What The...?

What The ...? from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.

John 6:28-35
28Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ 29Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ 30So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ 32Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ 34They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

35Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

Exodus 16:1-5, 13b-31
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. 2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 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.’

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. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. 5On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.’

13…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.” ’ 17The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. 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. 19And Moses said to them, ‘Let no one leave any of it over until morning.’ 20But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them. 21Morning by morning they gathered it, as much as each needed; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers apiece. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23he said to them, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded: “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.” ’ 24So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. 25Moses said, ‘Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26For six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none.’

27On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. 28The Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions? 29See! The Lord has given you the sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day.’ 30So the people rested on the seventh day.

31The house of Israel called it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.


The ancient Israelites have just come out of Egypt. God has delivered them out of the hands of Pharaoh, the hands of bondage. The Red Sea has parted, allowing them to pass on dry ground, and come together, destroying the Egyptian armies who rushed in to follow them.

The perhaps unexpected bit for these newly liberated people: that was the easy part. Exodus 16 begins the wandering in the wilderness. They don’t even have the ten commandments yet, but they do have complaints. “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.’”

Israel has been free for five whole minutes and they’re already running back in to the arms of their Egyptian captors. 400 years of slavery, 400 years of being told exactly what to do by their taskmasters, 400 years of punishment by beatings, but also 400 years of easy food. Out here in the wilderness, all of that has gone away. “The wilderness, the place without life supports, cannot be safely traversed by Israel on its own resources.”There may be some food to be found in the wilderness of Sin, but it’s not enough to support a population. The house of Israel does not know how to trust God yet, so they turn back to what they know.

We’re in the wilderness too. We’re worshipping in our activity center rather than our sanctuary. Although I have enjoyed working in a flexible worship space, no matter how we arrange the chairs, it’s still not quite “home” for worship. Also like the Israelites, we are out in the wilderness for longer than we had planned. “Probably just one Sunday”, has turned into a solid four weeks. We’ll likely be back in here next week as well.

Now sure, that’s a small picture that doesn’t come close to the 40 years of the Israelites, but it’s also not nothing. The church in general is in the wilderness as well. The landscape into which we have been sent to do ministry has shifted over the past 50 years, and churches all over the country are figuring out how to respond to that. Lowell is no longer the textile mill village it once was, and our congregation will have to respond to that change.

But all those changes can leave us feeling lost, and longing for the good old days when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread. Now we’re wandering out here and we don’t even know how we’ll make it past our next meal.

One of the most difficult parts of the life of faith is that we don’t get to know what the plan is. We have to trust in God to guide us. The Israelites have almost no practice at doing this, they’ve spent the past 400 years under the thumb and instruction of their Egyptian slaveholders. They’re used to being told exactly what to do, and came to expect the same routine of bondage, and now that things are different, they really cannot cope.

So God steps up to provide, and provides a test. “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.” God sends bread from heaven, enough to feed all of the people, and tells them only to gather what they need for one day. Having brought Israel out of Egypt, this test begins the process of getting Egyptian influence out of the Israelites. “[The LORD] will brook no rival, no anemic or cowardly practice of faith.” Faith in God means taking a risk. What God has provided for the Israelites runs out every day. If God does not provide, they will go hungry. If they do not trust, the gifts of God become foul. If Israel is going to make it, it will be by God’s hand.

If this congregation is going to make it, it will be because God has provided. Not through our own strength, not through the talents of our members, not through our position in society. God provides us enough for each day, and it’s up to us to gather those gifts and use them each day. We’re not in any immediate danger. We know that God is continuing to provide, just as God always has. But while we are in this wilderness, we cannot trust the fleshpots of Egypt and the granaries that let us eat our fill of bread. If we’re going to follow Jesus, we’ve got to trust something else entirely.

We’re going to trust that Jesus has got a plan for this community, even if we don’t know it. We’re going to trust that the gospel will teach us how to recognize Jesus among us. We’re going to trust that when God does a new thing around us, that doesn’t mean we no longer belong, it means that we have a chance to take another step towards the promised land.

God is still providing, just as he did for the ancient Israelites. We won’t know the plan in advance, but every time we eat of this bread, and drink of this come, we proclaim the Lord’s saving death, and that’s enough to sustain us in the wilderness, one day at a time. As we follow, as we eat, as we serve one another, we do so in remembrance of Christ Jesus our Lord.