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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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A Test of Faith |
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Exodus
16:20 Fourth
Sunday in Lent March
2, 2008 I have to admit that, to me, the Hebrews seemed to be doing the intelligent thing. You will remember that they were in the wilderness at the time of these events, having come out of Egypt by the powerful hand of God. Yet the events that led to their deliverance were well behind them now, and, besides, how did they know the plagues of Egypt were not just coincidental? How did they know they were the hand of God, and not just natural phenomena? After all, most of them were out in the fields and the building projects working for the Egyptians when Moses was talking to the Pharaoh. They didn’t hear Moses’ words or see him smite the Nile. Maybe it was all a myth? One thing they did know, they were in the wilderness and they were hungry. The setting of this passage shows real hunger. They weren’t fasting. They were low on food with no logical prospects of finding more. Whose fault was it? Moses’ fault. He is the one who convinced them to come with him. They were perfectly happy back there in Egypt, with their pots full of meat and pantries full of bread. Never mind the small details of 400 years of bondage, of having their children ripped from their arms and murdered, of being forced to work as slaves for the Egyptians’ profit, of being nothing more than property, at least they had food. Who took them away from all that luxury to die in the desert? Moses! Thus, they murmured against Moses, but their murmurings were really against God. For it was God, not Moses, who delivered them from bondage. It was God, not Moses, who brought them out of Egypt. But they couldn’t see that. Their eyes were on their need for food. They could only see hungry children, with no way feed them. It appeared to them that they were brought from a bad situation to a worse situation. Maybe they were slaves in Egypt, but they had food. Here in the desert it seemed they would starve. So when the Manna fell from heaven, they ignored the words of Moses. They gathered up baskets and baskets full of it. They stocked their tents. They gathered until they could hold no more. After all, who knew when it would fall again? Again, I say, it looks like the intelligent thing to me. So why did God let them run out of food? Why did He tell them to gather only enough for the day? Why did He tell them not to try to store it overnight? It was a test of faith. God said to Moses in Exodus 16:4 that He was giving the bread from heaven that He may, “prove them [the Hebrews] whether they will walk in my law, or no.” The word, “prove” is used in the sense of a test. In seminary I had a professor who called tests “opportunities.” They were opportunities to prove I had studied, to prove I had learned my lessons. When I was in elementary and high school math class, we had a different word for tests. Every question on the test was called a “problem.” So it is in Exodus, to the Hebrews, the lack of food was a problem. To God it was an opportunity. It was an opportunity for the people to trust Him. He had brought them out of Egypt. When they were trapped at the Red Sea, with the Egyptian Army closing in, God parted the waters and led them to safety. He had been faithful at every turn of events. Would they trust Him now? Likewise with us, what often appears to be a problem is actually an opportunity to trust God. I think of the experience and faith of John Chrysostom. His prayer appears at the end of Morning and Evening Prayer, found on page 20 of the Book of Common Prayer. Chrysostom was the Patriarch of Constantinople, a position comparable to the Pope in Rome. His life was comfortable by all human standards, except for one thing, the queen didn’t like him. To make a long story short, the queen worked against him, and finally got him banished. She banished him once, but he was able to return. He was banished again. This time, a three month death march in the summer heat killed him. I think he knew he would die in this exile. As he faced it, he wrote; “When I was driven from the city, I felt no anxiety, but said to myself: If the empress wishes to banish me, let her do so; ‘the earth is the Lord’s.’ If she wants to have me sawn asunder, I have Isaiah for an example. If she wants me to be drowned in the ocean, I think of Jonah. If I am to be thrown into the fire, the three men in the furnace suffered the same. If cast before wild beasts, I remember Daniel in the lions den. If she wants me to be stoned I have before me Stephen, the first martyr. If she demands my head let her do so; John the Baptist shines before me. Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked shall I leave this world,” (Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, First Series, volume 9, page 14). Our Lessons for this morning, combine the reading from Exodus with a reading from John 6, in which Christ compares Himself to the manna in the wilderness. The point is clear. Just as the Hebrews could trust God with their lives, we can trust Him with our souls. As He provided bread for the body in the wilderness, so He provides bread for the soul. Christ is that bread of life. So we have before us an exhortation to trust in God. Not just in the “spiritual matters” but in all things. We are to trust Him with our lives, and trust Him with our souls. God grant us grace to trust Him. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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