Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
I think scripture usually makes points much more clearly than I do. So today, I am going to read scripture to you. I am going to interject a little to help you connect with the text, but really I want the text to do the talking.
Exodus 16:
1The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.
Just for background: God’s people have just been led out of slavery in Egypt through the mighty power of God and through the leadership of Moses and his brother Aaron. They are a couple of months out into the desert in what will become a legendarily long journey.
2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
Some days leadership is not all it is cracked up to be. Two months ago Moses and his brother Aaron were heroes for helping to free God’s people from slavery. Now they are the bad guys. Moses really should have seen this coming. These folks were complaining before they ever really got out of Egypt. We read in Exodus 14, just prior to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, the people see Pharaoh’s army coming and they panic and say:
“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Better to be in bondage than to risk freedom.
And here are the Israelites complaining again in today’s text:
3The 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.”
Fleshpot – there is a word we use a lot. Just think of a large caldron that was used to boil meat. What they are saying here is, “we had all we wanted to eat.” They were saying it was better to be in slavery and have plenty to eat that to be free and hungry. Man that is a sermon right there. Would I rather have abundance and be a slave to my abundance or would I rather be free and hungry?
4Then 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.
There is food on the way. But notice that, 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.
Oh great! A test! Think about that. If we were out in the desert starving and suddenly there was a ton of food everywhere and I said, go and gather food, but just enough for today, would you listen? I imagine some of you might stock up a little in case there wasn’t a repeat the next day. But this is a test.
5On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”
God is going to tell them that they will get no food on the seventh day because it is a day of rest so there is one day that they can stock up.
6So 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, 7and 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?” 8And 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.
I had to look at this a few times. I want to read it to you in another translation:
7Tomorrow morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard you grumble against him. We are nothing, so you are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord."
Remember at the beginning it said:
2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
Moses and his brother Aaron are saying here “When you are complaining to us, you are actually complaining to God.” I love that and I am going to try it. Next time some one calls me to complain about the service or something I said, I am going to try, “I am nothing, so you are not grumbling against me, but against God.”
So Moses tells Aaron to tell them how this is going to work.
9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’“
Yeah right, if I thought God had really overheard my complaining I would head the other way.
10And 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. 11The Lord spoke to Moses and said, 12“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.’“
13In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15When 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. 16This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.’"
An omer is around one or two liters just in case you stopped listening because you were wondering what an omer was. But now let’s think about two things. First of all, this is a test right?
In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
Now let’s also remember that they are in the desert, starving. There is now plenty of food, just take what you need. Have you ever seen images of food being delivered to where people are starving? It is usually being unloaded by or at least guarded by soldiers. Because when people are starving they are not always rational.
17The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less.
Was no one listening? I don’t know what was wrong with those who gathered less but those who gathered more weren’t listening. But they were acting quite human. Let me ask you. Do any of you have extra of anything?
We had a community garage sale last weekend and Alisha and I got rid of some stuff. It always amazes me how much extra stuff we have. I have extra clothes, extra shoes, extra tools. I realized that I had two identical brooms in my garage. You know just in case. Just in case my broom breaks and I can’t crawl the quarter mile to the place where I can buy another one for about two dollars. Now don’t think this is going to lead me to say I should be wasteful and just throw it out. But why did I ever buy a second broom?
It is not that we shouldn’t be prepared, but a lot of us have this overwhelming need to stockpile, to have, not enough but more than enough and what we find is this: there is never enough.
18But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.
Here is the surprise to the story. No matter how much some tried to stock up, they only had enough. Nobody had any extra. That is really interesting. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I never have enough. If I just made a little bit more money, if I could live in a little bit bigger house, if I could save a little more for retirement, I could go on a better vacation.
We live in a really complicated world. I really struggle with passages like this because they can seem so black and white.
Some gathered more and some gathered less and they all had the same amount.
We live in America and I think our grand experiment with capitalism has a lot of flaws but we basically have gotten along pretty good with the idea that, when it comes to possessions and money we don’t just say, “everybody gets the same amount.” So let me be clear that I am not sharing this scripture to make a point about economics. I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.
I also don’t want you to read this too literally and think, “Oh it doesn’t matter what I do, God will take care of me.” “Those who gathered little had no shortage.” Read that carefully, “Those who gathered.” It doesn’t mention those who stayed home and did nothing because “Dancing with the Stars” was on. I think most of us know the reality that if you don’t work, if you don’t gather, you may struggle to have enough to eat.
But I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.
As I said, we live in acomplicated world. Not many of us would feel secure if we went out each day and made just enough to pay for our expenses that day. Not many of us would be content to have just enough food and money to last until tomorrow. We work hard, we stock up, we save. We try to get on solid footing so if something happens we won’t go into debt and we try to put something away so when we are older we can retire. This is good stuff. But there is still never enough.
I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.
The theme of our emphasis on stewardship this year comes from Psalm 116:
I will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord; I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Psalm 116:17-18
If we read this wrong we might think that God is a little short and needs us to sacrifice in order to make ends meet. But God doesn’t need our money. God needs us to let go because as long as we trust in our possession we don’t really trust in God. As long as we trust in what we produce we are really nothing more than slaves to what we earn, make and buy.
‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
18But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.
For those who tried to stockpile, there was never enough. But there was always enough.
I love when people give money to the church because it means we can do amazing ministries that touch lives. And if you give because you like that you can help spread the good news of God that is great, I want you to keep doing that. But I want us to go deeper, I want us to give because God has been trying to teach us since we were wandering in the desert actually since we were in the garden that we have to stop grasping for more trying to create our own abundance, our own security. God is the only true source of our abundance and security.
This is not just the message of this passage of Exodus. Some of you may remember that Jesus disciples once asked him to teach them to pray. Christians love that prayer. Here at Grace, we pray it together every week:
Our Father, who art in heaven.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Oh no. It doesn’t say “secure my retirement.” It doesn’t say “give me a bigger house.” It doesn’t say, “give me an iPod.” It goes right back to today’s passage. “Give me enough bread for today and let me trust God for tomorrow.”
The message God was giving his people in the desert is the same message Jesus had to give us again. Although we live in this complex world and we have to do certain things to survive and plan and take care of our families, at some point we have to remember to let go and trust in the true source of our life and being.
Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel, Mark 8:35-36
35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
You know my generation is much more intrigued by images than words, examples rather than explanations. So whenever I think of holding on versus letting go, trusting in my own created abundance rather than the abundance of God. Whenever I think I need to gather enough bread for tomorrow and the next day and the next day instead of trusting resources into God’s hands, I don’t think of what Jesus said, but we he did. He didn’t hold back anything, but let go of his very life. I think of what God did. For God so loved the world that he have his only Son. Bread from heaven. For us.
