Pentecost 10 – 1 August 2021 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 6^thChapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 22 –35:

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” ²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ³⁰ So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” ³² Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst”

Over the past few weeks, we have heard the accounts of the feeding of the five thousand followed by Jesus’ walk on the water as they are recorded in the Gospel of Mark and John.  Today’s Gospel is John’s account of what happened next.  You see, all four Gospels deal with the feeding of the five thousand, but it is John who gives the most detailed account of what happened next.

 

John 6 is one of those chapters that has a special theme.  Just as John 10 identifies Jesus as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, so also John 6 identifies Jesus as the Bread of Life from heaven.  John 6 starts off with the feeding of the five thousand followed by the account of Jesus walking on the water.  The remainder of John 6 deals with the interaction of the crowds after Jesus and the disciples arrived back in Galilee.

 

Since the crowds were so focused on Jesus’ miracle of feeding the five thousand, there was a lot of talk about food – specifically bread.  Jesus used this talk of bread to tell of the bread that endures to eternal life.  Then He identified Himself as that bread – the bread that gives eternal life.  The Gospels for the next few weeks will work their way through this chapter in John – this chapter that many call the bread chapter.

 

Today’s Gospel picks up the day after the feeding of the five thousand.  Some of the people who ate with those five thousand came back the next day and began looking for Jesus.  They were puzzled that they could not find Him.  They remembered seeing the disciples getting into the boat without Jesus. With the exception of the boat that the disciples took, all the other boats were still there.  So, they expected that Jesus too would still be somewhere in the vicinity.  They didn’t know that Jesus had walked out to the boat and joined the disciples during the night.

 

It didn’t take long for these people to realise that they had lost track of Jesus.  So, when some boats came near the shore, they took the opportunity to return to the other side of the Sea.  They landed at Capernaum and to their great surprise they found Jesus.

 

Now they had no clue how Jesus could already be on this side of the Sea of Galilee.  They were full of questions.  They began with, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”  It is fairly clear that Jesus’ presence in Capernaum puzzled them.

 

Jesus never did answer their question. Instead, He focused on the reason they asked the question.  Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not labour for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”  Jesus understood the hearts of the people who asked the question.  They were concerned about Jesus’ location because He had fed them with free food and they wanted to be around the next time that happened.  They did not see that the feeding of the five thousand was a sign of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, the Son of God.  Instead, these saw Jesus as some sort of good luck charm – someone who could make their life on this earth a whole lot easier.

 

Over the past twenty years there has been an alarming increase in the number of people who are influenced by the propagation of ‘Wealth Theology’. It is concerning enough when people misguidedly carry crosses, crucifixes and saintly medallions as ‘Good Luck Charms’ to protect them from harm and bring them wealth and good fortune. Our loving God and Saviour is not a worldly wizard. On the other hand, ‘Wealth Theology’ is a system that teaches us that we can do ‘deals’ with God. 

 

Many people see earthly wealth and well-being as an indication that they are right with God.  Many people believe that, like the Pharisees of the Biblical Jewish religion, if they follow the letter of the ‘Law’,” then God will make them healthy, wealthy, and wise.  This means that if they are not healthy, wealthy, and wise, that something must be missing, that they need to do more and they need to find out what that is.  This is the reason for the popularity of preachers of Wealth Theology.  They give people the false hope that, somehow, they can live a life that will please God, with the hope that God will give them earthly blessings. Jewish Law is vast and complex to say the least, but to simplify the challenge, there is no human who can go an hour of our life without transgressing at least one of the Ten Commandments.

 

You can tell that the crowd around Jesus thought this way.  They asked, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”  They knew that they were poor.  They knew that their life was a struggle.  Therefore, they thought that there was something they could do in order to procure God’s material blessings.  They were looking for a way to work themselves into God’s favour so that their life on earth could be easier.

 

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”  Instead of talking about the works of man, Jesus spoke of the work of God.  It is the work of God to work faith in the one who was sent from God.  Here, Jesus implied that He Himself is the one who was sent from God.  Here we learn that it is not man’s works that save, but God’s work that saves.

The crowd’s reply to Jesus’ teaching shows the true hardness of their hearts: “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?  Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”  The thing is, this happened the day after Jesus fed the five thousand.  The conversation focused on bread specifically because Jesus fed the five thousand.  It also happened after Jesus had already performed many other signs.  He, and even His disciples, had healed the sick, driven out demons, given sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, sound bodies to the lame, even life to the dead, and yet these people asked for a sign!!!

 

Their hardness of heart becomes even more apparent when we compare their statement with the writings from the Old Testament that clearly shows that Moses was merely God’s instrument.  In reality, it was God the Father who gave them the bread from heaven.  Jesus pointed out this fact with His reply: “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  

 

In Jesus reply, He began to open the minds of those present that He Himself is the true bread from heaven.  He is the one who gives life to the world.  Then, as we come to the last verse in today’s Gospel, Jesus makes this crystal clear.  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

 

Bread provides life when it is consumed.  Jesus provided life when He was consumed by shame, torture, and death, even death on a cross.  As the Bread of Life that was consumed by death and the grave, Jesus freely offers us the certainty that we shall live forever without hunger or thirst. That is, we shall live in eternity. Jesus Himself confirmed this when on the third day He overcame death and rose from the grave.

 

When the Holy Spirit brings us to this Bread of Life at the Baptismal font, He is producing faith in us; when we come to consume the Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus our faith and trust in our loving Saviour is reinforced.  Those who come to Jesus can only come by the power of the Holy Spirit in faith.  There is no way to Christ other than faith. Through faith Christ is closer to us than even a mother to her child.  He is always with us and will never forsake us.

 

Today’s Gospel introduces us to the radical relationship that we have with Christ who is the Bread of Life from heaven.  We learned that Jesus is not only greater than Moses, but He is also the Bread of Life that is greater than manna.  Manna sustained temporal life. Jesus sustains eternal life. In light of this, we can with peace and joy find great comfort in the promise of Jesus ^{(John 5:24)}“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” Amen

 

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

 

Pentecost 9 – 25 July 2021 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for our meditation is written in the 6^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 1 - 21:

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.  ² A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³ Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. ⁵ When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷ Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷ got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” ²¹ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

 

There must be an important message for us in this miracle. I cannot think of another instance where two consecutive Sunday Gospel readings are on the exact same subject. It’s certainly challenging for a sermon writer. In last week’s sermon from Mark 6, I focused on ‘the compassion of Jesus for a people who were like sheep without a shepherd’; now we are listening to John’s version on how Jesus provides. In fact, the ‘feeding of the five thousand’ it is one of only two miracles that appear in all four Gospels.  The other is Jesus walking on the water.

 

You know divine provision it is not exactly a new concept; when I read it, I immediately think of Psalm 145:15-16 “The eyes of all look to You, O Lord, and You give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.”  In these words, the Psalmist prays and gives thanks that God would provide the whole world with food. Also, if you think about it, the 430-year exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land, would have resulted in a pile of dry bones in the desert if the Lord had not fed and watered them on the way. 

 

Jesus Himself teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  These words are easy to overlook.  It is easy for us to think of God’s work as the miracle-maker.  God is the one who does incredible, amazing things that baffle our minds.  But what we often forget is that God is also the one who takes care of all things, both big and little, both important and seemingly unimportant. In asking for ‘Daily bread’ we are in fact, praying for  everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as: food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbours, and the like.”

When we confess in the Creed that God is the Creator of heaven and earth, we are confessing that God gives us everything we need to support our bodies.  That means that when we receive and enjoy a good meal, it is from God.  When you enjoy a sunset or a good sporting event, it is from God.  The clothes you wear, the house you live in, your work, the roads, your car, your possessions, everything you have that holds you together as a human being – it is all from God.  Those things may seem like ordinary things; they may even seem boring, but all of the things of the earth are from God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, the one who gives.

St. Augustine, one of the early Church fathers, puts it this way: “Governing the entire universe is a greater miracle than feeding the five thousand people with five loaves of bread, yet no one marvels at it.  People marvel at the feeding of the five thousand not because this miracle is greater, but because it is out of the ordinary.”

The people in Jesus’ day were amazed at the miraculous sign that Jesus did by feeding five thousand and more.  But that work was simply an overly obvious example of how God takes care of His entire creation every single day.

So, the question for us is this: why it is that we sometimes think that we are left to our own devices?  How is it that Satan has convinced us that how we live, what we get, and how we work is all of OUR doing?  And why is this important to him?  Why does Satan care whether or not we see the food we eat as from God?

The answer is simple: if you do not believe that the little things are from God, then it is an easy leap to no longer believe that the big things are from God.  You see, Satan is always trying to eat away at our faith, like termites that have infested a house, and before long it is in shambles………

Generally speaking, we try to instil in our children the hard gained lesson of experience, that whatever they get, they have to work for and earn, our entitlements come only from our efforts.  And whilst there is a fundamental truth in this, as Christians, we should be aware that any focus on ‘our efforts’ gives Satan a ‘toe-hold’ to undermine our faith.

Obviously, we want to teach our children that they should work for a living and receive a fair wage for the work they do.  Holy Scripture teaches that ^{Mt (10:10)} “the labourer is worthy of his hire”.  However, even if you have worked for something, even if you have slaved covered in glistening sweat, God is still and finally THE Giver.  It is God who has given us our body, and He is the one who has given us the intellect and the ability to do whatever needs to be done.  That is why we pray and give thanks for the food that God has given us, even though we have earned the money to buy it.  Everything in heaven and on earth is the Lord’s, and so it is that everything we receive, we do so with thanksgiving to God who gave it.

In regard to our entitlements, no matter how hard we work, how diligent our efforts, if we got what we deserved by our own efforts, we would burn in hell for our sins, for THAT IS what we deserve. God in His mercy feeds us anyway, and He gives us whatever we need to support this body and life.   It really is quite incredible!

The crowds in our text who were following Jesus and His disciples had nothing to eat and no plan to get anything to eat.  Jesus said to His disciples, “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?”  Philip and the others didn’t get it.  They could not believe that Jesus would ask them to do this.  Even after all they had been through together, they failed to recognise exactly WHO Jesus really was; it was beyond their comprehension that this man was the very God who feeds everyone every day of their lives.  This is the God who multiplies the harvest each year; this is the God who makes the crops grow; this is the God who makes the rain come down from heaven to water the earth.  They still could not see that Jesus was God! ……. You know, I wonder, is that sometimes the case for us as well?

That is why we should not be too hard on these men, for we do the same thing.  How often do we waste our lives away worrying about the future, stressing about things over which we have no control?  And yet through it all, God in His mercy keeps caring for us, He keeps looking after us, He continues to send His angels to guard us in all our ways.  For that is who God is and that is what God does.

And so in our text Jesus takes care of the people.  5,000 men plus women and children; probably 12,000 to 15,000 people.  That’s a lot of people!  But it is nothing to the God who holds the earth together.  And then we read in our text that the disciples, after everyone had had their fill, picked up twelve baskets full of left-overs.  Five loaves, two fish, 15,000 people, and there was plenty leftover! More than they had in the beginning. That is the kind of God who cares for us day after day after day.

God shows His love for them and for us.  They did not know what they needed; they did not even really know who Jesus was, but they were hungry.  And so Jesus fed them and took care of them, because He loved them.  And He does the same for us….

You know, eating and drinking are some of the most normal, basic activities we do.  Although culturally, for some, sharing a meal has great social and bonding significance, fundamentally, we eat and we drink in order that we may have the physical fuel to get on to the more important things in life… However, to eat and drink with God, pales all our ‘important’ things into insignificance!  

For when you eat and drink with God it is never ordinary.  In fact, it is always extraordinary.

We have before us again this day a precious, wonderful, and extraordinary meal in the Sacrament of the Altar – the very “body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in, with and under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself, for us Christians to eat and to drink.”  In this meal we enter into the very presence of God, and we receive, by God-given faith, the forgiveness of our sins, the very forgiveness for which we pray in the Lord’s Prayer.  

When we commune at the Lord’s table it is the true body and blood of Christ we are ingesting. Here is where forgiveness is given.  Here is where we receive the benefit of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection which He won for us out of His great love for us.  Here is where our Lord and Saviour says to us, “I love you; come to the best Meal in heaven or on earth.  You are My son, My daughter.  I have washed you clean with My blood, and now I give you My body and blood for your own cleanness, your own forgiveness, your own healing, your own strength, your own lasting peace”

When Jesus saw the people coming to Him, He knew their motives for seeking Him were centered primarily on His ability to heal them, His ability to feed them; they were seeking the miracle worker, not salvation. In fact, they wanted to capture Him and make Him King over their very own ‘Shangri-la’ - where food and healing was ‘laid on’. And yet He had compassion for them. In the same way, when we come before the Lord, our motives are often selfish, our expectations driven by our own desires and yet He opens His arms to us and calls us to His table. ^{(John 6:54-57)} “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me”. 

The crowd wanted to ‘use’ Jesus – But Jesus calls to us “Bring what you have here to me.” He’ll take us, bless us, break us for his purpose, and then give us to the world for the benefit and salvation of many in both body and soul. With Him, there is always enough to go round. Enough forgiveness, enough healing, enough love, enough peace, enough strength; enough of Jesus for every hungry mouth and heart into eternity. Amen

 The love and peace of our Great triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Pentecost 8 – 18 July 2021 – Year B

 Grace to you and peace from God our father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The Holy Gospel is written in the 6^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 30 – 44:

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. ³¹ He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. ³² And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. ³³ Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. ³⁴ As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. ³⁵ When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; ³⁶ send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” ³⁷ But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” ³⁸ And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹ Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² And all ate and were filled; ⁴³ and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. ⁴⁴ Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

 

Think about an important event in your life. Your wedding day, your graduation. The day your children were baptised or confirmed. Did you celebrate that occasion with food and drink? The most important events in one’s life are typically celebrated with food. Birthdays have cake; newlyweds join their guests at the reception for food and the ritually prescribed cutting of the cake. Even on occasions of sadness, such as illness or funerals, food is shared as a means of expressing love. Food and feasting are appropriate when celebrating the many milestones of human life.

 

We are introduced to an unexpected feast in today’s Gospel. With simple bread and fish, Jesus feeds five thousand men (and their families) in the desert. In its outward appearance, this banquet fare cannot compare to the delicacies of Herod’s birthday feast in last week’s text (Mark 6:14–29). You may recall that John the Baptist lost his life because of that sordid celebration. Tragic in a human sense, but the divinely appointed forerunner to the Lord Jesus remained faithful unto death and so will participate in a glorious resurrection on the Last Day.

 

By contrast, the Lord’s desert feast does not result in anyone’s death. It’s a true celebration rather than that empty misrepresentation of one as hosted by Herod. The desert feast was truly a foretaste of the feast to come in God’s kingdom. Even the twelve apostles didn’t quite understand everything that took place on that grand occasion.

 

They had just returned from the Galilean towns and countryside after preaching the kingdom of God and casting out demons. According to Verse 30, they give Jesus a report of their many activities. Upon hearing their report, the Lord sees the need to get them away for a little ‘rest and relaxation’. ^{(Verse 31)} “Come away by yourself,” said Jesus, “to a desolate place and rest a while”. So they get into a boat to sail to a quiet, restful place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

 

But the crowds will have none of that. They somehow determine where Jesus and his disciples are heading and run there on foot ahead of them. Before the boat even gets to shore, the crowd is there waiting for Jesus. This is where Mark records all the glorious details.

 

^{(Verse 34) “}When [Jesus] went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things”. Compassion! … Today’s Gospel is a sparkling example of divine compassion in action. Amidst increasing opposition to his ministry and against the backdrop of John’s death, Jesus feels compassion for the crowd. That in itself is a glorious message of God’s grace and love found in the Lord. Jesus is never too busy, never too distracted by other things, to take care of us. The Lord feels compassion for us down to the depths of his soul.

 

But this is no passive “I feel your pain” type of situation. The one who will die for these sheep already now takes steps to relieve their distress. Jesus’ compassion is sympathy moved to action in order to relieve the person from their distress or suffering.

 

And what compassion does Jesus give? Shepherding, for one. King Herod certainly wasn’t shepherding God’s people. We saw what he did to God’s prophet, having him beheaded in order to preserve his pathetic reputation. The Scribes, Pharisees, lawyers, and Sadducees weren’t shepherding God’s people. Those so-called “shepherds of Israel” left the flock to the predators of sin and despair and false hope. They provided no teaching in holy truths to secure their hearts and minds, no participation in the divine things to strengthen their most holy faith. The crowd was a flock of wandering sheep, easy prey for the devil, the world, and even their own sinful flesh. No wonder Jesus felt compassion to the depths of his soul.

 

^{(Verse 34)} Jesus “began to teach them many things”. Through the sound of Jesus’ human words and ordinary vocabulary, God was speaking peace and deliverance into people’s lives. Only through the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ do we have access to God. We often fall into the trap of thinking of Jesus as being somewhere out there ruling the cosmos with uncontested might. And that’s true enough. But to find God in his grace and mercy, you must go through Christ’s humanity given to us through his appointed, tangible means: Word, Baptism, Absolution, and Supper. God in Christ is present with us through common, ordinary things, covering us with his compassion.

 

The disciples think the Lord’s compassionate teaching is all well and good, but there’s a problem. It’s getting late; people are hungry. ^{(Verses 35-36)} “His disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.’ ” Very practical. Their humanistic rationality basically says, “Scatter the flock and let them fend for themselves!”

 

Just think about it. Jesus and his twelve disciples are light-years apart from one another. Mark describes the difference with remarkable subtlety. The disciples instruct Jesus to send the crowds away so that the crowds can take care of “themselves”. That was the word they used, “themselves.” …. Not us, Jesus. It’s not our concern. Let them do it……. Jesus issues a different command: “You take care of it!” The disciples bluntly say, ^{(Verse 37)} “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”. That’s about what a day labourer would earn in six or seven months. “Really, Jesus, do you think six and a half months’ worth of bread will take care of it?”

  

Jesus responds calmly, ^{(Verse 38)} “How many loaves do you have? Go and see”. After some search, the disciples scraped up five loaves and two fish. The desert cupboard isn’t bursting full with abundance! … But, with those simple gifts, Jesus’ compassion finds its way to the crowd yet again. All five thousand men (and their families – probably 20 thousand in all), are fed to the full. The loaves and fish never ran out. The room in people’s stomachs filled up way before Jesus stopped giving. It was a desert feast.

 

The most basic of all human necessities is food. And Jesus, the eternal Son of God, takes the time and effort to satisfy that most basic need. Jesus, the divine Son of God in human flesh, who will die on the cross to relieve sin’s impact on everyday human existence—disease, hunger, thirst, fear—as well as sin’s eternal effects, knows us personally and cares for our most basic needs.

 

We Christians are all too content thinking Jesus takes care only of our spiritual problems. He forgives sins; he comforts our afflicted conscience. But Jesus is concerned for the whole person, soul as well as body. Today’s Gospel reminds us that the Lord’s compassion extends over our physical and spiritual needs. We should not separate the two. Jesus is the compassionate Lord over body and soul. See how Jesus takes care of both soul and body in feeding the five thousand: After arranging them on “green grass” in orderly groups of hundreds and fifties, Jesus takes the bread and fish, looks up to heaven, says a blessing, breaks the bread, and gives it to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. 

 

Does this sound a bit familiar? It should. “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: ‘Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you.’ In the same way also he took the cup after supper, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying: ‘Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ ”  When Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives bread and fish to the crowds, he’s foreshadowing what is to occur in the giving of the Lord’s Supper.

 

Receiving the body and blood of Jesus isn’t merely a nice remembrance meal. It’s the compassion of Christ’s cross being felt on your tongue, in your mouth, straight to your soul. It’s a divine feast of Jesus’ precious body and blood given for your body and soul in the present, the future, and into eternity. The Divine forgiveness of sins; and as scripture constantly reminds us: “where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”

 

Jesus promises to sustain our bodies this side of eternity with earthly gifts through Godly vocations such as father, mother, workers, and government. But Jesus also promises to raise our bodies in the resurrection on the Last Day so we can live with him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness in both body and soul. The Supper is a pledge and promise of earthly strength and divine forgiveness here and now, as well as assurance of a glorious, bodily resurrection on the Last Day.

 

The feast we receive regularly and often in our desert wanderings on this side of the new creation is a foretaste of the eternal feast in Christ’s kingdom. Isaiah 25 describes heaven as a feast of the richest foods and best wines. In Revelation 19, John describes a marriage feast at the wedding of Christ and his Bride, the Church. The Lord Jesus supports us in both body and soul now. He will certainly do so on the Last Day. What a glorious message to our ears!

 

What we do regularly in church is really a dress rehearsal for the full and complete feast on the Last Day. Mark 6 becomes the pattern for life in Christ’s Church. To this very day, our Parish Priest, our under shepherd, gathers Christ’s sheep around his Table to receive his love and compassion through simple words and bread and wine: Word and Sacrament ministry.

 

And don’t worry about there being enough compassion, grace, love. After the crowd ate its fill, the disciples picked up twelve full baskets of broken pieces. There’s always enough and more to spare. It’s a feast after all!

 

Our needs—ordinary, common, and mundane though they be—are often provided for by Christ through the most unlikely of means. Five loaves and two fish feed some twenty thousand people. What’s most amazing is not the miracle—the crowd doesn’t seem to know about the miracle—but the compassion that fuels the miracle. “Just bring what’s here, and I’ll use it,” says our Lord.

 

It’s tempting to think we’re too small to make a difference here in our community, much less the world. But Jesus’ compassion overrules our logical-sounding reasons as to why we’re too small, too Insignificant, to matter to God.

 

Jesus smiles and says, “Bring what you have here to me.” He’ll take us, bless us, break us for his purpose, and then give us to the world for the benefit and salvation of many in both body and soul. What matters most is Jesus’ compassion. Come, then, dear people of God. Come to Jesus’ feast and receive his compassion in body and soul. With him there’s always enough to go around—enough compassion, enough forgiveness, enough of Jesus for every hungry mouth and heart. It’s a feast after all! Amen.

 

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

 

Pentecost 7 – 11 July 2021 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 6^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St mark: Verses 14 – 29:

¹⁴ King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” ¹⁵ But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” ¹⁷ For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and ^abound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, ²⁰ for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. 

²¹ But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²² For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” ²⁴ And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ²⁶ And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. ²⁷ And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison ²⁸ and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

 

 

Certain names just have a way of conjuring up images of terror and death and destruction. Names like Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden and Pol Pot automatically make you think of some very evil people who did very evil things. Also, Biblical names like Cain and Judas and Jezebel transcend time as they still have the ability to conjure up very fresh and frightening images of evil. These are names used even now to brand people in a most unpleasant way.

To this day it’s most unlikely anyone names their sons Cain or Judas. It’s most unlikely anyone ever names their daughter Jezebel. It just doesn’t happen. Who would want that kind of association with our beloved children? Can you imagine if you were a school teacher looking at your new class roll? “Oh look...Adolf, Osama, Cain, Judas, and Jezebel will all be in my class this year.” And before we move on, be sure to add to this list of infamous names that nobody would want associated with their child, the name “Herod.” 

King Herod...just the mere name invokes images of death and violence and wickedness! ……. It is true that there were multiple King Herods at work in the New Testament (i.e., Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, Herod Agrippa, Herod Archileus). It doesn’t matter. They were all bad. They all did some very evil, gory, terroristic things, from slaughtering baby boys, to having Jesus whipped and crucified, to putting to death the apostles, to chopping off the head of John the Baptist, and taking up with a brother’s wife (granddaughter of Herod the Great, making her his niece). Oh yes, also getting drunk and ogling his own step-daughter / grand-niece. There’s no need to split hairs. They were all truly “Herod” in their ways. 

And yet...St. Mark gives us a glimpse of another side of King Herod. This Herod (Herod Antipas) was glad to hear John the Baptist preach. He didn’t necessarily like what he was hearing, but he gladly heard John the Baptist. He knew John was a good and righteous man. There was just something about him and his message that made King Herod have a bit of a soft-spot in his heart for John, enough of a soft-spot that he actually kept John safe in prison so that his wife Herodias couldn’t get to him and have him tortured and killed. Perhaps the Word of God, spoken in all its purity and fullness, was working. Perhaps it was having an effect on wicked King Herod. ^{(Rom 10:17) “}Faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word of Christ” and ^{(Rom 1:16)} “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of salvation to all who believe.” 

But then that infamous birthday party happened. King Herod had a little too much to drink and was overcome with lustful emotion as he watched his own step – daughter (Salome) do a seductive dance for him. “Ask whatever you want and I will give it you, up to half of my kingdom!” Hmmm...let me go talk this over with mum. And when Salome, the little pawn of Herodias returned, she did exactly as mum wanted, and asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And the very next words in the text tell us that King Herod was exceedingly sorry for what he was about to do. In a quandary, but he had to ‘save face’. 

Now, at this point you may not have any sympathy for King Herod. In fact, knowing what we know about him, you might even be feeling a bit of “schadenfreude”— (German; no English word with the same descriptive meaning) – that is deep satisfaction over his misery and suffering. “Good! I hope he does hurt and suffer and feel intense sorrow, the despicable man!” I get it. I do. However, I do want to share with you something very interesting about this particular Greek word that we translate as “exceedingly sorry” – perilypos.

This word is used only four other times in all of Scripture—twice to refer to how exceedingly sad the rich young man was when he found out that he would have to sell his riches and give the money to the poor before following Jesus, and twice to speak of the intense sorrow Jesus felt in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prepared to suffer all of His Father’s hellish wrath for the sins of the entire world. ^{(Matt 26:38)} “My soul is very sorrowful, even unto death; remain here and watch with me.” And we all know how that turned out. And how much more sorrowful would Jesus be after returning three times to His closest friends whom He asked to stay awake and watch with Him only to find them fast asleep. “Could you not watch with Me even this one hour?” How’s that for salt in the sorrowful wounds? 

So what? Who cares? What do these three different events; these five usages of this one word have to do with each other, or more importantly, with us today? ….. Well...how many of you felt pity and understanding for the rich young man? I’m not saying you condoned his unbelief, but you understood his sorrow, didn’t you? We’ve all been there. We know that sort of pain and anguish, and it hurts, whether you drop the sin and walk with Christ or drop Christ and walk with sin. Either way you’re losing something you don’t really want to part with. We know that sorrow. As the old saying goes, we all want our cake and we want to eat it too. Been there, done that. …. But, by the same token, we certainly choke up and lament over the fact that Christ Jesus had to endure so much agony and suffering because of us and our sin. His sorrow hurts us and grieves us, and rightly so. After all, He grieves because of what He has to endure for us. …. And yet...we hear of Herod experiencing these same feelings and we rejoice over his pain. We’re glad that he’s hurting. 

What about you? I want you to put yourself in Herod’s shoes. It won’t be hard to do. In fact, we walk in these same sinful shoes all the time. I know that this may offend some who have a higher opinion of themselves and their faith, but it’s true. Put yourself in Herod’s shoes. How many of us have ever been faced with the choice of saving face or serving God? How many of us have ever struggled with loyalty to God or loyalty to the world; loyalty to our own desires? And the worst part of it all is that we often wind up doing things no different than Herod did. We side with the world. We side with popular opinion. We side with our own wants and desires and feelings. As one theologian recently said, “Feelings are notorious liars, especially in matter of faith.” But that often doesn’t stop us from going all-in and staying true and loyal to our feelings, even if it means going against God. The warm-and-fuzzy feeling we crave can sometimes be more important to us than the objective Truth that God desires for us. 

But here’s the thing: I’m not interested in beating you up over your Herod- like tendencies. I’m not going to fight with you or argue with you in attempt to convince you that—yes—you are no different than Herod in many sad and sinful ways. We may not like to admit it, but our names, by nature, are every bit as synonymous with sin and evil as the names Herod, Adolf, Osama, Cain, Judas, Jezebel, and every other child of Adam. ^{(Rom 3:23)}“All have sinned and all have fallen short of the glory of God. All have sinned, and the wage of sin is death.” The Truth is what it is. 

But this is precisely the Good News I want to share with you. Yes—we are no different than any other child of Adam when it comes to our sin. But that’s just it. God doesn’t work on a sliding scale. He’s very equal-opportunity and fair across the board. Sin is sin. No one sin is greater than another in God’s eyes, and those are the eyes we need to be concerned with. “Okay...so how is this Good News?” This Truth isn’t the Good News. This Truth is the Law...the cold, hard truth of the Law. But therein lies the Good News. God Himself did something about sin...all sin. He did something about the fact that we can’t save ourselves, no matter how good we tell ourselves we are or how warm and fuzzy we make ourselves feel. God Himself took on our flesh, bone, and blood in order to take that flesh, bone, and blood to the cross as a full and complete payment for each and every sin of the entire world. It is finished, once and for all! 

But the Good News doesn’t even stop there. Yes, the work of salvation is complete. Christ Jesus accomplished the entire mission with His suffering, death, and resurrection. It is finished! But that Good News doesn’t end with an empty historical look back at one Friday and one Sunday two thousand years ago. This same God and Lord brings His victory to us personally. He comes to us in the waters of His Holy Baptism to drown that old Adam corpse of sin. He comes to us in the waters of His Holy Baptism to crown us with His liquid crown of life, forgiveness, and everlasting salvation. He comes to us in the waters of Holy Baptism to make us His own; to wash away the infamous, deadly name of old Adam, and to put His name of life upon our head and our heart, marking us as His own beloved child and heir of life eternal. 

Just think about that for a moment. We are a baptised child of God— presently and eternally. We bear His triune, triumphant name; a name that will never tarnish or fade or lose face. ^{(Philip 2:10)} At the name of Jesus every knee will bow. By virtue of our baptism, we bear this name. When God looks at us, He no longer sees us and our old Adam corpse of sin. He sees Christ. He sees one who is covered over in the sopping wet white robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness; a robe that has been washed in the blood of the righteous Lamb of God; the very same life-giving righteous blood of that divine Passover Lamb that He brings to us today as He feeds us with His body and His blood; His forgiveness; His victory over sin, death, and the grave. 

And because of this blessed baptismal in- grafting, He knows us by name. He calls us by name. “Come, all who are weak and heavy-laden. Come, my beloved child. Take and eat. Take and drink, for the forgiveness of all your sin.” He knows us intimately...and He rejoices, for we bear His triune name of life, forgiveness, grace, mercy, and peace. He is our God and we are His beloved child, and nothing and no one can ever steal that away from us. 

Rejoice and be at peace, my fellow baptised and redeemed Herods. Rejoice and be at peace, for you now bear the name of Christ. In God’s eyes you are true children of Paradise, and those are the only eyes that matter. 

And may this peace, which does surpass all human understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. In His most blessed, holy, and life-giving name...AMEN.