“The Glory of the Lord”

a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett

Preached at Pleasantville United Church of Christ, September 18, 2011

Exodus 16:2-15 & Matthew 20:1-16

“Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites,
‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’”
And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites,
they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.”
(Exodus 16:9-10)

            Last week we returned to the lectionary as a way to focus our study of the scriptures and in so doing, we rejoined congregations all over the world who are also studying these same texts on this same day.  And so we find ourselves once again in the book of Exodus, and in the defining center of Israel’s story.

The word, “exodus” means “the going out” and the biblical book of the Exodus tells the story of the ‘going out’ of Israel from Egypt; the ‘going out’ from slavery; the ‘going out’ from bondage.  The exodus narrative, the journey out of slavery and into the Promised Land, is a story told and retold in the Scriptural record.  It is the central narrative of the Passover Seder, which is told in Jewish homes each year and for that reason it is a story that continues to have defining power in the lives of contemporary Jews.[1]  The defining center of Israel’s faith-memory is a story of liberation from bondage and God’s providential intervention and protection.

This morning we gave our children the gift of God’s Holy Word. [2]  The hope and expectation that we mean to communicate with such a gift is that they will study God’s word; that they will learn the great stories of our faith; that they will come to be shaped by the great promises of our God, and that these promises will sustain them all the days of their lives.  The Christian story builds upon knowledge of these foundational faith stories.  As Christians, to know our story means to know these stories.

So let’s find our place in the story.

At the end of the book of Genesis, the Hebrew people have come to Egypt to avoid famine.  Joseph – the one with the coat of many colors; the one whose brothers sold him into slavery; the one who had a tendency to dream dreams that ticked people off – that Joseph, had parlayed a gift for interpreting dreams into a job as Pharaoh’s right-hand man.  At the end of the book of Genesis, Joseph was the second most powerful man in Egypt next to Pharaoh.  And as we turn the page from Genesis to Exodus, years have passed since Joseph’s death and we hear these words: “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.”[3]  This is the context for how the Hebrew people came to be enslaved by a cruel Egyptian king.

Last Sunday, we heard the story of the parting of the Red Sea.  Led by the mighty prophet, Moses, the Hebrew people have begun their flight from Egypt.  But the Egyptian army is bearing down upon them, so Moses leads them through the waters by the power of the Almighty.  After a brief respite in an oasis called Elim, Israel begins its long journey to the Promised Land.  But the journey to freedom won’t be easy.

Read Exodus 16:1-3

This is where our text for this morning begins.  Within three days of the great parting of the Red Sea, the people have already begun to complain about the accommodations.  They complain about the water.  They complain about the food.  They complain that -- at least back in Egypt they had three square meals a day and they knew where they would be buried when they died.  Over and over again, they complain about the burdens of freedom.  After four hundred years as an enslaved people, Israel isn’t ready for the Promised Land.

If you look at a map of the Middle East, you can see that it isn’t that far from Egypt to Israel.  And yet, it takes Israel 40 years to reach the Promised Land.  The biblical record describes a journey that is far from direct.  On the contrary, God leads the people through the wilderness in what can only be called a circuitous route.  It seems that God has in mind to keep them in the wilderness for as long as it takes to transform them into a new people; into God’s people.

Read Exodus 16:4-15.

Biblical scholars still wonder about manna.  Some think it was the resin of the Tamarisk tree.  Others think it was the crystallized honeydew of a certain desert insect.  Some think it was a certain kind of lichen.  The Scriptures themselves don’t even agree on what manna was like – it tasted like wafers, it tasted like honey, it was like coriander seed, it was collected with the dew, it was pounded into loaves that were baked and tasted like olive oil.  That’s the thing about miracles – you can never really get your hands around them; you can never pin them down and understand them completely.

The Scriptures say that when the Israelites saw this flaky substance on the ground, they said to one another, “man hu,” which means in Hebrew, “What is it?”  “Man hu” – “what is it?” – words from which we get the name, “manna.”

The bread from heaven came down every day for forty years – 14,600 days.  And when Israel crossed into the Promised Land, then and only then did it cease. For forty years, the people were sustained by something they had no name for.  They were sustained through the wilderness; through the time of trial; through the uncertainty of the journey; sustained on manna while God taught them how to become who and what they were meant to be.

There’s one more thing I want to show you about this text.  It’s there in verses 9 and 10.  There, in the midst of the peoples’ grumbling; there, despite their phenomenal amnesia about God’s faithfulness.  When the people become so discouraged by the hardship of the journey, God shows compassion for them once again:

“Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’” And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.”  (Exodus 16:9-10)

            The people of Israel are hurting.  They are hungry.  They are afraid.  They don’t know what’s coming next.  They only know that it seems like it’s been hard for a very long time and they are so tired that they’re even beginning to think that they might be better off back in Egypt.

And that’s when God does something truly miraculous.  “The Lord God himself gently takes the people by the shoulders and turns them around”; turns them away from Egypt and toward the long journey to freedom.  And just when they are facing squarely into the trials of the wilderness, that’s when they see “the glory of the Lord.”  They looked into the hard times of life and that is where they saw the presence of God.[4]

Manna.  “Man hu”?  What is it?  What are the signs of God’s unfailing grace in your life?

“Man hu”? What is it?  What are the ways that God has nourished you along your journey? 

“Man hu”? What is it? How has God revealed to you His glory even at that point where you felt you couldn’t go one more step?

The story of Manna in the wilderness teaches us that God provides for our needs -- even in the harshest wilderness of our lives.  It teaches us that God provides for us because God loves us – even though we may have forgotten that we are precious to God.  It teaches us that God has always provided for us – even though we may have forgotten God’s faithfulness in the past.

May the bread of heaven be within easy reach whenever you turn your face toward the journey ahead and know that it is the glory of the Lord that goes before you.

May it be so.  Amen.