Lent 5 – John 6:1-15 – March
15th, 2015
In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
In the Name of Christ the Crucified +
Lent can be a hard and rough time, an intense time in the
Church. I always get a little nervous
writing Lenten sermons, because they deal so bluntly with sin and
temptation. But that’s what happens in
Lent. And I think that the intensity of
Lent, the intensity of a focus on repentance can be a bit shocking to us today
in America
because we have forgotten that there is a cost of discipleship, that there is a
weight and burden attached to being a Christian. It shows up in the old hymns. We sing in A Mighty Fortress - “And take they
our life, goods, fame, child and wife”. Jesus,
Priceless Treasure cries out defiance against a sinful world that constantly
hounds us. These are hymns that are
describing the burden, the true burden in this life of being a Christian, of
turning your back upon the world. . . and letting the world kick you in the
backside. This is something that Christ
though is blunt and honest about – we hear Him teach this, but somehow in America our
mindset has gotten twisted. We think
that because we are Christians we should have things easier, that if we are
good little Christian boys and girls that we should get more toys. The stories from the middle East with ISIS shock us – when Christ told us such things would
come. Take up your cross and follow Me,
not sit back in your BMW and follow Me.
In America we’ve sort of lost the expectation that the
Christian life is hard and difficult – and as such, Lent seems insanely
burdensome – the concept of giving something seems strange – and as such, we
don’t understand what Christ our Lord teaches in the Gospel today – Refreshment
Sunday – the pink Sunday of Lent. What
we are going to do today is look at the feeding of the 5000, but in terms of
burden and relief, in terms of trials in this life and being rescued. It fits well, and it is something we need to
hear, need to be rightly focused on.
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is
the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following Him, because
they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain and there He
sat down with His disciples. Now, the Passover, the feast of the Jews,
was at hand. Lifting up His eyes, then,
and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Phillip,
“Where are we to buy bread that these people may eat?” Here
is the familiar set up. Jesus has been
doing miracles, He has been preaching, and large crowds begin to follow
Him. And Jesus sees the crowds, and
Jesus asks the disciples a simple question.
Where are we going to buy bread to feed these folks? Now, consider this. You’ve been walking all day, following after
a person. Jesus had gone onto the other
side of the Sea of Galilee, so you may have
gone many, many miles following Jesus, eager to hear Him, eager to see Him in
action. In a hot, dusty, rugged
area. All the day long.
What would these people following Jesus here look
like? They would be a mess, they would
be tired, they would be hungry. There is
a cost, a burden associated with these people following Jesus. Their bodies are worn. They’ve probably missed lunch, if not more
meals than that. The money they would
have earned that day – never gotten by them.
They have made a sacrifice, their life is harder right now because they
are in that crowd. Things of this life,
they gave up, simply to follow Christ.
Now,
as we observed a few weeks ago, Jesus knows quite well what it is like to be
out in the desert, tired and hungry. And
so we know that Christ will have compassion, that He will seek to alleviate
their hunger. However, that doesn’t mean
that they weren’t hungry. That doesn’t
mean that there was no cost, no burden to the people. It is rough following Christ. Christ doesn’t make things easier, He doesn’t
keep burdens away – rather this – He will refresh and strengthen these people,
so that they can recover from this day, so that they can be prepared for the
next.
The
same is true in your life. Christ knows
your life is hard, and He knows that the more you try to live as a Christian,
the more you turn away from sin, the more you say no to the people of the world
who want to do wickedness, the more you give of yourself so that others can
have and rejoice – the more you do these Christ-like things the harder your
life is. And so Christ will refresh
you. He will bolster you on His Word, He
will feed you on His Supper, He will encourage you, He will let you see joys in
simple things, simple acts of compassion, joys that the world will never
understand. But still, we can ask the
question. Why the hard stuff in the
first place? If Jesus was gonna feed
these people, why’d He let them follow Him out around a lake in the first
place? If God is going to give us peace
and rest, why is there a burden in the first place? This text gives us two reasons, which we will
see shortly.
First,
listen to what Jesus says to Phillip. “Where
are we going to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for He Himself knew
what He would do. Jesus knew what He was going to do – but
here is the question. Did the disciples
know? And the answer is no. Phillip mutters that a mound of cash wouldn’t
do much good. Even Peter, top of the
class Peter says, “Eh, a boy has five loaves and two fish, but that doesn’t
amount to much.” The disciples didn’t
know, they didn’t understand. If they
didn’t know what Christ would do, how would they be able to be Christ-like, to
do things like Christ? One of the things
that we forget is that the Christian life is often compared to training, to
learning, to preparing for a race. And
that is hard. If you want to be a better
runner you don’t sit on the couch eating fritos – you must run and often. If you want to be a better basketball player
you don’t play XBOX or playstation, your Coach is going to send you through
drills until you are worn out. If you
want to be a better reader, you can’t just read nothing but Clifford the Big
Red Dog books, you have to pick up harder and more difficult books, learn words
you hadn’t known before. Learning math
means you’ve got to do harder and harder homework. Even in the things of this world, we grow in
the face of struggle.
The
same thing holds true in our lives as Christians. If we are to grow to be like Christ, we have
to be put in places, be given opportunities to do Christ-like things. And that means difficulty. That means showing love even to your enemies,
that means praying even for those who persecute you, that means making the care
of others your top priority, even if it means you don’t get everything you
wanted. Our Lord says in Luke that “a
disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will
be like his teacher.” Recognize
the trials in your life for what they are – for they are not simply burdens,
but they are opportunities which Christ gives you in order for you to grow, to
grow in love, to know in knowledge and wisdom, to grow in understanding of
Christ’s love for you. In this world
which is full of sin, we will always need growth in Christ, learning how to
struggle against sin, and it will remain a struggle, that is the way things
must be here.
Then
we know what happens in the text. Christ
provides, and He provides abundantly. 12
baskets of leftovers are gathered. Christ
does provide us with all that we need, the difficulties are endured and
conquered, and we rejoice and give thanks.
However, there is that verse at the end of the section that is also of
note this morning. Perceiving that they were about
to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the
mountain by Himself. The people
have just been fed, have just received this wonderful blessing from Christ –
and what do they want to do? They want
to do the exact opposite of what Christ wants them to. They want to make Him King, they want more
and more blessings, let’s just focus on our bellies and the here and now.
Let
me ask a question. Do children who are
provided every thing they wish, receive every whim that they desire grow in
maturity – or do they become spoiled, miserable brats? The same thing holds true spiritually. You
know yourself. If you never had any
struggle, any toil, any difficulties, would you grow in your faith? Would you learn to trust God more, or would
you rather end up putting your trust in stuff, in blessings? Would you want to see Jesus heal more sick
people, show more love to others, or give you more and more stuff?
Here
is the wonder. Christ provides for us –
but he provides what is good for us, what is proper for us, blessings to
sustain us, but not blessings to make us lazy and lethargic. He acts in a way that is best for us. Don’t you think that in the text it is best
for the people that Jesus withdraws from them there? He didn’t come ultimately to make them tasty
bread, He came to win them life and salvation by going to the Cross. But at the moment, the crowd doesn’t see
that, they are just focused on their bellies.
Christ withdraws because His focus is right. Same thing in our lives now – Christ doesn’t
want you focused simply on the pleasures and stuff of this life, this
world. This life will never be the
end-all be-all of your life, but rather you are being prepared and preserved
for the joys of the life of the world to come – that’s the goal. Christ will bless you, He will sustain you –
but He isn’t going to spoil you and He isn’t make you lazy. Rather this – He will sustain you and support
you throughout your struggles, indeed He will join with you in your struggles
so that you will conquer them in Him.
This
is what we receive in the Word, this is what we receive in Christ’s
Supper. Forgiveness strengthens us for
life, strengthens us so that we might go out and live. We close this service with the benediction,
so that our life in the world this week might be blessed. This is God’s care for us. And it is more than enough, more than we
need, and it is given to us simply because He cares for us – but it is the
right care, the good care, the proper amount of care, so that we are provided
for and so that we also have opportunity to grow. Christ refreshes us, and then He sustains us
in our time here in this life, so that we might ever more understand His love
for us. In the Name of Christ the
Crucified +
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