Let us
pray, Lord Jesus Christ, Your food is to do the will of the Father, but we
fallen creatures will faint without food.
Yet, You knowing our shortcomings provide for our every need. May we be fed with Your Word and strengthened
with the true knowledge that You give us what we need, even when we can’t and
don’t ask for it. For we pray in the
prayer You taught us, “Give us this day our daily bread” and You do provide for
us. Assure us of this Your promise and
fulfill it for all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning. AMEN.
In the
latest Avengers, when the world is being attacked by the evil tyrant Loki, and
all the additional alien creatures, the only hope for the Avengers is to close
the intergalactic portal to another world.
Ironically the military sends a nuclear device to destroy New York City
in order to protect the rest of the world, but Tony Stark understands the
problem and sees an opportunity for a different outcome. The only way to close the portal and prevent
the destruction of New York and the world is for a nuclear device with enough
energy to disrupt the free flow of energy.
So Iron Man guides the nuclear war head directly into the worm hole and
thus closes the portal to another world and in miraculous fashion saves the
world.
From our
Gospel this morning, Jesus tells the disciples that they have a problem. The problem isn’t aliens like in Avengers,
but it is a “large crowd…[that] had nothing to eat”. Unlike Tony Stark who was a genius and could
quickly analyze a situation and figure out a game plan to remedy the situation,
the disciples are like the proverbial deer in the headlights. The disciples who have previously seen Jesus
heal people, whether paralyzed or a withered hand, cure the man with an unclean
spirit, seen Him walk on the water or free a little girl of the unclean spirit
somehow do not understand that Jesus knows exactly what He will do.
Jesus in
one sense is teaching the disciples that there are consequences with
inaction. Notice He says, “If I send
them, [that is the people I have been teaching] away hungry to their homes,
they will faint on the way”. We are weak
creatures that need sustenance. Not only
do we need physical food, but the disciples and we fallen creatures today want
and need to see a miracle. The disciples
put flesh on this by saying, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread
here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” The disciples did not understand that Jesus
had placed them clearly in this situation in order for His glory to be revealed
yet again, to the people, but also to the disciples and we who read this lesson
today.
Jesus
Christ as God’s only Son says, “I feel compassion for the people because they
have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.” Jesus felt complete compassion upon these
people that had listened to His teaching, heard Him tell them of the Gospel of
salvation and now after three days were hungry and wouldn’t make it to their
homes. Jesus as compassionate Son of God
wanted to not only feed their spiritual needs of the sustenance of the Word of
God, but wanted to provide for their physical need of their stomachs.
As the
redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ asks the disciples a simple question, “How
many loaves do you have?” This question
begins a miracle of epic proportion.
Jesus Christ blesses the loaves and the fish and the people are fed. Not just fish and bread, but the food of
heaven from the Master of the Universe Holy Hands. Jesus Christ gives enough food for four
thousand people to be fed. Now we might
consider that a small miracle, but what needs to be understood is that the
number counted in Jesus day and time would only have included the men, it would
not have included the women and children.
Hence if half of the 4000 men were married that would be 6000 people
including wives. And if only half of the
married men had two kids, that would mean that Jesus fed upwards of 8000
people. Thus, this little miracle of feeding
approximately 8000 people is equivalent of feeding nearly twice the size of
Goodland in one meal with seven loaves and a few small fish.
Jesus
Christ in this one meal shows a deep compassion for the people of God not only
in feeding them the Word of God and feeding their spiritual hunger, but clearly
feeds the people of God’s bodily hunger as well. Jesus Christ clearly shows His interest in
the needs of the people who came to hear Him speak and stayed three days. But what about we who come today here in
Goodland, KS to hear God’s Word and look for a miracle in our daily lives.
Clearly
there are issues in our daily lives that are a need for Jesus Christ to come
and relieve us, whether it is rain for our crops, the oppressive heat of
summer, sickness in our families, brokenness of relationship between parents
and children, friends and family or church and God. We come here today asking God to come down in
a more tangible way and enter into our lives.
And Jesus Christ clearly says to us today that He has compassion upon
us.
We find
Jesus compassion in a promise that He taught His disciples and we pray even
today. In the words of the Lord’s
Prayer, the Fourth Petition we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”. Martin Luther writes:
“What
does this mean? God gives daily bread
indeed without our prayer, also to all the wicked; but we pray in this petition
that He would lead us to know it, and to receive our daily bread with
thanksgiving.
What is
meant by daily bread? [Daily bread is]
Everything that belongs to the support and wants of the body, such as food,
drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, field, cattle, money, goods, a pious
spouse, pious children, pious servants, pious and faithful rulers, good
government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends,
faithful neighbors, and the like.”
Jesus Christ clearly
promises to provide for our needs even when we do not pray and in miraculous
fashion gives us what we need to survive.
May we like the disciples who witnessed Jesus feeding the people with
seven loaves and a few small fish lay claim to God’s promises to us today in
and through His Word and understand the miracle of the gift of God’s Son and
Savior Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ
came down from heaven and in and through the miraculous birth from the Virgin
Mary began His life here on earth to offer us life and salvation by going to
the Cross. Jesus Christ in true servant
fashion came to seek and serve we His children through our baptism into His
life, death and resurrection in order to offer us the greatest miracle of
salvation of our souls by His death on the Cross. Jesus Christ came to not only perform
miracles of healing, but feed our spiritual needs and feed our physical needs
and ‘give us this our daily bread’ for all of us saints gathered here at
Emmanuel this morning. AMEN.
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