God's Bread 1-26-14

Holy and most gracious God, we hear about your provision of bread for the Israelites and want to experience this for ourselves.  Let us open our minds, set free our presuppositions, and ready ourselves to see if we can hear what you are trying to say to us today.  Amen

            Let’s look at the story.  The Israelites are in the desert—having been freed from slavery under the Egyptians.  You’d think they would be happy little folks making the best of a life that had to be better than a life of slavery, torture, punishment and poverty.  But, no…we find them complaining about their lot, primarily the anticipated lack of food.  Our story says that the supplies were ‘beginning to run out’; it does not appear that they were hungry yet.  Nevertheless, we hear them cry out to Aaron and Moses, having lost the attitude of gratitude several weeks ago, “Why did you bring us out here to die of starvation?  At least, in Egypt we had food to eat.”  Ah, how quickly we forget the reality of what used to be when we become dissatisfied with the present.  I suspect we’ve all done it at some point.  Imagine how Moses must have felt.  From the burning bush to here, he had followed God’s voice.  And for what—a bunch of whiny, ungrateful  Israelites threatening him in the desert? 

            Let’s look at what Yahweh does next.  Instead of reprimanding the Israelites or Moses and Aaron for failing as leaders, God says, “I’ve heard your complaints.  So, here’s what’s going to happen:  tonight quail will fly in and you will eat your fill of meat.  After that, every morning, just as the dew is lifting, you will find the ground covered with a white substance.  Gather it and eat.  You will have plenty to eat.”  Then, God puts them to a test as God often did in the Old Testament.  “Only gather enough for the next day except on the sixth day when you gather for two days.”  The quail came and they ate.  Then the next morning, they got up with expectation and as soon as the dew evaporated, there was the white substance.  They asked ‘what is this’ which in Hebrew sounds very much like ‘manna’.  And, that’s how manna got its name.   They gathered it and it turns out that it tasted like crackers with honey.  Of course, some couldn’t resist, so, they took more than what they needed for the day and tried to hide it ‘just in case’.  In the morning, that horded supply was full of worms and was spoiled.  And, they ate fresh manna every day for 40 years.  While it is not in the Bible, there is an old Jewish legend that says that the manna could change tastes, so that if someone were craving salmon, it would taste like salmon.  If someone were craving chicken, it would taste like chicken.  Kinda like tofu, I guess.  No one knows if this is true, but it adds a nice touch.  Eating the same thing over and over (and that includes tofu for me) would have to get booo-ring!

            Let’s see what we can learn from this Old Testament story before we move to what Jesus said about God’s bread.  I think there are four lessons we can gather from this story.

1.      God does not only listen to us when we are praising or praying for others.  The Israelites were whiny, ungrateful, argumentative people about now.  Didn’t matter.  God listened anyway.  For me, this says that I don’t have to be any one way or in any one mood to be listened to by God—whatever God means to you.  I can be cranky, scared, tired, you get my drift, and God still listens.  This is good news for folks like us because we are often cranky, scared, and tired.

2.      We waste a lot of time worrying about what might happen instead of trusting God—the energy that flows through the universe to allow things to fall into place.  The Israelites still had supplies; indeed, they were beginning to run low, but they were not hungry.  Nevertheless, they spent valuable time complaining about what might come to be.  They had at least two options that would have been better.  One is obviously to trust God; two might have been to look around and see what they could do to help with the situation.  God must sigh when we do that ourselves.

3.      God will provide—maybe not what we are expecting, but God does provide.  Would the Israelites have preferred tables made heavy with all kinds of fruits, vegetables, meats and desserts?  Probably, but they came to understand that their needs could be met more simply.

4.      When God provides, not only should we be grateful, we should be willing to take only what we need.  Hoarding amounts of what God gives us rarely leads to a good outcome.  Gratitude includes trust, but this is hard for some of us to hear and believe.

Now, moving to our New Testament Lesson, I think we will find some real thought-provoking similarities in the story.  Jesus was talking with some of the people who had seen the miracle of the loaves and fishes.  They were awed by the miracle and they wanted to see some more.  Jesus says to them and to us, “you’ve missed the point again.  It’s not about physical food; it’s about spiritual food—food that will nourish you inside.  And that food comes from God”.  So, not unexpectedly, they wanted to know how to get in on God’s works.  Jesus said, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.”  Hmmm—let’s just say they were looking for something a little easier to get excited about than that.  We’ve got to remember at whom they were looking when they had that response.  Here was Jesus, barefoot, more than likely, dirty, homeless, with not a lot of what our young people call “street cred”.  They didn’t see God in Jesus; they wanted more proof.  So, they said something like, “Oh, come on, Jesus, give us a hint about what is really going on.  When we truly understand where you are trying to take us, we’ll make a commitment.  But, you need to show us what you can do, first!  Even Moses fed our ancestors with bread in the desert.  Our scriptures say it is so.”  Obviously, the people had misunderstood the purpose of manna—it was not just a physical manifestation of God’s providing hand, it was a spiritual bond between the Israelites and the Creator of the manna.

Jesus responded, “What is really important about that scripture has nothing to do with Moses giving your great-great-great-great-grandfather bread.  What is important is what is happening now.  God, your creator, is giving you the real Bread from heaven—right now, before your eyes.  I am that bread that gives life to the world”.  That seemed to change their minds,
“Give us that bread”, they said, “now and forever”.  Jesus said “I am the Bread of Life.  If you stand with me, you will never hunger or thirst again.  I am telling you this because you can’t seem to believe me even though you have seen what I am doing here.  But, that’s ok, because every person whom God intends to have stand with me will eventually come running to me.  And, once that happens, I will hold them tightly to me.  I came to earth specifically to follow the will of the One who sent me”.   

Where are we in the story?  We could be the Israelites or the ones asking Jesus for proof.  It’s the same character, really.  We are apprehensive—we’re in a Capital Campaign—will we raise enough money?  We’re trying to provide ministries—will enough people continue to come forward to that we can do what we say we do?  We’re not growing anymore—what’s up with that and what does God want us to do?  Our leaders aren’t perfect—really, where is God in that?  We’re doing it, most of us, at least.  If we admit to being human, we can admit that we are not trusting what God has planned.  The first paragraph of our middle reading really hit me between the eyes:  Freeman says, “Your place is the wilderness. The bread you eat falls from heaven. The basket you collect it in is your attitude.  Clutch your basket tight and your manna will have no place to rest. Open it up and look to the heavens and your basket will always be full”.   He chides us, pointing out that while we have today’s meal on the table, we spend our time and energy worrying about what is coming next.  Every day, God nourishes us, upholds us, calls to us.  Everything else in our lives is “but a cloud of interface” between us and God’s desire to give us all that we need.  Freeman admonishes us, “take your focus off the measured channels by which you receive and place your eyes on the Infinite Source of Giving”. 

This is where we are called to be in our Capital Campaign.  Focusing on the Infinite Source of Giving.  When we truly open our baskets and accept that which God through the universe want us to have, we will have enough for each day’s need.  Will we have enough to build a building immediately?  I don’t know; but, what I do know is that the only way we will ever find out is to trust the Source of all creation to show us where we are to be.  God will provide; I’m sure of it.  We must be ready to follow God’s timetable—be it fast or slow, obvious or not so much.  God calls us and we respond, “Feed us, God, and in that feeding, change us into who you designed us to be.  Amen and amen.