"Bread for Grumbling" based on Exodus 16:2-15

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost - August 2, 2009

Pastor Troy Slater - Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Herington, Kansas

This sermon was adapted from a sermon by Rev. Philip Zielinski of Fort Wayne, Indiana which appeared in Vol. 19, Part 3 of "Concordia Pulpit Resources." Used with permission.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. … Well the people of Israel were desperate - hungry as we read in our Old Testament reading for this morning. They were starving out there in that wilderness not too many days after crossing through the waters of the Red Sea. They couldn't take it anymore and so their memories became rather selective, we could say. For they didn't seem to remember the past pain of a whip across their backs but they sure could remember the meat that filled their pots back in slavery in Egypt. They didn’t recall the tortures of slavery, but they could sure recall the fleeting pleasures of a meal. And so they began wishing for those "good ol' days" - at least that's what they wanted to think about those days of slavery. Yes if only that had been their final home, they reasoned, that would have been so much better than this dry, forsaken desert that the Lord and His servants have drug them into. Yes desperate times call for desperate measures and so desperate, the people of Israel began to grumble. They began to grumble against the Lord's appointed servants - Moses and Aaron; they began to grumble against the Lord. …

Of course the children of Israel did not have the market cornered when it comes to grumbling. I mean, of course we see it in our world today - even doing quite a bit of it ourselves, I imagine. At work, at school, at home, the grass is always greener on the other side. Or we become the "Monday morning quarterback" - or maybe we should say the "morning-after chairperson" or the "day-after principal". Right? I mean we like to sit back and play the expert; grumbling about how much better things could be if only we were in charge. Truth is that in the people Israel we have a mirror of ourselves, don't we? Truth is we see in them how easy it is for us to hold up the arms of the prophet one day and then to beat him down the next. Yes we see in the people of Israel our own sinful nature.

Now, certainly it was not hunger which was the sin of Israel. Even asking for meat and bread was not sinful. After all, the Lord God invites us to come to Him as dear children come to their dear fathers and ask Him for all things according to His will. Hunger and even asking was not the problem. Rather their sin - and yes, our sin - is the sin of believing that God's promises are not true - that He will not look out for our best interest. Their sin was refusing to believe the Word of the Lord as they looked elsewhere for comfort and for provision.

For God had promised the children of Israel that He would lead them to a land flowing with milk and honey. He promised that He would give them a land of plenty and of security. He promised them a place where they could worship Him without fear, delivered from the hands of their enemies. But they wanted it all right now. And they didn't have it all right now - out in that wilderness. And so they grumbled, not believing the Lord would take care of them. It was too difficult to hunger for a time knowing they would be blessed for eternity. It was too difficult to endure the crosses and trials of life even knowing the Lord's promises that beyond the sea of trials there lay another country. A country where hunger and thirst and need would be forever abolished. It was just too difficult to see beyond their present reality, and so they grumbled. They grumbled against the Lord. …

And so again, we see in them, a picture of ourselves, don’t we? We naturally want our cake and to eat it now. Left to ourselves we choose the easy road, the full belly, the soft bed, the comfortable shoes. We strive after the rose without the thorns; the victory without the battle, the pain without the gain. Wanting a theology of glory we reject a theology of the cross, where we are each called to take up those crosses that our Lord gives us to bear. We don't want to have to suffer the hardships of this time only later to receive the joys of eternity. We want the easy road and we want it now and so we grumble when it's not there - we grumble against the servants of God - we grumble against God Himself. …

But you know, even as hard as it is to believe; even despite the Israelites sin, God heard their grumblings. .. And despite our sin, even as hard as it is to believe, God yet hears our grumblings. He hears our cries and then He speaks His Word. And not that word of judgment that we deserve, but rather he hears and then He speaks His Word of grace and of mercy and of compassion. He provides for our needs. Not that He takes away the thorns or the crosses, not that He abolishes the difficulties, but He gives us what we need to make it through those thorns and to bear those crosses.

With Israel, He said to Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.' " He didn't take them out of the wilderness and to be sure there were more trials yet to come, but He heard their sinful grumblings and He answered them as if they were prayers. He gave them meat, He gave them bread. They ate, they were filled. For it's exactly like the psalmist says, "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love." As a Father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on His people.

The Lord has compassion. And not just on Old Testament Israel, but also on us, His new Israel. We also see our Lord's compassion. We see His fatherly love as He feeds and preserves our bodies, giving us our daily bread. Though we may grumble about the weather, God brings His harvest from the earth. Even though we may grumble about our governments, God uses them to grant us peace and security. Even though we may grumble about our health, God gives us air to breathe. Even though we may grumble against each other, God gives us one another to care for and to support one another. Each day - though as undeserving and as ungrateful as we may be - the Lord rains down His countless blessings upon us - clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home-all that we have-all that we need to support this body and life. Yes God is gracious and compassionate with us despite our grumblings - not to excuse our grumblings - but despite our grumblings. God is gracious and compassionate. …

Now, in the Sinai desert, God told Moses that He would feed His people with bread from heaven so that they would know and acknowledge that He is the Lord their God. He fed His people with bread from heaven so that they might acknowledge that He alone has their eternal life in His hands. The Lord God fed them that they might ever trust in Him.

Of course the children of Israel failed and faltered again and again in placing that trust in the Lord. But yet, God remained faithful, didn’t He? In fact nearly 1,500 after leading Israel into the promised land - as He had promised! - the Son of God - Jesus himself fed a congregation in the Judean desert - over 5,000 of them in fact as we read a couple of weeks ago. He fed them with bread from heaven so that they would know that He Himself is the true bread come down from heaven that can ever be trusted. In our Gospel reading Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven,but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." As we journey through this desolate world of sin, the Lord God cares not just for our bodies here for a time - but He cares for us that we might forever trust in Him. For despite our grumblings He has had compassion on us and in fact even come down and laid down His own life for us. He died, that we might be delivered not from a few hunger pains, but rather from our enemies of sin, death and the devil.

We have been delived from our bondage just as Israel had been delivered from their bondage. But they continued to look back, didn't they? They looked back, enticed by a few selective memories. But we don't have to look back. Come what may in this time before our final entrance into heaven, there is no going back to slavery and bondage no matter how enticing the fallen world may be. Your deliverance has been won; you have been given life by Jesus in His suffering and death by the cross. Jesus endured the full wrath of God for your sin - even for your grumblings. He himself hungered, thirsted, suffered, died - paying the wages of sin. He is the true bread come down from heaven who has led you not through the waters of the Red Sea, but rather through those waters of Holy Baptism. Yes the Lord cares for us that we might forever trust in Him-never looking back.

With Jesus - trusting in Him, feasting on Him and His Word to us, it's as Jesus Himself declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” With Jesus we are fed with true meat and drink; with Jesus we are filled up with the bread of God who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

And with that, we have the strength to face whatever earthly trials may come. With Jesus we have that food that sustains us in all our days of pilgrimage here in this time. With the Bread of Life we have all of God's promises fulfilled. "Never will He leave you, never will He forsake you." "Heaven is your home, earth is but a pilgrimage." "Pain is but for a moment, sorrows shall forever cease." "Nothing in all creation can ever separate you from God's love to you in Christ Jesus." Yes with Jesus your sins are forgiven, "removed from you as far as the east is from the west." With Jesus all of God's promises are fulfilled.

And so yes even despite our grumblings, God has heard our cries. He has come down and fed us with the true bread from heaven. He has fed us with the bread of life - Jesus our Savior. Amen.