Title: BOUNDLESS PROVISION
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Blog Entry: Rev. Steven S. Billings Pentecost 12 Sermon 8-3-2008 St. Matthew 14:13-21 13 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. 15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food. 16 But Jesus said to them, They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. 17 And they said to Him, We have here only five loaves and two fish. 18 He said, Bring them here to Me. 19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21 Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Isn't there something familiar about the conditions described in today's Gospel? Strikes pretty close to home, doesn't it? We see this multitude suffering from a lack of commodity - without food, hungry, needful - just like we are. Our world, our nation, our community, our church and school, and our own households - these are frequently in want or need of something vital, and we find ourselves suffering bouts of desperation: How will we make ends meet? How will we provide for our financial, physical, and emotional well-being? And this leads us to ask a further question: Why? Why must I endure such trouble? Why must I simply make do? Why can't the Lord send a miracle like He did in Matthew 14? It's not like we're asking Him to multiply His gifts five thousand times over. Just give us enough to live peaceably and comfortably - just enough so that we don't have to live our lives in constant anxiety, scrimping and skavaging from week to week. Is that asking too much? Maybe not. Maybe we're not asking enough! I mean, why stop with material gain and relief from our mental and physical anguish? Why not go all the way and ask for a perfect life that we can enjoy forever? Hmm. What was that Jesus said? Ask, and you shall receive? (John 16:24b). That's the central theme of today's Gospel. It's not about how tough things are; it's about how glorious things can be. But this is something the Holy Spirit has to retrain our hearts and minds to understand, because we have this tendency to see things backwards or to look at things from a limited point of view. Lookit: Our heavenly Father wants to grant us a transcendent, eternal life - and to revel in the joy of it - but we're too busy fretting over the conditions in which we live. God wants us to look at our troubles from a heavenly perspective, from the perspective of God's inexhaustible resources, but we insist on restricting His blessings to the slim supply we perceive in our own storehouse. Beloved, we are walking by sight and not by faith (2 Cor. 5:7). One of the things we need to learn today from this Gospel is that we are people who, at one time, had absolutely nothing. That multitude following Jesus in our text had nothing. And, like them, our depravity encompasses more than just food. We had nothing - especially nothing that would lead God to love us. Do you know what happened just before the account in today's Gospel? The reason why Jesus withdrew to a place by Himself? It's because He had just received news that His forerunner - His cousin - the man who prepared the way for His arrival - John the Baptist - had just been beheaded by King Herod. And before we go all righteous and sit in judgement of that ghastly act, let's remember what Scripture says: Whoever hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15a). Ever hated anyone? Or how about this from the Small Catechism: We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need (Explanation to the 5th Commandment). Ever physically hurt or harm someone? Ever failed to help someone with their physical needs? Who hasn't? Brothers and sisters, we're no better than King Herod. How much proof do we need to tell us that there's nothing in us that would cause God to love us or treat us with anything but utter contempt? However . . . Though we were without any redeeming quality, Christ was not. We read that He had compassion for the crowds that followed Him. And so, without reason, without logic, without any just cause, Jesus fed them as someone might feed a stray animal. And beyond that . . . He gave His life for them . . . and for you. Isn't it amazing that here we are, so caught up with the day-to-day concerns of our lives - the temporary, fleeting things of our lives - that we don't even notice the virtual banquet that God has already laid before us? We're so busy trying to get our hands on the five loaves and two fish that we're oblivious to the fact that Christ has already given us food that conveys everlasting life to us in His very own body and blood. And that's exactly what today's Gospel implies. Did you notice the action that was involved in the feeding of the five thousand? It's significant. First, the people reclined. Then, Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples. Isn't that the very same action He employed when He instituted the Lord's Supper? And what happened when the meal was over? There were twelve baskets full over left-overs. Again, no coincidence, for there were twelve apostles - twelve who would carry on the office of Christ and distribute His gifts to the church, just as the Pastor does today in the stead and by the command of Christ. My friends, in and of ourselves we have nothing, but in Christ, we have everything - the forgiveness of sins, life, salvation, and the promise of an eternal home in heaven - and nothing that we think we might be lacking - or might somehow lose - can ever take those gifts away. That's why Paul was bold enough to say in last week's Epistle that we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us (Rom. 8:37). So why do we go through trials and tribulations? Why do we have to put up with the heartaches? Why doesn't our loving God, who has given us everything, simply deliver us from the pains of this world? Well, you may not like the answer, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. And no fair complaining about it, because you've used it on your own children. What's the answer? "Because God said so!" Remember what Paul wrote? All things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Dear Christian friends, you are the Called. You have been called to faith and given the gift of eternal salvation. And though, all things work together for your good, there are bound to be those other things which Paul mentioned as well: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword (Rom. 8:35b). God allows us to experience these things because we are His elect, because in the midst of it all we have no other choice but to place our faith in Him. You know you can't carry yourself through; you never could. And because we can't even begin to fathom how all of these things could possibly be for our good, we simply must take the promise at face value - because God says so! What kind of God says so? One who is indifferent toward us? No way! He's a God of such great love and mercy that He was willing to give His own Son in payment for our sins. Think about that And today's Gospel is just one example of Paul's remark: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Rom. 8:32) Yes, there is something familiar about today's Gospel - something that strikes quite close to home. And it's not just the bad stuff! Rather, we can identify with this text because we can see our life pictured here in the life of Jesus. For, by faith, His life belongs to us just as much as we belong to Him. So, what are we really lacking in this life? What do we really have to be anxious about? or worry about? Is there a monster that Jesus cannot slay? Remember: Everything comes from Him, belongs to Him, and returns to Him, regardless of how things appear to us now. As Paul says elsewhere: That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day (2 Tim. 1:12). Knowing God's boundless provision - as so graphically exhibited in our text - let us entrust ourselves and all we have to Him until He comes again. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
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