26. July 2024
Trinity 7
Mark 8:1-9
“How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?”
In the Holy Name of the + Jesus. Amen.
Are you a glass-half-empty or a glass-half-full sort-of-person? Do you think of everything in your life in terms of scarcity? Or do you spend your days thanking God for your prosperity? By the simplest, objective measurement of wealth, the truth is that we’re better off than 99% of the world and all of our forefathers. We have all we need and in great abundance. And yet, you continue to think about lack, want, poverty, and scarcity.
Why is this? Because our hearts are never satisfied. The sinful heart is restless, greedy, and selfish. We want it all, and we want it now. We’ll never be content because we never have enough. God gives us to eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except one… but we have to have that one, too. So, our whole working lives are consumed by getting more consumables. And when we finally can’t work anymore, we lament how little we have gained for ourselves.
This is the condition of our hearts, so it affects every aspect of our life. Nothing is ever enough, from our houses and homes to our families and work and even this congregation. We apply imaginary hopes and dreams to everything. We twist God’s promised providence into a guarantee. This begins as a goal to strive for. We set our hopes for the yield, the target, the sales goals, the school enrollment, or church attendance. And for a while, we get after it. But in all the striving, what happens when we fall short? What happens when we never get what we thought we could get? What do we do when it all seems futile and wastes time? Do we stop and consider that maybe God didn’t promise us what we think we deserve or have earned?
The cruel cousin to greed is despair. Think of the one who plays the lottery every day. He hopes. He’s committed. Someday, he will make it and recoup all his losses. But almost no one ever does. And if he’s honest, he’ll look back and see how much he wasted. Even a dollar a day, every day over your working life, is $15,000 wasted. Down the drain. Gone. And what, then, is he left with? Hopelessness, if not in the midst of it, definitely at the end of it. He squandered what he had for the thrill of the game and in hopes of more rather than being a faithful steward of God’s gift.
Why? The gambler put his hope where there is no promise. The sinner is a gambler, testing God and the limits of His grace, mercy, and peace. We expect the harvest to come in the fall. We trust the market will keep its maniacal gains so we can retire. If we put the right guy in public office, he will right this nation and get us what we want. The school should be busting at the seams with enrollment. We demand whatever fad or trendy thing a friend’s church is doing would give us an explosion of new members. We hope for more but vainly, selfishly, and out of what we think is scarcity. We don’t have what we want, so we test God, becoming slaves to the lender (Prov. 22:16) and indebting future generations for momentary and false hopes.
But it’s a lie. You’re too busy looking for more to see what’s yours already. I don’t know how well your farm or business is doing. More people today can’t pay their rent or buy a home. Maybe you’ve been hit hard by the idiotic monetary policy of the Federal Reserve or the runaway spending of Congress. This is all true, and I’m not saying that your situation isn’t difficult; the future is uncertain, and our prosperity is threatened. Even the illusion of peace and unity was shattered in a moment yesterday. But this is nothing new. The masks have dropped, the propaganda failed, the emperor has no clothes, and the wizard is just a man behind the curtain.
This congregation has been through the Great Depression, multiple world wars, and political instability. We’ve lived through a great schism in our church body called Seminex. We’ve watched what has been built and also seen decay and crumble. We can remember lean years and years of plenty. But those who remain and the faithful who went before us and now rest out from their labors will remind us what got them through. Or rather, who saw them through it all? No matter their physical life, they were always rich, with the glass not half full, not completely full, but a cup that runneth over.
Our brothers and sisters in days of old had Jesus, His promises, and His gifts. And you have Jesus, His promises, and His gifts! Jesus even saw past our reckless stewardship, aimless wandering, and despising His providence not to stop giving you the Priceless Treasure. Our hearts are selfish, true, wanting but never finding. But our restless hearts find their rest in Jesus. Truth: No matter what, we already have more than we could ever hope for.
Jesus looks upon you and has compassion for you. He sees your hunger and feeds you. He knows your needs and provides for you. He draws your eyes off the vain pursuit of more and bigger and better and fixes your eyes on Him. You have been with him “for three days” and hear His words, “It is finished!” Everything and anything that your heart wants is yours already in Jesus. As He gives you to dwell richly in His Word, you’ll also find your heart is changed, and you’ll stop demanding what you think you deserve and gladly receive even crumbs from the Master’s table.
Why is your pursuit of happiness fruitless? Why is nothing ever enough? Because Jesus has already given you what you need. You were adopted by God the Father through Holy Baptism, clothed in your brother Jesus. You are forgiven for your selfish greed and despair in Jesus’s suffering and death. You hunger and thirst to be enough for God and heaven, and Jesus feeds you His body and blood that makes you more than enough, holy and righteous in His name.
We could be like those disciples, look around, and in desperation, cry out, “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?” We could live like Jesus never gives enough, and we have to take matters into our own hands. We could say something like, “Jesus, look around. Don’t you see that the world is raging, economies are collapsing, and the political sphere is devolving into struggles for power? We’re in the wilderness, and there will never be enough.” If you have those cries of desperation, give those laments of unbelief to Jesus in prayer, and then hear His answer that gives faith.
Or we could be like the faithful, follow Jesus, and listen to Him. He says to sit down and listen. Be still and know that He is God. See this great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes. “And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them. So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.”
Jesus is speaking to us. He will take of our bodily needs, just as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.” But He has more and better for us than simply caring for the body. He’s set before you a rich feast for your forgiveness, life, and salvation. Jesus is the feast that truly satisfies. Everything else is gravy. It’s more than you could ever want or hope for. It’s all that you ever need. You are His, and He is yours, now and forever.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School – Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin