Pentecost IX (Proper 13 A) [Matthew 14:31-32] (6-Aug-2017)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, send us your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

Over the last few weeks, we have been reading the parables of Jesus. Today, we read about where Jesus feeds the 5000. But between where our reading left off last week, and where our reading today begins, some important things happen.

Over the last three weeks, we read about the parable of the sower, the parable of the wheat and the weeds, and then six smaller parables: the parable of the mustard seed, the leaven (or the yeast), the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price, the drag-net, and then the parable about a scribe trained for the kingdom of heaven who is like a master of the house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. These parables of Jesus are some of the favourite stories of Christians everywhere.

Now, after we read the parables in Matthew 13, we read about two events that happen, before we get to our reading for today. And both of these events show us what happens when people hear God’s Word and don’t believe it.

The first thing we read about is that Jesus goes to his own hometown, Nazareth, and preaches there. And instead of believing his Word, they reject him, and they kick him out. And we read: Jesus did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

We get a little word of warning here: Sometimes we think we know Jesus well. We think that we have known him right from when we were little. Our parents knew him well, our grandparents knew him well. But then, we are sitting in church or reading the bible at home one day, and we come across something that Jesus says that doesn’t sit well with us. We might even be offended by it. We might even have had some kind of tragedy or trauma or crisis in our life, and it seems as though Jesus just doesn’t care about our situation. And we think, “That’s not the Jesus I know.” Be careful when this happens—it’s important that we stick with Jesus even when we don’t understand him. At one point, all the people who were listening to Jesus fled from him, and Jesus said to his disciples: Do you want to go away as well? And Peter answered: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Let those words also be your motto—Jesus, you have the words of eternal life. I trust in you to make your way clear at the right time.

And the second thing that happens after this, is that we read that King Herod kills John the Baptist. Here is one of the finest men of God in the bible. Jesus even says about him: Among those born of women none is greater than John. John was not afraid to use his mouth and to use his finger. With his mouth, he preached the Word, and with his finger he pointed to Jesus and said: Behold, the lamb of God. But then King Herod cut off his head, and silenced his mouth. But even with his head cut off, John’s finger still points to Jesus, and his death which is coming, his crucifixion, which will take away and pay for and atone for the sin of the world.

In France, over two hundred years ago, they were cutting off people’s heads there too. This was called the French Revolution. There were also a group of nuns that were taken to the guillotine, and on the way they sang: Come, Holy Spirit! They were about to die, but they knew the Holy Spirit would not die, and would continue to work in this sinful world. John the Baptist may have been silenced, but the Holy Spirit continues to work. Christians can sometimes be silenced and intimated and even killed, but the Holy Spirit continues to work. The Holy Spirit changes people’s hearts, and he follows it through right to the end.

And so we come to our reading for today, which shows us about what happens to group of people who listen to Jesus’ words and do believe it. Our reading today begins with these words: Now when Jesus heard [the news about John the Baptist’s death], he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.

Jesus is moved by this sad news. When his friend Lazarus died, we read that he wept. But Jesus is also not running away. But when something like this happens, Jesus wants to spend some time alone, just between him and his Father. This is such a wonderful example for us, because sometimes we receive some bad news that really has an impact on us. And when this happens, we know that is a good thing to be alone, just to be with Jesus by ourselves. Jesus knows that it’s only his Father that really understands how he was moved by this. For us too, many times we may have friends, and even Christian friends, and even wise Christians who have experienced many hard times, and even they can’t comfort us. Then, we need to be alone with Jesus and listen to his Word in the Scripture, and let him be the one who comforts us alone.

In the Gospel of Mark, we read that Jesus took his disciples with him, and said to them: Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest for a while. In our lives there are times of hard work and high energy, and especially in the kingdom of God and in the church. But then there are also times of rest, where Jesus needs to refresh our souls, and press our recharge button, as it were. Actually, coming to church regularly on Sunday, is kind of a bit like that in a small way. People who don’t value coming to church would say: Why would I want to come to church on Sunday and sit around on my backside and do nothing? I could do all kinds of productive things instead. Yes, we’re doing not much, but Jesus is doing a lot. He is speaking to us the forgiveness of our sins, he is creating and strengthening faith in us, he is giving us his body and blood to eat and drink, and the list goes on.

And so, Jesus goes away by himself and we read: When the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. Isn’t it strange? We’ve just heard about the people in Nazareth who rejected Jesus, and King Herod who kills Jesus’ prophet and messenger. And when Jesus then goes away by himself, then we see all these people who come out of the woodwork and want to listen to him.

This is also a great encouragement to us as Christians. Sometimes all we hear about in the world today is bad stuff. And there are also many people in our neighbourhoods who will not come anywhere near a church.

Now at one point in his life, Elijah the prophet completely despairs and says to God: Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. But God says to him: I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

And so, the same goes for us. Don’t despair, don’t give up on your faith, just because you see so much anti-Christian stuff in the news and the media. Jesus knows what’s going on. In our reading today, he goes away by himself. But then at the same time, he brings together so many people who simply want to be with him. They all come out of the towns. And they are all together, with him.

Now, maybe these people who come out to Jesus have not understood everything that he has said. Maybe they haven’t understood all the parables that he taught them. But they want to learn more. They want to be with him. And Jesus doesn’t turn them away. Instead, we read: When [Jesus] went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

In the Gospel of Mark, we read another detail about this event, where it says: He began to teach them many things. So not only was Jesus healing them, but he was also teaching them.

Now you might remember the parables about the treasure hidden in the field, and about the pearl of great price. What does the man do who finds the treasure? What does the merchant do who finds his pearl? We read that they sold everything that they had just so that they could have that treasure and so that they could have that pearl.

Sometimes Christians can get carried away with reading the bible and going to church and praying, that people might think we neglect our day to day tasks a little bit. This happens in our reading: the people have been spending all day with Jesus, and enjoying him so much that they sacrifice everything they have, they forget that they should get home and make dinner. It starts to get dark, the shops are going to shut soon, there are women and children there. And the disciples go to Jesus, and they want to call it a day. They say: This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.

But Jesus says: They need not go away; you give them something to eat. They said to him, We have only five loaves here and two fish.

Now here Jesus gives them a test. On one hand, there is a practical issue, that means that the people must eat. But on the other hand, if they have to go and eat, it means that they have to leave the presence of Jesus. And Jesus doesn’t want this to happen.

Now the disciples have already stopped listening to Jesus and are thinking about their empty stomachs, and they think it’s about time for Jesus to send the crowds away to go home and eat, and the disciples can eat too.

The people are thinking about Jesus, but the disciples are thinking about their stomachs. So Jesus says: If you’re really that worried about their stomachs, then you feed them. If you really want to eat, let’s eat. And they say: But what? What are we going to eat? Five loaves and two fish?

Jesus wants to teach them a wonderful lesson. He wants to say, “When you eat, you don’t have to leave me. I am the one who gave you food in the first place.”

We read in Genesis, chapter 1, where God said: Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. So where did the five loaves in our passage today come from? They we were made from grain, from the plants which God gave them for food. Now, it wasn’t simply God the Father who gave them the food. Our God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—one God in three persons. And so Jesus was right there giving to the first people plants for them to eat.

Later on, after the flood, God says to Noah and his sons: Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. And this is Jesus speaking to Noah here, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And in our reading, we have not just loaves of bread, made from plants, but also two fish. God also gave people fish and meat to eat. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.

And so here in our reading, Jesus shows us that he is the Creator of all things. The people don’t need to go away from him to eat, they come to him to eat. He provides for them exactly the right amount that they need.

And so in our reading we read: Jesus ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied.

We might think here that Jesus breaks the rules of nature. But remember he also created the laws of nature. He designed nature to work in a particular way. But there is also another law of nature: this is the law that says that anything can be stretched and bended by God himself in service of his kingdom. And so, Jesus uses these loaves and fish, and he multiplies them in a miraculous way to feed a large crowd.

We also read: They took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Now we often call this the feeding of the 5000. But this didn’t include the women and the children. Why do you think this is? Well, when God told his people to kill a lamb for the Passover when they left Egypt, we read: Tell all the congregation of Israel that…every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. Every man had to go out, and there was a lamb for every household.

In some sense, counting the men was a shorthand way of counting the families, the households. So we could call this passage not simply the feeding of the 5000 people, but the 5000 families. And we learn something really wonderful about this: Jesus doesn’t simply provide everything that you need personally, but he provides for your whole families too. We mums and dads often worry about how we’re going to provide this or that for our children. But this is also Jesus’ job to worry not just about you, but also about your loved ones.

Now, one more thing about families, and homes—when you have your food together, do you thank God for it? Do you ask a blessing upon your food, just as Jesus did in our reading? We live in a such an abundant, rich country, where very few people ever go without food. In fact, many of us have far too much. Do we thank him for it, or do we forget to thank him for it?

Just one last thing. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray, Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, or our trespasses, or debts. Here’s a test: After the words, Give us today our daily bread? what is the next word in the Lord’s Prayer? It’s not “forgive”, it’s “and”. Jesus connects daily bread and forgiveness together. He says: Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our sins. Jesus wants to teach us that he doesn’t hold back our daily bread because of our sins. Two little kids might have a fight about sharing a toy. And then an adult brings them together, they say sorry, and they forgive each other. But then one says: “I’m still not sharing!” Jesus isn’t like that. Every time we receive our daily bread from Jesus, this is a reminder that he forgives us. Even unbelievers, who ignore him and ridicule him and mock him and rebel against him constantly, he still feeds. Jesus says: God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Jesus provides our daily bread, and he forgives us our sins. He strengthens and protect you in body and in soul to life eternal. He continually provides our daily bread, despite our sins, completely out of his love, and mercy.

Amen.

Dear Jesus, you have given us so much more in this life than we can ever imagine, and so much more than we deserve. Give us one thing more: a thankful heart. Amen.