What do you want to be, the same old thing, old men corrupted by desires for pleasure, or renewed people, with a new and more human condition?…
EXODUS 16:2-15
The whole community of the Israelites began to grumble against Moses and Aaron in the desert. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full! … The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” … That evening quail came and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew evaporated, there was on the surface of the desert a fine, flake-like thing, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”
Since the gospel will mention the manna, the bread from heaven that Moses gave to the people on behalf of God in the desert, it is logical that in this first reading we are reminded of that ancient episode.
The Israelites had many problems in the desert, including the lack of food and water, problems that Moses solved (very probably because the Midianites, men of the desert, accompanied them).
The knowledge of the migration of quail, the location of underground springs, the use of the scarce fruits of the desert, are typical of the survival techniques of the nomads of Sinai.
The religious reading that was later made of those events provided an interpretation in terms of the Covenant, of the wonderful protection of God for his people, through Moses his servant. The text recounts two of those events, the quail and the manna, which amazed Israel in the desert and were interpreted as a clear sign of God’s protection. The idea is clear: Israel lives on the bread that God gives them.
EPHESIANS 4:17-24
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus. Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Broadly speaking, we can say that it is a moral exhortation. In a world of morally unacceptable customs, the followers of Jesus must distinguish themselves by their way of life. This is a theme unjustly silenced in many church histories, dedicated rather to structures, dogmas, leaders. Christians were distinguished much by a different moral conduct, which attracted many people of good will to the church.
But in the text there is much more, and very applicable to us today.
“if indeed you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus.” Is Paul suggesting that he distrusts that in Ephesus the spirit of Jesus is really lived?
We cannot forget that Ephesus is “the capital” of the churches of the favorite disciple, as charismatic as anarchic, as full of problems of false prophets, as shown in the letters of John. The relationship between the Pauline and Johannine churches in Ephesus is a fascinating topic, which we can only suggest here.
“Christ has taught you to abandon the former way of life, the old man corrupted by desires for pleasure.” Corrupted by desires for pleasure is a brutally apt description for our Western society (call it what you will).
The satisfaction of every desire, the conversion of the desired into the necessary, the ease that excludes effort, the deceptive conversion of this life into a paradise, are destroying people, especially children and young people. Just look at the way in which a good part of the youth spend their weekends and the problems that anguish educators.
And we, the church, have to offer an alternative way of living, another concept of being happy: the code of happiness that are the Beatitudes. And it is not a peculiarity of marginalized people, it is about the very survival of the human being.
“Be renewed in your mind and spirit. Let the Spirit renew your mindset, and put on the new human condition, created in the image of God: true justice and holiness.” The word “renew” is magical, making everything new, different, and better. The life that seeks pure and easy happiness in immediate satisfaction is the old, the already failed, which has historically shown its insufficiency, even its danger to provide happiness and even to the survival of the human being and the planet itself… We are not bearers of a message of repression but of salvation, of the salvation of the human by trusting in God’s project.
“Put on…”. A wonderful expression to understand how Paul the sense of the word “to dress.” When applied to Jesus, “clothed in our human condition” does not mean that the humanity of Jesus is like a garment that can be put on and taken off. It is a way of expressing a complete change, a new way of being.
Therefore, there is no docetism in this expression, but rather a very expressive image: “throw away the old clothes, accept the renewal, let the Spirit change your mindset.”
We do not know if this is from Paul or his school, but it is wonderful, if we know how to read.
José Enrique Galarreta