Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
Exodus 16.2–15 (related reading) Philippians 1.21–end Matthew 20.1–16
You are the Chair of a committee and share the responsibility for much of what the club or association does. As Chair you can, to a degree, sway the direction of a meeting. This is the case that we see with Moses and Aaron in the Old Testament reading. OK, they are not heading up a committee as such. But a whole nation of people, the Israelites.
The Israelites had been happyish where they were sat beside their fleshpots and eating their fill of bread. Now Moses and Aaron had led them away from this life into the wilderness to seek a new place. It would not be long before the supplies of food ran thin or even ended altogether. Rumbling tummies give rise to dissatisfaction and complaints and this is just what happened.
God heard their dissatisfaction and spoke to Moses telling him that he was going to rain bread from heaven for the Israelites to gather as food to supply them. Day by day this bread would be provided for the people to go out and gather. On the sixth day there would be twice as much bread so double may be gathered to feed them on the seventh day, the Sabbath.
Moses and Aaron told the Israelites what would happen. He explained how God had heard them and was supplying their needs. When this occurred, the Israelites were in a quandary. What was happening? Moses explained that it was the bread that the Lord had given them to eat.
Here we had a complete nation rise up and complain. Leading them into the wilderness it was up to Moses and Aaron to satisfy the complaining hoard. God heard and acted. He supplied the needs of the people. Sending a layer of dew and then hidden beneath the dew was a fine flaky substance. Here was the bread from heaven, food which would satisfy their needs. All they had to do was to go out and gather for their daily needs and on the sixth day gather twice as much. A heavenly harvest was theirs for them to gather.
We are still very much in the harvest season with churches up and down the land celebrating God’s providence in their different ways. Coastal parishes frequently have the fruit of the sea as a large focus of their harvest festival whilst deep inland the fruit of the field is more likely to be the major point of focus. We see cleverly shaped loaves in the shape of a sheaf of corn and loaves of bread reflecting the skill of the baker.
For the Israelites the heavenly harvest had to supply them whilst they trekked through that wilderness. For how long they did not know. They just placed their trust in Moses and Aaron that they would lead them to the promised land. The heavenly harvest would supply their needs.
Here, wherever we may be reading this homily, we too will be gathering our harvest. Many of my e-congregation are local to mid-Devon, and yet I know of some who read this in South Australia. It would be nice to receive an idea of your location if more than just a few miles away. It would show how the Word of God passes throughout the world. A Word which upon being read is reaping a harvest of souls. God is gathering into his kingdom his children. Currently, they may be lost, travelling through a wilderness, unsure not only of where they are going but also doubtful of what will sustain them on their journey.
And a journey is what we are all on, from the moment of our birth to our final breath. God is with us and providing for us in any of many different ways. The Israelites had the heavenly bread. We have a whole superstore of delights harvested for us by people working in fields and farms all over the world and provided for us in the mega super-stores in our land.
The Israelites did not know what that heavenly food was and asked of Moses. We can find ourselves in a similar position when we go into a big supermarket and grab a tin off the shelves. Do we recognise the contents? Possibly we do but we may find a tin or a piece of fresh produce we do not recognise. The label may not be of much help. Using the maxim of ‘if in a tin pour it into a pan to cook it’ may not be the best way forward if it is a soft fruit meant to be eaten straight from the tin. Even today there are times when we also have to ask what is in front of us. Whatever it is the object of our question will have been provided by God through his grace and by the work of his children caring for his creation.
Collect for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear
the prayers of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.