The Bread Of Life Or The Fleshpots Of Egypt?

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Church of Ascension in Norwood, Young America, MN

St. Bernard Catholic Church, Cologne, MN

Church of Annunciation, Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, August 1, 2021

The story of the liberation of Israelites from slavery is the strongest indication of what God is essentially about, which is overcoming the master-slave dynamic that has bedeviled the human race from the very beginning. The first reading for this week is taken from the Book of Exodus. The Book of Exodus is about the trials, tribulations, opportunities, joys and dangers of spiritual transformation. One of the Church Fathers, Origen, in his marvelous sermon on Exodus read the story of Israel’s liberation from slavery as the story of spiritual liberation of humanity. In today’s first reading (Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15), the whole community of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron for taking them out of Egypt and leading them to freedom. Due to hunger, they longed to return to slavery, to the fleshpots of Egypt. Due to hunger, they preferred to remain well-fed slaves to hungry freed people. What’s fleshpots? They are places that provide immoderate pleasure. The Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron for taking them out of Egypt where they were eating meat stew provided by Pharaoh and leading them to freedom. Is liberation from slavery a good thing? Of course! You betcha! They have been slaves for four hundred years in Egypt, and finally they are liberated from their oppressors, and marching towards freedom. Yet, within days or weeks of their liberation, they are complaining about their lives and longing to go back to slavery. Are you surprised? Don’t be! We behave in like manner all the time because the road to healing is always blocked. The road to liberation is always a long and painful one. So hard that we start to say, didn’t we had it better when we were slaves?” 

Talk to anyone who is enslaved to alcohol or drugs who has had some intervention. In the course of the program, they accept and agree that their addiction has wreaked their lives, jobs, and relationships. They also agree to walk the road to freedom from alcohol and drugs. Although they have come to the realization of what their addiction is doing to them, the road to freedom is never easy. During my fourteen years of priestly ministry, I have never met one person who said the road is easy. In fact, when you decide to walk this path to true liberation, you enter inevitably into a desert. In your quest for liberation, you are most likely going to say, “Oh! How I long to go back to my buddies in the bar and enjoy a good drink. How I long to go back to the fleshpots of Egypt.” Talk to anyone in AA or in Twelve Steps Program, you will realize they are yelling, moaning and grumbling just like the Israelites— “Why did you lead me out to this desert to die of famine?” You can hear them grumble aloud that when they were in Egypt, when they were in slavery of addiction, they can at least have a drink with their friends and were at least mildly happy. What do you think is going on when you hear this kind of complain? It is the resistance to liberation that we always face. There is always a longing to go back to the fleshpots of Egypt when you were having drinks or drugs with your friends. 

Now, every sin is like an addiction. When you have been liberated from a sinful pattern of life of pride, envy, anger, lust and all its accompaniments through grace, the healing is always complex. The road to healing always leads to desert, as such, there is always the temptation to go back. For instance, if your addiction is being critical and judgmental of others, think of the time when a priest urged you in the confessional to try spending two days or one week without judging or being critical of another, and try to be positive. Imagine how hard that was. Remember in the past when you decided to give up sugary food like ice-cream, cookies, cakes, soda etc for health or spiritual reasons. Imagine how hard that was. As we go through the desert process, almost everybody in some ways— I am number one in this, longs for the fleshpots of Egypt. In the slavery of our addiction, life seems more fun; we can hang out with our friends, gossip and bad mouth somebody. Although we know it is perverse and wrong, yet we took joy in bad-mouthing someone. But whenever we decide to avoid these sins, we realize how difficult it is to do so. Even though it is a long walk to liberation, nevertheless, it is a painful one. It is a desert walk. It may look hard and tough now, but it is our path to true freedom and liberation at every levels of our lives. Our Lord Jesus aptly says, “Those who set their hands on the plow and look back to what was left behind are not fit for the kingdom of God.” Once you set yourself on the path, go, press forward. I know it is hard, but don’t look backwards. You are on your way to freedom. 

Now what happens due to the grumblings of Israel? The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them to see whether they follow my instructions or not” (Ex. 16:4) Then “In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp and in the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, What is this?” (Ex. 16:15). What did God give to Israel on their desert journey? He gave them bread that will sustain them through their desert journey. Yes, they want to go back to the fleshpots of Egypt, but that is not it. Yes, they are not where they are trying to go, which is the Promised Land of pure spiritual liberation. However, in between times, God gives them mysterious bread which is meant to sustain them on the journey towards liberation. What does this bread symbolize for us now? The Eucharistic bread that the Lord gives us to sustain the journey into the desert on our way to liberation. 

The Mass is where we receive this Bread that will sustain us. Even when we long for the fleshpots of Egypt, even when we are short of perfect liberation, we are given bread to eat. In today’s Gospel (John 6:24-35), Jesus says, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life.” What’s eternal life? It’s a simple term for pure spiritual liberation. So, don’t waste your time longing for the fleshpots of Egypt; don’t waste your time on worldly sustenance rather while you are on the painful journey, eat the Bread of life and that will sustain you on the road to liberation.