Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Embracing Mystery
When Jesus says he has “come down from heaven,” his critics are quick to cry, “Impossible!” They know where he came from! They know his parents! Human beings do not “come down from heaven”; they are born down the street. There is no mystery in their origins.
Yet even something as ordinary as bread can have mysterious origins, as Jesus’ critics well know. When the Israelites were lost and starving in the wilderness, God fed them with bread from heaven. That bread was so mysterious that they called it “manna”—a word meaning “What is it?”
That mysterious bread gave the Israelites life, but only for a mortal lifetime. The bread of life that is Jesus takes the mystery even further. Whoever eats it will live forever; and the bread is Jesus’ flesh.
How can we embrace such mystery? The first step is to lay aside what we know.
The Israelites learned this lesson with the manna. Because they knew how much bread they typically needed, they tried to hoard the manna, but it spoiled and could not be eaten. Because they knew it would not carry them through the week, they tried to gather the manna on the Sabbath, but it vanished and could not be gathered. To see the manna as it truly was, the Israelites had to lay aside what they “knew,” and listen for the word of God.
The bread of life that is Jesus takes the mystery farther: Whoever eats it will live forever. How can we embrace such mystery? What do we know—about bread, about life, about humanity—that we must lay aside to really hear the word of God?
When God offers us mystery, let our cry be not, “Impossible!” but, “What is it?” Then we can listen for God’s answer—and believe.
Ginny Tobiassen, pastor, Home Moravian Church
Winston-Salem, North Carolina