Not By Bread Alone
Grace to you and
peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
How is it that the multitude that came to hear Jesus found
themselves so utterly unprepared for basic bodily needs? How is it that they
were drawn out three days without food and would have died of hunger on the way
home? Jesus was certainly aware of what was happening. He did not warn them. He
gave them no lectures on earthly wisdom and preparations. After all, it was not
sinful pride and self-reliance that has caused this situation at all. They were
caught because He who feeds the birds of the air and fishes of the sea had
purposely drawn them out. It was His words, His teachings, that caused them to
forget all other things. His words and His teaching were responsible for the
seemingly hopeless situation.
And in this very context, as the responsible party, our
Lord tells the disciples: “I have
compassion on the multitude.” But how? Why did He not tell them before it
was too late? A hundred days’ wages would not buy sufficient bread. How can
such a crowd be satisfied? God in His wisdom turns the world’s wisdom on its
head. His compassion is not some bleeding heart sympathy, but a sincere and
lasting love, a genuine concern for the ongoing reality and eternal fate of
mankind. This compassion caused our Lord to place these hearers into such dire
straits. There in the desert, with grumbling bellies and too far from home to
return, they know their helplessness. The hunger that gnaws at the 4000 is the
mark of death. They must eat or they will die. There is no place for them to
turn. They cannot provide for themselves. They are helpless.
The words of Jesus—words that lifted the crowd out of this
mundane existence so much that they forgot all other things—now seem to turn on
them. Now more than ever they realize their frailty, their inability, their
weakness. In contrast to the serenity of Jesus and His perfect obedience, their
guilt shows forth like a beacon in the dark of night. And so it is that the
Lord provides, as the Lord always does, and by His grace and mercy they realize
it and give thanks for it.
We are the frailest of God’s creatures. We cannot reliably eat
raw meat; we cannot draw nutrition from grass. We are the only animal on earth requiring
clothing for survival. Despite all that, we are also the proudest of His
creatures. While the donkey knows his master, we rebel against the goodness of
God. We think ourselves good and wise, when the truth is that we are nothing of
the sort. We boast in our supposed common sense. But our street smarts quickly
evaporate in the middle of the night when the car breaks down in a bad part of
town and the cell phone is dead. Our vaunted common sense is evident in our
blasphemy towards God’s creation in the name of love: our failed marriages, our
troubled and gender-confused children, our murder of the unborn, our blind
acceptance and approval of everything our Lord names as sinful and harmful.
My brothers and sisters in Christ: repent. Be emptied of
yourself and your sinful pride. Feel the hunger pangs that cannot be satisfied
by earthly bread. Turn to the God of compassion, the God who provides the Ram
in the thicket that takes our place. Find in Him the peace the world cannot
give. Rest in the forgiveness of sins, for you are precious in God’s eyes. There
is nothing for you to do. Your King serves you a Feast in this
wilderness: His very body and blood, given and shed
for you. He is the Bread of Life, the Living Water, and He gives you His
righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. Lose yourself in His words
and promises. Let this be your sustenance and joy all the days of your life,
for our Lord will gladly supply all you need—both for this life, and for the
life of the world to come. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The
peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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