ALIVE: Chapter135, Manna in Words
/By now many hours had passed for the five thousand people, men, women and children, young and old, like a small cosmos who continued to sit on blankets on the grassy earth fixed on every word delivered by the young Master. They had learned so much already. Some wondered if they could retain this wealth of information. Twenty five year old Ruben felt as if he was riding on a shooting star through the universe seeing the world around him in a new way. The lessons were so profound yet so exhilarating at the same time. He wanted to be in that moment for a long time, but the sun never paused its descent behind the mountains. It was the ninth hour and there was still so much Jesus wanted to teach this unique crowd, His graduate students. Their bodies were squirming around looking for different positions. It was hard for these people who were used to moving all day long to sit still for so long. Stomachs growled, but the experience was obviously so precious that no one, not one person wanted it ever to be over. This wise young Man was telling them the secrets of a successful life. How did He know all this? The elderly were particularly surprised that such a young man could have gained so much wisdom.
In those days, without paper and pencil, without libraries, these people naturally knew how to listen and remember precisely what they heard. Passing knowledge from person to person, teaching and learning by listening and retelling was primarily how knowledge was broadcast through time and space. Jesus knew that each person, young and old, of the five thousand was chosen for his and her ability to remember what was heard. When we read, even this book, we quickly abandon the words knowing that the book will be there holding the words forever, so we only retain a fraction. We know where to go back and find it, maybe. The mind can do so much more, we have grown to use less and less of our amazing brains as generations introduce more and more facilitators and distractions.
With every passing hour Jesus loved this group more and more. They had become one community from disparate places of the region. Like fellow pilgrims that they were, this shared experience cemented their relationship to each other as well as to the Master. These lessons were vitamins nourishing their souls. As the hours went by each person in his or her own way sensed an inner transformation so that he or she thought it appropriate to leave with a new name. Hadji-meaning I was on that unique journey to Galilee and the grassy mount.
Jesus continued, determined to convey as much as time permitted to teach them, because He knew that they would have to disperse. But He also knew that these teachings had the power to heal the sick and broken hearted and to illuminate for them the path to eternal life. This was not good advice to be considered among many choices, Jesus was pointing to the luminous trail to His Father’s celestial kingdom.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Eli thought, ‘Treasures in heaven may be our mitzvahs. Our acts of forgiveness, of service to others, of love. LOVE! This Man speaks of love and the heart so much. Where have I read about this kind of love in the Torah?’
Jesus went on, speaking over a spirit-cacophony of thoughts, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” Ruben wondered how light can be darkness, and thought that maybe his nagging negativity, his fretting, his hyper criticism were rays of darkness eating away seeds of faith in God’s providence.
“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Ruben shrunk at these words that sounded like a perfect description of himself. Then Jesus went on to describe him even more precisely which caused Ruben to weep inside.
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” Those were the words that pierced Debra’s heart. Her gossiping was relentless. She always looked for faults in her children, in her friends and neighbors, and when she spotted them, she didn’t hesitate to show everyone, as if they were golden nuggets.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not toss your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.” This particular admonishment only managed to be understood and retained by very few, but those few knew exactly what it meant to them. Those words were exactly like the bread that was multiplied from nothing to fill their bellies. Real, but mysterious. Those few were the ones who recognized this crowd of five thousand to be unique. They knew that Jesus was speaking to a crowd of humans made in God’s image and not to base animals who cared only for their bodies.
“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Conversely, this line was grasped by the most people who believed it, who wanted to believe it, who couldn’t wait to put it into practice. It was the line of lines that elevated each person to the comfort, the confidence, the peacefulness of faith.
“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
At this Seth among thousands of others committed to follow this Master’s words as light shining on his crusted feet so that every muscular step would be sure walking in the light, even when circumstances threatened to trip or drag away from the path. Seth was old enough, experienced enough, and especially because this journey proved to him that God, David’s God watched over his every step and every thought and would indeed answer his cry for victory over his many enemies, those around him, and in him. It was a new day, the first day when God said “Light Be” that this Master described. All Seth had to do, was to put these thoughts into deeds, every day. No every hour of the day. Seth vowed to empower these words of the Master with his own will. The same will that sent him on this long journey from desire to the meal of fish and warm bread, the feast he will never forget because he ate it, like manna from Heaven.