19. March 2023

Laetare

John 6:1-15

Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted, so when they were filled.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

In today’s Gospel, we have a lovely picture of the life of the faithful Christian, the joy of a local congregation, and the childlike innocence of the Christian church. The Christian, the local congregation, and the whole Church on earth live, breathe, and have their being in Jesus, His Word, and the gifts His Word gives.  You, as children, trust that God the Father will always give you what you need to support this body and life. You live in faith, knowing God the Father sent His Son Jesus to suffer, die, and rise for you. 

In Christ’s shed blood, your sins are atoned for, your unrighteousness covered, and your death overcome. This blood washed over you in Baptism and is given to you to drink in the Supper. Thus, you are set free from the curse of sin, and your conscience is unbound. Like a child, you are free to go where ever the Spirit leads, trusting and faithful, always provided for, content, and at peace. Most of the 5,000 on that day lived content to hear, receive, and remain with Jesus wherever and whenever. 

But some people want to live in something other than the peace and joy Christ gives. Some Christians try to live outside Jesus’s Word and Sacrament ministry, thinking they can be Christians without Christ’s church. As branches once grafted onto the vine, without the ongoing nourishment of Jesus’s blood coursing through their veins, their faith will wither and die. Instead, today’s Gospel reminds us all that we go where Jesus is, receive the food He gives, and thereby we are strengthened, encouraged, and kept in faith today and always.

But some people want to live in something other than the peace and joy Christ gives. In particular, those who serve the church in the vocations of the pastor, teacher, or lay leader, often are burdened by fear, worry, despair, and discontentment. They know the promises of God but also doubt them. Caught up in the day-to-day mechanics of a Christian congregation, they are prone to think that the church is theirs to build, grow, and support. 

In one sense, they are right, but that responsibility is given to everyone attached themself to this pulpit and altar. All of us are priests and instrumentally used by the Spirit to provide care and support for His work here. In another sense, the worker takes too much responsibility for the local parish. This is Christ’s Church, His responsibility, and His gift, which He promises to preserve and maintain. So pray for me, your teachers, and your lay leaders that God gives us faith to trust in Him no matter what tests, trials, and crosses He put on us. 

Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”

Philip is the typical worker whose conception of God and what He can do is too small. He is enslaved to reason and practicality. He thinks about budgets, cash flow, demographics, scale, and long-term viability. It’s his job, after all. But being caught up in these things, he fails to remember he already has the one thing needful: Jesus! And not just Philip but Andrew, too.

One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”

Whether in a time of abundant need, with five thousand before them, or in a time of great poverty, where only a few people are left, or anything in between, the doubt of Andrew and Philip is thinking the church, its care, and its longevity are their exclusive responsibility. And even having Jesus, they still are held captive by thoughts of scarcity, poverty, and weakness. 

But they (and we) have Jesus, who made the heavens and the earth. They (and we) have Jesus, who fed His people miraculously with manna and quail for forty years in the wilderness. They (and we) have Jesus, who never left or forsakes them, even when they doubt Him, despair of His providence, or think He abandoned them.  The history of Israel, Christ’s Church, demonstrates God the Holy Trinity’s steadfast loving-kindness, unending patience, extraordinary grace, and compassionate mercy. They (and we) can’t know what tomorrow will bring; even if they did, they wouldn’t believe it. (Remember how He repeatedly said: You know that the Son of Man must suffer, be crucified, and die, and on the third day, rise from the dead.) Jesus would have them live in His Word and gifts, trusting Him to do everything necessary to give, preserve and keep His Church. 

 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

And so Jesus gives us today’s Gospel, where we have a lovely picture of the life of the faithful Christian, the joy of a local congregation, and the childlike innocence of the Christian church. The Christian, the local congregation, and the whole Church on earth live, breathe, and have their being in Jesus, His Word, and the gifts His Word gives.  You, as children, trust that God the Father will always give you what you need to support this body and life. You live in faith, knowing God the Father sent His Son Jesus to suffer, die, and rise for you. So may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guards your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School – Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin