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Water from the rock | National Catholic journalist

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“Do not harden your hearts” (Psalm 95: 8).

Nm 20: 1-13; Matthew 16: 13-23

By associating the story of Moses in Meribah with Peter’s profession of faith in Caesarea Philippi, the Lectionary invites us to compare two key stories about leaders who were tested by the water of a rock.

In Numbers 20, the Israelites, who failed to enter Canaan, retreat into the wilderness and immediately resume complaining about the lack of water and blaming Moses for bringing them out of Egypt. The account is mysterious in that Moses apparently commits an unidentified breach of faith that will prevent him from leading the people to the Promised Land. Like Martin Luther King Jr, he will see it but will not get there himself until he is called to God.

Was it because Moses hit the rock twice, a sign of doubt or reluctance to follow God’s instructions, or was it another sin? We are not told, but his offense provides a parallel with Peter, who, despite his gracious view of Jesus as Christ, also failed in the test on the night Jesus was arrested and tried by the Sanhedrin.

Despite Moses’ failure, God’s promise to bring water out of the rock in the wilderness is fulfilled and the people are saved. Peter himself is the rock struck, not twice but three times, when he repeatedly denies even knowing his master, condemned to death and on his way to the cross. Peter’s failure, by the grace of God, will produce a baptism of tears that prepares him to lead the apostles in preaching God’s unlimited mercy to sinners.

Peter commits a humanly unforgivable sin by abandoning his dearest friend, someone he knew to be Christ, out of cowardice. Yet its failure becomes the rock and foundation of the church in revealing God’s unconditional forgiveness. Jesus rehabilitates Peter at the Sea of ​​Tiberias with a triple profession of faith and love. If Peter, our first pope, can be saved, anyone, even the worst sinner seeking God’s forgiveness and love, will never be rejected.

“If today you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts,” either by doubting God’s love for you, or by denying the same love to anyone who needs it.

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