The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.……
24. September 2023
Predigt von Bischof Gothart Magaard am 24. September 2023 in der Kathedrale von Ely anlässlich eines Besuches der Partnerdiözese Ely.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
thank you very much for the invitation to preach in this beautiful cathedral today. This is a great pleasure and honour for me. The Biblical reading for my sermon today is taken from the Book of Exodus and leads us into the midst of a crisis:
2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained
against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.……
Thus begins the narrative of the manna from heaven.
Desert experience: heat, cold and drought. Thirst. No food.
Is that supposed to be the destination of the exodus from Egypt?
Is this what liberation looks like?
Certainly not! And so, the whole congregation of Israel starts rebelling in the desert against their leaders Moses and Aaron.
The joy of delivery from the Egyptians at the Red Sea was great.
Now they are afraid. Now they are in fear in midst of the desert and losing their confidence.
The past appears in a new light: the experience of having been oppressed in Egypt fades and gives way to the memory of the fleshpots that existed in Egypt. In the middle of the desert, the harsh experiences in Egypt seem to be the lesser evil.
“If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,
when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread,
for you have brought us out into this wilderness
to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (V2.3)
Whether they really ate meat in Egypt is questionable.
But for sure they were dwelling where the pots of meat were close in sight,
they could at least smell it at that time and see how the great ones of the pharaoh ate from it. They themselves were only eating bread. But at least the belly could be filled, you got full up with it.
If only we had stayed in Egypt...
There was no freedom for them in Egypt,
but there was something to see and smell of the luxury of the rich ...
I ask myself today: what are the "meat pots" in our time, that prevent us from leaving for a country where there is enough for everyone?
Are we really better at experiencing the "desert": deprivation, HAVING less on the way to freedom? What are the deprivations, what the fake news that make us small and insecure? Or is it we who eat from the meat pots, which are reserved only for us and which we are so reluctant to share with others?
What is our place in this story?
And above all, do we trust that God will take care of us?
In the book of Exodus, it is told that the whole community of Israel is self-confidently rebelling against Moses and thus against God.
Freemen grumble louder than slaves!
In the desert there are no more borders, but also no paths.
No daily slave labour, but also no bread from Pharaoh.
The service in Egypt was hard, but you didn't have to think much:
Neither about what you did nor about what you ate.
These slaves had not known the desert for a long time.
What good is freedom if there is nothing to eat?
What happens then is like a miracle from heaven for the Israelites.
What did they know about quails, which, as migratory birds of the evening, rested exhausted and were easy to catch.
What did they know about the secretion of a tamarisk,
which could be collected in the desert in the cool morning and was edible:
Manhu? They asked. This translates as: What is it?
And Moses doesn't answer like a biology teacher,
who explains this natural phenomenon to them in detail,
but he speaks of the goodness of God:
“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
This is what the Lord has commanded:
Gather as much of it as each of you needs, (V.15.16)
Even in the desert, people can be fed.
But the liberated ones must first experience and learn this.
We must also experience this in our times of uncertainty and some abundance.
In Germany, too, many people, including children, are dependent on the food of the "food banks". A depressing situation in a country that is so rich in many ways.
Because actually there is enough for everyone on this earth.
But the manna of the Israelites is not food that can be hoarded,
but it is given to them day by day only.
It's also not for people who stuff themselves with food as if they were intiteld.
Nor is it a reason for food envy.
And it is also not a suitable object for stinginess,
that denies others access to the meat pot.
Nor is it bread that should be hoarded to make money.
Jesus also wanted to take away people's fear for their daily bread.
In the Lord's Prayer we pray for our daily bread: "Give us this day our daily bread." And not about the daily money with which we could buy it.
And this is important to me:
We ask for our daily bread, not for my daily bread!
Bread, not money, fills people up.
The daily bread is given to us, it is not bought or taken.
Martin Luther once wrote:
"Christ gives such glory to bread, not silver or gold,
as it is also written, it is the bread that makes rejoice the heart of man, not the gold.
If he had asked human reason for advice,
so he should have made more gold.
Because reason thinks: If I have gold, I have enough to eat.
That is why the world cares more about gold than about bread."
In the wilderness, all the gold or silver they took from Egypt is of no use to the Israelites.
On the contrary, later they will even make a golden calf out of the gold,
when Moses disappeared on Mount Sinai.
And they worship it and dance around it–because that's how they saw it in Egypt.
The gold will only lead them away from the path with God.
It is a sign of strength and power.
But neither gold nor money satisfy people's hunger.
The bread from heaven, the manna, is a strong antithesis to the prevailing economy of meat pots in Egypt. In Egypt they were hoarding wealth.
The bread was not only used for daily care and nutrition,
but for the exchange value, the multiplication of money.
Business was made with it.
"As much as you need" in food, he, your God, will give you, yet not "too much".
This remains a strong vision and a lofty goal:
Not only to look at one's own, but also at what serves the other.
To trust that this earth has enough for everyone.
That is why the fight against hunger is so important: hunger in the Global South, but also in our countries. And also all our efforts to limit man-made climate change. In our joint committee we exchanged Yesterday our ideas and experiences. And we discussed how we can live up to our responsibility.
Jesus encourages us to be attentive to one another and especially to the hungry.
May God accompany us on our paths.
We can trust that He gives us what we need every day.
AMEN.
