This has to be one of my favorite readings from Scripture. It is so easy to engage the imagination in seeing the trickle of water beginning to flow out of the sanctuary of the temple. Gradually, the trickle becomes a stream, becomes a creek, becomes a river of deep, fresh water. Along its banks it brings refreshment and life. Life springs up in the river and near it in an image of creation, the Garden of Eden before sin, the original paradise with no suffering and no death.
Now that we are past the middle of Lent, our minds will soon turn to Christ on the cross. And Saint John tells us that when the soldiers pierced the side of Jesus with a lance, "out flowed blood and water." Blood and water, the symbols of the Eucharist and Baptism flowing out of the heart of Christ.
Jesus Christ is the the Temple of God's grace and from His wounded side flows the trickle of water, that becomes a river. Everywhere that graced water flows, life springs up in the New Creation. It is the river of God's love and mercy that swallows up all sin and death restoring creation.
Put your imagination to good use and see the river, know its promise of freshness and life. That same water "flowing from the sanctuary" washed us at Baptism and springs up within us. God's forgiving grace brings us life and restores all creation, "world without end." Amen.
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