Feed Them!

Sermon Proper 13  

July 31, 2011

Matthew 14:13-21

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Give us this day our daily bread is a petition that recognizes that we are a people in need. That in our sinful state we are in need of daily sustenance.  It is a cry of desperation in a fallen world. “Give to us Father our daily bread.”  That our needs may not be met, is a source of fear. 

I recently watched the movie “Black Hawk Down” which is a story about hunger and food.  The terroristic leaders in Mogadishu, Somali would steal UN and US shipments from the starving refugees and use the food as a weapon.

Those who show their allegiance to the leaders get to eat.  Even today in east Africa there are problems with shortages of basic essentials such as medicines and food things we take for granted in this country.

However we have our own fears. Do we have enough money or bread, as they use to say in the 60’s, to pay the bills and feed and provide proper health care for our children?

Will there be good jobs for our children so that they are able to provide for themselves, certainly the debate in our government over raising the debt ceiling and fearing default raise this specter for us today.

When the necessities of life are on short supply, then a sense of panic ensues this is why the government is trying to prevent this at all costs.

This fear also extends into the church.  As church membership declines there is a fear that it will be unable to sustain her ministry.  Church ministries do not get their operating funds though government welfare and taxes but through the generosity of Christians who are served by Christ through the church.

This fear is both relevant and real. It is a fear man has to contend with since the fall when his work was cursed.  Vocations meant to serve the Lord and your neighbor have turned into self serving exercises. It is a fear that causes to fear and love the created that which we see instead of the Creator that which we hope for.  This is idolatry of the first order because we are putting our fear, trust and hope into something other than God.

But let us look at our text this morning. Jesus is a poor man. He does not carry the purse the disciples do. He is poor because he lost his cousin and fellow kingdom worker John the Baptist. This was the word he heard and the impetus for His withdrawal. 

Can you imagine the disappointment and pain over the rejection of John by the people that he came to save?  It is amazing that Jesus would want anything to do with these ungrateful and betraying Israelites and Jews.  If anyone had reason to pull up stakes and leave this world prematurely it was Jesus. Why not just shake the dust off his sandals and ascend back into heaven but this is not Jesus’ response. 

The crowds follow Him and His disciples and Jesus has compassion on them. This is a word that our current LCMS president makes much ado about and has had plenty of experience in this area. The Greek word for compassion is “splakna.”  It is a word that sounds like its meaning. Splakna is the sound of the guts of an animal hitting the ground after it has been sacrificed or dressed out for eating.  Splakna is a powerful feeling that comes from deep down in the guts.  Jesus is motivated by compassion or splakna  to come ashore and to begin healing and teaching the people who have followed Him out into the wilderness.

For the people to follow Jesus out into the wilderness and bring their families shows how truly desperate they are.  And we are not just talking about a few, but 5000 men and their families. This crowd is upwards of 20,000. 

The wilderness is not a good place to find the necessities of life in fact it is quite the opposite. It is barren.  But it is the perfect place to show our dependence on God for there is nothing there that human effort can bring that would be sufficient.

This should sound in many ways like another story we know from the Old Testament where the tribes of Israel are brought out of Egyptian bondage into the Wilderness by the Lord God.  In the wilderness the necessities were provided for them.  They received manna in the morning and meat in the evening. They also had water from the rock that St. Paul calls the pre-incarnate Christ and their clothes did not wear out. 

It was certainly a miracle that these possibly millions of  people were sustained in the harshest of conditions. These hard necked people learned to trust in their providing God for daily bread. They had no other choice accept going back into slavery which some wanted to do.

Despite this understanding the twelve appear to have failed the test when Jesus asks them to feed the crowd.  They did not understand what Jesus meant showing a lack of faith.  This is very apparent when we compare and contrast the faith of Jesus mother Mary and that of the twelve. 

Mary at the wedding in Cana presses Jesus to supply the need for more wine and even after being rebuffed by Jesus she tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.  The result was an over abundance of the finest wine. I sure would have liked to taste that.

The twelve forget that it is Jesus, it is God who provides. It is our Lord with a word who can create out of nothing or even a few things to bring abundance.  It is also good to note that in the case of Mary and Jesus’ twelve that they glow with Jesus’ compassion. They do care for the plight of the families who were getting hungry but Jesus was not ready to send them away. He intended to feed them where they sit.

At this point we see a precursor to the Christian church in action. Even though this is not the New Testament, the sacrament of the altar being enacted, there are still many comparisons that would influence later church practice.

One of these practices is of teaching preceding the meal.  Jesus both healed and taught most of the day. His healing was a demonstration of His forgiveness His work to reverse the curse, so there was both the pronouncing of forgiveness and His preaching about the Word or Himself and what He was planning to do for them in keeping the law and declaring them righteous before God just as you hear declared to you every time we meet for Divine Service.

Second, there is the act of bringing an offering forward.  Jesus could have created food for these people out of nothing  but instead He used and blessed already created things. Although one could argue that the extra fish and loaves were created out of nothing by His Word.  Our Lord takes the churches offerings, although we have not seen a physical multiplication of what was given, uses them to sustain this ministry which the Holy Spirit uses to draw others around the Altar.

Third, Jesus is still at the center of providing all good things. He is the one healing, forgiving and feeding today.  Today Jesus is hidden from our eyes but He still promises to be with His people when they gather. It is not the Pastor who baptizes. It is Jesus.

It is not the Pastor’s words that say, “I forgive you.” It is Jesus words.  It is not the Pastor’s words said over the bread and wine but Jesus’ words. Jesus uses the Pastor as an instrument as He used the called twelve to assist with the distribution and the teaching but it is really Jesus doing the giving, even in the sermon.

These are certainly humble means that he would use, simple elements such as water, bread, wine and your Pastor, but remember fish and loaves are not banquet food but necessary food just as Christ Word and His body and blood are necessary spiritual food for us sin ridden and dying Christians.

The teaching, preaching and the meal describe the churches pattern for the Divine Service today, a liturgy that does not put us in the center, but Jesus. 

Since it is not entirely seen, it does require faith in Jesus’ promises to benefit from it, to use it and to feed on it otherwise one will come to the conclusion they are not being fed.

This is the problem Jesus ran into later as the crowds were only interested in Jesus physical food and healing and they were not interested in repentance and hearing the Gospel. They treasured what they could see and not what they could not see and therefore did not recognize the Son of God in Jesus so they fell away.

This is the problem we have today when instead of disciples in the church we have consumers. Consumers who pick a church based on the programs it offers instead of its faithfulness to the Word and Sacraments.

Instead of church members we have church supporters.  Jesus does not need your support. You need His Word his food. And your neighbor who is suffering needs your support whether he is next door or overseas. And Jesus is the one who has made you a member of His Kingdom through the waters of baptism.

The fear that we have goes away when we know that we have a loving God who has created, sustains and redeems us. We then put our fear and trust in the right place, in a dependable place. It may be helpful when you get the feeling that things are getting sparse that you would pray the Apostles Creed and its meanings as found in the Small Catechism and then wait upon the Lord. Do not despair He will provide to you your daily bread. Amen.