Compassion for the
Multitude
Grace to you and
peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our Lord Jesus is the best of all men. He has compassion on
the multitude. They had been with Him three days with nothing to eat. He does
not want to send them away hungry to their own houses because He fears that
they would faint on the way. So He feeds them. This is human compassion and
divine mercy: the Son of Man showing us that we are to love others, and the Son
of God showing us that He loves us. But that only scratches the surface.
The chief thing our Lord shows by this miracle is that you
cannot safely travel through life unless you receive and take to heart the grace
your Father gives through His Son. Do not believe that you can successfully
restrain your ungodly desires without partaking regularly of the Bread from
heaven which our Lord gives. He gives you daily bread to strengthen your body,
and He feeds you with His Word and His flesh and blood to strengthen your soul.
So imitate the multitude. For three days, they think of
nothing but the Lord’s mercy. For three days, they desire nothing but the Lord
and whatever He chooses to give. For three days, they hang on every word He
speaks, ready to do whatever He says. For three days, they cry out to Him to
heal their souls because they have sinned against God and against man. How can
our Lord send away those who come to Him in true repentance? How can He turn a
deaf ear to those who cry out to Him? He won’t. The Lord will not send them
away to starve. They hunger and thirst in the flesh because He satisfied their hunger
and thirst for the Bread from heaven and the living Water. He will not send
them home without giving them something to strengthen them in body and soul.
Here, today, the Lord does the same. In this Divine Service,
our Lord feeds your soul and your body. He does not consider it enough for Him
to preach; He also feeds you. It is not enough that He gives you what you need
for your body; He also desires to nourish your soul. In this Service our Lord
gives you all you need to support your body and life and to strengthen and
preserve you, body and soul, unto life everlasting.
If you have ears to hear, what you see in today’s Gospel is
the same Divine Service which unfolds before the eyes of faith. Our Lord wishes
to show you that the fullness of His compassion, His care, His love for you—and
the answer to all your prayers—is given to you in the Holy Supper. But notice
that there are two parts. First you have the hearing of our Lord’s Word, and then
there is the receiving the bread which is His holy body. You are instructed in
holiness, and then you receive the gifts which sanctify you in body and soul.
This is a sacred mystery, and yet the Lord gives it to you so that you would
continue steadfast in the way of salvation; so that you would remain faithful
to Him; so that you would remain in communion with God and in love with all
men.
Whenever this occurs—whenever you hear the voice of God from
the mouth of one of His ordained men; whenever you see the bread and the cup
lifted up before your eyes—know that our Father rejoices to observe the faith
that calls you to this place, and that our Lord Jesus is rejoicing in the
Spirit. And then arise with confidence and joy, strengthened and encouraged and
prepared to live—no longer for yourself, but in obedience to the Lord and His
commandments, for true thanksgiving is eager to receive what our Lord gives and
to do what our Lord demands. 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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