Need versus Wants

PROPERS: 11 PENTECOST, YEAR B

TEXT:       EXODUS 16:2-4, 9-15; JOHN 6:24-35

PREACHED AT TRINITY, MOBILE, ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 4, 2024.

                   

ONE SENTENCE:        Our needs today are to be touched by God.   

 

The Israelites were angry.  Today, we would say they were hangry – both hungry and angry.

 

Moses had led them out of the relative security of Egypt. Sure, they had been slaves.  Yes, they had tasted the lash from harsh taskmasters.  And they had had to make bricks without straw.  But, as they said elsewhere, “we ate our fill of garlic and leeks.”

 

They had left all that behind for this.

 

This was the wilderness of Sinai.  I’ve been there.  It is harsh – a desert that is barren, rocky, and without any resources. They could not go down the street to McDonald’s. They were hot, dusty, tired, thirsty, and hungry. Understandably.

 

It is to that bitter deficit that the Lord brought his next wonder – manna.  Each morning, a flakey-like substance would appear on the ground.  The people would gather all they could eat for the day.  It would not keep to the next. What was needed for that day would be provided.

 

And there was more.  In the evening, the camp would be covered with quail.  The people would eat meat each day.  Their needs would be met.

 

Genuine needs being met.  The Wilderness was being tamed. God had responded. The essentials were provided.

 

+ + + 

 

            That is the Old Testament reading, from Exodus. Consider now the gospel reading – from John.

 

            Jesus has miraculously fed the multitude – some 5,000 people, aided only by a boy with five barley loaves and two fish. The multitude’s hunger had been sated – at least for the time being.

 

            Having fed and taught the people gathered on the hillside, Jesus was done. He got in a small boat and traveled a short distance to regain some privacy. But it was not to be.

 

            Portions of the crowd had followed him. They wanted more – more bread, more fish.  Even though their basic needs had been met, they wanted more.

 

            Jesus knew better.  “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”  The bread which he now offered was different – it would fill the soul, not the gut.

 

+ + + 

 

            I wonder how many of us can really identify with the Israelites in the wilderness, being truly hungry?  And I wonder how many of us identify with the people of Galilee, yearning for more, though their essential needs had been met?

 

            We have gotten confused over the years – needs versus wants. There is a difference, and it is well-represented by these two snapshots from scripture. I suspect that most of us confuse our wants with our needs.

 

            What we offer here – at this table – responds to our needs. As Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 

 

            It is that sacred bread which we consume again and again – nestled in our heartfelt prayers – that can address our hearts’ needs and thirsts.  This little morsel of bread, consumed in our hearts and wrapped in our prayers, can begin to address our needs.

 

            The people who followed Jesus across the sea said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”