Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
(Proper 13B)
August 4, 2024
Text:
John 6:22-35
We fall for the same trick, over and
over. Looking in faith upon our gracious
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the unfailing Giver of every good gift,
suddenly an anxiety, or a covetous desire, a pain, or an idolatry, a
selfishness… distracts us, redirecting our gaze away from the Giver, to
look upon His gifts. And that, with a
certain fallen dissatisfaction in what the Giver has given. Not enough. Not as good as the other guy got. This gift is broken. Or ugly.
Or difficult to enjoy. I deserve
better. Why is God holding out on me? It’s the oldest trick in the book. Literally.
The serpent played it quite successfully in the Garden. We’ve been falling for it ever since. If you’re honest, you’re falling for it right
now, in any number of ways, in your life.
What else is the Bible, but the revelation of God’s rescuing us from our
falling for this trick?
You see the switch, though,
right? The satanic sleight of hand? It is the substitution of the food that
perishes for the food that endures to eternal life, which only the Son of Man,
Jesus, can give to you (John 6:27).
The Israelites fall for the trick in
our Old Testament reading (Ex. 16:2-15).
They take their eyes off of the LORD of Life, who has freed them from
slavery in Egypt, and miraculously brought them through the Red Sea on dry
land. Instead of looking to Him, they
look at the emptiness of the wilderness all around them. And they grumble. They’re really good at grumbling. If we’re honest, so are we. “Look at what we don’t have? Why’d You free us in the first place,
God? Moses and Aaron? It would have been better if we’d died in
Egyptian slavery! At least there, we had
food! Meat (yeah, right). Bread to the full. The only thing You freed us from is a
satisfied tummy! And now, death. You’ve brought us out into the wilderness to
kill us with hunger, God.” See, what
happens when you take your eyes off the Giver, to look upon the gift… when you
cease looking through the lens of faith, which is ever and always directed
toward God alone, and look instead through your fallen and failing earthly
eyes, you are incapable of seeing the comprehensive and eternally saving good
that God is working for you, and you can only see your perceived lack. Why?
Because God alone saves, and when you take your eyes off of Him, you
look for salvation in other things that can never save you. Even good gifts of God, like food, your
family, your job, other people. Your
daily bread, essentially. Good things,
but as saviors, they fall far short. So,
you’re disappointed. And you grumble.
Now, God gives the Israelites manna
and quail, but remember how that all works out.
Instead of looking in thanks and praise, and with faith, to the Giver,
they are consumed by the gifts. When the
manna appears in the morning, some gather more than their allotment, because
they don’t trust God to feed them again tomorrow. Others gather less than their allotment,
because they're timid to receive this gift from their heavenly Father. They don’t trust it, and they’re not sure
it’s really for them. Some go out to
gather manna on the Sabbath, because they are greedy. They want more, and they refuse to rest in
God. And, of course, it doesn’t take
long before the Israelites are tired of the bread that miraculously appears at
their doorstep every morning, free of charge.
Same old, same old. Boring. Grumble, grumble. Moan and gripe. Here come the evening quail from the LORD,
and while the meat is still between their teeth, a chastening plague. If we’re honest, a good old-fashioned
chastening would do us some good, too.
But look at the Giver. He does not deal with us as our sins
deserve. He is patient. He is kind.
He is faithful to deliver. He
still fed the Israelites. He still feeds
us. And He rescues us from our own
gullibility. Grumble, grumble? We fell for it again! Ripped our eyes off of the Giver, and so,
incapable of seeing the gift. Oh, how
patient our Lord must be with us.
That is the case with the Jews in
our Holy Gospel. These are the ones who
ate of the loaves and fish, the miraculous feeding of the 5,000. They are seeking Jesus, but not because He is
their Savior and Lord. They want more
free food. They’ll make Him King if only
He’ll give them more free food.
(Incidentally, politicians know this, which is why they’ll promise to
give you the moon, if only you’ll vote for them!) “Do not labor for the food that perishes,”
Jesus says to them, and to us, “but for the food that endures to eternal
life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27; ESV). Stop chasing after the loaves! Don’t you understand? Your range of sight is so small. Here you have standing before you One who can
give you life eternal, and all the blessing of the Kingdom of God, and all you
want is a bite to eat.
Two things the Jews ask of Jesus in
our text, and both betray their refusal to look to the Giver of every good
gift. First, “What must we do, to be
doing the works of God?” (v. 28). In
other words, they think that whatever they have, they have to earn. And if they have it, they’ve earned
it. Sounds pretty American to
me. That’s the kind of thing we say. Jesus would redirect them, and us. “This is the work of God, that you believe
in him whom he has sent” (v. 29). In
other words, you don’t, and can’t, earn these gifts. Stop looking at the gifts, and stop looking
to yourself to provide the gifts. Look
to God. That is faith. God works faith in you to believe in Jesus
Christ, whom He has sent. And when you
believe in Him, when you trust Him, when you keep your eyes on Jesus, you
recognize that He provides everything else you need besides, including the
needs of this body and life.
Second, "what sign do you do
that we may see and believe you? What
work do you perform?” (v. 30). What
sign? What work? The whole reason you are seeking Jesus is
because you ate of the loaves and had your fill! What more sign do you need?
But you’ll get one. The Son of Man will be handed over to His
enemies, who will mock Him, beat Him, and kill Him. And after three days, He will rise. How’s that for a sign? But if you’re only in it for the loaves,
neither will you believe if someone should rise from the dead.
Beloved, don’t fall for the
trick. I know you have your anxieties,
and I know you have your pain. There may
be things that you need, and perhaps you feel that need acutely. I know there are things that you want, and
you think if you only had those things, you could finally be happy, fulfilled,
content. I know that is the case,
because that is all true of me, too. And
God knows it about us all. But it’s all
a running after loaves. It is
covetousness. Idolatry. Repent.
Look at Jesus, hanging on the
cross. This is He whom the Father
sent. This is the true Bread from
Heaven. “For the bread of God is he
who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (v. 33), life to
you. We should pray with the people in
our text, “Sir, give us this bread always” (v. 34). And that is what He does. Baked in the fire of God’s wrath to make
atonement for our sins, now risen for our justification and life, Jesus gives
us Himself in the bread of His Supper.
And by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). “I AM,” He says to us… “I AM”…
“the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever
believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). So, keep your eyes fixed on Him, the Founder
and Perfecter of your faith, who, for the joy set before Him (the joy of
redeeming you for Himself, and living with you forever), endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb.
12:2).
And then, remember this divine
Promise: “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things," the things that are necessary to this body and life, “will
be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). For
it is as Luther says in the Catechism: “God certainly gives daily bread to
everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people.”[1] That you are alive and well-fed today is the
result of God’s provision, even as Jesus fed the crowd in the wilderness. Faith, however, looks to the God who
gives such gifts, and when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day
our daily bread,” we pray “that God would lead us to realize this and to
receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.”
That is, that we would not fall for the trick, but recognize that all we
have is from God, every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), and it is enough,
because we have God Himself, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent for our
salvation. And He will not fail us. He will not fail to provide for our every
need of body and soul. Don’t let
anything distract you from Jesus. Not
anything. For if you have Jesus, you
have the Giver. And if you have the
Giver, you have all the gifts. In the
Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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