THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST A
As I sat with our readings for this Sunday, all I could think about was how the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. Were they so hard hearted that God had to test them for more than a generation?
Although, we might compare it to our own situation. We’re not even 40 weeks into this pandemic and already the signs of strain are evident.
The good news is that God fed the Israelites. God provided the care and sustenance the Israelites needed to continue their journey. And, God continues to do the same for us.
Moses tells the Israelites to remember how the Lord your God led you the entire way in desert these forty years. Remember!
We gather this morning and every Sunday morning to remember; to remember who cares for us; to remember, so we will never stop giving thanks to the gracious God who gives us everything we need – and more. Remember!
We should be thankful…thankful for plumbing and hot water, thankful for the spice aisle and the produce section. And of course we should be thankful for family and friends and health. But are we? To be honest with ourselves, we so often do not remember the goodness of God. Like Israel, we forget.
Remember, Moses warns us…
…Remember the One who provides for you. Remember the one who causes the wheat to sprout and grapes to grow. Remember the one who brought us all to this land of plenty – where food is not scarce and we lack for little.
We should also be thankful for all those people who offer us the opportunity to show our gratitude to God - the hungry and homeless, the lonely and frightened, those unjustly treated, and those who are searching for meaning in their lives.
By responding to them in their need we do more than just mouth our thanks, we show our gratitude in a concrete way.
But the thing that we should be the most thankful for is that; even when we forget the Lord, the Lord does not forget us. We may not remember to thank God, but God does not forget us.
That comfort leads me back to the Body and Blood of Christ. By giving us an ongoing reminder of himself in the Eucharist, Jesus let us know that he is still with us. He has and he will continue to feed us. Jesus knew our human nature so well; how else could we, mere mortals, carry on Jesus’s teachings without a lasting and concrete presence?
The Eucharist can provide us the resolve and ability to fulfill God’s greatest commandment to love one another. May the parts of Jesus that are needed most right now, live on in us, so that we too can feed our struggling world.