"Taking Jesus by Force" Fourth Sunday in Lent Laetare March 30, 2014 John 6:1-15
You see the good things Jesus can do for you. You know His power. You know His love. You know what He can do and you know that He is all about doing what is good and doing what is good for you. So He ought to do it for you. He ought to do what you need. What will be best for you. And so you take Him by force. You take Him and want Him to do what you need. What is best for you. What you know you need to be done. The only problem here is that you confuse what you need with what you want. What you think you need is only that, what you think you need, not necessarily what you actually need. You think you need healing from your illness or your injury. That may indeed be God's will for you. But you may need something different than that healing. God may see something better for you. You think you need good health and God may indeed bless you with that. But He may see that without it you are better off. You think things will work better for you if you don't have to interact with difficult people. But God may see how you are blessed far more through your interaction with those people. You may begin to see how they are blessed whereas without you interacting with they might not be. You may wish to be free from trials and difficulties. But God may see how those strengthen you. You see those things you need and they became the things you want. When you are praying for things you think you need but they are really things you want you end up taking Jesus by force rather than praying to Him according to His good and gracious will. Whatever that may be. It may not be what you want. But it may be what you actually need. It may be difficult. But that may be far more of a blessing than if you are not hindered by physical ailments or interacting with people you'd rather not or not facing trials. The people in the Gospel reading, they knew a good thing when they saw it. They had seen the miraculous actions of Jesus. He had healed people. A lot of them. He had done things they had not see before. Giving people sight. Giving people hearing. Driving demons out of them. Restoring their leprous flesh. And then something they could never even imagine. Thousands upon thousands of people being fed by Jesus with simply a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Thousands of people miraculously fed by this one who clearly could make life better for them. They knew a good thing when they saw one. And so they took Jesus by force. They wanted to make Him their king. They wanted Him to keep doing what He was doing so that they could have not what they needed but what they wanted. It was what they thought they needed but it really was what they wanted. And that's why they took Him by force. What do you want from Jesus? Is it what He gives you or what you think He ought to give you? Is it what He gives you or is it what you demand of Him? Jesus saw this, they were going to take Him by force, and so He withdrew from them. He withdrew so they couldn't take Him by force. He wanted to give them what they truly needed, not what they were looking for. Had He stayed, what would they have gotten for a king? A miracle worker. That would have been awesome, there's no doubt. But what would it have gotten them? They would have gotten what they wanted, not what they truly needed. Jesus knew what they truly needed. It was why He had come. He withdrew so that He could give them what they truly needed. He withdrew so that He could go to the cross alone. On this day He went to a mountain by Himself. Eventually He would go the mount of Calvary by Himself. Alone. On the cross. On the grassy mountain where He gave them bread and fish He gave them a foretaste of the feast to come. On the cross He would give Himself. This time they took Him by force and He acquiesced. They took Him by force but He went willingly. In the feeding of the five thousand they wanted to take Him by force to make Him their king. He would be their king but He would do it by laying down His life for them. He would be their king by giving much more than bread and fish. Much more than an earthly paradise. He would give them eternal paradise. Now He comes to you as Host once again. He invites you to dine with Him. You take Him by force when you hold Him to things He has never promised you. But when you hold Him to those things He has expressly promised you, He humbly acquiesces. He comes to you just as He did when He gave Himself on the cross. He will never take you by force. He never forces anything on you. He simply gives. He simply lays out His gifts and you may partake of them. Take advantage of it. He is, in a sense, giving you the green light to take Him by force and hold Him to His promises. When the thousands on that day were fed, they said, "This is of a truth the Prophet who is to come into the world." Well, yes and no. Of course, He was. But they didn't realize how He was. They were looking for what they wanted and wanted to bring Jesus on board with it. By withdrawing from them, He showed them how He was the prophet who is to come into the world. By going to the cross He was the one who was coming into the world to bring what the world really needs. Now He no longer withdraws. Now He comes. Now He comes to you and loves nothing other than for you to partake. The proclamation of the Gospel is like the bread that is multiplied, feeding you and nourishing you. Living out your Baptism is Jesus coming to you with His promises. "We were therefore buried with Him through Baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." (Romans 6:4) The Lord's Supper is Jesus feeding you a meal far greater than bread and fish, giving you in the bread and wine His body and His blood. He gives to you, to eat and to drink, His own body born of Mary and offered up on the cross; His own blood that flows through His veins and was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. What will you gain if you attempt to take Him by force as they did? What would they have gained? A bread king. One who could feed them. One who could give them what they wanted. What will you gain if you continue to take Jesus by force and hold on to what you want instead of humbly asking Him to give you what you truly need and to bless you according to His good and gracious will. What you want and what you need are too often at odds. What you need is not what you will get if you take Jesus by force and prevent Him from going to the place where He secures for you what you need. What He gave them on that day on the grass paled in comparison to what He gave them as He hanged on the cross. Where you go to gain what He gives you are the places where He comes to you to deliver to you His forgiveness, His life, His salvation. Preventing Jesus from going to the cross would have prevented Him from securing salvation. Stop taking Jesus by force and start being refreshed in those places where He comes humbly to serve you and give you far beyond what you could ever hope to receive. In the Gospel proclaimed, in your Baptism, and in His Holy Supper, He will not leave you desolate on a grassy plain with only bread and fish to show for it. He rather will give you all the blessings of heaven. Taking Jesus by force for what you want leaves you only with nourishment for your body, the here and now. Taking Jesus where He has promised to be, at the altar where His body and blood are distributed and given directly to you--that's food and nourishment for your body and soul. Consider how the liturgy informs our faith in who Jesus is and what our Lord gives to us. In the Post-Communion Prayer we pray, "We give thanks to You, Almighty God, that You have refreshed us through this salutary gift, and we implore You that of Your mercy You would strengthen us through the same in faith toward You and in fervent love toward one another." Far from feeding our wants and desires, in this salutary gift of our Lord in His precious Supper we are refreshed. He gives us what we truly need, Himself. He strengthens us through His body and blood in faith toward Him and in fervent love toward one another. We see in a similar way in the Post-Communion blessing the blessings our Lord gives us through this Meal: "The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve You in body and soul to life everlasting." Whatever we think we may need, we entrust to Him to give us what we truly need, strengthening and preserving us in body and soul. The words of Simeon, who saw and held his Lord Jesus Christ, flow from our lips having partaken of our Lord Jesus Christ in and with the bread wine: "Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation." Rather than desiring to take Jesus by force, we are able to depart in peace. Whether we live or die we belong to the Lord, our eyes have seen His salvation. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said of Him, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." He is the very Lamb of who has gone to the cross to do so and who comes to us now in His Supper. So we sing of Him who comes to us there, "O Christ, thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world." And finally, in the Lord's Prayer, we have everything we need to make up our prayers and the things our Father desires to give us in His Son. Rather than taking Jesus by force, we pray according to His will and in what He desires to give us. The Church understands this and sees that in no greater way does our Father in heaven give us what we need than in His own Son and so prays the Lord's Prayer and then hears the Words of our Lord in the speaking of the Words of Institution. Jesus withdrew from becoming a miracle-worker, choosing rather to become the Savior, suffering and dying on the cross, rising from the grave, ascending into heaven, and coming to you often in His Supper to give you what you truly need both now and forever. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
