October 2, 2005 (Moses: On the Manna Diet)

The story begins with the people grumbling…not only their stomachs, but their souls as well. So they form a “Back to Egypt Committee” whose mantra is “Why’d you bring us out here…everything was so much better back in Egypt.” I guess just about every time the people of God begin to journey into an unknown future, they have to deal with the “Back to Egypt Committee,” a desire for the good old days. Well, God heard their grumblings and, lo and behold, God provided—quail for protein and a generous serving of “What-is-it?”

The word manna actually means, “What is it?” Every morning they would find this white, flaky stuff on the ground, look around and say, “What is it?” “Well, I don’t know what it is, but it’s all we’ve got.” So they ate the “what is it” and it sustained them for one more day. Miracle MRE’s, falling autumn leaves, overnight morels and mushrooms? Who knows? But there it was, every morning, manna for the journey, daily bread. It wasn’t much, but it was enough....

In a day of freeze-dried fast food, processed and pre-packaged, vacuum-packed and vitamin-enriched food, it is hard for us to get in touch with the basic necessity represented by the need for daily bread. For us, bread is an add-on, a compliment, something extra. But for the biblical people—and frankly, for most of the world today—bread represents the basic sustenance of life itself. The people of the Exodus understood and Jesus’ disciples would have understood. They knew how essential it was and they knew what it took,

and if the rains didn’t come, if the crops failed, if they didn’t do the hard work, there was no Kroger down the street or king-sized freezer in the kitchen waiting to meet their everyday need. They knew the bread was daily and their lives depended on it.

So Jesus invited his disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Daily manna…just enough.

In my files, I came across this mailing I received some years ago from the “Sweepstakes Prize Selection Department” of a certain magazine company. It was one of those computer-generated letters with my name and vital information inserted in the appropriate places:

Dear Mr. Harnish:

Has your family made plans for the last week in February? The reason is our grand prize winner will fly to Pleasantville, New York on February 26th to pick up a $50,000 check. It could be you.

Think of the looks on the faces of your neighbors if you drove down Grand Street in a brand new luxury car, which you paid for with cash. Or how would you like an around-the-world vacation with your pockets bulging with money?

Believe it or not, Mr. Harnish, all these lifelong dreams can come true in the next few weeks, if you mail in your computerized entry cards right now!

What an offer! You can have it all, including the envy of your neighbors! What a contrast to God’s promise of manna in the wilderness and the simplicity of Jesus’ petition—not for wealth and ego satisfaction, not the jealous pride of your neighbors. Rather, God provides the basic necessities of life. Daily manna, daily bread…just enough.

The context for Jesus’ prayer is found in this Sermon on the Mount:

Therefore, I tell you, don’t be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, but your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value then they?

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well. (Matthew 6:25-33)

So in the wilderness, the people acknowledged their total dependence on it…daily manna. And in his ministry, Jesus invites us to pray for it…daily bread.

It was just enough...

2. But it was enough for all.

Every morning there was manna sufficient for all their needs, manna for the people, manna enough for all.

Today, “World Communion Sunday” takes on incredible power in the light of all that has happened in the world since last we gathered at this world table. It has been a year of tsunamis in the Pacific and hurricanes in the South, continued war in Iraq and hunger in Africa, unemployment in Michigan and homelessness in our streets. And in the face of these seemingly insurmountable problems, “Bread for the World” reminds us that “Hunger is the one problem we actually can solve.”

Jeffrey Sachs is the director of the Millennium Fund of the United Nations—with the goal of ending extreme poverty by the year 2025. He says: “Two hundred years ago, the idea that we could potentially achieve the end of extreme poverty would have been unimaginable—just about everyone was poor.” (Jeffrey Sachs, The End of Poverty, page 26) But today he says it is actually possible that extreme poverty could be ended, not in the lifetime of our grandchildren, but in our time. It’s a vision of bread enough for all.

All that is lacking is the will to make it happen.

One of the best-known miracles of Jesus’ ministry is the feeding of the 5,000. Actually, the Gospel says there were 5,000 men, so it is safe to assume there were also women and children. It could have been twice that many people. The Gospel says Jesus took the gifts of one child—five loaves and three fishes—and fed the multitude.

Clearly one way to read the story is to believe that Jesus actually multiplied one kid’s Happy Meal into 5,000 box lunches. But another way to read it is to imagine that thousands of folks where hiding away their own little stashes of food, tucked into the folds of their robes and bottoms of their back packs. And when they saw the generosity of this one child in response to the call of Jesus, everyone opened their hearts and their hands and offered what they had to share, and there was enough for all.

Now tell me….which would be the greater miracle—the miracle of multiplication or the miracle of generosity?

When Jesus invites us to pray for bread, he does not invite us to pray: “Lord, give me this day my daily bread.” Instead, he invites us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Bread enough…for all.

Once again, as in response to the tsunami, United Methodists have been quick to respond to meet the needs of those in Louisiana and Mississippi. To date, United Methodists have given over $7 million to hurricane relief. But what about the ongoing needs of the food banks in our own metropolitan area? What about the grinding poverty of all-too-many nations in Africa? What about the homeless on our streets and the hungry in Haiti?

When we gather at this table in the spirit of Jesus, we are called to have a heart for the hungry of the world, to heal the hurts of the world, to share with the rest of the world this basic need of daily bread. And at the table of Jesus, there is bread enough for all.

The Exodus writer doesn’t include it, but my guess is there was another case of grumbling over the manna diet. On the first morning, going out to look for “what-is-it?”, there was lots of murmuring about whether this stuff was worth eating, whether it would fill their empty bellies, whether there would be enough to feed the crowd, whether it would show up the next day. Then some of the people got greedy and tried to hide and hoard it, only to find that overnight it turned to maggots and rotted in their pockets.

But when they were willing to trust God and to share with each other, they discovered that, in the end, there was plenty to go around and more.

Jesus’ lakeside fish fry began with just five loaves and three fishes, but even after they had all eaten their fill, the Gospel writer says they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. Imagine! Thousands of hungry people now fed from the generosity of one small boy—and not only were they fed, but they had food in abundance.

When we acknowledge our dependence upon God for the basic bread of life,
when we discover the miracle of generosity, the gift of breaking bread with others,
we too discover manna in abundance, more than enough.

I will never forget visiting Cardenas, Cuba, the town made famous by a poster child named Elian. In fact, while he was on the front page, we were in his town representing the Board of Higher Education and Ministry. We went to Cuba to meet with the leaders of the Methodist Church in Cuba and to support the seminary in the work of preparing pastors for the rapidly-growing Methodist Church—a church that was all but destroyed during the Revolution, but that today is thriving throughout the island. In Cardenas, the congregation was trying to repair the church building which was crumbling after years of neglect under the repression of the government. Before the evening worship service, the pastor’s wife prepared dinner. We sat the on the flat roof of their simple apartment just above the sanctuary, surrounded by broken concrete, with some sand and concrete gathered in an attempt at rebuilding. The only bathtub was there, on the roof, to be filled with buckets of water from the single tap.

And yet, they had worked all day to prepare a wonderful meal: an abundance of rice, chicken, vegetables, even dessert, and soft drinks for us, their guests, far beyond their regular meager meals. These were people who had so little, who survived week to week on meager rations from the government, usually getting by with meat only once or twice a week and few fresh vegetables. Yet on this night, they had gathered all they had to share with us—and it was their joy to share, and there was more than enough. It was a humbling experience of extravagant kindness and generosity. And as we broke bread on that rooftop that night, it was our bread, and it was his bread, and there was more than enough.