Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] September 24, 2023 “Just Enough” Exodus 16: 2-16 – Common English Bible The whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. 3 The Israelites said to them, “Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I’m going to make bread rain down from the sky for you. The people will go out each day and gather just enough for that day. In this way, I’ll test them to see whether or not they follow my Instruction. 5 On the sixth day, when they measure out what they have collected, it will be twice as much as they collected on other days.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 7 And in the morning you will see the Lord’s glorious presence, because your complaints against the Lord have been heard. Who are we? Why blame us?” 8 Moses continued, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning because the Lord heard the complaints you made against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren’t against us but against the Lord.” 9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole Israelite community, ‘Come near to the Lord, because he’s heard your complaints.’” 10 As Aaron spoke to the whole Israelite community, they turned to look toward the desert, and just then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 The Lord spoke to Moses, 12 “I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat. And in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’” 13 In the evening a flock of quail flew down and covered the camp. And in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the desert surface were thin flakes, as thin as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What[a] is it?” They didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Collect as much of it as each of you can eat, one omer [two quarts] per person. You may collect for the number of people in your household.’” Last week we quickly raced through the ten disasters caused by Pharaoh’s refusal to simply let the enslaved Israelites leave for a three-day festival in the desert to worship God. Often called the 10 Plagues, the first one was really just an effort to impress Pharaoh by turning a shepherd’s rod into a snake. But failing to impress Pharaoh, the stakes were quickly raised when
This Pharaoh had come to power claiming not to know Joseph. Egyptians forgot why this group of immigrants, the descendants of Joseph, were living in their land. The Joseph who had skillfully saved the entire nation of Egypt from starvation. And so Pharaoh was able to scapegoat the Israelites and eventually enslaved them. After years of suffering, God heard their cries and got personally involved by sending Moses and Aaron to get them released. But by approaching Pharaoh, they actually made things worse. Pharaoh forced the people to work harder by making the same number of bricks but without providing them with any straw to make them. The people rightfully complained. And Moses complained that God is doing nothing to help. Then seven plagues in, an odd narrative shift. Pharaoh had gone back and forth between relenting, saying “just go already,” and changing his mind. But after the 7th disaster, God made Pharaoh stubborn and now it’s not just a story about an obnoxiously rich and powerful man refusing to grant the people a break, but something much more complicated, of which I have yet to find a satisfying explanation that doesn’t make God look like a jerk, prolonging their suffering and causing more. The 8th disaster was the greatest hail storm that anyone had ever seen. And then a plague of locusts. Of course, to me, devastating hail storms and plagues of locusts just sound like North Dakota in summertime, along with constantly swatting away mosquitoes the size of birds. And after that, three days of darkness covered Egypt. Which just sounds like winter in North Dakota. But then, nothing funny about it, the worst of all. Death came to the oldest child and animal in every family – terrible agony in every household in Egypt. Except for Israelite houses marked with blood from a lamb. For those families, God would pass over. Finally, it was all too much. Pharaoh relented and the people could go. Well, they took off so fast, the yeast hadn’t yet raised the bread dough. They walked for several days and came to the edge of the Reed Sea. They made camp along the sea shore where a woman was selling sea shells. They deserved a nice waterside retreat. Except it also meant they were trapped. Soon enough, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent all the military might at his disposal to force his slaves back to Egypt. The people were furious at Moses and complained bitterly that they could have just died in Egypt without all this trouble. “You should have left us alone.” But as you heard last week, Moses raised his hand and God blew a strong wind which dried up the sea for the Israelites to walk through and once they were safely across, the wind turned and created havoc for the chariots and Egyptian soldiers. All perished in the sea. God saved the people. Once they were all on the other side, Miriam picked up a tambourine and led them in singing and dancing all day and all night. “Horse and rider into the sea, God has saved us from the enemy.” That’s where we stopped last week. So, here we are, the next morning after a good night’s sleep, they traveled forward. God knows where they were going. I mean, only God knew where they were going. But after three days in the wilderness, they had not yet found water. Their supplies had run out and so men, women, and children alike sat down on the ground and wailed: “Why didn’t God just let us die in the comfort of Egypt?” If brick-making seven days a week in the hot Egyptian sun was “comfort,” they really were miserable. But with no other choice, they kept moving until they finally came across a spring in Marah. Water! Word was passed to Miriam to dig out her tambourines! People stood around and with great anticipation watched the first person taste what they expected would be the most wonderful, fresh, cool water people had been dreaming of for days. But before Miriam could start dancing, the person spit the water out. It was bitter, which shouldn’t have surprised them because the word Marah means bitter. No surprise that the water in a place called Bitter is bitter. But not to fear. God pointed Moses to a tree. Moses threw its branches into the water and it became sweet. They waited around until everyone had filled up their water jugs and then kept traveling until they came to Elim. Elim is a beautiful desert paradise described as having 70 palm trees and 12 springs of water. Travelocity could advertise it as a literal Palm Springs in the desert, minus all the mid-century-modern architecture. They enjoyed six weeks of rest and relaxation and when they resumed their travels, I can only imagine that more than a few people complained about having to leave. And yup, as soon as they started moving, “Why didn’t God let us die in comfort in Egypt? You led us out here to starve to death. We remember the fish we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Back in Egypt we had pots of meat cooking.” They were hungry. And once again, the whole company of Israel complained bitterly against Moses and Aaron. Temple Beth Shalom set up a voice mail system for dealing with this kind of thing. “If you would like our service schedule, press one. For membership information, press two. To complain to the rabbi, press three. To complain about the rabbi, press four, five, or six.” Moses in turn complained to God who promised to “rain down bread from the skies.” Moses and Aaron informed the people, “God has heard your complaints. And by the way,” they added, “just so you know, when you complain, it doesn’t bother us. Your complaints are against God. And do you really want to complain against a God who can send frogs, lice, bugs, hail and more on command?” I think we call that being passive aggressive, obviously a tactic for human interaction as old as time itself. Moses assured them that God had heard their complaints and promised to send bread every morning, adding, “Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” In the morning, that “bread” was a layer of dew all around the camp, described as thin flakes, as thin as frost on the ground. This is…um, “food?” I’m a picky eater, so I understand when the people nervously asked, “What is this??” Moses said, “It’s the bread God has given you to eat.” Someone said, give it to Mikey. See if he likes it. The bible says it was like white coriander seed. I had to look that up and discovered that’s it’s like cilantro (doesn’t help). Reportedly, coriander seeds taste “earthy” and the leaves are “pungent” and citrus-like, though I read on Wikipedia that some people think it tastes like dish soap. The bible, however, says it tasted like honey wafers. Nice! And the people called it manna. Manna from heaven. Here’s how it worked: it came every morning, people were to gather up about two quarts before the sun burned it away. They could take as much as they needed for that day. Of course, that wasn’t enough for some people, but the “too much” they took “turned rotten and became infested with worms.” On the other hand, those who didn’t take enough found they had just enough. On Fridays they were to gather enough for two days. It wouldn’t spoil. And that way, they could rest on the Sabbath. They ate those delicious honey wafers every day for 40 years. But not just manna. Every day at supper time, a flock of birds perfect for roasting flew down and covered the camp. And so, they were provided Honey Nut Cheerios every morning and quail every night. Not bad, although I’d probably tire of it before too long. And sure enough, it wasn’t too long before the people complained about something else: “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst.” Moses turned around and angrily complained: “What should I do with these people.” Moses hadn’t learned the skill of customer service.
Of all the things people do in the Bible, this is one of the most universal. To complain. It’s like we can’t help ourselves. Maybe we can look at all that time in the wilderness as needing 40 years of gratitude training. Did you notice that in all these stories, never once does someone say thank you?
But, to their defense, the Israelites had been enslaved for years – scholars debate somewhere between 86 and 430 years. Regardless of length, they were shaped by a system that took advantage of them and debased their humanity. Walter Brueggemann described their needing 40 years of wilderness for freedom training. Learning not to belong to anyone else but only God. So, I don’t mean to equate our experiences, but we too are shaped by dehumanizing systems, like commercialism and capitalism. We need to ask:
That diminishes all of us. We hear a barrage of such messages six days a week, and so, to disrupt them, we gather here – to try to break through this dehumanization – for ourselves and others trapped by such systems. Once a week we gather to worship the One who is greater than all that, to say thank you, to express gratitude. But, that’s not enough. This is something we actually do need more of – a regular practice of gratitude in between Sundays. I’ll start with myself. David, when it takes you an extra 60 seconds to get past Saint Vincent School on your way to work, instead of complaining, express gratitude for all the teachers who serve our community, thankfully preparing a new generation of educated citizens. I could go on and on but you get the idea. It may be old fashioned, but we can stop to express gratitude before a meal, or before going to bed, while brushing your teeth, while riding the elevator or walking the dog. You may feel these are too small but it doesn’t matter what or how long, just think of anything that disrupts thoughts of scarcity. A prompt when we feel ourselves starting to complain, I’m grateful. It’s vitally important: Because when you are grateful, you are not fearful. [1] And when you are not fearful, you are not violent. And when you are not violent, you realize you have enough. And when you stop feeling like you “never have enough,” you are willing to share. And when you share, you know you have enough, Which in turn makes us grateful, Which means we have no need to be fearful, Which in turn makes us grateful. Because we have enough. Every day. Do you? [1] Adapted from Brother David Steindl-Rast
2 Comments
9/24/2023 03:15:10 pm
Oh, David! You had a lot of fun writing this one! Hit in all the right places. Loved the ending. Needed that Word. THANK YOU!
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David Bahr
9/26/2023 09:04:54 am
Thank you Janye. It means a lot to hear your words. Hope you are well
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