Sermon: Laetare (Lent 4) – 2023

19 March 2023

Text: John 6:1-15

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

In our Gospel reading, St. John gives us his account of the feeding of the five thousand.  And for us modern Americans – especially those of us in Louisiana – food is an important matter.  But it is important to us in a different way, because we don’t have a problem getting it.  For us, it has become a luxury.

But for most of human history, and for most people who have ever lived, there was no guarantee of a meal tomorrow. 

The refrigerator and freezer did not exist until recently.  So you had to either grow your own food, or buy it every day.  And it is a lot of work to grow food or raise animals.  And for those who did not farm, there was a daily trip to the market – on foot or propelled by animal.  There was the daily struggle to have money to buy food.  And hopefully, the farmers and merchants had some available. 

And then there were famines and bad weather that wiped out crops, forcing people to make difficult choices: to reduce one’s food intake drastically to keep the animals alive for future food and trade, or kill the animals now with no way to store the meat.  There were also plagues that would kill off all of the livestock as well.  And everyone has to eat to live: the rich and the poor alike.

So there were, and really still are, no guarantees that we will have food from one day to the next.  And that is why we pray for “daily bread” in the Lord’s prayer.  It’s easy to take God for granted when we have refrigerators and freezers stocked with food and drink, and even desserts.  On a road trip, there is always an exit ramp with fast food.  Or at least a gas station with food that we might even grumble about receiving.  Our blessings often make us forget that they are blessings.  It is important to be grateful for the Lord’s grace.  And even when the fridge and the freezer are not overflowing, we still give thanks to God for what He provides.

One day, large numbers of people followed Jesus during His travels “to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.”  A “large crowd” had gathered.  They wanted to see Jesus, to hear Him, to bring their sick to Him.  It meant hiking for several days, carrying food with them in faith, hoping that God would provide.  St. John tells us this was near the time of the Passover holiday, when the children of Israel celebrated their liberation from slavery by means of a meal that was not only special, not only something to be repeated out of remembrance, but it was a supernatural meal, one that saved them from death.

Jesus challenges His disciple Philip to think of a way to feed thousands of people in the middle of nowhere – with no money and no stores close by.  “He said this to test him.”  Philip, of course, can only point out the problem, not the solution: “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread” – not even enough for everyone to get a single bite.  And this is not just a matter of being uncomfortable.  People risked their lives to go where Jesus is, seeking His blessing.  If Jesus doesn’t intervene, people will die. 

Andrew can only find a boy who brought lunch for a few people: five loaves and two fish.  The loaves of bread were barley, suggesting that he was poor.  And Jesus takes the lunch of this impoverished boy to feed thousands of hungry people.  And of course, He miraculously multiplies this tiny amount and turns it into abundance: feeding five thousand men, plus women and children, to the point where they “had eaten their fill,” and there were still twelve baskets of leftovers afterward.

People often interpret this miracle as Jesus showing that He is God, because He has the power of God to create.  And that is true.  But there is so much more to this lesson, dear friends.  For our incarnate God is not just powerful and mighty, like a force of nature.  He is also compassionate.  He cares about each of the people individually.  Jesus makes no distinction between the rich and the poor, the old and the young, nor even between those who believe in Him and those who do not.  As Jesus said earlier: God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”  Or as we say in the Catechism, “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also.”

Of course, the people see the power of God in Jesus’ miracle.  But they are also fed.  Their fear of dying has been taken away.  They know that the same God who came to their ancestors and gave them the supernatural Passover meal has come to deliver them from death.  And later in this chapter, Jesus will call Himself “the Bread of Life” and compare Himself to the manna of the Old Testament, when the Israelites were kept alive in the desert by “bread come down from heaven.”  Jesus will also tell us we, who believe in Him, who have faith, will eat His flesh and drink His blood and receive eternal life – and God will raise us up on the Last Day.

Jesus has given us a lot to think about, dear friends.  We should not trust ourselves to provide for food.  We should not put our faith in refrigerators and electricity, in our jobs, our banks, or our grocery stores.  We should not look only to our own gardens or ability to hunt.  For all of these still depend on God providing for us and taking care of our needs.  And when we pray “give us this day our daily bread,” we mean literal bread, we mean food, we mean everything we need to live.  And we also mean our supernatural food, which God Himself multiplies: His grace that never runs out, His Word and His sacraments.  For God gave Philip and Andrew and the rest of the Twelve authority to administer the Supper and Baptize, to preach and teach, to “go and make disciples.”  And from those original apostolic witnesses, the entire world has heard this good news.  The Gospel has multiplied, not by our own efforts, but by the hand of Jesus, the Bread of Life, who provides daily bread to all. 

Andrew’s question: “What are they for so many?” is such a beautifully honest prayer.  It reflects our own weak faith as we look at our own bank accounts, our economy, our church’s balance sheet, our children’s job prospects, and the less that we can buy with our money. 

And yet, dear friends, Jesus still finds a way to feed us with bread in this desert of our fallen world.  But more importantly, His supernatural grace and mercy multiply.  There is always more of the Lord’s Supper, more of the Bread of Life to eat, more of His blood to drink.  There is always more Good News to hear, to thank God for, and to rejoice in, week in and week out.  There is always more forgiveness, and more strength for the journey, always more multiplied by the hand of Jesus.  And trusting that Jesus can, will, and does take care of so many with so little is the very meaning of faith.  It is trust that Jesus will provide.

For it was also when the Passover feast was at hand when our Lord was crucified, when His body and blood were offered as a pure sacrifice and then provided and multiplied to us, dear friends.  He is our daily bread, our supernatural bread, our Bread of Life.

And so every week, leave our homes to come to where Jesus is, to be fed, to hear His Word of forgiveness, life, and salvation.  We make our way from place to place not knowing what will happen in the future, but stepping out in faith to follow Jesus, to eat the Bread of Life and to drink the blood that was shed on the cross as a sacrifice by the “Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world.”  We rejoice that God fed the Israelites with manna, and we rejoice that Jesus is the true bread from heaven, trusting in the multiplication of His mercy, gathering up the leftover fragments, “that nothing may be lost.” 

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.