The Dead Sea is such a unique place. There simply is nothing like it on earth. On many of our pilgrimages to the Holy Land, we visit this extraordinary location to experience its unusual beach and mineral-rich waters in which one can only float because its salinity prevents sinking. The Bible calls it the Salt Sea, the Sea of the Arabah, the Eastern Sea, or simply the Sea. The Romans called it Lake Asphaltitus because of the asphalt that would sometimes bubble to the surface from below. The Egyptians used the asphalt in their embalming processes.
But that is not why it is called the “Dead” Sea. While the fresh water of the Jordan River flows into it from the north, and other fresh streams and wadis feed it from almost every other direction, the Dead Sea itself flows nowhere. It has no outlet and is therefore stagnant. On the other hand, in the ancient world and in the Bible, running or flowing fresh water was called “living water.”
If we are looking for signs of life, we might ask, “Does what is fresh and good flow through it? Or does it accumulate, go nowhere, and stagnate?” Jesus has given us living water (John 4:13-14). Does it continue to flow through us and into the world around us in live-giving ways? The Dead Sea is a challenging example for us to open the way for sharing the grace we have received.
There is no dead place that the grace of God cannot enliven. In fact, the prophet Ezekiel reveals to us that a day will come when even the Dead Sea will become fresh, life will teem in its waters, and fishermen will spread their nets from its shores (Ezekiel 47:8-11). With God, all things are possible. Trust God’s grace and be a presence in the world that proclaims life over death, and that demonstrates what it means fully to live.
