Manna - Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
August 04, 2024
Have you ever been “hangry”? It’s that feeling of being irritable when
you’re hungry. That word is a
recent invention, but the feeling is as old as time itself, as we see in
today’s first lesson. The Israelites had
lost their patience and their hope because of the sacrifices and deprivations
they’d endured on their long journey from captivity in Egypt toward the
“promised land.” Things became so bad
that they wished they’d never left enslavement in Egypt, because at least there
they weren’t hungry.
Researchers have studied this
concept of being hangry. “[H]unger turns
up the dial on your anger in the face of a frustrating experience” because it
impacts our hormones and our brain processes. You see, our brains constantly monitor our bodies to ensure we’re in homeostasis,
which means a state of stability and normalcy. If the brain decides we’re out of homeostasis, it signals the body that
we have to shift some things. So if
you’re hungry, your body signals you to find food.1
But hunger for food isn’t
the only thing that upends our homeostasis. It also happens when we’re hungry for answers. When our way forward seems unclear, we feel overwhelmed,
tense, and vulnerable. Our body and
emotions go on high alert. That’s what’s
happening with the Israelites. The
hunger in their bellies is combining with the fear and insecurity in their
hearts, leading them to demand answers from God and their leader Moses.
God’s response was to “rain bread
from heaven” each day for the Israelites. It wasn’t bread like we’re used to eating. The Bible describes it as a flaky substance
on the ground that was so perplexing that the Israelites called it “manna,” a
Hebrew word that literally means “what is it?” Equally perplexing was that God only gave them enough for that day. The Israelites couldn’t stockpile it. They’d have to trust that each day, God would
provide a little daily miracle for them, and give them enough for their daily
needs: their “daily bread” as the familiar prayer goes.
We know what this feels like, right? We want to immediately see the full picture for
all the pressing issues in our lives. You meet someone and think you might fall in love. But how will it work out? You want to know now. You start school or a job. Will you be successful? Happy? You want to know now. You
face a health crisis or an issue raising the kids and it seems
overwhelming. How will it go? You want to know now. You think about a career change, moving, or
joining a new church, and the pathway forward is uncertain, foggy even. Are you heading in the right direction? You want to know now. It happens collectively too. Christians worry about the future of the Church. Americans worry about the future of our nation. How will it turn out? We want to know now. But most of the time, we only get enough
insight to get us through the present day. And that can be scary. It can
leave us, like the Israelites, demanding answers from God. And when we don’t get all the answers we
demand, it can distort the way we see ourselves and our circumstances.
A Benedictine monk tells the story of a man who
came across three stone masons chipping granite blocks. The first mason was unhappy. He recklessly pounded away and was frequently
distracted. When asked what he was
doing, he responded with irritation, “I’m hammering this dumb rock and I can’t
wait until my shift’s over and I can go home.”
A second mason, seemingly more interested in
his work, was chipping diligently. When
asked what he was doing, he answered, “I’m shaping this block of rock so
it can be used to construct a wall. It’s
not bad work, but I’ll be glad when it’s done.” A third mason carefully hammered his block, taking time occasionally to
stand back and admire his work. He
chipped off small pieces until satisfied it was the best he could offer. When questioned about his work, he
stopped, gazed skyward, and proclaimed with pride, “I’m building a cathedral where God will be worshiped.”2
This story illustrates that when we trust that there’s a bigger picture,
even if we can’t fully see it, our perspective and attitude changes in very
positive ways because we can then appreciate the importance of each individual
piece of life’s puzzle and how it all fits together. It adds meaning and value to each of those
moments and experiences in our lives that might otherwise seem disconnected,
irrelevant, and even annoying. So why
does God so often hold some of that information back from us?
I can’t fully answer that question for you, but I am reminded
that in John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I still have many things to say to you, but
you cannot bear them now.”3 I
can think of many experiences in my life personally and as a parent that I
thank God I didn’t know in advance were coming my way, because I’m not sure I
would’ve been able to handle the weight of that knowledge. I’m sure the same is true for you. Just imagine if you knew the exact day and
time when you will die. Perhaps for some
it’d be a consolation, but I fear that for most, that knowledge would hang over
us like an ominous storm cloud. And so I’ve
gradually come to see the manna of my life as a blessing and a grace, not a
frustration. I am like a child who must
be fed by God one tiny spoonful at a time, because if I get it all heaped on me
at once, I will choke.
So if it’s better for our overall wellbeing to only see what comes next
in bite-sized manna chunks, and if that’s the way God’s typically going to
relate to us whether we like it or not, how then do we make the most of
it? Sitting around grumbling about manna
didn’t do the Israelites any good, just like our grumbling about always wanting
to know the end from the beginning isn’t going to make our lives any better
either. In fact, that sort of grumbling
only makes life harder.
A famous author once quipped that “Writing a novel is like driving a car
at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the
whole trip that way.”4 That’s
also true for us. We don’t need to know
the whole story; we just need enough to take that next step forward. And that’s what God gives us. Last Sunday we heard the familiar story of
the Feeding of the 5,000. It illustrates
how God works with us. God takes the
crumbs of our faith and understanding and multiplies them to provide us what we
need. Yes, the Israelites didn’t like that
they could only gather enough manna for a single day, but it kept them fed,
alive, and pressing forward toward God’s ultimate blessing. On our pilgrim path, God is just as
trustworthy with us. You can rely
upon God’s promises.
So, can we be like the third stone mason and have faith that God is the
architect with the complete vision of how it all fits together? Isn’t that a better way to live? After all, no one wants to be “spiritually
hangry.” The key instead is to learn to trust in God, and trust that even when we can’t see it, God is building something big and beautiful in, with, and through us and
through all the little miracles that unfold in our lives every single day.
But trust doesn’t magically appear in the morning like that Old
Testament manna did. Trust requires time
and effort. And so, if your trust in God
has waned or maybe never really existed, now’s the time to invest the
effort. Keep showing up to worship. Pray. Sit quietly and just bask in God’s love the way you might bask in the
sun’s rays at the beach. Just be present
with God. Because the really good news
is that God is present with you. Every day. Especially when you come to this communion rail. But
we’ll talk more about that next Sunday. You have all the manna you need for today. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Sermon Text: Exodus 16:2-4. 9-15
Citations
1 https://www.nbcnews.com/better/pop-culture/science-behind-being-hangry-ncna887806
2 Adapted
from The Saint Vincent Oblate News, Vol. 77, No. 2
3 John
16:12.
4 Quote attributed to E.L. Doctorow
Copyright Rev. Scott E. Schul, 2024 All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
Gospel Text: John 6:24-35
24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples
were [beside the sea,] they themselves got into the boats and went to
Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25 When they found him on the
other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus
answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you
saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do
not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal
life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father
has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do
to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is
the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So
they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see
it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our
ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them
bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very
truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it
is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For
the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the
bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes
in me will never be thirsty.”
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