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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
So, why does God give you the earthly things that He gives you? Is it because you were baptized in a Lutheran church? Is it because you went through confirmation? Is it because your parents were active church members? I mean, why is it that God gives you the things in this world that He gives you? It’s because He promised Adam and Eve and all of His creation in the very first chapter of Genesis is why. Not because of anything you are, have been, or affiliated with, but solely and purely by His grace. For He even gives to people who despise Him. He provides for people who betray Him because of His great promise in the first chapter. Listen. I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruits; you shall have them for food. To every beast of the earth, to every bird of the heavens, to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so.
So if God promises to feed and take care… A Lutheran Christian sermon. Now the question then is begged, does this still apply to today or does it not? Was that only before the fall, or does it apply now since the fall of man with Adam and Eve’s sin? Still the same. Nothing has changed.
The temptation now is to look at the feeding of the 5,000 and think that the main point and the only point of this great event is that God provides food for all people. I’ve already shown you from Genesis that God has already given that promise. This is not new information that’s being shown to us in this morning’s gospel reading.
You see, we’re like the disciples. We get overwhelmed by things and needs in our lives. We’re concerned about other people and their needs, and we want to take care of and provide for them. But let’s be honest. Most of our thoughts and most of our mind and most of our attention is focused inwardly. We’re concerned about our needs. We’re concerned about whether our budget’s going to work. We’re concerned about whether it’s going to be alright for you and for me inside. We’re also concerned about other people, mind you, absolutely, just like the disciples were.
The disciples were somewhat overwhelmed, not because the people may not have something to eat, but they were also overwhelmed because they didn’t have enough, barely. Five loaves and two fish for twelve men? Plus Jesus. I mean, there better be some seriously big fish to feed that many people. Just those 12. So they’re concerned not only about the 5,000, and mind you, there’s not just 5,000 there. Did you hear the text? 5,000 men. That’s not counting any of the widows, any of the wives, or any of the children. There were probably near 15, maybe even up to 20,000 people there.
They were overwhelmed by the fact that they wanted to provide, but they could not. Because all they see with their own eyes is that they had five loaves and two fish. They didn’t have enough for themselves, barely, and they didn’t have enough for them. And overwhelming can be very, very debilitating, can’t it? It can almost completely freeze us in our tracks.
But aren’t we the same when we look sometimes at our own budget and think, how can we afford it? How can we make it work? College? House? Car? Let alone someone else’s needs. People that we love and have a relationship with. With all this pressing down upon the disciples, they said Jesus fixed this problem and send the people away. Because that solves their guilt of not being able to provide. And it solves the people’s problem of not being able to be provided for. Problem solved.
How many times have we prayed that prayer to our Lord? Lord, fix it. Solve this problem so that I don’t feel guilt not being able to give, and solve this problem so that they are provided for. Jesus’ response to such a cry for help? You give them something to eat.
Now, to tell someone who can’t walk to get up and walk is cruel. To tell these 12 men who only have five loaves and two fish to feed 20,000 people could also seem somewhat cruel, but it was not. He’s reminding them, who gave you the five loaves and two fish to begin with? Was it you? It was your Lord. And who’s going to be enabling you to feed these many people which overwhelm you? The same Lord Jesus.
Now the disciples, like us, are kind of trying to figure this out because they’re going, no, wait a second, Lord, time out. You’re not seeing this correctly. You don’t realize we only have five loaves and two fish. You don’t realize there’s 20,000 people out there. In our prayers, how often have we reminded God of our own predicament as if He wasn’t aware of it? We wanted to be very clear in His mind what the problem is in our life. And so we lay it all out for Him as if He didn’t know.
They could not see through their own emotion and sin. Their eyes were blind. Jesus said, give me the five loaves and two fish. I’m the one from whom the five loaves and two fish came from. Give it back to me. I will bless and give thanks to God for this gift. I’m going to give it back to you. You dispense it now.
Now, He didn’t do like He did with the wine and the water, did He? There He just told the stewards, go draw the water out. Fill the jars with water and go draw them out. This, He physically takes it, blesses it, gives thanks to God for the gift that God provided, gives it back to them, and now He goes, go feed them.
It’s not as if all of a sudden there is in each of these men’s baskets tons of fish, tons of bread. It is like every time they pull out, there’s always something there. Every time they put their hand in, there’s always something there. So much so that 20,000 people could be fed, and just so that these fearful disciples, like God’s fearful children, me and you, are reminded… He provides then an abundance more, 12 basketfuls more for each of those 12 apostles who were completely shut down on how they were going to take care of this problem.
It was the prophet Isaiah who said in this morning’s lesson, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Why? Think about what we spend the most amount of our money on in our entire life. Maybe college, maybe our house, maybe a car. Now granted, the car and the house, you can’t really eat. College, well, sometimes a degree doesn’t mean a thing if you’re not going to be able to get hired.
But bottom line, who provides real food? The kind of food that doesn’t just solve a hunger pain in your belly, but fills your soul. The kind of drink that doesn’t just quench your thirst and then you become thirsty again, but the kind of drink and meat that feeds one’s soul with mercy, with forgiveness, with peace.
When John wrote about the feeding of the 5,000 in his Gospel, John includes a little more than Matthew does. And one of those things is the very thing that we sing about and will continue to sing about in this morning’s hymn selections. And that is about Christ who is our meat and drink indeed. For in John’s Gospel, Jesus said, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life. But the people who followed Him, the vast majority of these 20,000 people, only viewed Jesus as someone who filled their belly. And if this is what religion is about, by golly, we’ll have the whole town after us. But it’s funny we don’t, do we? Because we’re not talking about feeding our bodies directly. We talk about feeding souls.
We’re reminded very clearly God provides as He has since the very beginning of His creation in Genesis chapter 1. But He’s concerned about our souls being fed. Now something that Matthew does record that John does not is the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink. Nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Isaiah said it very similarly. Listen diligently to me. Eat what is good. Delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear. Come to me. Hear that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
The pastor mentioned something when we gave a great gift to the Shivies, and we’re very thankful we could do that. You, as a congregation, also blessed both of us and all of our teaching staff with the gift as well. Because God had blessed us and our five loaves and two fish, by giving us an abundance in our budget.
So unusual is this that one of the guys on the finance board said, well, what have you all done in the past when you’ve had excess in the money? We’ve never had excess in our money before. That’s what God did to a congregation that had struggled. Every congregation does. Every one of your budgets does too. Nobody here is not struggling with their budget, except maybe our federal government, and we’re not going to go there.
We’re blessed because we’ve been able to mutualistically coexist with a high school here in our complex, Concordia High School. Next summer they’re moving, and there will be a $140,000 shortfall because we’ve been able to work together with them. We’ve blessed them, and they’ve blessed us.
Now before we begin to act like the disciples and say, Lord, just fix the problem, take care of it, we have to ask ourselves, who’s given us these gifts thus far? Who’s blessed us as a congregation? Who has enabled us to have even more than what we needed this year in our budget? Who has allowed us to continue to breathe and eat? And does not give it to us because we thank Him. He gives it to us because He’s a gracious, loving God.
But more importantly, who feeds our souls with that which we cannot live? With that which satiates us like nothing else in this world can. We can cry out to God all we want and say, but Lord, we only have five loaves and two fish. How can we? And just like loving parents said to us, it’ll work out. Trust me, it’ll work out. Just be patient. Be patient.
And we, like our kids, and like we were when we were kids, cry out to our parents because we don’t understand. So our loving Father keeps saying to us, be patient. You will see how I will provide for you.
The disciples were overwhelmed at this great event. And in fact, so overwhelmed, it’s interesting, Matthew records nothing about what they thought, what they said, having seen this great miracle. It’s completely silent. How often have we forgotten the great gifts that God has given us? And like these disciples, don’t speak of it sometimes? Quite often.
Not to make us feel guilty in my saying this, but to remind us God provides. And He multiplies where we think there is no way in your earth that you’re going to multiply five loaves and two fish. They took up 12 basketfuls at the end, remember? Jesus said, don’t be anxious saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear. The Gentiles, the unbelievers, seek after these things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. The vast majority of this world has no idea from whom their bread comes. You’re different. You know and you believe and you confess with your lips from whom your bread does come. Now live like it.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
