

A hasty interpretation of this text might lead one to assume the opposite intentions of the writer; that is, "if you complain enough and demand something, God will supply your wants and needs." That reading is incorrect. God cannot be manipulated. God is God, and we are not. Yet, it is rare when an individual transcends our typical behavior of expecting God to serve us rather than the other way around. One such person was Franz Jagerstatter who was born in Austria in 1907.

Franz's parents were farmers and so poor that they could not afford a marriage ceremony. Franz was prepared to join a Catholic monastery but took care of the farm and his mother instead. He was a devout Roman Catholic who attempted to live up to his own religious conscience.

When the Nazis "unified" Austria, Franz was part of a minority who opposed them. He voted against unification, refused to contribute financially, refused Nazi farm aid, and openly criticized the so-called holy war being waged by the Third Reich.

He served God rather than expecting God to serve him. In 1943 he was ordered to report for military service in Hitler's army. He reported but refused to serve. He was incarcerated for five months and beheaded on August 9, 1943, for impeding the war effort. He left a wife and three children.

If God gave water to the Israelites in their plight, why wouldn't he intervene to save one who radically and totally served him?

Sometimes we realize that we serve a God who chose to come suffer with us rather than make our lives easier, safer, or more prosperous in a worldly sense. It is tempting to jump to the celebration of Easter morning without any thought given to the suffering of Christ. But we cannot get to Easter without going through the cross.

That is why we observe Lent as a time of somber evaluation of our own sinful lives, repentance, sacrifice, and prayerful reflection. Jesus suffered and died for us so that we might have life everlasting. As Jesus said to the woman at the well: "The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."