MANNA OF THE MANGER | KAIROS GLOBAL | JANUARY 2024

Author: Grace Maria.

Intro: Kairos Media is happy to feature this three-part story, written by Grace Maria.

Earthen bread – that’s what the children are baking, squatting under a fig tree at the mouth of a cave. Young Hannah is baking the bread and beside her, Joachim, her younger brother is kneading clay. The ‘game’ is perhaps older than human beings. The story happens where the sons of the soil believe that they themselves are ‘the work of hands of the Potter Almighty.’¹ The fig tree sheltering the siblings, stands rooted in the soil, the soil of the ancient village of Bethlehem. It is covered with leaves, bearing no figs because ‘it's not the season of figs.’² The cave in fact houses a stable, an ancient one, with a manger at its mouth. 

‘Is this how Mother makes it for Pesach?’ Joachim is not very convinced by the look of the bread. 

‘Well, Mother makes it with unleavened dough. That makes the difference,’ Hannah defends the ‘work of her hand.’ 

It is the eve of the Passover festival in the month of Nisan of 33 AD, as per the Hebrew calendar. On this unique evening, everyone in Bethlehem is preparing for the last supper, the seudah hamafseket. The children are imitating their elders, imitation being the foundation to most of the games children play. 

‘I wish it were manna...I’ve always wanted to taste it.’ Joachim mutters to himself. 

Manna was the daily bread provided to their ancestors by God, Jehovah Jireh, centuries ago during their exodus from Egypt to the promised land of Israel, of which Bethlehem forms a part. Joachim had always fancied manna, the miracle bread of the lullabies that lulled him asleep. His mouth watered at the thought of manna that could transform itself by taste to the predilections of those who ate it. He picks up a handful of ash from the previous day’s bonfire and scatters it over a carefully crafted wafer-like bread, making it white in colour and displays it before Hannah. 

‘Manna,’ she rightfully names it. Joachim smiles. 

An artist is born and in no time Joachim renders many a ‘work of hands’ in clay – stars, fishes, chalice, flowers – all imitations of life. Hannah exhibits them in the manger at the mouth of the stable, taking the game to the level of art. 

But art needs enthusiasts. Here enters one, a lamb, with smoky hazel eyes and a pensive goatee, nodding rhythmically to the whistling desert winds. He has all the airs of a true connoisseur. He blinks at the manna exhibited right in the manger, sniffs and even licks it. 

‘Phew!’ The lamb kicks the manger in disgust, shattering the exhibits on the dusty ground, manna accompanied by the stars, fishes, chalice and flowers ‘return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’³ 

Alas! It is a hungry lamb. Joachim the artist, like many of his counterparts in history, misunderstood hunger. ‘Manger means food,’ the hungry lamb seems to be snorting out. 

‘Hey you!’ Young Joachim leaps at the lamb. But he misses by an inch as it darts into the stable right behind the fig tree. Both the siblings pursue the lamb to the stable.

It is the twilight hour of rumination for cattle in the stable. The siblings get lost in the contemplative mood of the ruminating cattle as they search for the lamb among the sheep in vain. Suddenly they see a flash among the sheep. It is the lamb shooting towards the ewe’s teat. This time Joachim makes no mistake. The ewe bleats, so does the lamb. The quiet of the stable is disrupted as Joachim struts out with his catch.

‘No, Joachim! He is our Passover lamb... let him be with his mother and drink to his heart's content. He has time only till tomorrow,’ says Hannah, stopping him. 

‘Passover lamb? No!’ Joachim is shocked. ‘I will not allow him to be killed.’ 

‘According to the Law of Moses, do we not have to sacrifice a lamb to Jehovah every Passover for the atonement of our sins?’ The erudite Hannah tries to reason with the ‘little one.’⁴

‘What sin? Isn't it a sin to kill this one?’ Joachim blurts out. But the question is a pertinent one. The ‘little ones’ have clearer vision when it comes to complex matters regarding ‘sin and righteousness and judgement.’⁵ The lamb looked safe and serene in the hands of Joachim, its erstwhile tormentor.

‘There can be no exception to the Law of Moses,’ Hannah concludes. 

According to the Law of Moses, which the Jews followed to the letter, the first-born lamb was to be slaughtered and given as a burnt offering for the atonement of their sin. But anyone who exempts himself ‘must be cut off from their people.’

To be continued

References

¹ Yet Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands. (Isaiah 64:8)

² On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard it. (Mark 11:12-14)

³ By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19)

⁴ In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost, and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight. (Luke 10:21)

⁵ And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement. (John 16:8)