Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
(Proper 11B)
July 21, 2024
Text:
Mark 6:30-44
The council and I agreed that, due
to the excessive heat, this sermon should be short, so now we’ll see whether
I’m capable of following directions.
There are three things in particular
in our Holy Gospel, to which I’d like to call your attention. The first is that, in His compassion for His
sheep, Christ, our Good Shepherd, cares for our bodily needs, and provides for
them. That is the basic meaning of this
miracle. When the hour is late, Jesus
has the crowds sit down in groups on the green grass, and from five loaves and
two fish, which He has blessed and broken, He feeds the whole multitude, about
five thousand men, not counting women and children, and there are twelve
baskets full left over. And it is less
an extraordinary miracle, as it is a bringing out into the open what God
continually does in giving us each day our daily bread. You know this. You are alive and here today because God has
not failed to provide for you. Food,
drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, etc., etc.
You know how it goes in the Catechism… “and the like.” Now, you should be a good steward of the
things God gives you, and you can get yourself in quite a pickle when you
steward foolishly, but the fact is, we can all look back at times in our life
when there was too much month at the end of the money, when we shouldn’t have
had enough to eat, when we shouldn’t have had anything extra, when things
should not have worked out… trying times, adverse circumstances, or even, yes,
foolish stewardship. And God still fed
us. Jesus, our Shepherd, still fed us
stupid sheep. So, that is the first
thing. The Lord provides.
The second is like unto it. In His compassion for His sheep, Christ, our
Good Shepherd, cares for our spiritual needs.
When He sees the great crowds, He teaches them many things. He gives them a sermon. It is the Service of the Word. And then, He feeds them by the hands of His
Apostles, His called and ordained servants.
And though this particular feeding is not the Sacrament, it sure has the
ring of the Service of the Sacrament to it, doesn’t it? Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, and breaks
it. This is the pattern of the Divine
Service. Word and Sacrament. Jesus present with His people. Tending them by the hands of His pastors, His
undershepherds. This is critical for us
all to remember at a time like this, when I am contemplating a call. Jesus will provide for the preaching of His
Word and the administration of His Sacraments at Augustana, and at Zion,
according to His will, which is good for us, and gracious toward us. What is true for us as individuals and
families, is true for us as a Church in terms of our material and spiritual
needs. The Lord provides.
And then, the third. Let it not be lost on you that this is the
fulfillment of the 23rd Psalm.
Where the LORD, our Shepherd, is present, there is no want. Jesus literally has the crowd sit down in the
green grass: “He makes me lie down in green pastures” (Ps. 23:2;
ESV). He restores their soul and leads
them in the paths of righteousness by His teaching. And He sets an overflowing table before
them. And that is what He does here and
now for us. That is why it’s worth the
heat to be here. In His compassion for
us, the Lord Jesus, who died for us, for the forgiveness of our sins, and to
make us His own, and who is risen for us, to be our life and salvation, sits us
down as a group, restores our souls and leads us by His teaching, and then
miraculously feeds us, His true body, His true blood. The Lord provides.
And that’s it. Don’t get used to it. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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