Last week we talked about the way God self-identified to Moses as the one who shall be as they shall be. We were encouraged to know that God hears us in our suffering and God acts with compassion – even though we may not always see it. More than that, God has given us one another to celebrate our joys and encourage one another in hardship, and we can give thanks to God for that, Amen?
It may seem like we’ve left some of the story out for those who are familiar with the story of the exodus of the people of God, and truly we have. I encourage you to go back and read the rest to see how it might speak to you through the Holy Spirit. As for our time together today, we have joined the Israelites in the wilderness. You might note that the text calls it the
“Wilderness of Sin,” but it just so happens it was named for a geographical region rather than a theological statement.
It might even be considered both, but I don’t think it was intentional except through the wit and wisdom of the Spirit of God. You see, the word sin has to do with a condition of separation from God, and it’s hard to think of a story in which God was closer to God’s people in the Old Testament. Still, the people were not sure of it.
Just like Little John in the story of Robin Hood when he thought he was drowning until he realized that he was in water shallow enough to stand in, the people were complaining about their newfound freedom because they thought they were at greater risk than they were in Egypt. Before we go too far with that, I want to note that there is some artwork with a “wilderness” theme that you might have noticed on your way in that is still leftover from Lent of 2020 which was when we went online for a little over a year.
Thanks be to God that we are back, and I am sure we will change those images out soon, but I have to admit that in some ways it feels like we’ve never left the wilderness. It feels like we’re still bumbling haphazardly toward Canan with controversy after controversy over mask mandates and vaccinations and supply chain shortages and gas prices and on and on and on…
I think that’s why the story of the Israelites wandering for a generation in the wilderness connects with us on a deep, emotional level. It’s like a theological version of the blues – music born from a struggle that sometimes makes us just feel good about feeling bad.
I’m not saying that feeling bad is a good way to live your life. I’m saying that sometimes we just need to recognize that life can be difficult, and I believe this is one of those stories from the Bible that helps us do that.
We can also get carried away with trying to figure out what the Manna was and how it got there (I’ve heard everything from evaporated mineral deposits to insect secretions, though neither of those sounds like they would taste like coriander and honey), but I would submit that the important thing to note is that God met them in their place of need and gave them what they needed to get by – their daily bread.
Where have I heard that before? Ah yes, the Lord’s Prayer! Every Sunday we ask for “our daily bread.” Have you ever thought about that in connection with the Manna of God? Have you ever thought about what it is that you need – not what you want but what you need – to get by?
A few Sundays ago we touched on John 15:7, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you,” and one of you mentioned how troubling that passage can be if it is seen as a marker of personal faith. “God, I prayed for my father to be healed, but my will must not have been aligned with yours. God, I prayed for that job, but my will must not have been aligned with yours.”
Unfortunately, but also providentially, our faith asks us to look at the long view, and our God promises Manna; our daily bread; what we need. In John 6, Jesus tells a hungry crowd that he can give them bread and drink that will keep them from hunger and thirst forever. They beg for it because they’ve just seen him perform miracles, and Jesus says they must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood and in verse 60 the people all say, “This teaching is too hard!”
They weren’t alone, as some thought that early converts were actually practicing cannibalism, and as weird as that sounds – try inviting someone of another faith, or a non-believer who has a keen mind for science, to church on a communion Sunday! I say that with a little sarcasm, but it would actually be a good and great thing to do as long as you are willing to talk with them afterward to see what they thought of the experience and of the language that we use when we talk about miracles like Manna and the new reality that comes from believing in Jesus as the “Bread of Life.”
The point that Jesus is making by calling himself the “Bread of Life” is to say that God still sees us in our distress and has already provided what we need. God doesn’t promise us rose gardens or special privileges. In fact, this same Jesus tells us in the Gospels according to Mark, Matthew, and Luke that anyone who wants to follow the way of Jesus must first pick up their cross to begin the journey.
Here’s the good news in that calling and the wonderful thing about the gift of Manna in our midst. Jesus tells us that the Manna that God provided for the Israelites sustained them in the wilderness and then no more. The promise that is fulfilled through our belief in Jesus as the Manna of God is that we are sustained in this present wilderness and in the life that is to come!
Even better than that is the promise of our daily bread! The promise of eternity lies right in our midst, and we do not have to wait to enjoy it or embrace it! The promise that is fulfilled in the Bread of Heaven that has come down is that we not only receive but can share it. We can not only be sustained by it, but we can also offer it to others! We can not only gather it for the day in which we need it, we can store it up in our hearts to be ready for that moment when we find ourselves deep in the wilderness.
In 1996 I found myself deep in the wilderness. I was unexpectedly divorced and getting my life back together, and my church embraced me. I had previously served as a Youth Director and returned a few years after, feeling much like a failure in every way. The Session decided to affirm my call to ministry and sent me to the Presbytery’s Committee on Preparation for Ministry. I filled out the forms and wrote my statements of faith and talked about how dependent on God’s grace I was. They approved me and gave me a mentor and started me on my way to theological study.
Meanwhile, I worked in a restaurant in which I had found a new community of friends, some of whom are still people I can call on today. During one of our shifts, we sometimes had to roll silverware. It was one of the ways we supported one another. There was one day in which I was feeling particularly in need of God’s grace, and as I was rolling the silverware in napkins I began to hear a memory of several thousand youth singing at so many Montreat Youth Conferences that I had attended in the past.
“Tell me, how far and how wide is the love of Christ? How far and how wide is the love of Jesus Christ?” It was like Manna. It was like living water. Believing on that day that God loved me, and everyone that ever sang that song, and everyone in that building, and every soul on the planet is a big part of why I am able to stand here with you. It wasn’t a particular conversion moment, but it was a moment that I can say that I received my daily bread!
What I want you to know is that, although we have a particular experience of receiving the presence of God in communion, there is Manna from God all around you all the time. More than that, God gave Manna to the Israelites to show that there is a God who is real and true and not conjured by idols but responsive to suffering. God established them as a covenant people to let all the world know that there is more to life than suffering and more to faith than what we can do. There is also what God has done and will do, for God is ever faithful to what God has promised.
In Jesus Christ, God expanded that covenant to include everyone, everywhere, and God has included us in God’s project of inclusion and restoration for all of God’s good and fallen creation!
As good as that sounds, I know that some of you are tired of this journey through the wilderness. I know that I am. I read a story recently about how tired the angels must have been after baking and preparing and scattering manna every day, and I thought it was a little silly.
As I think about it though, angles are just messengers of God. Perhaps that means that it is our task to pass out the Mannah just as we have received it – whether it’s in the form of peanut butter for the United Christian Outreach or faithful giving to support the ministries we share or just the basic human kindness of telling someone that they matter – this Mannah that we have received is for us to share.
There will always be more, and even though we may feel that we are in the wilderness, it is in the act of loving as we have been loved that we find we’ve already reached the promised land – and to God be the glory for that. Now and always. Amen!
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