"Enough For This Day" September 18, 2011

Exodus 16:2-15
Matthew 20: 1-16
Years ago, I knew a man who had discovered what he thought was the secret to salvation.
His parents had made sacrifices for him to go to the best schools. Early on, he had learned that if you show up and listen, giving back what you are told you will at least get a C, for attendance /competency. However the harder you work, the more you apply yourself, the more you will succeed. He took this to College, and work, and family life, believing his success, his life, his salvation, were all in his control. Building success upon success, he quickly rose in authority and management, and affluence. He began searching for the gold ring, the last big contest, which would allow him to feel satisfied that whatever he put his mind to, whatever he attempted, he could win. Then one night, a long dark night of the soul, he encountered something he could not control. He could not fix. He could not win. All he could do, was watch and wait, hoping to have the strength to pick up the pieces. He turned to prayer, and at every crisis he sought answers from God, sought miracles, learning to cope. Having learned earlier lessons well, he applied himself to caregiving, that he could be the best caregiver in history. But this was a hollow victory, as their family went from crisis to crisis. Suddenly one day, a new treatment was offered, it was an all or nothing risk, as they would abandon all the therapies they had known for something else. For the first time in his life, this man knew what it was to “hope” against every reality, against every experience.He had discovered that what he had known was about “success” which is all in our own hands, versus “hope and salvation” which are daily gifts of God's grace.

God providing Manna in the wilderness, represents a different kind of miracle, a different faith reality! We have read story after story of Almighty God creating the universe by commanding it to be. There have been the stories of Abraham and Sarah, unable to conceive, far advanced in years, giving birth. The Great Pharaoh of Egypt, all his Armies and Chariots, pursuing Hebrew slaves, when the Red Sea opened up.

Humans want to believe in that kind of God. Above the Altar in the Ancient Roman Temples was an inscription of three words: Do Ut Des “I Give in order That You may Give,” there is a certain kind of fairness, that gods would respond to our demands, we paid our offerings, demonstrated our commitment, give us the winners' prize. We made a sacrifice, paid the offering, if you are really God, then give us victory. There is a basic human belief, that if we are “good,” if we obey the rules, if we are “kind,” if we are generous and faithful, we will receive blessings; whereas if we lie, if we cheat to get ahead, if we steal, if we are immoral, there ought to be some form of Karma: punishment.

But life in the wilderness represents a different reality for us and the God of the wilderness is different. Within human society there is a certain safety-net. It may not be attractive, the Hebrews complained to Moses, while we were slaves of Pharaoh we were always given bread to eat. The wilderness is a place of anxiety, a reality where food is not guaranteed, where food-stress and freedom-stress and faith-stress are somehow inextricably linked. The point is not One Great Miracle, one success where we have it all, but rather daily to turn to God. One of the lessons of the Manna in the Wilderness is how often, how tempting it is for us, to modify the Lord's Prayer from “Give US this day OUR daily bread” to “Give ME, MINE.” The 40 years in the Wilderness is about a change of culture, a change of humanity, from individualism and survival of the fittest, to the community and salvation of every soul.

Old Testament Scholar Terence Fretheim of Northwestern Seminary in St. Paul Minnesota has demonstrated that actually in the Sinai Peninsula there is a form of lice, which bore into the fruit of the Tamarind tree, secreting a yellow white substance, which when it is cold congeals into balls, and when it is hot forms a flaky substance, the consistency of flour, high in carbohydrates and nutrients. The indigenous tribal people of this region still today, gather this substance to make into bread and call it MANNA. The odd nature of Manna, is that if you gather even a small amount, it is enough. If you gather all you can, to hoard a supply, it goes rancid, developing worms and flies and mold.
We as 21st Century Westerners have a hard time understanding the concept of “ENOUGH” and also that among our In-Alienable Rights as Americans is not a guarantee of HAPPINESS, but only a guarantee of the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. Since the Great Depression, and one could argue throughout all of American History, we have been bred to believe we could have everything our parents had and more.

Like the Wilderness Wandering, we are in a time of cultural change, change to the basic assumptions of humanity from how to put a Man on the Moon, to instead consider how do we end War on Earth?
Can we stop all the Saddam Husseins and Osama Bin Ladens and Molmar Ghaddafis, to live in peace?

Whereas earlier generations believed they could work to accumulate excess, eventually to retire, for many of us that will not be a possibility, at least not the same. That shift, that change, is unfair. Our problem as believers, is that the Bible does not claim FAIRNESS, but instead offers God's GRACE. Fairness is not about Justice or Righteousness. Fairness is an assumption that the rules will be the same for all of us, on the basis of which some can Win and others Lose. Again, that is about individual success not about Salvation of the Kingdom of God.

There is something about this parable of the Vineyard that strikes us as blatantly unfair. This parable comes from a section of the Gospel, we too often read in paragraphs. We read of Jesus' teachings about Marriage and Divorce, Celibacy, Children, Sex, Economics, Success, imagining each of these are each separate lessons for us as individuals, when all of this is about us as a community of faith. This parable is directly linked to the Successful Young Man asking what more he needs to do; to which Jesus replies it is not about doing, Eternal life, faith itself are not things you can win at; but only participate in. The story of the Successful Young Man and the Parable of the Vineyard are also then tied to the response of the Disciples “we left everything to follow you”, to which Jesus says “So What?” Faith is not about accomplishment, not about skills or abilities, or affluence, or success, but only about being thankful to be able to work!

What we, like the workers, tend to see, is that we reported early and tried our hardest. We negotiate a fair-wage for a day's work, believing their will be a Pension and Social Security. We work all day, giving of ourselves. Others came later, they were promised only work. At the end, those who came late and barely worked at all, receive the same as those who work all day long. If the point were SUCCESS and PROSPERITY, this would be an unfair parable. But instead the parable is about GOD's GRACE, and what is fair is that everyone whether they came to work generations ago, or for who knows what reason that is not even explained come to work late, ALL are able to work in God's Vineyard. In not that what we have trained our lives for? We ask our toddlers and High School students what they want to be when they grow up. The answer we want to hear is not I WANT TO RETIRED. The answer is to be an Engineer, and Architect, a Firefighter, a Soldier, a Police, an Artist, a Musician, a Teacher, one who gives their life for others.

SALVATION is not about WINNING, not about extravagant Miracles, not even about Success. Salvation is daily having ENOUGH FOR THIS DAY, enough to work and enough to provide others to be part of a community of faith. By daily witnessing God, in the little things, like having food for the table, and sharing with others, we reduce our anxiety, we build resources of faith against stress, and we can be confident that when extraordinary miracles are needed God will provide those too.