MAKING A WAY
THROUGH THE SEA
The sea was seen
in ancient times as a hostile place. The Book of Revelations tells us a sign of
the ‘new heaven and new earth’ will be that ‘there will be no more sea’ (21:1).
But we have not got there yet and now we have to contend with the ‘sea’ of
hostile forces – not just in eye-catching Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar – but in our
own yard. The events – or non-events – of the 31st March in Zimbabwe
are yet one more reminder of the surrounding ‘sea’.
Yet, this week,
the readings kick off with a word from Isaiah, ‘the Lord made a way through the
sea.’ This reference to the Israelites crossing the Red Sea is constantly
evoked to explain baptism. Passing through water – people are still sometimes
baptised by ‘total immersion’ – is a sign of both entering a new community and
being liberated from the sin that ‘clings so closely’ (Heb. 12:1).
Carl Jung, the
psychiatrist, writing in the 1960s at the end of his life, says, ‘The world
into which we are born is brutal and cruel, and at the same time of divine
beauty. Which element we think outweighs the other, whether meaninglessness or
meaning, is a matter of temperament. If meaninglessness were absolutely
predominant, the meaningfulness of life would vanish to an increasing degree
... But that is – or seems to me – not the case. ... I cherish the anxious hope
that meaning will preponderate and win the battle.’
That is our hope
too. Lent is a time of hope. And Pope Francis has declared this year a Holy
Year of Hope. As we approach the climax of this season in Holy Week, we are
invited to see the opposites at work. On the one hand the world does seem at
times to have no meaning but just be an endlessly ‘brutal and cruel.’ Yet, on
the other, our baptism gives us hope that in the adverse experiences of our lives,
there is meaning.
The woman ‘caught
in adultery’ must have lost hope as they gathered their stones to throw at her.
Yet her life was given back to her as a pure unexpected gift. She was given a
way through the sea.
Our baptism is the
sign of our entry into a pilot community which, it if lives up to its mission,
gives a light to the world. In the oppressive environment of meaninglessness
which at times seems to overwhelm us, we can be the salt of the earth.
6 April 2025 Lent 5C Is 43:16-21 Phil 3:8-24 Jn
8:1-11
