This sermon is not as polished as I would like, but it's as good as I can
manage this week (which has been about 10x as hectic as usual). Perhaps it
will improve in the preaching of it.
Rev. Charles Lehmann + 7th Sunday after Trinity + Mark 8:1-9
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
It is not the least bit surprising that in today's Gospel four thousand are
fed and satisfied. It also isn't the least bit surprising that the Lord has
compassion on the crowd. These are completely normal things for Jesus to do.
There is nothing extraordinary about them. The only thing in today's Gospel
reading that gives us cause for surprise is the question asked by Jesus'
disciples, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate
place?”
Just before the feeding of the four thousand, Jesus had healed a man who
was deaf and mute. Just before that He had cast out a demon. Just before that
He he had walked on water. And just before that, Jesus had fed five thousand
with five loaves and two fish. On that day there were twelve baskets full of
leftovers. All of these things happened before the eyes of the disciples.
They were witnesses of every sign and wonder that Jesus had performed, and yet
they still did not believe.
This is one of the stories from the Gospels where we sometimes like to
stare down our noses at the Lord's disciples and pretend that we would have
done better. We are tempted to say, “If I'd have been there, I'd've believed.
I can't believe how these guys doubted!”
Unfortunately, when we judge the disciples, we judge ourselves as well.
Just like the twelve, we also doubt that God is providing for our needs. Just
think about the last time you were hungry. Sometimes even when our stomachs
growl for only a few moments we say that we're starving. But if we faced the
truth, we would have to admit that we are far better fed than most of the
world. But our sin doesn't stop there. We are also inconsistent in giving God
thanks for what He has given. In our homes, it's easy to pray and give thanks
to God for providing us with food to sustain our bodies, but when we are in a
restaurant, it is tempting to silence our prayers and forget to acknowledge
that all that we eat we have received from the hand of the Lord.
God is the author, giver, and sustainer of life. Not a single wheat kernel
sprouts, not a single cow moos, not a single pig oinks, and not a single fish
swims without the Lord having given them life and continuing to sustain it.
The Lord has created these plants and animals. They are the means by which He
accomplishes the daily miracle of feeding humanity.
Today we could write an account of Jesus feeding the five billion, and it
this story would be no less miraculous than the reading that we heard a few
minutes ago. But headlines like, “God feeds billions, just like He did
yesterday and the day before” don't sell many newspapers, and if the anchor of
the nightly news led off with that headline, they would probably be fired by
tomorrow morning.
The miraculous nature of normal day to day life is usually lost on us, and
it's certainly not the sort of thing that journalists make their money
reporting on. But since the day that God first created life, it is He and He
alone that has supported it. Not a single creature lives apart from the gift
of life that is given by Jesus Christ.
Our reading today makes it clear that if the people are going to be fed,
Jesus has to feed them. The possibility that the people could feed themselves
isn't even entertained. Either Jesus will provide them with what they need or
they will faint on the way. We might look at the text with our reason and say,
“That's just because they didn't bring enough food with them.” Though that
could be right, the Lord's words would be no less true if the people were well
stocked with sack lunches of their own. Even then they would faint on the way
unless the Lord of Life and the God of all creation gave to them the food that
they need to support their body and life.
There is a strong echo of creation in today's Gospel reading. Jesus takes
the seven loaves, gives thanks, breaks them, and gives them to the disciples.
Though Jesus is Himself the eternal Word of the eternal Father by whom all
things were made, He still thanks His Father for providing the loaves. Jesus
uses these loaves to provide for the needs of the crowd, pointing forward to
the night when He will be betrayed. On that night, Jesus will take bread,
break it, and give it to His disciples and say, “Take eat, this is my body,
given for you.”
When the Lord gives His body for us to eat and His blood for us to drink,
He provides for the eternal needs of our soul as well as the eternal needs of
our body. He promises that bodies that feed on His holy body will live
forever. He promises that those who receive His body and blood on their lips
in faith have the forgiveness of all of their sins. All of these promises flow
from the provision that God has always made for His creation.
God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and in that time He
blessed all that He had made. But before man was even created, Jesus blessed
the fish of the sea and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in
the seas.” It was one day later, on the sixth day, that God fashioned man out
of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
God gave the man dominion over all of creation. The fish, the birds, the
animals, and even the mountains, the seas, the planets, and the stars were
given to you on the very same day that God created Adam and Eve. All of these
were given to serve your needs. They were given to you so that by them the
Lord might provide for all that was for your good.
In our Gospel reading today, the good of creation is being restored. Just
as Jesus blessed the fish on the fifth day, He does it again now. He blesses
the fish so that they might multiply and feed his people. Fish were created by
God to serve man, and Jesus gives these particular fish the opportunity to do
so in a wonderful and extravagant way. A few small fish are given by Jesus to
nourish four thousand. The Lord's extravagant provision for His people knows
absolutely no bounds, and it began even before Adam and Eve were created.
The fish in today's reading are simply doing what God created them to do.
They are increasing in number, and they are doing so in order to serve the
needs of the Lord's people.
Our Lord's wonderful provision continues even now. Crops grow, and cattle
graze. The Lord continues to give life to His creation. He continues to fill
our pantries, our refrigerators, and our freezers with His bounty. The love
and mercy of God extend even to providing for those who do not love Him.
But the greatest acts of creation have always happened on the sixth day.
On the sixth day God created Adam and Eve in His own image. On the sixth day
God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to the cross. On that day, Jesus bore all
of your sin and mine. He took into Himself the death that you and I deserved.
On that day, Jesus restored the creation that we had broken. On that day,
Jesus redeemed and recreated man by suffering all that man deserves and doing
so as a man.
Today your Lord has come to you in His Word and given life where only death
reigned. He has come into your midst and forgiven your sin. He has given to
you a share in His unending life that can never die. Creation is complete, for
Jesus has declared it so. His Word of “It is finished” from the cross means
that death will not reign over you forever.
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://www.stjohncove.org
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