Trinity
7 – Mark 8:1-9 – July 9th
and 10th, 2016
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
Again.
This is a word we ought to associate with these miraculous feedings.
Again. “In those days, when again a
great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat…”
Didn’t we just have this situation? Wasn’t it back in Lent
where the Gospel reading was the feeding of the 5000? Yep. And here
today, we have a feeding… again. And you know what – it’s
appropriate, because if you look at Mark 6 you will see the feeding
of the 5000 – now this is Jesus feeding people in chapter 8…
again.
When
you look at the Scriptures, things are often repetitive. They happen
over and over and over again. Once again this week in our Gospel we
see a great crowd gathered with nothing to eat. People running off
in their excitement about that miracle worker Jesus who had just
healed a deaf man (again), but this time right on their door step.
And I suppose we can understand the people doing this, I mean, they
would have been excited, this would have been new and thrilling, we
can get that. But think about Jesus’ disciples for a moment.
Jesus sees the crowd, and He announces that He wants to feed them,
and then what do we hear from the disciples? “And
His disciples answered Him, ‘How can one feed these people with
bread in this desolate place?’”
Really? Really disciples – just two chapters ago you saw Him turn
the five loaves and 2 fish into enough food for well over 5000
people, and you ask that question? I mean, I could see if folks in
the crowd would think it, but you’ve been with Jesus all this time?
How come you haven’t gotten it yet?
Now to
be fair, to the Jewish mindset, seeing wasn’t believing – it was
seeing two or three times that was believing. Everything had to be
proved by two or three witnesses, so maybe that has something to do
with it – but still, wouldn’t we expect the disciples of all
people to know what is going to happen? That Jesus will break bread
and feed the people there? And yet, for some reason, it just hasn’t
set in yet – and the same questioning, the same dumb doubting of
Christ’s power kicks in. Again though, to be fair, the entire
Scriptures are really a history of people falling into the same traps
multiple times, over and over again. Abraham passes off Sarah as his
sister and not his wife, twice. The Israelites grumble about water,
twice – in fact the second time upsets Moses so much that he smacks
the rock instead of just speaking to it like God had said. Guys end
up having multiple wives again and again, and it always goes poorly.
The book of Judges – over and over the people forget God and get
themselves into trouble. The prophets – they all lament Israel and
Judah falling into idol worship and worse. Over and over, people
falling into the same sins, over and over again.
But,
of course, let’s be honest. The Scriptures are a brutally honest
book, and they don’t hide warts. What if there was a book of the
Scriptures based upon your life, or what if you were reading “1st
Eric” – how long would it take before you put your face in your
hands and said, “I can’t believe he’s doing that… again!”
Because that is the vile nature of sin. It is repetitive, it is
pervasive. It is habitual, and bad habits are hard to break, and
they don’t like to stay broken. It's what we see in the world, and
sadly, it's what we see when we look back upon our lives. Whether
it’s the end of the day, or thinking back upon the last week
because the preacher is carrying on, or an anniversary, or even on
the death bed with regrets flying in front of us, over and over, so
often we see the same old stupid things, the same weaknesses, the
same faults, the same sins. Over and over again.
“In
those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had
nothing to eat, He called His disciples to Him and said to them, ‘I
have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now
three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry
to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have
come from far away.’” So what is
Jesus’ response when He sees the crowd starving again? Disdain?
Mockery? I can’t believe these people came to listen to me
unprepared again? Nope. None of that. He has compassion. There is
no belittling, no complaining about the crowd. No, these people are
with me, I have compassion upon them. The Greek there means that His
guts were wrenched – I feel what they feel, I have compassion
because I am with them and they are with Me. And if I do not act,
they won't make it home, and I will not have that. I have compassion
upon them. Again.
This
is the reality of what it means when we confess that Jesus Christ is
both true God and true Man. This is what Christmas means, this is
what the incarnation means. Jesus has compassion – Jesus came down
from heaven, took on a body like yours, like mine, and He experienced
life in this world. All the sorts of things that impact us –
whether it is hunger and being faint, as in this text – or being
mocked, or hurting, or mourning, being forsaken by friends. All of
those things, He experienced, He has compassion. And the beautiful
difference – whereas as we will use the things that happen to us to
justify our bad behavior – eh, I yelled, but I had had a bad day –
not so Christ. With Him, always perfect love. Even to us. Even to
the disciples who just utterly drop the ball and can’t even guess
that He is going to feed the crowd. Instead, Jesus just does what He
needs to do to show care and compassion – And
He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And He took the
seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to
His disciples to set before the crowd. And they had a few small
fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set
before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the
broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
There is no berating, no handwringing. Just another miraculous
feeding – here you go, take this bread that I have blessed and be
filled.
And
here we are in this congregation. Gathered once again. A liturgy
we've prayed before. Hymns we’ve sung before. Readings we’ve
heard before. All of this, appropriate. Because we here are what
we’ve been; poor miserable sinners who struggle with the same sort
of junk we’ve been struggling with for the past month, for the past
year, for decades, for our entire life. And yet, here is the wonder
– week in, week out, again and again, Christ Jesus has compassion
upon you. He doesn’t get sick of you, He doesn’t get tired of
you. Once again, over and over, He speaks His Word of forgiveness to
you. Once again, He takes a flawed disciple and bread is broken, and
it is given to you – take and eat, this is My Body, given for you,
take and drink, this is My Blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of
your sins. Without fail, the forgiveness and mercy and life that
Christ Jesus won for you upon the Cross is given to you here in this
place.
Why?
Because you are the Baptized. Because in your Baptism, you were
joined to Christ Jesus – that was the Epistle last week – you
have been baptized into Christ Jesus. And what precisely does that
mean? In terms of our Gospel lesson – “I
have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now
three days.” That’s you – you’ve
been with Jesus “three days”, baptized into His death, and of
course joined with Him in a resurrection like His. He cannot but
have compassion upon you, for He loves you as He loves Himself. And
He knows your limitations, knows the war that sin wages upon you, He
knows how sin plays upon you and messes with you – but over and
over again He comes to you here in this place and says to you that
you are no longer, in fact, a slave to sin, but you are bound to Him,
that you are a slave to righteousness, that you are forgiven. Your
baptism, the forgiveness of your sins, that you are bound to Christ,
a slave to righteousness and now sanctified and given eternal life –
these are the realities that Christ sees and remembers at all times –
and so, when we are worn and weak and weary, He will present them to
us again, He will make them present realities again – He will
preach them again, He will place forgiveness upon our lips by giving
us His own Body and Blood again and again and again. Because He has
compassion upon you; because you are His and He will not let you go
on your way faint from sin, but always, always forgiven.
“And
He sent them away.” Off they went –
back to their lives, but having been cared for by Christ, and indeed,
still under His continual care. Likewise, you will be sent from here
– depart in peace, the Lord look upon you with favor and give you
peace. Sent back to your life out there, your homes, your jobs, your
family. Sent back to face the same difficulties and struggles – but
sent in peace, as God’s own baptized children, washed and forgiven.
Sent, but ready to be welcomed here again next week, to be fed and
forgiven again. Because Christ Jesus never becomes bored of
forgiving you, of strengthening you – it is His delight and joy and
purpose of His Church. God be with you all this week, and God see
you safely here again next week as well, even until He sees you
safely to the life everlasting. In the Name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit +
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