From Hardened Hearts to Living Waters
March 7, 2024 - Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
Jer. 7:23-28; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; Luke 11:14-23
"Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, Where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works” (Psalm 95:8-9). The word “Massah” means “trial” and the word “Meribah” means “quarrel”. Meribah and Massah was a place where the people had no water to drink, quarrelled with Moses and put the Lord to the test (see Ex 17:1-7 and Num 20:1-13). These two words became household words for Israel's lack of trust in God and that is the main theme of the liturgy of the Word today.
The tragic thing about the generation of Moses is the fact that out of those who left Egypt, only two entered the promised land: Joshua and Caleb. The rest, including Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, died in the wilderness. Their constant disobedience and failure to trust the Lord prevented them from achieving the goal of their journey. The psalmist pleads with his generation to listen to the voice of the Lord and not to imitate their forefathers. In the book of Jeremiah, the Lord tells the prophet that the people would not listen to his message of warning and repentance. In the Gospel, a group of people accused Jesus of collaborating with Beelzebul, the prince of demons, and others demanded a sign from heaven.
"If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts" (Ps 95:8). Moses' generation heard the voice of God and yet they hardened their hearts. Jeremiah is instructed to tell the people: "This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction" (Jer. 7:28). And accusing Jesus of working miracles through the power of Beelzebul amounted to a sin against the Holy Spirit (see Mark 3:28-29).
At Massah and Meribah, Moses struck the rock and water flew from it that quenched the thirst of the Israelites. But, there is something harder than a rock, namely the human heart. In today's Gospel, Jesus liberated a man from the power of a mute spirit that did not allow him to praise the Lord. But, some hearing his voice hardened their hearts and slandered Jesus. Can their stony hearts be turned into the hearts of flesh?
St. Irenaeus of Lyon, the doctor of the Church said, “The glory of God is a person fully alive”. A stony heart can be transformed into a heart of flesh only through God's grace and the proclamation of the Gospel. In Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God has come upon us. He strikes our rocky hearts with His powerful word and the streams of living water gush out from our hearts allowing us to praise the Lord and serve others with love. The Gospel of Jesus Christ makes us fully alive.