Rev. Charles Lehmann + Laetare + John 6:1-15 In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
Jesus was born in the city of David to parents who were of the line of David. His pedigree was without question. He was a true Israelite, a member of the tribe of Judah. But despite all of this, our Gospel reading today shows that by any standard that could have been used at the time, Jesus was a fairly lousy Jew. We're six chapters into the story and even though the Passover has been mentioned twice, we've had no mention of Jesus celebrating it with His disciples. In chapter two, John writes, “The passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” But what does Jesus do once He arrives at the temple? A lot, certainly, but He doesn't celebrate the Passover. He offers no sacrifice. No lamb is slain. No meal is eaten. Instead, Jesus overturns the tables of the moneychangers, performs signs, and meets with cowardly Nicodemus in the middle of the night. A chapter after the midnight meeting, Jesus leaves Jerusalem without the Gospel making any mention of Him actually celebrating the feast. The next mention of the Passover is in today's reading, but Jesus doesn't keep the feast any better here than in chapter two. If anything, it's even worse this time! Not only do we have no mention of our Lord celebrating the Passover, but He and His disciples are several days journey away from Jerusalem. John writes that Jesus is near the Sea of Galilee and “the Passover, the feast of the Jews, is at hand.” It's impossible for anyone to celebrate the Passover in Galilee, and it's impossible for Jesus and His disciples to get to the temple in time to celebrate the Passover there. A lamb must be slain, and that can only happen at the temple in Jerusalem. But the location isn't the only reason that the situation in today's reading seems even worse that what we see in chapter two. Five thousand men and their families are following Jesus. Perhaps as many as fifteen to twenty thousand of the faithful are gathered around Jesus in Galilee instead of around the Passover table in Jerusalem. So what are we to make of this? God had said to Moses, “You shall keep [the Passover] as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations as a statute forever.” It looks like Jesus is leading His disciples into sin. It looks like He's ignoring the Law that He Himself had established. But in the person of Jesus Himself, we are about to see what all of the Old Testament sacrifices were pointing to. Though the Passover is a lasting ordinance for all generations, a time was coming when the sacrifices would cease. Even in the very moment when the Lord established the Passover, He had in mind the final Lamb to whom all of the other lambs would point. Our reading today tells us, “A large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.” When the crowds saw that Jesus was healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead, they wanted to see more. They wanted to hear the words of the one who had been sent by God to bring health, freedom, and life to His people. In last week's reading, Jesus had said, “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” The crowds who followed Jesus recognized that the kingdom of God had come upon them. They recognized it so clearly that in the end of today's reading Jesus hid Himself from them so that they would not be able to make Him king by force. The crowds that followed Jesus knew that no blood sacrifice of an animal was important enough to make them leave the presence of their Messiah. And the Lord will provide for His people. When Jesus sees that the people are away from town and have given no thought to their own needs, Jesus asks His disciples, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” To the disciples, this is a ridiculous question. There's nowhere close enough to buy food, and there's not enough money to pay for even a small portion of the amount of bread they would need in order to feed the multitude. The people following Jesus may have forgotten to provide for their own physical needs because of poor planning, but they have chosen the better course. Perhaps they remember the Scripture which says, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The multitude has sought Jesus because they know that He is the source of life. But the Lord has compassion on them because He is also the one who gives daily bread and who provides for all that they need to support their body and life. In providing this miraculous meal for those who follow Him, the Lord is pointing forward to the one Passover that according to John's Gospel He will participate in. Just before the previous Passover, Jesus had turned water into wine. During the Passover week of today's reading, He is giving those who follow Him bread to eat. During the final Passover, the one of which we still partake, Jesus will give His disciples His body to eat and His blood to drink. Just after today's Gospel reading Jesus explains to those who followed Him how He is the bread of life, and, pointing forward again to His final Passover, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” Jesus is not abandoning the Passover by spending its week healing the sick and proclaiming His Word to those who follow Him. Jesus is preparing Himself to be the final Lamb who fulfills the Passover feast forever. Jesus will go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, and in that moment when He breathes His last on the cross, all of the lambs of the past fourteen hundred years will receive their fulfillment. They no longer need to die because on the cross Jesus has revealed Himself to be the final Passover Lamb, the true Lamb to whom all other lambs point. In John, the one and only true Passover is Jesus' death on the cross. Even on the night in which He is betrayed you will find no mention in the Gospel of John of Jesus eating the Passover with His disciples. John says simply, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” The true passover is not the Old Testament feast. The true passover, the passover which John proclaims and which Christ fulfills is the cross. According to John, the Passover is “the hour” that Jesus “depart[s] out of this world to the Father.” And so, on the day of the Preparation of the Passover, in accordance with the liturgical order in Exodus 12, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world is killed at twilight. His blood stains the wood of the cross and the Angel of Death passes over God's family. Passover is a family meal, and the slain lamb atones for the sins of the family. On Good Friday, the head of the family is God, and the members of the Lord's household include all the people of the world. The collect we pray on Good Friday confesses this beautiful truth in these words, “Almighty God, graciously behold this Your family for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and delivered into the hands of sinful men and to suffer death upon the cross.” The Passover of the Jews has passed away. Christ's feast of His body and blood is now the ordinance that stands for all generations. You, the baptized, are all the children of God. You are the Lord's family. In your baptism you have been clothed with your Savior. You are the Lord's beloved children. You are the family of Almighty God. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world has died, and Passover is fulfilled forever. We celebrate the true Passover whenever we eat the Lord's flesh and drink the Lord's blood. He has been slain on the altar of the cross for your forgiveness. Rejoice, people loved by God. Your sins are forgiven and you are free. In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in faith in Christ Jesus. Amen. Rev. Charles R. Lehmann Pastor, Saint John's Lutheran Church, Accident, MD http://chaz-lehmann.livejournal.com ___________________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_ _attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected] Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected] Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at: Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <[email protected]>
