August 5 NOTES FOR REFLECTION Ordinary 18

August 5                                 NOTES FOR REFLECTION             Ordinary 18

Texts: Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15; Ephesians 4:16; John 6:24-35

Theme:  It seems to me that there is a real issue about unity and division in our readings today, so I'm going with "We're all in this Together".  An alternative might be to focus on the daily in "Our Daily Bread".

Introduction.  In our first reading the emphasis is on "all the people": they're all fed up, all are grumbling, all are assembled together, all are given the same message from God, and all receive the same meat and bread.  In our second lesson we have another passionate appeal to maintain unity within the Body of Christ; the things that unite us are far more important than any personal differences we may have.  And in our gospel passage, arguments are heating up within the deeply divided community from which the Fourth Gospel (and the three epistles of John) emerged.

Background.  Background, foreground and middle-ground, all seem to be dominated by the Olympic Games at the moment.  There should be some ways of making connections here.  An obvious one is the call to be the best we can be.  We can't all win medals but we can all set PB's, we're told.  Can we translate this slogan from the Games to our lives of faith?  Can we strive to be the best Christians we can be, and, if so, what might that involve and what might the outcome look like?  Certainly we can call to mind that St Paul often drew on the language of athletics in his writings, though whether we should see our faith as a competitive sport is at best debateable!

But certainly the element of sacrifice required to achieve the best results in the sporting arena should give us pause the next time we find ourselves claiming that we simply haven't the time for prayer each day.  But there are also warnings to heed from this "Greatest Show on Earth."  The cult of the individual can be all too obvious, even if the more carefully schooled athletes remember to pretend that they are doing it for their country.  And support for "one of our own" can easily slip into jingoistic backslapping and xenophobic abuse.  And the number of disqualifications so far should tell us about wanting something so much we will stop at nothing to get it.

On a similar theme, we might reflect on a couple of other matters that have managed to get a little attention this week.  John Banks is simply the latest in a long line of public figures who apparently believe that "I have done nothing illegal" means the same as "I have done nothing wrong", particularly sad in the case of a leader who has always identified himself publicly as a Christian.  Perhaps the next time we are told about coming down hard on those who break the law we should ask if the campaign can be broadened to include those who act unethically as well.  And the further charges to which Ewen McDonald has pleaded guilty underline again the darker side of human nature, famously described by his defence counsel as just an ordinary Kiwi joker.  There may be some points of connection there.

One of the most interesting and helpful books I have ever read in relation to me faith is The Community of the Beloved Disciple, by an American scholar called Raymond. E. Brown.  This is not so much a commentary on St John's Gospel, as an attempt to provide the context out of which this wonderful Gospel emerged.  His basic position is that a distinct community of Christian faith had established itself in Ephesus by about 55AD, and was predominantly Jewish.  Its broad belief in those early days was not all that different from the other communities that produced the other three gospels, but that had changed quite drastically by the time the gospel was written in about 90AD.  Four major events caused this widening gap, according to Brown.  First, there was a considerable influx of Samaritan converts, bringing with them some of their own faith traditions (think woman at the well, chapter 4); secondly, there was the unsuccessful uprising against the Romans, culminating in the destruction of the Temple in AD; thirdly there was the expulsion of Christian Jews from the synagogues, probably completed by 85AD; and fourthly, throughout this whole period there was an increasing percentage of Gentile believers joining the community.

Add all this together, according to Brown, and we get considerable guidance in attempting to understand the various "argumentative passages" we find in the text as we have it today, including in this wonderful chapter 6 that we are presently grappling with.  Two key contentious issues were clearly the divinity (or otherwise) of Jesus, and the necessity (or otherwise) of the Eucharist.  Keep those in mind as we look at today's passage, and those that follow this month.

Exodus.  As stated above. The people act and are responded to as one body.  Notice that they are "grumbling", a term that John uses a little later in chapter 6 of his gospel.  Faced with a difficult and challenging present, they crave a return to a golden past that never actually existed.  How prone we are to do that ourselves!  So they set up this "there-here", "past-present" duality that is pure illusion in fact but real to their imaginations soured as they are by self-pity.  There (then) we had all the food we wanted: here (now) we are starving to death.  Yeah, right!  Their complaint is really directed to God, but notice that they pretend it's all the fault of Moses and Aaron.  They are our shepherds: they should have led us to green pastures, but instead they have led us into the desert.  However, God has heard their grumbles, and announces his plan, not directly to them, but to Moses.  In those days God preferred to deal through a mediator.  The promise is to "rain down" bread from heaven, an interesting expression in the context (and in the desert).  They will be able to gather enough each day; and God indicates that this will be a test to see if they will obey him.

So the people are gathered together in a great assembly and are told what is to take place,  They are told the Lord has heard their grumbling.  Now they look across the desert and see the glory of the Lord in a cloud.  Things are looking up – their mood is lifting in.  They are promised an abundance of meat at twilight and bread for breakfast.  Why?  So that they will know "I am the Lord their God".  Things turn out as predicted, but the people do not know what the manna is.  Moses has to explain it to them.

Taking It Personally.

·        Can grumbling be a form of prayer?  If the Lord hears and responds, why not?  Is there something you want to grumble about to God today?  Go ahead!

·        Are you tempted to look back to the good old days to escape the difficulties of your present circumstances?

·        In a review of a book on world finances published in the ODT last Saturday, the reviewer started with a reference to Exodus, and the model that each had enough, and none had too much.  What can we learn from this biblical approach?

·        Continue to give thanks every time you eat bread this week.  Make it a deliberate act of worship: call to mind this story of divine providence, even in a desert.

Ephesians.  As stated above, this is a sustained plea for unity within the faith community at Ephesus (if Raymond brown is right, the community that would give birth to the Fourth Gospel in due course).  We can assume, therefore, that divisions are already arising.  The key verse may be 3, so beautifully adopted into our Eucharistic liturgy at The Peace: make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.   This is followed by what may have been an early "mini-creed" in verses 4 and 5.  If it's any consolation to you, I don't understand verses 7-9 either: to me they read like a gloss written in by some overly pedantic monk, but I might be quite wrong about that.  All I can say is that if we leave out the bit in parenthesis the text reads better and makes better sense (at least, to me).  Verses 11-13 are also central, showing the importance of balancing diversity of gifts and unity of purpose.  We all have different ministries, but they are for the benefit of all, so that all may come to ever greater maturity in Christ.  And if we want an analogy with the Olympic Games, try this one: the personal best we are to aim for is the "attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ"!  That's the gold medal standard – and a tie between all participants is the best possible outcome!

Taking It Personally.

·        Ponder the versicle from our liturgy on page 418: Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace/ Amen.  We are bound by the love of Christ.  Spend time with it (we're usually too busy clambering to our feet to exchange the Peace).  Let the words seep into you.

·        Repeat the same exercise with verse 5.

·        Then with verse 13.  Learn this one by heart.  Savour it.  Come back to it time and again over the coming week.

·        Finish off with verses 14-16.  And for another taste of the Olympics think about the farcical match-fixing in the badminton as you reflect on the "cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming". (Nobody said it was illegal: they said it was a breach of the spirit of the Games - another interesting expression.)

John.  The background to this passage is the Feeding of the Five Thousand.  Here's a series of ideas that that passage may give rise to.  Level 1: it is a parable about sharing, following the good example of the little boy (overlooking the possibility that he didn't so much offer his lunch as had it commandeered by Andrew).  Level 2: the story shows that Jesus stands in the prophetic tradition, performing similar miracles to those of Elijah and Elisha.  Level 3: the story shows that Jesus is divine, doing what God did for the people in the wilderness.  Level 3 is what is behind today's argumentative passage.  So, too, are other aspects of the Exodus tradition.  We open with a few pointless questions about how Jesus got to be where he is today.  But Jesus cuts through all that, zooming in on their motives.  Why are they searching for him?  Because they want another free lunch – that is, like their ancestors in the desert, they should have interpreted the miraculous sign as pointing to the Lord their God, but they missed it.  "Do not work for food that spoils", says Jesus, recalling the "excess manna" that went rotten overnight.  So they ask the obvious question (like the rich young ruler in Luke), what must we do – what does God require of us?  Jesus tells them that they must believe in the one whom God has sent to them.  And here comes another example of John's love of irony: they ask for a miraculous sign to prove his identity!

Perhaps the segue to manna from heaven is a little forced here, but it makes sense.  You might have fed a large crowd here (a place where there was plenty of grass – verse 10), but our ancestors were given manna in the desert.  Can you beat that?  That's what they are saying, and in a way that implies that Moses gave them the manna and Jesus is no match for Moses.  So Jesus dismisses that, and introduces the idea, that will be developed further in this chapter, that he himself is the true bread that comes down from heaven.

Taking It Personally.

·        Why are you looking for Jesus?  For what you can get from him, or for what you can offer him?

·        Evelyn Underhill says that the difference between mysticism and magic is that the mystic seeks to give love to God, and the magician seeks to obtain something from God (or from the spiritual powers).  Where does that leave intercessory prayer?

·        Meditate on verse 36.  Digest it, make it your own.  Believe it in the deepest part of your being, and give thanks.