Hunger

Exodus 16: 2-15, OT page 62-63 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we, that you complain against us?” And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him – what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the Lord.” Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’” And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. Sermon “When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”” This phrase is a difficult one to translate from Hebrew, especially if you grew up going to Sunday School and think of this story as the story of how the Lord provided manna from heaven, because the word “manna” in Hebrew simply means “what is it.” They didn’t have a name for it and so they named the flakey substance that preserved their lives and filled their bellies in the wilderness “what is it” because they didn’t know what else to call it. And we don’t always know what to call it either. There’s a story about Bill Sutter’s sister. When she got word of her brother’s sudden death, she immediately went to the airport. She could have waited to fly with her husband and children but decided she had to be in Columbia as soon as possible even though that meant going through metal detectors and luggage inspections all by herself with no one to share her grief. She boarded a plane barely holding her emotions in, she was just about to fall apart but didn’t want to break down surrounded by complete strangers so she kept a stiff lip and suffered in silence all alone. Somehow or another she revealed to the woman next to her that she was flying to Columbia, TN for her brothers funeral – and that’s when our own Nicole Stallcup’s mouth fell open, amazed by who sat down next to her. Of all the planes, of all the passengers, of all the seats – Bill’s sister sat down next to Nicole Stallcup, member of this church and friend of Bill’s family, and so his sister had a shoulder to cry on during one of the hardest flights a person ever has to take. Now what do you call that? A gift, a gift from God, but surely a shoulder to cry on is not what she would have wished for had she just one wish. “What is it” they asked, for they did not know what it was. Now the Lord had delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh, led them by the hand out of Egypt, and then when the chariots and chariot drivers charged to their heels the Lord divided the sea and they walked through on dry land. But when they were hungry they wanted something familiar and they longed to go back to what they knew. So they called it “manna” or “what is it” because it preserved their life and satisfied their physical hunger but when it came down to preserving their faith and satisfying their need to see God at work in their lives, still they had trouble connecting the dots because the Lord responded to their cry but not by giving them what they asked for exactly. Which reminds me of our friend John Hill who once gave a homeless man who was missing several teeth an apple. Rather than saying thank you he looked that apple over and asked John, “Now what am I supposed to do with this?” And every chance she got my grandmother gave me a red dress shirt from Hamrick’s, but there were years of Christmases when I’d take her wrapped present out from under the tree to shake it and wonder what it could be. Every year it was the same thing and after a while it was hard to be thankful because how many red shirts does one person really need? We don’t know what to call that. You sit by your aging mother who recognizes you some days and other days she doesn’t and you wish for something else besides this situation that you’ve been given – so hard it is to be grateful for this time that you have left. That’s how they were with the manna, not knowing what to call it, caught up in wishing for something else, or bogged down by the memory of the fleshpots of Egypt. Our eyes cannot see the blessings always, and it’s not ingratitude so much as it is confusion. We really don’t know what to call it. But Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” Oh what do I call it? For years I called it just another red shirt – but today I call each one a reminder of my grandmother’s love. Now that she’s gone each shirt is the assurance that she is with me still. Tom DuBois was having his car cleaned the day of his mother’s funeral. Not doing well himself Tom asked the woman vacuuming his car how she was. “This is the day that the Lord has made,” she said, “Let us rejoice and be glad in it. We do not always get what we ask for, but are such gifts as these not manna from heaven. Thanks be to God. Amen.