A reflection on the Creation story, the Red Sea crossing, fishes and loaves, and today.
In the beginning
God made the heavens,
and the earth, creating
light and darkness,
water and land,
stars and sky.
Giving all life a home.
Soon there were –
Aardvarks and avocados,
Muskrats and mangos,
Zebras and Zucchini.
Alongside everything else,
betwixt and between.
God then made Adam and Eve,
Looked around, and smiled.
God paused, reflected,
Concluding this:
It is good.
For God so loved it all.
God gave the two
one simple rule:
See that tree?
It contains knowledge
of good, of evil.
From that tree
God shared,
I ask just this:
Don’t eat the fruit.
Each evening,
for a while,
utopia unfolded.
Creator and created,
walked, talked, laughed,
side by side they went.
All was as it should be.
But then,
A snake,
A temptation,
A complaint.
The couple wondered,
why can’t we eat
from that one tree?
Is God holding out on us?
What might we miss?
Their complaint led to action; they ate.
They then realized –
They were naked.
They were afraid.
The Lord too realized something.
The first couple did not trust their God.
Even though all their needs had been met.
This broke God’s heart.
The pair were then sent away,
from the idyllic garden.
Creator and created,
no longer able to –
walk and talk and laugh,
in the flesh, together, each day.
Since then,
the relationship,
between God and us,
would never be
quite the same.
Wandering
Later, God’s people
found themselves ensnared.
Taken from their homes,
forced to serve another,
laboring on lands not their own.
But then momentum.
God sent Moses and Aaron,
to Pharaoh, with a message:
Let my people go.
It took more than that.
First one plague.
Then another.
Then another.
Then BOOM. Impact.
Go, Pharaoh said. Go.
So they went.
Then –
A change of heart,
A race,
A weaponed pursuit.
God’s people were not yet free.
They were trapped,
at the edge of the sea.
God told Moses,
Lift up your staff.
He did.
The seas parted,
a path now clear,
God’s people walked through.
Still being pursued,
by those intent on harm,
God told Moses,
Lower your staff.
He did.
The waters returned.
The horse and the rider,
they who gave chase,
fell into the sea.
The people had been rescued.
The people were now free.
The people cheered.
God has saved us!
God looked around, and smiled.
It was a Charlton Heston moment through and through.
God paused, reflected,
Concluding this:
It is good.
For God so loved them all.
The people were now hungry.
So God sent down manna,
bread from heaven,
meeting this need too.
But then, the people began
to talk amongst themselves.
They grumbled.
They grumbled some more.
We want meat!
We want fish! And
cucumbers, melons and leeks!
Just like we had in Egypt.
When we were slaves.
We were better off then,
the people claimed.
The people complained,
And complained,
And complained.
The Lord realized something.
The people did not trust their God.
Even though all their needs had been met.
This broke God’s heart.
The people then wandered,
in the wilderness,
for forty years,
waiting, impatiently,
for a land to call their own.
Jesus
In another beginning
was the Word,
and the Word
was with God,
And the Word was God.
What has come into being in him was life,
and the life was the light of all people.
Christ got going –
calling disciples,
forgiving sins,
teaching, preaching,
transforming
hearts and minds.
And the miracles!
From healing the sick,
to raising the dead,
to turning water to wine –
there was seemingly nothing the Son of God couldn’t do.
One miracle in particular,
Got people talking.
Jesus was teaching,
the crowd was large,
and hungry;
there was no food.
Well not much.
A boy offered
five loaves, two fish.
What good,
disciples wondered,
was that?
Jesus took the food,
gave thanks above,
feeding everyone
gathered that day.
About 5,000 each
who ate their fill.
It was a miracle
of multiplication.
The people cheered.
This is a prophet!
God has fed us!
Jesus looked around, and smiled.
Christ paused, reflected,
Concluding this:
It is good.
For God so loved them all.
Jesus said to them,
I am the bread of life.
Bread from heaven.
Whoever comes to me
will never be hungry.
But then the people began
to talk amongst themselves.
They grumbled.
Is this not Jesus?
Whose father,
and mother we know?
How can he say,
I come from heaven?
The people complained.
Then they complained some more.
Jesus, knowing complaints about his origins could cause division among God’s people, chose not to engage in formal debate.
Do not complain among yourselves, Jesus says.
I am the bread of life.
Eat of this bread,
which comes from heaven,
and you will have eternal life.
Some chose to eat.
Others opted to complain some more.
Today
People of God, hear the word of the Lord.
Do not complain among yourselves.
Complaining –
separates us from God.
separates us from each other.
Instead, feast on the bread of life.
With it you will never go hungry.
With it you will always be filled.
With it all your needs are met,
Through our Savior Jesus Christ.
No other meal will do.
