Bread of Heaven

The Kingdom of Heaven, the Reign of God – when things are set right, and people are set right with God and each other – is coming even for slackers and complainers. Bread from Heaven comes for each of us, for all of us.

God heard the whining of the desert wanderers longing for the good food of Egypt. Moses didn’t have to report their complaints. Moses didn’t have to send a memo, document the concerns, come up with options. God who led them out of Egypt knew that they were hungry, knew that they needed their daily bread. God provided. Not the food they knew, not the recipes they loved. God gave them something new and strange

and strangely nourishing. The Glory of the Lord appears to the complaining people in the form of edible droppings on the dewy morning grass. It’s a test. There. Take that. You have what you need, now do you trust God to take care of you?

Apparently not. They ate, and they wandered, and they continued to complain. They had the law, they became a new people, they entered the Promised Land. And they continued to complain.

Even up until the time of Jesus, they were still waiting for the Glory of the Lord to appear to them. Surrounded by Roman soldiers. Surrounded by corrupt government officials. Surrounded by self righteous religious leaders who preached a brand of religion that only those who didn’t have to work 10 hours a day in the blazing son could actually sustain. The lucky ones had a job working 10 hours a day. The unlucky ones were often standing around, waiting and hoping that somehow they would get some hours and be able to feed their kids.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who had a huge harvest. Instead of leaving the management of the harvest to his farm manager, the owner himself went to park downtown and saw people waiting for work. He hired a bunch of them for the usual daily wage and sent them off to the farm. A few hours later he went by the park and saw people standing around, waiting for work. He put them on the payroll too telling them he would give them a fair wage, and sent them of to the farm. Late in the day he went by and saw some more standing sitting under the trees in the wilting heat. He hired them too. And late in the afternoon he saw more people who were in despair. No work for them today. He pulled over and spoke to them out of the window of his truck – Hey you folks. Why are you standing here? No one hired us today. He told them where the farm was and sent them of to join in the harvest.

At then end of the day the Farmer told his foreman to pay the workers, beginning with the last group and he stood back to watch. All the workers crowded around to get their money before going home. The ones who had only worked an hour go paid the full wage and when home thrilled beyond belief. They would have more than oatmeal for supper,

and maybe supper tomorrow too. The next group got paid, the same wage. When it was the ones who had been hired first, they looked at their daily wage as the bills were counted into their hands by the foreman and were astonished. Yes it was the standard for a days work. Yes they did agree to work and get paid. It was perfectly fair, but it wasn’t equitable, was it. They started to complain.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like ... the Glory of God which shines on us all, complainers, and slackers and hard workers alike. Not that many of us work all that hard according to God’s rules. Not many of us are really ready to go out into the harvest, and work in the noon day sun. Not many of us are ready to share the faith that is in us with friends and neighbors or even our own relatives who might be look for a reason to hope for a new start, longing for a possibility that mistakes, can actually be forgiven, longing to believe that deep wounds might finally be healed, that a fresh start is possible, that Resurrection is possible. Not many of us love our neighbors as ourselves after about an hour of really really trying.

Not that many of us welcome change, even when we say we adore the God who is always doing a new thing. We hardly ever say “great – some new Manna has appeared. We don’t know what it tastes like, or how to cook it, but Great we have something new and interesting to try!” Alas, we are more likely to complaint than to be thankful.

But even for us slackers, even for whiners and complainers, God bends close and listens, and sends us what we need. And God’s very own self is the Bearer of the Bread. God says – Take, Eat. Receive the best, my very self. Take some, and pass the loaf. Bread of Heaven, given for you, that you may be fed, and healed and transformed. Come to the Feast. AMEN