2009-07-26
Trinity 7
Mark 8:01-09
Download audio of this sermon.
In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Bread and fish met the immediate needs of the 4000. It even gave them pleasure because hunger is the best sauce and they were hungry. Nothing gives us pleasure like food when we need it.
The 4000 had no provisions in the desert. They were in danger of fainting on their way home. What they lacked, the Lord had. He had compassion and He provided. They were grateful, pleased, and sated.
The Lord provided through means, with bread and fish. He did not simply fill their stomachs directly or speak them full out of the clear, blue sky. He gave them bread and fish, to eat. And they loved it. There were no complaints, because they were hungry.
Few of you would take us up on the same offer. You'd hardly be pleased if we passed out some fishy dried bits and some crusts of stale, tasteless bread. That is because you are not hungry. You might think you are, but you are not. If you do not long to lick the grease from the bottom of the chicken bucket, if you do not stay awake at night sobbing because your children's stomachs are distended from eating dirt: you are not hungry.
The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Men are frail creatures of prurient desires for pleasure. The way to their hearts is to appeal to their flesh. After the feeding of the 5000 in John 6, the crowd tries to seize Our Lord and force Him to be king. But He hadn't really found His way to their hearts through their stomachs. Rather, they though they had found a way that they could use Him for their own purposes and pleasure. They wanted a King who would do their bidding, who would scratch their backs, not a King who provides or serves, but a King who gives them pleasure, which is to say, they wanted a slave. So also, no woman is actually pleased by a man who wants her for what she can do for him, whether that is with her body or with her spatula.
The will of the Holy Trinity is one. It never changes. The Lord doesn't feed the 4000 to win them or to demonstrate that He is compassionate. He is not flirting. He simply has compassion and that compassion moves Him to action. His actions are utterly consistent with His Words and character. Men are in need of what He has: mercy, grace, food. He has compassion. He provides. That is who He is, what He does. Notice too that He is generous with His gifts. He gives more than they can eat and also that He has discernment in whom He loves. He loves and provides for all of them.
There is more, therefore, to Our Lord's will and character than meeting the temporary physical needs of men. The 4000 were in the desert, a desolate place without vegetation or animals, outside the city walls. How did they get there? They were so lost in Our Lord's Word that they forgot to provide for themselves, to bring provisions, to make a plan, to remember their hunger. Have you ever worked through lunch without realizing it? That is what they did, but nearly to their peril. They were caught up in the Gospel and forgot themselves.
That is a dangerous thing for frail men. We need food and water on a regular basis. We are vulnerable to starvation, to attacks by animals and other men, to death in a thousand ways. To forget ourselves, where we are and so forth, is dangerous to life and limb. If you don't believe me, go down to the Tractor Supply store and count the fingers. The average will be less than ten per person. Yet this forgetting was a good thing. In the first place, it moved them to the status of creature. They were like the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. Without work or plan on their part, their food bestowed by the Lord. It was good. But it was dangerous, in a sense, and it was also painful. Because they saw reality. They came back to their senses and knew that they were in the desert, hungry, and impotent. They knew they needed outside help and did not deserve it.
This is what always happens when men get caught up in God's Word. They are exposed. They see the truth. The 4000 were no more vulnerable than they had always been. But they usually didn't know it. They were often surprised by death, rather than surprised by life. Think of how often we act as though it is a miracle when a woman doesn't conceive! Or how angry we are that there is no cure for cancer or end to war or even at our own aging bodies that don't perform or feel like they used to.
We sinfully put our faith in our stores, kings, armies, neighbors, families, pharmacies, and in our plans. In His mercy, Our Lord pulls back the curtain. He shows us how dire our situation is. We are pilgrims. This is not our home. We are in the desert. There is danger on every side. We cannot continue without sustenance.
The Lord who provided the Lamb in the thicket, provides also in the desert. He did not bring them there in cruelty, but in mercy. They need to know the truth. They need to know their need and the danger they are in. It is good for them to forget themselves and rely upon Him. Because they need a Savior. Their faith in earthly provisions is idolatry and leads to death. He has come for them in the flesh of Mary, not simply to give them bread for the day and send them on their way, nor to distract them for a few hours with interesting philosophies and clever ideas. But He has come to be Bread, to be crushed and broken like grain in His Father's wrath, milled into suitable floor, digestible by fallen men, and to be baked alive by the fires on Hell. He has compassion, not simply for their physical needs, but on what really afflicts them.
It is the same for you. Your daily hunger, your growling stomach, along with every sneeze and ache and sad thought, is but death's claim upon you. You are dying and that because of sin. If it was not for sin, you would know no hunger. Earthly bread can satisfy for only a short time. The pleasures of the flesh, illicit or not, are fleeting and never quite deliver in any case. But the Bread of Life that comes down from heaven can satisfy forever. He does not come for our use, but He comes to take us, to be Our King, Our Bridegroom and Prince, to provide what is really needed.
Hunger is the best sauce – not only for physical eating, but also for spiritual. Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness, who strive against the dissatisfaction wrought by doubt, who long for God and the beatific vision. Blessed are those who want to believe. They shall be satisfied. The Lord has come to earth, entered into our house of doom, born in the House of Bread outside Jerusalem, joined Himself to our flesh for the sake of death, to die for us, and give Himself as Bread for our souls and life. He has overcome death and risen again to life. He gives His living, physical flesh to us with bread, wheat and water, baked with fire, for us to eat, that we would be joined to Him, that our sins would be forgiven. His way to our heart is through our stomach. He enters into us by way of the mouth and makes us His. He cleanses us from the inside out. So that what comes out of us, is His praise and thanksgiving. He delivers us through physical means, through bread and wine which carry His Body and Blood, so that we are righteous.
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. The Lord who feeds the ravens, who gave His Son for the life of the world, who bestows His Name in the waters of Holy Baptism, provides.
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Pastor David Petersen