Stay Close to Life-giving Waters

Q U I C K S C A N

Trees planted near running water
Back to Ezekiel’s river
And at the end of the Bible

My last E-spirations began with the “Vidi Aquam” and the water-sprinkling rite before Sunday Masses during the Easter season. We are now in the Easter season, when reminders of our Baptism and of redemption—won through the river of blood and water flowing from the side of Christ (see Jn 19:34)—are particularly meaningful. It’s a good time to follow up with more images of life-giving water found in the Bible—images that symbolize life, fertility, abundance, new birth, regeneration and resurrection.

These images start early in the Book of Genesis when God decided to plant a garden in Eden:  “A stream,” we are told, “was welling up out of the earth and was watering the surface of the ground” (2:6), a watering that would nurture “the tree of life in the middle of the garden” (2:9). The sacred writer quickly reinforces the importance of water in this garden: “A river rises in Eden to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches” (2:10). Among these four branches (or rivers) are included the Tigris and the Euphrates. It is there near the Persian Gulf (in present-day Iraq) where the richly-watered Garden of Eden is believed to have existed. This is where the Tigris and the Euphrates (and other streams) flowed together to form a single river.

Trees planted near running water

Water images appear frequently throughout the Bible. In Psalm 1, for example, we learn that that people who trust in God and delight in God’s law are like trees rooted near streams:  “Happy the man…who delights in the law of the Lord….
He is like a tree planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
  and whose leaves never fade” (1, 1-3).

The prophet Jeremiah takes this image of tree and water and expands on it in fruitful ways. But first he describes those who prefer the desert to land blessed by water:
 “Thus says the Lord:
Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,
  who seeks his strength in flesh,
  whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a barren bush in the desert
  that enjoys no change of season,
But stands in a lava waste,
  A salt and empty earth.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
  whose hope is in the Lord.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
  that stretched out its roots to the stream:
It fears not the heat when it comes,
  its leaves stay green;
In the year of drought it shows no distress,
  but still bears fruit” (17:5-8).

Back to Ezekiel’s river

Ezekiel’s river, as you recall, was flowing from the Temple, as if from the very presence of our saving God. It became a wonderful life-giving stream. I would like to return to a passage from Ezekiel quoted in my earlier E-spirations and to quote additional words which expand on the life-giving abundance and fertility of those waters. These words give us an “Easter feel” to the images:

“Wherever the waters flow,” writes Ezekiel, “every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish….Fishermen shall be standing along [the waters]…spreading their nets there. [The fish] shall be…very numerous….Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine” (47:9-13).

One can see some striking interconnections among these various scriptural images. You will notice, for example, the recurring images of trees and streams, including the “tree of life” and those flowing streams of water in the Garden of Eden. Note how the tree in Psalm 1 stands “near running water” and “yields its fruit in due season” and its “leaves never fade.” Those images pop up again in Ezekiel—and we’ll see them re-occur later in images from the Book of Revelation (quoted at the end of these E-spirations).

And what about those “abundant fish” and the fishermen “spreading their nets”? You might think again of the water flowing from the sanctuary of Jesus’ side, reminding us of Baptism and new life, which are associated with the Easter mysteries. The writer John, I’m sure, was aware of the connection between the water flowing from the Temple in Ezekiel’s vision and the Easter waters flowing from the side of Christ, that other Temple. Think of the Easter miracle of the wonderful catch of fish and the bulging nets of the Easter fishermen, found only in the Gospel of John, when the resurrected Jesus walks along the Sea of Galilee and tells his disciples to lower their nets. With Jesus’ resurrection, the messianic era has begun! We even see a hint of the messianic banquet in the bread and fish laid out on the charcoal fire, which Jesus, risen from the dead, prepares for his wide-eyed disciples as they gather about him.

And at the end of the Bible

In the Book of Revelation, near the very end of the Bible, the writer John wraps things up with a water image that is surely reminiscent of Ezekiel’s river and the water flowing from Christ, here represented by “the Lamb”:  “Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the street [of the new Jerusalem]. On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations” (22:1-2). The monthly yield of fruit, the trees on both sides of the river and the medicinal leaves are images of abundance and healing that come straight from Ezekiel.

If you have a chance to attend the water-sprinkling ritual on a Sunday during Easter or on other Sundays during the year (each Sunday, of course, reminds us of Easter), think of the water images we have discussed here and see yourself being sprinkled by the saving love of God. Remember Ezekiel’s river and the water flowing from the side of Christ, the waters of Baptism and the overflowing love of God. Give praise and thanks to God, and stay close always to the living waters!

Friar Jim’s Inbox

Readers respond to Friar Jim’s “Catechism Quiz: Hell”

Dear Friar Jim: I know that through God's grace we all can be forgiven of our sins if we choose to sincerely seek forgiveness. Can a person commit the unforgivable sins against the Spirit that Christ refers to in Mark 3 and Matthew 12 and never be forgiven? I have never fully understood the true meaning of what Christ was referring to in the sins against the Spirit. Bob

Dear Bob: The best way to think of the “unforgivable sin” is refusing forgiveness when it is offered. Even God cannot not forgive us against our will. But the reason it is unforgivable is because we refuse it, not because mercy is not offered. Friar Jim

Dear Friar Jim: I am 9 years old and my question is if there is no sadness in heaven, and if one of your family members dies and goes to hell, wouldn’t you be very, very sad? Kelli

Dear Kelli: This is indeed a very difficult thing that we cannot understand while on this earth. All we know is that when we are in heaven, we will be totally and completely united with God; if someone is in hell, even a loved one on this earth, we somehow will not be affected by that loss. Hopefully, none of our loved ones will be in hell. But if that should happen, it will not affect us. We can’t comprehend that, but it will be true.

Send your feedback to friarjack@americancatholic.org.

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