The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, August 2nd: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35)

FOLLOW THE DUDE WITH THE FOOD

In this week’s first reading, from the book of Exodus, we read about the Israelites, who recently had been set free from slavery in Egypt. God had delivered them miraculously, and now they were enjoying the blessed fruits of freedom, following their leader Moses on the journey to the Promised Land. So they were really excited and joyful about this awesome situation, right? Wrong!

Instead of being joyful, the Israelites grumbled against Moses and—you’ll never believe this—they actually longed for the days when they were slaves. Even though they had been nothing but pieces of property back in Egypt, beaten and abused and regularly worked to death by their cruel task masters, they wished they were back in those circumstances rather than being free.

Why did they wish that? Was it because they were insane? No, it was because they were hungry. They lamented the good ol’ days of slavery, and recalled, “We sat by our pots of meat and ate our fill of bread!” Then the grumbled against Moses, saying, “But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!”

Back in Egypt they knew they would be fed regularly. The Egyptians weren’t stupid. They knew the slaves couldn’t work hard if they were malnourished. So they fed them daily—probably some slimy, tasteless gruel—but it was regular and it was guaranteed.

Now that they were free and out of Egypt, the Israelites no longer had that regular and guaranteed meal each day. They were completely on their own. On their own, that is, if you ignore the fact God was with them, and He had promised to take care of them. It’s funny how the minute someone’s stomach starts to growl, firm promises, even promises from God Almighty Himself, start to seem as flimsy as promises from a modern-day politician.

We also read about growling stomachs in the Gospel this week. A large crowd of people wondered where Jesus had gone. When they heard He had crossed the Sea of Galilee, they clambered into boats and a makeshift armada sailed across the lake, desperate to find Him. Why were they in such a hurry to find Jesus? Was it because they knew He was the long-awaited Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world? Nah. It was because they were hungry.

When the crowd finally found Jesus, He said to them, “You are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”

The day before, Jesus had performed the awesome miracle of feeding 5,000 people with just five loaves and two fish. He did this miracle to demonstrate His divine power and to announce that the Kingdom of God was at hand. But the main message the crowd learned from this miracle was, “Wow, this dude has free food! Let’s follow him!”

At this point, let me relate a story about Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, from Ravi Zacharias’ book, Can Man Live Without God:

Stalin called for a live chicken and proceeded to use it to make an unforgettable point before some of his henchmen. Forcefully clutching the chicken in one hand, with the other he began to systematically pluck out its feathers. As the chicken struggled in vain to escape, he continued with the painful denuding until the bird was completely stripped. “Now you watch,” Stalin said as he placed the chicken on the floor and walked away with some bread crumbs in his hand. Incredibly, the fear-crazed chicken hobbled toward him and clung to the legs of his trousers. Stalin threw a handful of grain to the bird, and it began to follow him around the room. He turned to his dumbfounded colleagues and said quietly, “This is the way to rule the people. Did you see how that chicken followed me for food, even though I had caused it such torture? People are like that chicken. If you inflict inordinate pain on them they will follow you for food the rest of their lives.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. Food is very important. In fact, five of the most joyous moments in my day are: breakfast, second breakfast (maybe I’m a hobbit?), lunch, dinner, and bedtime snack.

Human beings cannot survive very long without food. That’s obvious. But is it possible our desire for food, and for a regular and guaranteed source of food for the rest of our lives, can cause us to act like the ancient Israelites, or like the crowd that chased after Jesus? Or sometimes even like Stalin’s chicken?

It’s a bit disconcerting nowadays to watch how quickly people are throwing away their freedom (not to mention their self-respect) as they beg and scream and demand that the government take care of all their needs. It’s almost as if they’re saying, “We’d rather be slaves in Egypt—or even terrified plucked chickens—as long as you give us some food each day.”

In the second reading this week, from the letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul warns that Christians can no longer live as the pagans do, “in the futility of their minds.” Paul said that Christians “should put away the old self of [our] former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires,” and instead we must “be renewed in the spirit of [our] minds.”

Is it possible one of those “deceitful desires” is our desire for food and security? Not that food and security are unimportant, of course, but it seems when we are unsure of the future, we quickly begin to panic and lose sight of God’s divine power (as the crowd at Galilee did), and instead we easily surrender our freedom to the first slave-driver (Egypt) or dictator (Stalin) or smarmy politician (take your pick) who comes along and promises to give us some slimy, tasteless gruel each day.

God did not create us to be slaves, nor to be held captive by the fear of the unknown. God calls us to become His sons and daughters, adopted children of the King of Heaven, not a bunch of sniveling plucked chickens. To fulfill our calling, we must trust that God will keep His promise to protect us. This faith will spur us to be courageous and bold and free, and with God’s help and guidance, we then will be able to provide for ourselves and our families and our communities, and not be seduced by the hollow promises of people who really want us to be perpetually dependent upon them.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father…give us this day our daily bread.” Do people really think that God will not answer that prayer? Do people really have less trust in God Almighty than they have in the narcissistic empty suits in Washington? If that’s really the case, then bondage is surely just around the corner.

©2009