Proper 13, Year B
August 6, 2006
The Rev. Dena Cleaver-Bartholomew

Proper 13, Year B

It is summer:  the time of adventure, the time of travel, the time of family vacations.  These are the journeys that create lasting memories, along with groans and jokes.  How long will it be once we are all on our way before the complaining begins?  “I’m thirsty,”  “I’m hungry,” and the infamous “Are we there yet?”  A quick reading of the Old Testament text for today should make us feel right at home.  The Hebrew people had just left slavery in Egypt, rescued by God in the miracle of the Exodus, off on a great journey together when the people cried “I’m thirsty!”  God responded by providing them with water.  Then, in today’s reading, we hear “I’m hungry!”  God in turn gives them bread in the form of manna.  Thank goodness we get to skip the part about “I have to go to the bathroom.”  We know that the “Are we there yet?” lies ahead.  Considering that they will be wandering in the wilderness for forty years, we also know that the Hebrews are not going to like the answer to that one.  So here we are, remembering our own family trips, either recent or long ago, most of us completely unaware of just how much the journeys in our own lives run parallel to those of God’s people in the Bible.  Once we know some of the stories in the Bible we begin to see connections that give meaning to our own stories.  When we come to understand our lives, our selves, through God’s relationship with people as told in the Bible, then we realize we are not simply readers, but participants in those sacred stories.

The Hebrew people had just experienced God’s might in the plagues of Egypt, God’s compassion in rescuing them from a life of slavery, and God’s personal Presence standing between them and the attacking Egyptian army.  Just three days into their journey in the wilderness they began to complain.  Granted, one does indeed need water in the desert.  God meets that need.  Then, one month after the Exodus, the complaining began again, this time over food.  The perspective of the Hebrew people shows a marked shift, however, as their memories of their lives of slavery in Egypt grow rosy, at least concerning food:  “when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread….”  How soon they forget!  Despite signs, miracles, and the personal Presence of God, the grinding reality of life in the wilderness calls everything into question.  Miracles are well and good, but can they trust God to meet their everyday needs?  The answer is a resounding yes.  First, as the gathered congregation “looked toward the wilderness…the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.”  The Presence of God is still visibly with them and responsive to them.  The assurance of God’s Presence was followed by quail meat in the evening and the appearance of manna in the morning.  Manna, which means literally “What is it?” was in a way the first bread of the Presence, for it showed God’s daily Presence and response to human need. The manna was a sign that God is indeed trustworthy, yet it required trust on the part of the Hebrews as well.  Manna appeared each day and they were to gather only enough for that day or it spoiled.  On the sixth day they were to collect enough for two days, so that the seventh day would be a Sabbath, a day of rest.  Their dependence on the manna was a daily reminder of their dependence on God.  It was an excellent training ground for all other facets of life.

The Gospel reading for today echoes many of the same dynamics as those in the wilderness story.  The people had just witnessed a miracle of God at work in Jesus.  Yet Jesus perceives that they are following him because they are motivated by physical hunger more than faith.  While this may validate Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which would address one’s spiritual life only after one’s stomach, it does not please Jesus.  It appears that the people are so focused on the literal bread provided by Jesus that they have missed the miracle of its gift.  The great irony is that in requesting a sign of Jesus like one from Moses, they reference providing bread, which he just did.  Jesus tries to get them to move beyond the literal to the metaphorical level of understanding who he is and they are simply not getting it.  Rather like the old Abbott and Costello routine “Who’s on First,” Jesus is speaking on one level and they are responding on another.  It would be comical if it weren’t so important.  While the manna in the wilderness was the bread that reminded the people of God’s Presence; and the bread in the Temple was the bread made holy by God’s Presence; Jesus is the Bread of God’s Presence.  God has always been willing to meet our physical hunger and thirst, as shown in God’s provision of water, quail, and bread in the Exodus story and Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand in the Gospel.  But we are called to meet our deeper needs, the spiritual hunger and thirst that we try to fill with so many other things.  That deep hunger can only be filled by one thing.  Jesus said:  “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

When I was in southern California I served a parish in the Diocese of Los Angeles.  One year Mike, one of the youth group leaders with whom I worked, surprised me with a gift while we were at Diocesan Convention.  It was an apron he had seen on display at one of the many booths in convention hall.  It is bright red with white writing and artwork and it says “You are what you eat.”  Under the words is a drawing of the bread and wine from the Eucharist.  Never had I seen the two ideas paired so beautifully.  Where else but in a faithfully inspired apron would one prepare to feed both body and soul?  I have not seen another one like it since, but it always serves to remind me that since God is willing to address both needs, we are called to do likewise.  And if we truly are what we eat, then when we consume the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, we are indeed part of the Body of Christ.

How are we to respond to the Presence of Christ as we face our own challenges today?  Like the Hebrews, the people of St. Paul’s have been called into a journey which requires trust.  Not everything is going smoothly, or as expected.  Parts of this new reality have proved to be a challenge.  Grumbling and questioning is to be expected.  Yet daily we are called to remember God’s Presence and to respond in trust.  It could be as simple as praying for St. Paul’s each day, being faithful in attendance at worship, participating in the ministries of the church, and supporting the parish with your pledge.  Like gathering manna each day, what we do in return for what God has given us will shape us and our relationship with God.  The invitation is open; our response is required.   Jesus offers himself to sustain us on our way, if only we are willing to become a people who are what we eat.

Amen