In today’s first reading we hear from the Prophet Ezekiel. It is from the end of his prophetic writings and there is a lot of “water under bridge” that has led to this amazing vision of a new temple being the source of restorative and living water, water that is so inevitable, so powerful, that even the Dead Sea valley will be restored. The language used echoes that of the story of creation from the Book of Genesis, which portrays paradise as a garden, rendered fruitful by a river flowing out of Eden and dividing into four branches, and which Yahweh visits daily (3:8). The imagery Ezekiel provides finds later echoes in the prophets Joel and Zechariah. Ezekiel’s vision of the stream also lives on in the NT. One may recognize a veiled allusion in Jesus’ words in John 7:38: “As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water,’” presumably as a life-giving agent of divine grace and blessing. There are other NT references for which the use of specific Greek words might connect to Ezekiel 47, but without doubt the clearest reference is found in the last book of Scripture:
Continue readingThe Lord is here
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In our Pentecost Sunday gospel, as noted in yesterday’s post, to the disciples gathered in the Upper Room on that first Easter evening Jesus first words were: “Peace be with you.” His second words were: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” His thirds words were “Receive the Holy Spirit.” What had been promised in many ways in John 13-17, is now fulfilled in the giving of the Spirit. It also marks a turning point in salvation history as a fulfillment of the prophets, not just that the Messiah would come, but that the Messiah would begin the eschaton, the final era when the Kingdom of God would become manifest – and the future become present.
Today’s 
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