Category: Lent 4

Jesus Is the Bread of Life from Heaven

3/24/2023

Laetare Sunday (Lent 4)
John 6:1-15
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 19, 2023

Jesus asks His disciple Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He asked this to test him. The goal of testing is to strengthen one’s faith. God does not tempt us into sin. God tests us, so that our faith will be stronger.

So, how is Jesus testing Philip, so that his faith will be stronger? And does Philip pass the test? There is a crowd of five thousand men. St. Matthew tells us that this did not include the women and children (Matthew 14:21). This means that this crowd could have been as large as twenty thousand people! Jesus asks Philip where they will buy bread, so that this humungous crowd could eat. Philip answers as anyone could expect, “Two hundred [days’ wages] would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” Yet, with these words, Philip failed the test.

Jesus is God. The Jews are already angry at Jesus for calling Himself the Son of God. Philip should have answered with the Psalmist, “The eyes of all look to You [O Lord], and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing.” (Psalm 145:15-16) And indeed, this is exactly what Jesus does. As the eyes of all look to the LORD, so Jesus’ eyes look at the needy and He cares for them. With just five loaves of bread and a couple fish, Jesus distributed the bread and fish to the crowd, as much as they wanted, so that they ate their fill. Jesus proved Himself to be God, who not only created the universe, but continues to preserve it. As God fed the children of Israel in the wilderness with mana from heaven, so Jesus feeds the children of Israel in Galilee.

Yet, Philip isn’t the only one who failed this test. All the disciples failed this test! The evangelists Matthew and Mark record how after Jesus fed the five thousand and then the four thousand, His disciples still squabbled over not having enough bread! (Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:16) And in fact, the great multitude, which ate their fill of the loaves and fish failed the test as well. They wanted to seize Jesus and make Him their king, so that He would continue to feed them bread and fish.

The crowd caught up to Jesus the next day and Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” (John 6:26-27) Here Jesus teaches them and us that He has something much more important to give us, a Bread that isn’t eaten and expelled, but which grants eternal salvation. This Bread He is speaking of is Himself. Jesus says later, “I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)

After Jesus had fed the multitude with bread and fish, so that they were not hungry for a day, they decided to seize Jesus and force Him to be their king. Jesus would not permit them to force Him to be a bread king, so He withdrew to the mountain by Himself. Yet, later the Jews would seize Jesus, and force Him to wear a purple robe and a crown of thorns, and they would lift Him up on a cross with an inscription, “King of the Jews,” where they would mock Him until He died. And Jesus let them do it! Jesus refused to be made a bread king here on earth to satisfy our carnal desires, so that He could reign from the cross and earn for us that Bread, which does not pass away.

Jesus again said to the crowd, “I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

God took on our human flesh, so that He could fulfill God’s Law in our stead and suffer and die on the cross for our sins. We die because of our sins. Our sins merit us eternal damnation. Yet, Jesus died to take them away. That is why He is the Bread of Life, which grants eternal life to all who believe in Him. Jesus still gives us ordinary bread. But that isn’t really what’s important. All who eat ordinary bread will die. Jesus is the Bread from heaven, which gives eternal life to all who consume it. And we consume this Bread through faith.

All who fail the test keep missing the point that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Those who fail the test can’t get over the loaves of bread Jesus fed them in the wilderness. These loaves of bread represent everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, as when we pray for our daily bread. We’re distracted by our need for daily bread so much that we neglect our need for the Bread of Life!

Indeed, we need daily bread. We pray to God for daily bread. Jesus tells us to pray to God for daily bread. And God gladly gives us daily bread. Yet, we should not crave daily bread so much that we neglect the only Bread, which grants eternal life: Christ Jesus, who suffered and died for our sins!

Day after day, we strive and worry. Some are sick. Some are old. Some are in financial trouble. Some need a new job. Some are struggling in school. Others need to fix their house or car. And we think that if we just get this taken care of, then we’ll have peace. If I can just pay off this bill, if I can just get over this sickness, if I can just finish this project, if I can just get the kids through school. That is how we think, but our struggles never end. We get over one hump, and then must climb another, like a hamster running on its wheel, exhausting itself without ever getting anywhere. You’re never going to get caught up on this earth. There is always going to be something that you’re going to care about once you take care of the thing you’re currently caring for. This is why Jesus says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and the rest will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) Don’t worry about tomorrow.

So, the question really isn’t whether Philip or the other apostles passed the test or even if the multitude passed the test. The question is whether you have passed the test. Are you hungry for the Bread of Life, which Jesus alone can give you, which grants eternal life to all who consume Him? Or have you hungered and labored rather for that bread which perishes? Has your pursuit of earthly bread prevented you from receiving the heavenly Bread? Have you been more concerned about giving your children financial advice or pushing them toward a more lucrative career than you have been to bring them to church to eat the Bread of Life from heaven, which alone can grant them eternal life? We know when we’re hungry for food. It captivates our whole mind. We know when we want or need something for our body, but are we aware of our need for our soul? If you could look in the mirror and instead of seeing your body, well-fed and healthy, you saw your soul, what would you see? If you have been neglecting Christ’s Word, then you would see a starved person, emaciated, malnourished, desperate for food. Yet, the food you need is not for the belly, but for your soul!

Jesus again said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him… This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-56, 58). The language Jesus uses here sounds like the Lord’s Supper, which is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink. However, Jesus is not speaking here strictly of the Lord’s Supper, but of faith. To eat Jesus’ flesh and to drink His blood means to have faith in Jesus’ crucifixion for your sins, where He delivered up His body to death and shed His blood for us.

Yet, this spiritual eating of faith is necessary in order to properly receive the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is Christ’s body and blood, whether you believe it or not. Jesus’ words make it so. However, if you do not believe, then you eat the body and drink the blood to your own judgment, as St. Paul warns “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). This is why the Lutheran Church along with the historical Christian Church practices closed Communion. We do not give the Lord’s Supper to people before they have been examined and absolved, nor do we give it to those who are living in open sin without repenting, or those who commune at altars, which teach false doctrine. Otherwise, those who would come up to eat the body and drink the blood of the Lord would do so to their own judgment and harm, and not for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith. It is out of love that we withhold the Sacrament of the Altar until people have been properly examined, just as a pharmacist does not give prescription drugs to a person without a prescription, lest he take it to his own harm.

Yet, Jesus did not institute the Sacrament of the Altar for people to stay away from it! Neither did He suffer and die on the cross for you to ignore the preaching of His crucifixion, which is the very feeding of the Bread of Life from Heaven! And the fact that Jesus bids us to come and eat and drink in faith, means that we need it! Jesus is our great physician. He knows that we are sick. He knows that we are starving. We can’t say to Him, “Oh, don’t worry, Jesus. I’m doing fine. I’m just busy. I’ll get around to you soon.” No. You aren’t fine. You’re starving! You need the Bread of Life, which alone gives eternal life. You need Jesus! You need to repent of your sins and believe in Christ Jesus, who died for your sins!

The disciples at first failed the test. Yet, later when everyone left Jesus because of His hard teaching, the twelve disciples refused to leave. St. Peter explained, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69) So, if you have failed the test, and have valued food which perishes over the Food which endures to eternal life, repent, but do not despair. Jesus still desires to feed you, so that you will live forever. Come, and feast on the Bread of Life. Amen.

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Jesus, the Bread of Life

3/28/2022

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James Tissot, The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish, 1886-94. Public Domain.

Lent 4 Laetare Sunday
John 6:1-15
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 27, 2022

Last week, my son Thomas caught a centipede. It was the biggest centipede I’ve seen around here. He put it in a jar with a stick and some dirt, and much to the chagrin of his older sister, he put the jar in his bedroom. Then, desiring to feed his newfound pet, he asked me, “What do centipedes eat?” I didn’t know. I still don’t know. I didn’t bother to look it up. But you know who does know what centipedes eat? God does. Not only does he know what centipedes eat, he provides them with the food they need to eat every day. So, I was confident when we convinced Thomas to let the creepy little hundred-footed bug go, that it would find plenty to eat in the backyard.

And that’s something to think about. God provides for the bodily needs of all animals, even creepy little bugs. How much more will he graciously provide us with all that we need. Jesus tested his disciples, asking them where they could buy food for the people. His disciples stressed out about this. Of course, they did. How on earth were they going to feed five thousand men, not including their wives and children? Yet, this was a test. Jesus knew what he was going to do. He knows what he is going to do every day that he provides for the needs of every living thing.

Food prices are going up. Gas prices are going up. Prices for everything are going up. And there’s a good chance prices will continue to go up for quite a while. It is going to be more expensive for farmers to grow our food and it’s going to be more expensive for the truckers to get that food to us, along with everything else we need and want. So, we’re stressed out about that. And we’re planning for how we’ll deal with this challenge. And there is nothing wrong with making plans. Yet, it is certainly wrong to obsess over these plans, to think it all depends on you, to act as if God doesn’t care or doesn’t know, and that these earthly things are more important than our heavenly needs.

Jesus taught this great crowd in the wilderness as he healed their sick. And among the many things he taught them (Mark 6:34) was certainly the lesson to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the rest will be added unto you, and to consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, and how God provides for the entire earth, so he certainly will provide for your needs as well. And then, Jesus not only teaches this with words, but he teaches this with deeds. Jesus proves himself to be the Son of God through whom all things are created and kept alive. He feeds the five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two small fish.

This should have taught them to abandon their worries, to put their trust in God, to seek first the heavenly things Jesus was offering them. But for most of them, this was not the case. Rather, they wanted to force Jesus to be their king; not the King God had appointed him to be, but a bread king, who would fill their bellies and fix their illnesses until they run their course and die. They rightly called Jesus the Prophet, meaning the Christ who is coming into the world. But they think God sent the Christ, so that they could be content to stuff their faces with bread and fish!

Yet, this is how people think of Jesus Christ today. You’ll notice that very few churches teach the Gospel of Christ anymore. They won’t speak of his dying on the cross for the sins of the world, of the need for sinners to repent and to abandon their sinful ways, of our need to be forgiven and to grow in faith and be distinct from his world as God’s holy people, and of God’s willingness to forgive our sins and save us for Christ’s sake. No, this Gospel is too controversial. The topic of sin is too divisive. Repentance is too archaic. The crucifixion is too barbaric. So, churches will rather teach their own gospels that focus on solving worldly problems, that seek to be relevant to the here and now, and to people of various backgrounds and beliefs. The gospel has evolved. People aren’t concerned about eternal salvation. They’re concerned about salvation today in this world.

Yet all this garbled foolishness is just the same old regurgitated mammon worship of those who want to stuff their faces with bread. Oh, it may not be barley loaves, it might be environmental, racial, or LGBT justice; it might be solutions to help your marriage today or how to fix your finances. But all these new gospels are the same as searching after a bread king. They’ll perish. All who strive after these gospels will perish with them.

So, Jesus leaves this crowd and crosses the sea to Capernaum. But the crowd catches up to him. Here, Jesus confronts them saying, “You did not seek me because you saw the signs (that is, because they wanted to learn what these signs meant and grow in faith), but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

Here Jesus rebukes them for worshiping the bread. And he rebukes us for worshiping our bread, whatever that bread may be. It will perish. It won’t do you any good tomorrow. “Seek after that which will help you today, tomorrow, and into eternity! Don’t worry about what you need to eat. Didn’t you see that I was able to feed you all until you were satisfied, even when we were out in the wilderness with nothing but five loaves and a couple fish? Seek first the kingdom. Seek that spiritual food, which lasts forever. God will look after your body in this life.”

But then, Jesus goes on and identifies that food which we should seek, which endures to eternal life. He says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) Jesus himself is the bread of life, which we should seek. Here he draws a helpful point of comparison. The one who comes to Jesus shall not hunger, the one who believes shall not thirst. So, later, when Jesus tells them that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, he is speaking of a spiritual eating and drinking. Yet, even with this point of comparison to explain Jesus’ figure of speech, the crowd gets ever more frustrated with Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t back down. He says:

“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:48-51) Here, people think that Jesus is speaking in riddles so convoluted, no one can decipher his meaning. But actually, Jesus speaks plainer to them than he has to anyone yet. Jesus plainly declares that he is the Christ who has come down from heaven. No more telling healed lepers and blind men not to tell anyone what he has done. No, here Jesus says, “You wonder who I am? How I am able to heal the sick and feed the multitudes? Yes, I am he! I am the Christ come down from heaven!” This should open their ears to listen, but they can’t handle it. Jesus says that the bread he will give for the life of the world is his flesh! How can they eat his flesh?

Yet still, Jesus does not let up. He goes on:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)

How will Jesus give his flesh and blood for us to eat and drink? By giving his body up to be crucified for our sins and by shedding his blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus is speaking of a spiritual feast. We must feast on the Gospel that Jesus was crucified for our sins. The flesh is of no help at all. Jesus’ words are spirit and life. We cannot live by bread alone. We cannot live by anything on this earth. We only have life if we in faith feast on Christ, on his passion and death for our sins.

Listen to the promise! “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” What you strive after day in and day out will not make you live forever. It may put food on the table and clothes on your kids back and gas in the car. But all these things run out, and besides, God promises to give you what you need. But only Christ’s flesh and blood given into death for you can make you live forever. Only if you feast on these words in faith will you rise to eternal life on the Last Day.

Now few can listen to these words without thinking of the Lord’s Supper, which is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine. Now, in the Lord’s Supper, we feast on Jesus’ flesh and blood in two ways. The first is orally. The Lord’s Supper is Jesus’ true body and blood whether you believe it or not, because Jesus’s words say they are. This is why St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.” This is why we practice closed Communion and do not give the Lord’s Supper to those who have not been instructed and examined, who continue in sin without repenting, or who confess a different faith. If a child thinks medicine is candy, it doesn’t turn the medicine into candy. And the child could get very sick if he eats the medicine. In the Lord’s Supper, everyone eats orally of the body and blood of the Lord, whether they are worthy or not.

The second feasting is spiritually, that is, by faith. This is how one worthily eats of the Sacrament, by first feasting on Christ’s flesh and blood through faith in Jesus’ passion for our sin. In this way, we recognize the Sacrament of the Altar as the medicine of immortality and desire it more than the finest meal at a high-class restaurant.

I have my concerns over the high prices of food and goods. I know you do too. But God promises to take care of us. He feeds the centipedes for crying out loud! How much more does he care for you. But our Lord offers us a meal that endures to eternal life. This is the food we should make sure we never do without, but should confess with St. Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Amen.

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Children of the Free Woman

3/15/2021

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"The Repudiation of Hagar," Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1719. Public Domain

Laetare (Lent 4) Sunday
Galatians 4:21-31
Pastor James Preus
March 14, 2021

“Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?” St. Paul writes this to the Christians in Galatia, who had been persuaded by false teachers that they had to fulfill the works of the Law in order to be true Christians. By works of the Law they meant circumcision, the observances of sabbaths and festivals, and the distinction of meats. Of course, St. Paul pointed out to them that if they were obligated to keep part of the Law, they must keep the whole Law (Galatians 5:3). St. Paul also taught them that no one will be justified before God by works of the Law, because through the Law comes knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:10). The Law reveals our sin, because all it can do is tell us what to do. But the Law cannot give us the power to do it. So, those who seek to be righteous before God by works of the Law instead find that they are worse and worse sinners!
To explain this lesson further, Paul uses an allegory from the book of Genesis. The Jews called the book of Genesis along with the other four books of Moses, the Law, which is why Paul asks, “Do you not listen to the law?” So, from the Law, Paul draws this allegory, that is, this story, which draws a picture to teach the difference between being under the Law and being under the Gospel. He compares it to the two sons of Abraham, one born of a slave woman and the other born of a free woman.
Now, you might remember that in the book of Genesis, God promised Abraham that he would give him a son, that he would make a great nation out of this son and give to him the land of Canaan, and that through this son all nations of the earth would be blessed. The problem was, Abraham was very old. And his wife Sarah was very old as well, and she had always been barren. So, Sarah, desiring the promise to be fulfilled, but not believing that it was possible to be fulfilled through her aged and barren womb, gave her servant Hagar to Abraham as a wife to bear him a son. Hagar indeed bore Abraham a son, but this son was born according to the flesh, not the promise.
God indeed fulfilled his promise. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, bore Isaac, the child of promise. According to flesh and blood, this was impossible. Sarah was too old. Sarah was barren. But according to God’s promise it was possible. Now in Abraham’s household there were two sons: one born according to the flesh and one born according to the promise. And the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the promise. So, Sarah ordered Abraham to cast the slave woman out with her son. And God told Abraham to obey her. The slave shall not inherit with the free born. Through Isaac shall Abraham’s offspring be named.
Now, how does this relate to us? Because all Christians are born both of a slave woman and of a free woman, that is, we are born both according to the flesh and according to the Spirit. Everyone born of the flesh, which is the entire human race, is born under sin and under the Law. That means we are all born into slavery. Yet, through Christ Jesus, we have access to a second birth not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, that is, according to the promise. Through the promise attached to Baptism and to the proclamation of the Gospel, we are born again. Faith alone receives this promise. So, through faith in the promise we are children of promise, Abraham’s heirs and children of the free woman.
According to our first birth of the flesh, we can never become righteous. This means we can never attain to eternal life. To be born of the flesh is to be born under sin and under the Law. It is impossible to reach eternal life through works of the Law, because the Law depends on our flesh doing it. But our flesh is sinful and weak. So, we fail. So, instead of the Law giving us eternal life, the Law condemns us to hell and kills us. This is why Jesus says that unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Our first birth according to the flesh binds us in sin and keeps us from inheriting eternal life.
Our second birth by the Spirit is a birth according to the promise, which is received through faith. This birth frees us from the Law, because Christ Jesus took the curse of the Law away from us himself. He did this by first, being born in our human flesh. Scripture declares, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5) Jesus became our flesh, so that he could do for us what we weakened by our own flesh could not do: fulfill the Law. St. Paul writes to the Romans, “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.” (8:2-3)
The Law cannot give us eternal life, because our sinful flesh is incapable of accomplishing what the Law requires. That is why it says that the Law was weakened by the flesh. So, God’s Son took on our human flesh for us. Yet, despite the fact that he fulfilled the requirements of the Law for us, he suffered the punishment our sinful flesh deserved! St. Paul explained this very thing to the Galatians, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ … Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—as it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” (Galatians 3:10, 13) And so, we receive Christ’s obedience and righteousness through faith, because Christ has both fulfilled the Law for us and has been punished for our transgressions against the Law in our place. Since Christ has done all that is required for our eternal salvation, no works are required of us. Rather, we become God’s children and heirs through faith alone.
Yet, St. Paul says, “Just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.’” Yet, how does the child born according to the flesh persecute the child born according to the Spirit? The child born according to the flesh is your old sinful nature, also known as your old Adam. Although you are born again of the Spirit through faith in the promise, that old sinful Adam born of the flesh still hangs around and persecutes your new self. How does he persecute you?
First, by leading you into sin. Scripture is clear, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do… Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warned you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:16, 18-21)
Despite what we may be accused of, we do not believe that the Spirit has set us free to indulge in the sins of the flesh. Rather, whatever you present yourself to in obedience, you become a slave to that thing. If you obey the passions of the flesh, then you become its slave and cease to be a child of freedom! To be born of the Spirit means that we also walk by the Spirit, not under the compulsion of the Law, but willingly doing as our Father in heaven pleases. But our sinful flesh persecutes our new self by drawing us into these same sins of which we are ashamed, of which we would like to be free of once and for all!
The second way the old Adam born of flesh persecutes the new self, born of the Spirit is by trying to enslave you under the Law. He does this by getting you to try to establish your own righteousness by works of the Law. Yet, this just pushes you deeper into slavery. Your flesh cannot accomplish the works of the Law. So, instead of escaping your sins, you are pulled away from the righteousness of God given to you by promise and into either despair or false confidence in your works of the flesh. St. Paul addresses this to the Galatians in chapter two, “Let me ask you only this,” he writes, “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
Yet, this is exactly what your sinful flesh tries to convince you of and what many people believe. They think that after the Spirit sets them free through faith, they must complete what the Spirit began through their own works. So, they trust in their works as if the Spirit is of no value to them anymore!
And so, in these two ways: by the sinful passions of the flesh and by attempting to earn God’s favor through works of the Law, the old self persecutes your new self; the child born of slavery persecutes the child born of promise. And of course, both of these ways of persecution are rooted in unbelief, because the natural person simply cannot believe in the Gospel. That which is born of flesh is flesh; that which is born of Spirit is spirit.
So, what is the solution? How can you be liberated from the persecution of the flesh? Scripture answers us, “Cast out the slave woman and her son.” How do you cast out the slave woman and her son? By repenting of your sins and believing in the promise of Christ. You must cast out the slave woman and her son every day, because your flesh will try to enslave you to your sinful passions every day. You must cast out the slave woman and her son every day, because your flesh will try to enslave you to the Law every day, as if you can earn your salvation by your own works. Only by repenting of your sins and believing that God considers you righteous for Christ’s sake can you be free from the curse of the Law and your sins.
Your flesh is loud and obnoxious. It wants its needs to be heard above anything else. Just look at Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand. Before the crowd stands the living Bread from Heaven, who gives eternal salvation to all who believe his words, but these men want to make him a bread-king to feed their bellies. It’s like this curious creature, the cowbird. It’s notorious for laying its eggs in other birds’ nests, so that these unsuspecting birds feed the large, loud, and demanding cowbird chick while their own chicks starve. The mother bird is smart when it realizes that that is not her egg and pushes the cowbird’s egg out of her nest, so that her own chicks do not starve. That’s what we need to do. We are not children of the slave. We’re children of the free woman. We need to cast the slave out, so that he does not starve out the free child. This can only be done by repenting of our sins and in faith clinging to Christ, who makes us free born children of God. Amen.

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Laetare (Lent 4): Jesus Teaches Us What Kind of God to Seek

4/1/2019

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John 6:1-15
March 31, 2019

What kind of god do you want? That might sound like a ridiculous question, but it is exactly what people are thinking when they decide which church to go to or when they ponder what they believe about God. “What kind of god do I want?” This is how we choose which political candidate to support or which house to buy or what movie to watch, so why not ask this question about what type of god you want to worship? This is what the crowd did to Jesus. They wanted to make him their king, because he stuffed their bellies with bread and fish. They wanted a king to feed them, heal their illnesses, and basically make their lives comfortable. And that is basically what people look for in a god. And with the rise of biblical criticism, which is a way of studying the bible with the assumption that the bible contains many errors and contradictions, people can claim to be Christians and to worship the one true God while eliminating anything that Scripture says about God which makes them uncomfortable. So, religious people end up doing exactly what the scoffing atheists accuse them of: they create a god in their own image.
But it is important not to seek the god that you want, but rather to seek the God, who is. Jesus shows us the God who actually exists. Jesus himself is God, the Second Person in the Holy Trinity, apart from whom neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit work anything. By feeding the great multitude, Jesus demonstrates to us what we first learn about God in the Small Catechism:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean?
I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.
He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. ...
The God who is, is the God who created the universe and who still causes it to function in order to sustain life. God provides for every living creature. He controls the weather and climate. He causes seeds to grow, animals to reproduce. Every heartbeat in your chest and every hair that grows on your body is controlled by God. With this miracle in our Gospel lesson, Jesus is teaching his disciples to trust in God, who is always in control.
To teach this lesson, Jesus does what God often does to strengthen our faith: he tests them. It was Jesus, who chose this desolate place where there was no food to gather or buy. The large crowd followed Jesus up this mountain. And then Jesus asks Philip, a native of this region, “Where can we buy bread for all these people to eat.” Jesus knew the answer to this question. Jesus led a crowd of 5,000 men, not including women and children, which means that this crowd was likely much greater than 10,000 hungry individuals, to a desolate place where there was no food to buy even if someone could muster the money to buy it. Jesus sets up an impossible situation in order to show his disciples that God accomplishes the impossible every day.
Toward the end of the 18th century an economist named Thomas Malthus proposed a theory that the human population would grow at a faster rate than the supply of food could, meaning, unless the human population were put in check there would be mass starvation throughout the world, especially among the poor. Many countries even adopted methods to limit population growth in humans; methods, which caused great suffering to millions of people. However, Malthus was wrong. Around the time of his death in 1834 the world human population was around 1 billion. Now there are well more than 7 billion people in the world and although there is still and always has been hunger in the world, we produce more than enough food to feed the world. And in America we throw away an astonishing percentage of the food we buy.
Jesus fed well more than 10,000 individuals in the wilderness at a moment’s notice using only five loaves of bread and a couple fish. This was a miracle. Yet, God feeds billions of people every day. Despite major flooding in some areas, farmers are beginning to prepare their fields for planting. In just a few months tremendous amounts of food will come out of the ground, much more than was planted into the ground. God will create food quite literally out of thin air along with using water and sunlight. Farming is a lot of work, but no one can deny that it is God who causes the growth.
God cursed man in the garden when he said:
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
And you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face you shall bring forth bread,
Till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken;
For you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:17b-19)
Yet when God cursed man, he did not take away his blessing. God still feeds us. He just makes us work for it. But that does not mean that our labor is the reason why we eat. God is the source of every physical blessing.
Because we are forced to work for our food, we convince ourselves that what we labor for is most important. But what does Jesus say? “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” (John 6:27) We are a very short-sighted people. We can’t think beyond our current problems. These people labored for bread. Here comes a man, who gives them bread without labor. So, they want him to be their god, so that they no longer need to labor. But Jesus doesn’t feed them, so that they will no longer need to labor for bread. Jesus feeds them to teach them where their bread comes from. It comes from God. Rather, they should seek a much greater gift from God, one, which leads to eternal life.
Everyone who ate the bread in the wilderness with Moses died. Every one. Everyone who ate the bread from Jesus on the mountain died. Every one. Everyone who eats by the sweat of his face returns to the dust. This is the curse of sin. But Jesus offers a bread that if you eat it you will live forever.
Jesus himself is this bread of life. Whoever comes to him will never hunger and whoever believes in him will never thirst. Jesus teaches us that we must feed on him spiritually, that is, we must believe that he gives us eternal life through his death for our sins. Jesus says to some of the same people, who ate the bread on the mountain, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:53-54)
Here Jesus teaches us that he is the fulfillment of the sacrifices of the Old Testament. In the sacrifices of the Old Testament, the blood was separated from the flesh of the animal. The priests would then eat the flesh of the animal and God would accept them. Jesus teaches that he is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices and that his blood would be poured out of his body for our sins. Jesus also teaches that he will rise from the dead. God forbids in the Old Testament anyone to eat blood. The blood of sacrifices had to be used to make atonement on the altar. But Jesus’ blood, after making atonement for the sins of the whole world is made to live again. Jesus is alive. And he invites us to drink his living blood, so that we can receive life from him.
We eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood in two ways. The first is spiritually. The second is orally. Spiritually you feast on Christ through faith. That is when you believe that Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins makes you whole, forgives your sins, and gives you eternal life. When Jesus speaks of eating his flesh and blood, he is speaking primarily about having faith in him. He wants you to desire his words as more important for you than the food you eat.
The second way to eat Christ’s flesh and drink his blood is orally, that is, with your mouth, physically. This is done in the Lord’s Supper where Christ feeds us his body and blood under the bread and wine. Only those, who feast on Christ Spiritually should eat the Lord’s Supper, otherwise they will eat and drink to their own judgment. But, if one truly believes the words of Christ and repents of his sins, then the Lord’s Supper is a wonderful meal that forgives sins, strengthens faith, and increases your love for your fellow Christian.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. If you can truly believe these words, then you truly know the God, who is. God feeds you. He clothes you. He gives you shelter. He does everything you need for your body and life, millions of things you haven’t ever thought of, but God takes care of them. And God wants you to trust in his word more than the food you sweat for. God wants you to hunger for his words more than food. God will take care of your body. And he desires to save your soul as well.
But material goods continue to block our ears from God’s word. We strive after things that lead to the grave instead of that which leads to heaven. God makes some rich and they in turn trust in their riches and ignore God’s word. God makes others poor and they in turn lust after other people’s money and keep their eyes on what God has not given them instead on what God willingly offers, Christ Jesus, the bread of life. But, this true hunger for that which gives eternal life can only be had as a gift of the Holy Spirit. We hunger for something greater than bread or gold when we see the cost of our sins. When God’s word reveals to you that you indeed deserve to die and go to hell, your hunger turns from food to something spiritual. And when the Holy Spirit reveals to you that Jesus is the only one, who takes your sins away, then you hunger for the true bread of heaven. And God will not stop feeding you until you are satisfied.
Jesus told his disciples to gather up the fragments so that nothing may be lost. This has both a physical and a spiritual meaning. God does not want us to waste the goods he gives us. He gives us more than enough food to feed the world, but we throw food away while others hunger. God indeed feeds and clothes the poor, but he may very well use you to do so. St. Paul in encouraging the Corinthians to give generously to the needy in Jerusalem tells them that God is willing and able to supply whatever they lose by their generosity. This applies also to giving to the church. All your goods come from God. You won’t lose anything by giving to support the ministry of the word. God will make sure that you are fully supplied.
Spiritually, Jesus does not want us to waste the living bread either. Jesus pours himself out generously to us. He doesn’t want us letting it go to waste. He wants you to hear his word, consume his bread with your heart continually throughout your life. And share it. Share the heavenly bread he gives you, which gives eternal life to whoever eats it.
The life-giving bread from heaven does not run out. Even as Jesus was able to feed 5,000 men plus women and children and still have more left over, so does Jesus feed the souls of millions and millions through his body nailed to the cross and his blood poured out for our forgiveness. His body will never run out. Neither will his blood. Jesus’ forgiveness and life, which he gives to his church will never stop flowing and satisfying sinners until the end of the world. And Jesus bids us not to put it to waste, but come and take generously. Have your sins forgiven. Hear and believe his comforting words. Receive eternal life. Here is true food, which if one eats of it, will never die, given to you the God who actually exists. Amen.

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Laetare (Lent 4) Sunday: Jesus our King

3/12/2018

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John 6:1-15
March 11, 2018

"When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, 'This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!' Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself."

The crowds gathered in such great mass around Jesus, because he was healing the sick, who were brought to him and teaching great things. When they realized what he had done, fed 5,000 men not including women and children (Matthew 14:21), they were certain that they knew who Jesus was.

They called him the Prophet. The Prophet is a designation given to the promised Messiah found in Deuteronomy 18, where God says to Moses, "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." The crowd was right that Jesus is the Prophet promised by God through Moses! The crowd was also correct that Jesus is a king. Scripture promises that the Messiah will be a great king when God spoke to King David in 2 Samuel chapter 7, "When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." That is why when people (or angels) called Jesus the Son of David, they were calling him the promised Messiah and King of Israel.

And we will hear in two weeks on Palm Sunday, from John chapter 12 as Jesus processes into Jerusalem upon a donkey, the crowds shout to Jesus' approval, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" And Jesus himself calls himself the king of the Jews when questioned by Pontius Pilate (John 18:37).

So, the crowds were correct when they recognized that Jesus is the Prophet and the King promised by holy Scripture. Yet, the crowds were very wrong about Jesus. The next day the crowds finally found Jesus again, yet he answers them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." (John 6:26-27a)

Jesus tells us why the crowds were wrong. They wanted to make Jesus a bread-king here on earth. They saw the signs, but they didn't recognize their true significance. The signs pointed to Christ's work of salvation. Yet, the people were concerned more with their bellies.

You can see why the crowds thought this way though. They had seen Jesus heal every ailment brought to him. Perhaps they had even seen him raise the dead, which we know he did do on multiple occasions. St. Matthew tells us the 5,000 he fed did not include women and children, which means that Jesus with just 5 loaves and 2 small fish fed in surplus of 10,000 individuals without any preparation! And not just did he feed them, but they "had eaten their fill," "as much as they wanted!" What a fantastic king he'd be! Could you imagine a nation with zero hunger? Where everyone had free healthcare, and not just free, but you actually got healed of whatever sickness you had? Who wouldn't gladly fight in his army? Certainly, this is the king of Israel, who will throw the yoke of Rome off their nation!

And this is a problem with many religious today. People want to make Jesus their Lord and Savior, but on their terms. "Do you want a happier life? Do you want more purpose in your life? Do you want to get out of your financial difficulties? Do you want to be stress free? Do you want to be healed of your diseases? Then claim Jesus as the Lord of your life and all these things will be yours!" And so, even today people try to force Jesus to be their king, but not the king Jesus has come to be.

The crowds missed the lesson from the healings and the multiplying of bread and fish. Jesus certainly showed in a remarkable way that he is God with all of God's powers. Yet, Jesus really didn't do anything different than what God does every day. Jesus healed many sick people. Don't people recover from illness today? God heals millions of people from countless ailments every day. Yes, he uses medicines and medical procedures, but that is still God working. And even miracles are known to happen from time to time, when doctors give up hope, yet through the power of prayer God baffles the medical experts and spares the life of someone at death's door. Jesus fed 5,000 in our lesson, yet how many billions does God feed every day? Jesus multiplied bread and fish, yet God is constantly multiplying grain in the fields, fish in the sea, cattle, pigs, fruits and vegetables, and all that we need to support our bodies.

So, it was quite silly that these people wanted to make Jesus a bread-king. They showed how short sighted they were. Yet, everyone who eats the food, which God graciously provides each day, dies. Jesus wants to feed them with that, which will give eternal life. Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." (John 6:47-51)

Jesus is the living bread that comes down from heaven. He has freely given his flesh and blood as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. The priests ate of the sacrifices offered in the temple and all Jews ate of the annual Passover lambs and unleavened bread.  Yet, if anyone will have life that will last for forever, he must eat of this sacrifice, as Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:53-54)

But how do you eat of Jesus' flesh and drink his blood? Jesus tells you. "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." You feast on Jesus, the bread of life from heaven, through faith in him. Jesus is teaching the crowd and you to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you, and "Man shall not live by bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Faith subordinates your physical needs to your spiritual needs. Jesus fed the crowds, so that they would learn that everything they receive they receive from God by his grace and so they would focus on the words of eternal life, which Jesus was feeding them. The most valuable food Jesus gave them on that mountain was the words of eternal life he spoke to them. But they got distracted by the bread. And they wanted to force Jesus to be their bread-king. And people today still try to force Jesus to be their king.

Jesus must be your king, but you cannot force him to be your king. Jesus must be your king, but he must become your king on his terms. So, how does Jesus become your king? First, you need a change of heart. Jesus tells us that no one can come to him unless the Father draws him. Your heart is naturally of the flesh, meaning, you are focused on things that will pass away, like bread and fish, cars and homes, sports and entertainment. God must change your heart. He does this through his Word, particularly in Baptism, where he gives you a new birth by the Holy Spirit. And having your heart changed by God, you must eat and drink the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. That is, you must have faith in Christ's work of salvation for you. You must repent of your sins, despair of your works, cast out the slave woman and her son, and cling to Christ for true nourishment.

To guard this true faith, you must destroy your false gods. This includes especially the false god of the love of money. God provides you with all that you have and need, so that you will trust in him and come and eat the bread of life, not so that you will worship the lesser gifts he gives you. St. Paul warns, "But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." (1 Timothy 6:8-10)

Jesus fed well over 5,000 people with just five barley loaves and a couple fish. And had there been 5,000 times 5,000 Jesus would have easily been able to feed those as well. And God feeds many, many more than that every day. Likewise, Jesus, the bread of life, offered himself up for the whole world on the cross. His blood ran down to drown our sins. And all sins have been drowned. And even as people continue to increase and as sins continue to multiply in horrifying numbers and ways, the tides of Jesus' blood continue to wash these sins away. Jesus' death upon the cross produces forgiveness that multiplies over and over and over again. You should have no fear that what you've done or some sin that bothers your conscience will somehow rise above the drowning flood of Christ's blood or overpower the healing flesh of Christ.

Jesus provides forgiveness for countless sinners, even as he daily feeds countless hungry mouths. And we experience this sign every Sunday when we receive Holy Communion. Although Jesus is one man, with one body like any man, his body and blood are able to feed countless millions. The bread and wine are given to hungry Christians thirsting for the forgiveness of sins week after week. And Christ's body and blood have yet to run out. He continues to feed us until we are satisfied. And we will be fully satisfied, when we rise to new life in our King's kingdom. Amen.

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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

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Jesus, the Bread of Life

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Laetare (Lent 4): Jesus Teaches Us What Kind of God to Seek

Laetare (Lent 4) Sunday: Jesus our King

Rev. James Preus

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