Reflection

They were 'to the manna born', that crowd who chased after Jesus. They knew all about Moses and what their ancestors had endured during their long journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, but now it seemed as though everything had gone wrong for them, too. Their land had been invaded, the people were oppressed by the powerful Romans, who did not speak their language or understand their culture, their religion or their customs, and they felt abandoned by God. No wonder they wanted to hail Jesus as the miracle-worker who would make everything right again.

I suppose that God could have made people who were never hungry or were happy to live on pills - but how unsatisfying it would be never to smell bread baking, never to use our skills to hunt or fish or to grow food, never to taste and see that God is good. I suppose that God could have made people who were never hungry for God, lacking all spirit - but how unsatisfying it would be for us, never to grow through wonder or worship, and being of no use in furthering the growth of God's kingdom.

Thankfully, in his wisdom, God chose to do otherwise, and blessed his people with incompleteness, healthy appetites and a spirit which cries out for bread and purpose, for community and love.

In the beginning, when Adam and Eve were hungry, God gave them a garden: Eden, with fruit of every colour, taste, nutritional value and texture that they could feed on; but he also offered them food for their souls : obedience, the need to take God's words into themselves, willingly and consciously. The alternative would be to abandon what made them fully human; they could eat greedily and selfishly only to survive for a while and then die, never having had meaning or purpose to their existence.

In the wilderness, when the Israelites were tired, irritable and hungry, God gave them bread from heaven, manna on their doorstep, with double rations on day six and so, rest on day seven - but God also said that nobody should collect more than a day's ration or try to build up a store. They had to understand that sufficient unto the day was the manna thereof, to eat, drink and enjoy, and to trust God's word that he would provide their bread daily, daily bread for bodies and souls.

In that other wilderness of occupied territory, when five thousand people were hungry, having brought their sick and dying to seek healing, and to hear God's living Word, Jesus did not only multiply their meagre resources, he gave them the unforgettable experience of miracle. What he was showing them was that they should not look at their own poverty but at his riches; blessed are those who hunger and thirst not just for food and drink, though that is quite understandable, but also for right living and obedience to God.

Still to come was the upper room, where they met to eat the Passover meal when Jesus took bread, feeling his own body breaking and his own blood spilling, thinking ahead to the agonising prising apart of body and soul - and to the rising from death in order to make his people whole. Back then, Jesus said, in so many words, 'You are looking for the return of manna as a sign of your Messiah, but this is not a one-off miraculous feeding. I am the living bread come down from heaven, and all I require is that you remember not to live by earthly food alone, but by every Word of God. There is such hunger in the world, so much appetite unsatisfied for bread and entertainment, for full stomachs and minds at rest, for tears dried and freedom from war and oppression. The aid agencies do their best, and sometimes bread and water are blessed, and in the gift we glimpse the giver, Manna, born in Bethlehem, the house of bread.

Manna? What is it? Who is it? Jesus Christ, who provides himself, enough to whet our appetite for the banquet spread in heaven, where body and soul are satisfied. Our Lord promises that he will be with us to nourish us and to renew our strength in each and every situation of life. Now it is our responsibility to be obedient, to respond to the hungry in our time, to share the world's resources and to carry out our mission by feeding bodies and souls.