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.
Amen for God is good in our life with Christ and his the word will make us rich and we have so alot to eat from the bible teaching to satisfy us and be thankful for love of God in Jesusus name ,thanks and bless,keijo sweden
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