March 31: Exodus 16-18; Psalm 22; Matthew 23

Exodus 16-18.  
Exodus 16  Introducing MANNA  (which means "What IS this???" in Hebrew).
Continuing the theme of the Israelites complaining.
The way that the manna was distributed purely provided people with enough to eat.  The ambitious did not get ahead; the lazy did not starve, nor did their family members. (16:18ff)  Nobody could sell excess; nobody could buy more.   Amazing!  All the things (other than need to eat good and satisfying food) that we think are important to keeping the engines of commerce running are cancelled out by God's distribution system here.  The only day that the Israelites could gather more was the day before the Sabbath; and that was the only day that the food kept overnight, so the people could rest and observe the Sabbath.
Exodus 17  Water from the Rock--we just read this in church two Sundays ago.   Neat to see it coming up in our daily readings!  This is the site of the "Meribah" and "Massah" of the psalms.  The theme of complaints continues.
Question:  What kind of lesson can we take from 17:8ff?    A need for community?
Exodus 18  Jethro gives good advice to Moses as he learns to be a leader.

Psalm 22--"The Holy Week Psalm"  is what I always call this psalm.  "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  The perception of being forsaken is so terrible and so pervasive that we have no way to remind ourselves that we aren't really forsaken…
People have frequently commented that by the end of the psalm, the mood is no longer so dark; and that Jesus knew the whole psalm.  I generally find that, in reciting this psalm at bleak times in my own life, my perspective changes, and I am able to recognize again that God is present with me.

Matthew 23--We are still in Holy Week, and Jesus is saying, like some of the ancient prophets, to those who oppose or at least don't affirm his work: "Woe to you!"
Reformation Protestants got their idea that it was wicked to call their clergy "Father" from this passage  (23:8).  Jesus speaks it in the context of the prominent "Last shall be first and first shall be last" theme.
Note how closely Jesus' words in 23:33 parallel the words of John the Baptist just before Jesus began his ministry:  "You snakes, you brood of vipers!  How can you escape being sentenced to hell?"
And then Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, giving us the image of the Mother Hen who protects her brood with her very life--except these chickens won't come under the protection of her wings...