Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY - 3.8.03 Ex 16,2-4.12-15; Eph 4,17.20-24; Jn 6,24-35 Daring to Provoke God Manna from Heaven. The Bible calls Manna that daily food given by God to the people of Old Testament, during their 40 years wandering through the desert: from the Red Sea to Mt Sinai and to Holy Land. The supply of this mysterious food did not cease until the Israelites reached the border of Canaan. This provision was daily for 40 years: the people were instructed to gather it daily, with the exception of the Sabbath. If they gathered too much, the remainder would spoil. Only on the sixth day were they permitted to gather a double portion. The books of Exodus (16,1) and Numbers (11,8) describe Manna as a fine, flake-like frost. It was like a coriander seed, white, and had the taste of a wafer made with honey. Manna could be prepared in a variety of ways: ground into a meal, boiled in pots, or made into cakes. In the book of Deuteronomy (8,3) Manna is described as grain from heaven. The provision of this food was considered so miraculous that Moses kept a full container of it in the Arc of the Covenant, as a reminder to future generations of how the Lord supplied bread from heaven to their ancestors for 40 years. Biblical Scholars of all ages have associated the existence of such a miraculous food with natural phenomena. The most common natural explanation proposes that Manna has to do with a gum resin produced by a variety of flowering trees such as alhagi Maurorum (Sinai Manna), Tamarisk Gallica or Fraxinus Ornus (flowering ash). Recently, the natural production of Manna has also been associated with the excretions of two species of scale insects. Be as it may, we in Australia, know that people can survive and prosper in unbelievably desert conditions: the Aborigines have done this for thousands of years. Jesus our Risen Lord is our Manna As we read Chapter 6 of Johnıs Gospel, we sense immediately that the Narrator refers to the Old Testament Manna from Heaven, to stress in our mind the strongly confrontational element hidden in that event. The very word: Manna? means: What the heck is this fluffy thing? How can it satisfy our enormous starvation? By engaging his listeners and us in the real meaning of that miraculous food, the narrator asks us to stop and think: -when it comes to the presence of God in our life- we are no better than the Israelites of old, who grumbled against God: indeed, while eating the Bread of Angels, again and again they provoked - defied, dared and angered Him, complaining against Him, and putting his patience to breaking point. Yet God always relented and remained faithful to his people. And isnıt this the case even now in our life and Church and families? Many times the Bible refers to this strife between God and us. Think of the proverbial places of ³Meribah and Massah² (in Ex. 17, Deut. 33,8 and Ps 95,8 and remember that Meribah in Hebrew means strife and Massah means testing). We humans never change: will always grumble and will never be grateful: this was so with the Israelites of Old, and with people at Jesus time, and it is so with us today. There is in us: a craving, a hunger and a thirst which compel us and at times, drive us into losing and denying our dignity as worthwhile human beings. Constantly in today's Gospel, Jesus reminds his listeners and us, that He as Risen Lord is from God, able to give us the only formula for dignity and worthwhile life. He -as Lord- is the only nourishment that can satisfy our aspirations and longings. No other human ingenuity, or ideology or package-deal will quench our craving for meaningful life. In our fundamental options, it is always better to fall in the hands of our God than to trust in fellow humans. ______________________________________ |
