Jesus Our Manna – Food From Heaven
Introduction
Do we think that the delicious manna was not as plentiful and frequent as the epic description of Exodus seems to imply? Not necessary. The authors bring out its theological meaning. When food is scarce and always the same, when the Hebrews cry out for the false securities of Egypt (plenty in slavery/sin), every day enough manna “rains from heaven” for the needs of the day. Thus the Hebrews experience that God cares and that they are in his hands. He sustains them on the arduous road to freedom. God gives them – and us – what we need every day. We are not to worry about tomorrow. The devil would always remind us about the Egypt (sin) we left behind at Baptism and the Sacrament of Confession. But he’ll never open our eyes that Egypt means slavery, where we were chained by sin and death.
Christ refers to the manna as a figure of the Eucharist, which sustains us on the road of life and does not allow death.
God looks for good soil to sow his seeds of life. Do we have hearts of stone in which nothing grows? Or hearts, open to the good news, but so overgrown with weeds of constant worrying about the cares of life and things that do not matter that no time is left to cultivate the growth in us of God’s life and love? Let us ask in this Eucharist that we may yield a rich harvest, like the prophet Jeremiah.
1 Reading: Exodus 16:1-5, 9-15
The children of Israel set out from Elim, and came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The children of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!” Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of the children of Israel: Present yourselves before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.” When Aaron announced this to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, they turned toward the desert, and lo, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud! The LORD spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.” In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the children of Israel asked one another, “What is this?” for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 78:18-19, 23-24, 25-26, 27-28
R. (24b) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
They tempted God in their hearts
by demanding the food they craved.
Yes, they spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the desert?” R.
Yet he commanded the skies above
and the doors of heaven he opened;
He rained manna upon them for food
and gave them heavenly bread. R.
Man ate the bread of angels,
food he sent them in abundance.
He stirred up the east wind in the heavens,
and by his power brought on the south wind. R.
And he rained meat upon them like dust,
and, like the sand of the sea, winged fowl,
Which fell in the midst of their camp
round about their tents. R.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live for ever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Commentary
Despite the Hebrews’ murmuring and discontent, Yahweh continues to shower blessings on them. They are given bread from heaven (manna) and quail meat for their daily sustenance. So many times in Exodus we read of happenings that have clear New Testament echoes.
Jesus provides us with bread from heaven both in his teaching and in his multiplication of physical bread to feed followers. However, in a special way, he gives us his body and blood under the form of bread (and wine). “The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). Imagine, if you can, what it would mean for us to traverse the desert of life without the Eucharist!
The parable of the sower begins today. There’ll be a break tomorrow as we’ll celebrate the Feast of James, the Apostle. But next tomorrow, we will meet Jesus in time explaining the parable in details. However, we all pray that our hearts may be, not just the good soil where God sows his word, but be the good seed of today’s Gospel, the seed that produces abundant fruit. This will happen if we remain rooted in our faith and always grateful for the bread from heaven, the greatest sign of God’s providential love.
Blessing
The Lord gives you bread to eat. Do those of us who have always enough to eat thank the Lord for it? Do we thank him for giving us the manna of the Eucharist? And do we share what we have with those who have not enough? May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!