Sunday, August 26, 2012

LSB Proper 16B Sermon -- Mark 7:1-13


August 26, 2012 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA

“And He said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!’”

Jesus had His run-ins with the scribes and Pharisees before. There had been challenges to what Jesus had said and done early in His ministry in Galilee. The scribes had questioned what Jesus had said when He forgave the sins of the paralytic man and made him walk. The Pharisees had objected to Jesus’ disciples picking grains of wheat while walking through a field on the Sabbath. This time, the confrontation was intentional on the part of the scribes and Pharisees. They wanted the opportunity to point out His lax standards of teaching. They desired to show how Jesus was not a true teacher of the Law.

The Gospel Writer tells us that the Pharisees and scribes had come to Jesus’ presence with confrontation on their mind: “When the Pharisees gathered to Him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of His disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.” The experts in the Law who had come all the way from Jerusalem to Galilee accost Jesus and His disciples: “And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, ‘Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?’” They demand to know why Jesus was not instructing His followers to abide by the traditions that the leaders of the religious community had established centuries ago.

But included in the statements of the scribes and Pharisees is more than a question about why Jesus’ disciples had not followed religious custom. They had actually accused Jesus’ disciples of being unholy because of it. This is seen in the phrase “eat with defiled hands”. That word “defiled” denotes something common, something profane, something ceremonially unclean. The word showed that the scribes and Pharisees believed that Jesus’ disciples had run afoul of the Divine Law and its standards of holiness that it established. Jesus’ disciples had a condition that had to be remedied, and apparently Jesus didn’t care about that.

So who had determined that washing hands was necessary before eating? Who had instituted such a requirement and standard of holiness? Jesus’ response to the scribes and Pharisees gives the answer: “And He said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.’” Jesus’ words declare that the scribes and Pharisees had established their own commandments, their own standards of holiness. They were teaching that manmade tradition as coming directly from God Himself.

The problem with the action of the scribes and Pharisees should be evident. They had become their own lawmakers. They had also become judges of the people, declaring who was righteous or not, who was defiled or holy. But this was not an authority granted to them. It was the usurpation of a power. Their taking authority for themselves also included abandoning the commandments that God had spoken. Jesus points that out: “And He said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother;” and, “Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.” But you say, “If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.’” Obedience of the manmade law and teaching it as divinely inspired led the Pharisees and their hearers to disobedience of what God had commanded.

For the scribes and Pharisees, this meant that they appeared righteous, holy, and devout to themselves and the people. But they did not have that status before God. They failed to recognize the guilt that actually was in them. They would not receive the wisdom from heaven that Jesus was bringing. Instead, they reviled Him and His actions and His followers. Their teaching also deluded and led away others from the righteousness that God desired to give to the people, the holiness that He would grant to those who acknowledged their sin and turn to His forgiveness.

But is this issue between Jesus and the Pharisees only a First Century problem? Does it arise among the people of God today? We can see where it does. It shows up within the more popular religion, including the thoughts about moral teaching today. This is seen in how people make the concept of the Christian faith simply to be kind to one another. Every individual’s personal thoughts about what is right for them must be accepted as correct and never questioned. In essence, Jesus’ teaching boils down to two statements: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” and “Judge not, lest you be judged.” But by doing this, the people fall into the condition that Jesus declares about the Pharisees: “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your own tradition!” Such people often use this way of thinking to abandon any divine teaching about life or sexuality, along with any of the exclusive claims made about salvation and belief. And yet, they appear righteous, holy, and devout within our society.

There is also a different problem of rejecting the commandments of God in order to establish manmade tradition that also arises within the Church, not the popular religion. This is where we see the Church adding to what God has established and teaching it as a standard of righteousness. It is when the Church makes something out to be sinful, where it is not. It often shows up when the Church starts using the words “must” or “must not” frequently: “You must have a certain way of organizing the congregation. You must go on a mission trip. You must donate a certain amount of your income. You must not consume certain foods or drinks. You must belong to a small group. You must worship in a certain pattern.” And those “musts” or “must nots” are followed up by “or else”: “or else you are not really righteous; or else you are not really a true group of believers; or else you’re not really living the new life as Jesus’ disciples.” The sentence of being “common” or “defiled” is made about those who don’t meet the requirements. Those who keep the “musts” or “must nots” often take appropriate to themselves the labels righteous, holy, and devout.

But who has established these “musts” or “must nots”? Do they come from God? Or are they what Jesus denotes with His statement about the scribes and Pharisees: “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” Adherence to the traditions becomes the measure of righteousness. But this runs into the problem that Jesus points out by citing the words of Isaiah: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” The true defilement is missed: the lack of righteousness within mankind, the failure to keep the commandments that God established, the inability to make oneself just before God.

So what is the answer to this problem? (1) Recognize that God has spoken His commandments and they determine what is right or not. That means actually learning what they say, what those commandments proscribe and prescribe. (2) Note that you have not obeyed them perfectly: “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” Such statements apply to you. (3) Hear what Jesus has done to fulfill the Divine Law for you. Fourth, receive the cleansing that Jesus grants to His Church: “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without any spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” This is how you have become righteous before God, how your defilement was removed: not by obeying everything that He commanded, but by having the perfection of Christ granted to be your own.

Then as you have been made right with God, learn well what He has instructed you to do. Strive to abide by those commandments, not adding or subtracting from them. When your ideas begin to run counter to what He has commanded, threatening to make void His word, then abandon them. Turn instead to what Jesus has said and taught. You have been given to know that; you are no longer bound to set your hearts and minds on what man has determined to be wise. For other words of the prophet Isaiah can well describe you: “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.” That is your end, as you receive the salvation that Jesus has brought to you: His holiness that turns your defilement into righteousness.

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

LSB Proper 15B Sermon -- John 6:51-69


August 19, 2012 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA

“So Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.’”

The crowds had flocked to Jesus’ presence. They had sought Him out “near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.” They had gone “into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.” They heard Jesus speak about “the living bread that came down from heaven” while He was “in the synagogue, as He taught at Capernaum.”

But how do the crowds react when Jesus speaks to them about His flesh as the bread that He gives for the life of the world? The Gospel Writer tells us: “The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?’” After Jesus gives them more testimony about Himself—“My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”—He gets a completely negative reaction: “When many of His disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen it?’” The crowds who flocked to Jesus became the crowds that fled from Jesus: “After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.”

This is the Jesus Movement at a crossroads. Who will follow the Man who says: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.”? Who will listen to His statement and receive it as true: “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.”? Who will not take offense at what Jesus says, but rather take joy when they “see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before”? Who will accept the invitation to eat and drink: “Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”? The crowds of Capernaum will not. But will there be any who do?

These are the questions directed toward the Twelve who were with Jesus. They are wrapped up in the pointed inquiry that Jesus speaks: “Do you want to go away as well?” It is as if Jesus said: “Everyone else is leaving. No one else can bear to hear what I say. My truth is rejected as lies, deception, fraud, and folly. Now’s your chance to leave with the rest, should you desire. For if you cannot accept what I have said about Myself and My work now, you will not be able to accept what I will say to you later.”

But what does Peter say? How does he react to Jesus’ pointed inquiry, “Do you want to go away as well?” John records his reply: ”Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.’” His reaction is not negative, but positive. It is a confession of faith in Jesus, Jesus’ identity, Jesus’ words, Jesus’ works. Peter’s answer shows a conviction that has been given to him: “We believe You, Jesus. We’re staying with You. We want what only You can offer.”

Peter’s answer to Jesus is foretold in the Old Testament Reading for today. The Teacher writes about Wisdom personified: “Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town, ‘Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!’ To him who lacks sense she says, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.’” The invitation is given for people to partake of what Wisdom has to offer. In the same way, Jesus invites people to partake of the true food and true drink that leads to eternal life. Peter says to Jesus: “I’ve entered Your house. I want the banquet that You are serving. I’ve left the simple ways and am walking in the way of insight that You have given.”

This same invitation is extended to you. Wisdom offers you a place at her table. The Logos, the Incarnate Word of God, invites you to eat and drink, so that you would be raised up at the Last Day. But how will you respond to the invitation? Left to your own devices, your own reason and strength, you would act the same way as the crowds in Capernaum’s synagogue. The question would flow out of your mouth: “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” You would react the same way as many of Jesus’ disciples: “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”  You would say: “I’m out of here. This is too much. It is fraud or folly.” And you would be left in your simple ways and lack of sense.

In fact, there is the hazard of this still happening to you. Any time that you rely on your own knowledge, your own reason and strength, when it comes to salvation, the same negative reaction to Divine Truth is found. Jesus’ words set that before you: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you ho do not believe…. This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father.” The natural reaction is to reject what Jesus says—even to chase after other teachers and their wisdom—no matter if He prefaces it by saying: “Truly, truly I say to you….”

This is why the apostle Paul warns his audience in Ephesus: “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of darkness.” He exhorts them: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs….” Such statements align with what Jesus says: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail.” Trusting in the words not from heaven and relying on your own reason will lead you away from the gift that Jesus provides for you. There will be the walking away, the refusal to receive what Jesus says, the rejection of His invitation to feed you with the food that leads to eternal life. And His statement about such is grave: “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.”

But something greater than your reason and strength is granted to you. The Father has granted you the opportunity to receive what His Son brings you. You have heard Jesus’ words, the words that are spirit and life. The Spirit has given you life—calling you by the gospel, enlightening you with His gifts, sanctifying and keeping you in the true faith, along with the whole Christian Church on earth. There is an entire group of people who make the same statement as Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.” You belong to that group. You belong, not because you demanded entry, but because the Father has willed it and drawn you into fellowship with His Son through the Holy Spirit.

So what happens now when you hear the invitation given by Jesus? He says: “Whoever feeds on 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. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” Instead of fleeing from Jesus, you come to His presence. You come to the pews and say to Him: “Let me hear the words of eternal life that only You can speak.” You come to the altar and say to Him: “Give me that true food and true drink that only You can offer.” Then you leave this place and say to Him: “Guide me to live and walk in the way of insight, not as unwise but as wise.” Finally you await Jesus’ return, saying to Him: “Grant that I may see You where You are ascended. Wake me from death, so that You shine on me.”

That is why you are here. You are present to receive what Wisdom has prepared for you, the bread she has set on her table and the wine she has mixed and poured out. You are here because wisdom and insight have been granted to you: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” You have been given the fear of the Lord, receiving His words as true and giving eternal life. You have been given knowledge of the Holy One, recognizing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who was sent to give life to you.

So your response is the same as Peter’s and those who have gone before you in the Church: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.” That confession is what Jesus’ words—the words that are spirit and life—first brought to you, as the Father granted it. Jesus’ words again create that same confession in you this day. Heed His words, as they invite you to partake of the true food and drink that He offers. Abide in His words, as you walk in the way of insight that He gives to you. Trust His words, as they extend the divine promise to you: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

LSB Proper 14B Sermon -- John 6:35-51


August 12, 2012 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA

“And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Jesus’ words reveal His purpose in coming to the world: “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.” He comes one sent with a particular purpose. So what is Jesus’ assignment? What is the task that Jesus has been given? And just who was it that sent Him? This is what Jesus discloses: “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” The task is to bring salvation. The will of the Father who sent Jesus is that people would look at His Son and believe in Him. Jesus’ purpose is to bring all who have been given to Him to the blessed end of life everlasting, losing none along the way.

Jesus’ words also reveal the character of His Father in heaven. The Father is benevolent, caring, desirous of good, protecting, and gracious. This had been revealed in the events of Israel’s history. The chronicles of what the Hebrew people experienced shows a string of actions that the Lord performed for them, acts that brought them deliverance and restoration. This was not always evident, as you heard with the plight of Elijah, one of the Lord’s prophets: Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’  Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.”

Elijah’s flight into the wilderness is done after facing the greatest degree of opposition. He had done as the Lord commanded, showing the Lord’s supremacy over Baal to His Covenant People who had fallen into apostasy. By this act—the consuming of the sacrifice offered to the Lord, while the sacrifices to Baal went untouched—Elijah was meant to awaken the people out of their state of idolatry, calling them back to the Lord. But what did this bring Elijah? It brought him opposition from the royal house of Israel, death threats from the queen.

In the face of that opposition, Elijah wanders off to the wilderness, seeking an end to his life: “He asked that he might die, saying, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.’ And he lay down and slept under a broom tree.” But the Lord’s character is shown in what He does for His beleaguered prophet: “And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.’ And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.” Elijah was not to be lost from the Lord’s hand. The Lord’s will for him was to sustain his life, to bring him to completion of his task, and to lead him to life everlasting. And no threat from anyone, even the pagan queen of Israel, would keep that from happening.

This same will is revealed by what Jesus says and does. It is not just an Old Testament thing from a long time ago. Jesus states that He is meant to do the same: “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day.” Jesus acknowledges that He has a people who have been given to Him by His Father in heaven. They have been entrusted to His care. And the will that Jesus has come to fulfill is that none of these entrusted to Him will be lost, but will be raised up at the last day.

So who are these people who have been entrusted to Jesus? Perhaps some of you might think it’s the company of apostles whom Jesus called to Himself. That is a correct answer, but it is incomplete. Jesus’ words give the complete answer: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out…. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day…. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” Those who have been given to Jesus’ care are not just a small number of apostles or a group of about 500 or so followers who were with Him at the time of His resurrection. No, it is everyone who has been drawn by the Father to believe in His Son. They are the ones promised to have eternal life, to be raised up on the last day.

This is the definition that describes you. You are here because of your belief in Jesus’ identity, in His words and works. You have been called to be followers of Jesus, recipients of His gifts and merits. You have been given to know about what Jesus has said and done to bring forgiveness, life, and salvation to you—“assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him,” as the apostle writes. You have been granted a new identity, as the Father has drawn you to faith in His Son, “the bread that came down from heaven” to be the source of your life.

You have been transformed by the Holy Spirit who makes known what the Son has done in completing His Father’s will: living perfectly, obeying all the commands that have been placed on humanity, offering Himself as “a fragrant offering and sacrifice,” rising from death to be the source of eternal life. So you have “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” This is what happened for you in your baptisms, as the Holy Spirit was granted to you. It is what happens as you receive the divine words, as Jesus testifies: “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”

But that transformation is not totally complete. You wait for the day of your own resurrection, when you shall be graciously taken from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven. Until that day, you are present among all sorts who want nothing to do with the Father’s will. You have your own sinfulness that arises and makes itself known in your own sins: “bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander and malice.” Around you are those “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” There is the pagan monarch, the ruler of this world, who is a liar and murderer, seeking your harm. Encountering these things, the same thought that entered Elijah’s mind runs through yours: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

So how does the Lord answer? He answers with the news of what His Son has done: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” The Son has offered Himself for you. He gave Himself up for you, “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” that atones and absolves your sin. He has risen victorious from the grave, routing that dreadful enemy. Jesus is no dead source, but “the living bread that came down from heaven” instead.

But the Father’s answer does not end with the news of what His Son has accomplished for you. No, He provides something else. He says to you: “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” The food He provides is not from the baker, no cake baked on hot stones, but rather the bread from heaven that is placed in your mouths from this altar. The flesh that His Son gave for the life of the world is given to you: the bread that endures to eternal life. This is what sustains you in your time of trouble in this world. It is what you are given as the Lord’s answer to your plight. It is given to you because the Father’s will completed by His Son is that He “should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day.”

So you come here where that bread from heaven is found. You come to eat, so that you may learn to believe that Christ, out of great love, died for your sin, and also learn from Him to love God and your neighbor. You come because of the command, encouragement, and promise that are given. You come because you have been drawn by the Father to believe in the Son and His promise: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.”

Eating in faith what is offered by the benevolent, caring, and gracious Father, you will be raised up by the Son on the last day. It is the Father’s will for you, the will that the Son has fulfilled, the will that the Holy Spirit makes known to you: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, He will live forever.” So you will make the same confession as the Psalmist: “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

LSB Proper 13B Sermon -- John 6:22-35


August 5, 2012 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA

“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 labor 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.’”

Lack of food nearly brought the Exodus People to ruin. The hungry Hebrews complained about their condition; grumbling bellies led to grumbling mouths: “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” The people thought that being killed by one of the plagues that the Lord brought against Egypt was better than having been led out of slavery. They were willing to be victims of the Lord’s wrath instead of recipients of His delivering work.

But the Lord did not direct Moses to lead the people out into the desert to die. His goal for them was to be brought into Canaan, the land that He had promised to their ancestor Abraham. So the Lord shows mercy on those whom He had brought up out of the land of Egypt. Hunger, the most basic of earthly needs, would not cause them not to receive the greater blessing that He desired to give them: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.”’” Faith and trust in the Lord would be restored among the people.

The provision of quail and manna was not the major purpose of the Lord for His people. Such provision was a means to an end: a way of sustaining the Exodus People on their way to the Promised Land. Getting them to Canaan was the Lord’s goal. His desire was to have the people place their fear, love, and trust in Him—the faith that leads to life everlasting. It would be of no true benefit for the Exodus People to remain in the Sinai wilderness eating quail and manna all the days of their life.

Similarly, the Feeding of the 5,000 by Jesus was not His major purpose for the people of Galilee. In the Gospel Reading for this morning, you heard about the morning after Jesus’ Feeding Miracle took place: “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. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 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.”

The search for Jesus began that next day. But why did these people go to where Jesus had performed the miracle and then to Capernaum looking for Him? The Lord tells them why: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” The people wanted more meals from Jesus. They wanted more days where their stomachs were filled with what Jesus could miraculously provide. But this was not Jesus’ goal. Jesus had certainly not brought them out into the wilderness of Galilee to die. But He didn’t take them there to provide a rustic setting for a grand smorgasbord either. No, they were there to be given something much greater.

This is what Jesus points out in His statement with those who sought Him to have bellies filled again: “Do not labor 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 points out that the people were willing to work to get another meal from Him, even sailing across the Sea of Galilee to do so. But He wants them to have a better bread, something that leads to more than daily living. And when the people ask how to work to get this, Jesus says: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” Faith and trust in Jesus are to be created in the people. That is what will bring them everlasting life: “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

This is what you also are to draw from these statements of Jesus. The providential nature of God brings great blessing to you. From the Small Catechism, you have learned a whole list of what He provides for your benefit: “Daily bread includes 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 neighbors, and so on.” These are all provided for you. You even make the true statement: “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people….” That is what His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy grants to you and the world.

The Lord does want you to recognize His providence. He desires you to know Him as the giver of daily bread. Gratitude for the Lord’s giving flows from that knowledge, leading to the words that flow from His people’s mouths: “The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing.” But such provision is not His major purpose for you. The Lord does not want you to seek Him as solely or primarily a provider of earthly benefits. No, He wants you to believe in His steadfast love that brings more and greater things to you, eternal and everlasting things.

If the focus remains on just the earthly provisions that God grants, then the greater gift is missed. You have been called to receive “the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” You have been called to be the Lord’s eternal subjects: “[His] kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and [His] dominion endures throughout all generations.” These greater gifts are yours, but only if you abide in the way that the Lord has established. They are yours, if you receive them from the Son of Man on whom the Father has set His seal. Faith and trust in what the Lord does in His chosen ways brings the benefit of eternal life.

This is the point of the Lord’s words about the Exodus People. Describing what He would do for the Exodus People, the Lord said: “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My Law or not.” When He gave the manna, the Lord said: “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” The people would know that the Lord desired what is good for them. But what is eternally good is given through the other things that He would establish for them: the Covenant with its commands about sacrifices for atonement and forgiveness. As they walked in that Law, the people would receive such blessing from the Lord.

Jesus makes the same point to the people at Capernaum: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent…. Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you 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…. I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.” These statements point out that everlasting life is given through belief in Jesus as its source. Those who believe this about Jesus are not brought to ruin, but are led to receive the great blessing promised by the Lord.

“The food that endures to eternal life” is given to those who walk in Jesus’ Law, the Covenant that He establishes with His people: His baptism that works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this; His words of absolution received from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by them our sins are forgiven before God in heaven; His meal that grants forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation because of Jesus’ words spoken of it. This is what Jesus has instituted for the people who would be made part of His kingdom, even you.

Participation in these sacraments reveals your belief in Jesus as the Son of Man who gives the food that endures to eternal life. It flows from your belief that He is the One on whom God the Father has set His seal. You trust in Jesus’ words that you need what He gives. You trust in Jesus’ works as being the source of your life everlasting. You trust that the Father has given His Son Jesus as the heavenly bread of life. So you come, not because you ate your fill of loaves; rather, you come because you trust the witness about the signs which show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may life in His name.

That is what you are to take away from these events and the divine words spoken during them. As you do so, you make the great confession that the Lord’s identity is not just that He gives food in due season. Rather, it is this: “The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him; He also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.” The Lord answers your greatest need by doing what is superlatively righteous and kind: He has sent you the true bread from heaven—Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection gives life to the world and to you. That is His true purpose accomplished for your benefit.

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.