Redeeming all alone!

 As soon as the Israelites of the Old Testament start to grumble about the food (manna) that they are surviving on in the desert, on route to the Promised Land, Moses is upset.  He calls up to Yahweh and he moans and groans to the extent of telling Yahweh, to do something about it, or bump him off!! Now, that's a bit of an extreme.  

Nonetheless, I can understand his position.  He is in the same situation as they are. Although brought up in a royal palace, he is now facing the heat and harsh desert.  One could say that the Israelites by this time are used to hardships, but not Moses.  And so, his anguish is palpable.  

Moreover, it is the common attitude about food. Those of us living and working in the south of India know how much food matters in one's life.  So the notion doing the rounds in Moses head could be, 'After all, it is food. Can He not provide them some chicken and mutton? Surely He can, so why isn't he?'  

But I think there is a significant line in the first reading of today, towards the end, which persists throughout today's Gospel - although very very subtly! Moses petitions Yahweh saying, 'I cannot handle it ALONE anymore'.  For Moses to think that it is he who is actually leading the people of Israel out of Egypt, to Israel, is a great hallucination!  But I guess, it is in our human nature.  We always feel that whatever good is happening, is because of me!  So, Moses feels the burden, being ALONE!!  

This attitude of doing all the good ALONE is the inherent feeling of most of us - and perhaps one of most deadliest sin of us, priests and religious.  Leaving out God, is perhaps our biggest reason for failure.  It undermines our basic relevance and meaning as religious. Jesus first tells his apostles to feed the five thousand themselves!  And they give him what they have: five loaves and two fish. Jesus multiplies those.  He does not do magic or create ex nihilo.