Week of 4 Epiphany, Year Two
[Go to Mission St Clare for an online version of the Daily Office including today’s scripture readings.]
Today’s Readings for the Daily Office:
Psalms 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 (morning) // 73 (evening)
Genesis 24:1-27
Hebrews 12:3-11
John 7:1-13
In today’s first reading, the servant of Abraham knows that God’s love has been steadfast when someone meets a tremendous need. The servant has made a long journey with ten camels in order to fulfill a mission from Abraham: finding a wife for Abraham’s son Isaac. As the servant stands and waits by a well, he prays that when he asks a young woman to please give him a drink, she will offer him her jar and say, “Drink, and I will water your camels.” The servant says to God, “By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love.”
While it’s hard for many of us to connect with a story of sending a servant to fetch someone a wife, perhaps we can relate to a sense of cavernous need that God alone can fill. The servant comes to the well not only with his own thirst, but with ten thirsty camels. Camels are notorious for their ability to drink and store water, of course. When the servant sees Rebekah at the well, he asks to “sip a little water” from her jar. She offers him a drink and then says, “I will draw for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” Now that’s a lot of water.
Is there some deep need that we can ask God, in his steadfast love, to fill for us? It starts with anticipation, and then with asking for just a sip. Then, we may be surprised to find God and his servants willing to meet us where our deepest needs are, and to extend a love that touches them.
Lora Walsh blogs about taking risks and seeking grace at A Daily Scandal. She serves as curate of Grace Episcopal Church in Siloam Springs and assists with education, young adult ministry, and campus ministry at St. Paul’s in Fayetteville, Arkansas.