More than enough - Pentecost X
How much 'Jesus' do we need each day?
What is growth-in-Christ? Bit by bit? What is 'belief' and what is 'practice'?
Paul writes in the first century C.E. to the little group in the city of Ephesus that they are to practice things that help them 'grow up in every way into the very shape of Christ.' The one whom they follow, who seems to point to - and in - the way of abundant life, is also the shape they are to live into, over time, in their own lives.
Bit by bit, every day.
After feeding five thousand people - in John's Gospel - Jesus spends some time explaining what he has done -- what sort of 'sign' this is meant to be for everyone, to help them adopt their practices so they may (come to) 'believe.' John's Gospel is full of 'signs', and the point of Jesus, in John's Gospel, is that one is supposed to come to believe in the power to do these signs, and thus to believe what Jesus - in John's Gospel - says about himself and about the relationship between himself and the one whom he calls 'The Father.'
How much of all this do we need to take in at once? How much of this sort of 'Jesus' do we need every day -- how 'much' belief?
To back up a bit, this reading in John is paired with the famous 'feeding' story in Exodus -- or, the preparation for it. The people of God, many centuries earlier, after being freed from slavery, are wandering in the desert, starving and complaining ('Were there no graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die, Moses?' -- This has to rank among the best of complaints, ever...). As a sign to them of how they are to live, the Lord God -- a great 'character' in Exodus -- will feed them... to see if they can follow instructions re: how to survive, day by day.
These instructions are in the next section of Exodus, which we do not read tomorrow, but the basic point is that the Lord God will cause something called manna to fall from heaven, more than they could eat in a given day, and they are to gather what they need to eat that day. Their instructions are to gather only what they need.
So, of course, they do not. They gather up as much manna as they can. An 'economy of scarcity' is something out of which humans are very good at acting. We see it all around us: not enough manna, not enough votes, not enough love, not enough water.
The Lord God says: practice the way of abundance. Practice it here in the desert, where things are very, very clear, and you will take this Way so deeply into yourself that you will know how to see it and act on it everywhere else in your life together, O People. Trust me. Or, come to trust me.
Jesus says: I am the bread of Life. Feed on me. Follow in this way.
How much at a time? What is needed for the day? Sufficient unto the day are its troubles, as Jesus says elsewhere. Sufficient, too, is the grace. And, mercy. And, well, the Bread of Life. Practice seeing this. Join together in this meal where I am Host and I am food, and all are fed. All are given grace, mercy, hope, and love in more-than-sufficient amounts beyond reckoning. Practice this so you may see it at work in you, in the world.
In this way, grow up into my Shape for you, says Jesus. You, individually. And, you, collectively, as my Body.
My Body is Bread for the World. You are Bread for the world, broken open daily. And, there is more than enough -- this is what it means to come to believe, far more than any collection of intellectual propositions 'about' Jesus. He is looking to show us the Way out of our scarcities and fears, our hoardings of manna, our control-obsessions arising in response to our mortality.
Follow this Way. Eat this Bread. Practice. Day by Day.
How much Jesus? More than enough for the day.