God's Abundance in the Desert

Homily for Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

We usually do not think of the desert being a place of abundance. Just the opposite is true; we think of deserts being a place where sustenance is unavailable. The one exception to this rule is sand. There is no lack of sand in the desert. However, there is no food, no water, and no shade to be found; in short, the desert is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. It was into the Desert of Sin that Moses and Aaron led the Israelites. The name of the region is not to be weighted with immorality. It is simply the name of the area around Mount Sinai. Because we do not know exactly where this peak is found, it is generally thought that the Desert of Sin is in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula.

Although slavery underneath the Egyptian taskmasters was demoralizing for them, life in the desert proved to be similarly depressing. When the belly aches and the throat is dry, little else matters. It is hard to think of anything else when one is hungry or thirsty. Our entire concentration is focused on these two necessary items for human existence.

So it is that in the least hospitable place on earth, God indeed spread a table for the Israelites. Quail fell from the sky; bread covered the sand. It would be easy to see the miracle in this story as God’s abundant provision amid the scarcity of the desert. Yet the even greater miracle is that God provides in spite of the Israelites’ ungrateful hearts. Most parents don’t respond to a child’s whining by giving in to their demands. Yet this is precisely what God does! That is because it is precisely who God is: the ultimate giver of gifts. We must keep this attribute of God in mind as we consider today’s Gospel text. The parable of the sower often is reduced to a reflection on our personal receptivity to the Word of God. Yet when one reads the parable in light of this reading from the Book of Exodus, it becomes clear that we are not the subject of this parable. This Gospel is not about us.

Once again, God, the ultimate giver of gifts is on display. God scatters the seed everywhere. It matters little how desolate or scarce the desert may be; there is no type of soil, no human heart that goes untouched by God’s generosity. We must remember that even when we or those around us mirror the grumbling Israelites, even when we resemble the rockiest, thorniest of soils, the Lord responds to us with munificence. This is God’s nature as the undeniably generous, some would say prodigal, sower. God can spread a table in the desert, and not just any table, but a table of abundance.