Storage Facilities Not Included

Deuteronomy 8:14-16

He made water flow for you from flint rock and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good.

John 6: 51-59

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 

We humans are by nature collectors and hoarders.

As you read that, some of you thought of basements, closets and drawers crammed with junk that might possibly be useful someday and mumbled, “Guilty as charged.” Others of you were a bit indignant because you are more likely to throw or give an item away than shove it in a drawer. A lot of you were somewhere in between those two reactions.

However, it’s not just material possessions we are prone to collecting and hoarding. There are so many other things we collect and hang onto without realizing that our mental closets and inner drawers are overflowing with useless items that ‘might come in handy someday.’ A lot of people love to gather spiritual knowledge and others stockpile definitive opinions. Some have secret stashes of status and power. In many people’s drawers are tucked away all the major and minor sacrifices made in the past, kept handy so they can be taken out and pointed at when they feel God’s not being fair. Some people collect approval and admiration while others hang on to the various ways they have been disappointed, disapproved of or rejected through the years. Every one of us, if we looked closely at the basements of our hearts, would find immense collections of something down there. We are by nature collectors and hoarders.

God knew this. Indeed, he actually created us that way and in times past and in other civilizations, the same inclinations would be called ‘hunting and gathering’. But even though he created us with these inclinations, he knew that when it came to his circle of life, these God-given abilities would become disabilities.

When God provided manna for his people in the desert, he stipulated that they were only allowed to gather as much as each person could use in one day except on the day before the Sabbath when they could collect enough for two days. Anything over and above what they needed for the day would rot, stink and become infested by maggots. Naturally, some of them didn’t listen. They gathered more than they needed and then found out that God wasn’t joking and that there definitely was no point in stockpiling the manna. Nobody got to have more than they needed. No one could feel smug or smart for having more than others. No one could secretly compare their own pile of manna to a neighbor’s and make judgments. No one could say, “My manna is much better or purer than your manna.” 

In the first reading, Moses says to the Israelites, “He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna…” We are indeed humbled when we are completely dependent on someone else to provide all that we need to live. It is hard on our pride when we cannot ‘own’ the provision we receive, cannot reproduce it, accumulate it, control it, make it into a power base or use it to increase our status. It stings the pride to receive and not even be able to control how much we receive.

When Jesus came as Manna incarnate, the rules stayed the same. We still can’t own it, control it and stockpile it as if we created it. We could try to impress others with our collection of intellectual knowledge about it but in the end, knowledge doesn’t make much difference to anyone at all. A child, the Pope, an illiterate peasant, a saint, a layperson, a priest or a bishop are completely equal and equally in need at the table of the Lord. All must come humbly and empty to receive the food needed for the journey. All are welcome and no one is more welcome than anyone else. A prostitute will receive the same amount as a Pope. Positions, qualities, quantities, definitions, value systems, knowledge – all the things we love to collect and store away - none of these things are important. The important thing is to come empty and receive.

God knew that if we were allowed to collect and hoard the Bread of Life, we would start to feel like we are the ones in control and that we are the ones who are responsible for satiating our own hunger. We would make sure we had more than enough for our own needs and then we would stop coming to the table. We would stop being humble and needy. Worst of all, we would begin to lose the understanding that in order to have life and have it to the full we need to constantly return to the Lord to receive his food. And with Jesus as Manna, a new dimension was added to God’s provision for us. We still only receive only what we need – and then we have to give it away!

If we receive the Body and Blood and then go away to live our own life without making our Bread of Life available to others, without ever being sensitive to the needs of those around us and without seeking to freely share all that we have received, then we have gone once again into collect and hoard mode. And we all know what happened to the manna that was hoarded. It rotted, developed maggots and stank. It definitely was not filled with Bonus Odor Christi: the Good Fragrance of Christ. This is not a pleasant picture but truly, the table of the Lord cannot be just a personal fast food stop. We are receiving the very nature of the Christ-Manna and nature of Christ is to freely give himself away. When he was on earth, he hoarded nothing. He gave it all so that we could have it all and when we have it all, we have to give it all. It doesn’t work any other way.

The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ is the Celebration of the Circle of Generous Life: you come empty; you receive the finest wheat, not because you deserve it but because you are loved. Then you give it all away, even to those whom you think don’t deserve it and you come back empty to receive again. Somewhere along the way you should joyfully discover that, “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over has been poured into your lap.” (Luke 6.38)

Empty the storehouse. Abide in the Circle of Generous Life. It's the only way to feel full.