Feeding in the Wilderness

“They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat.”
-Matthew 14:16b

The Son of Man serves bread to those who are out in the wilderness. He is The Bread of Life, after all, able to feed not only your body with good bread and food from one day to the next, but also to feed you body and soul with the food that is imperishable, namely His body, which has made atonement for your sin and now avails before the Father so that you have His blessing now and forever.

Men, women, and children. When things happen it is because God says so. What He says, and what happens as a result, will often, if not always, run contrary to the Old Adam of your flesh. It will run contrary to your reason and senses. It will run contrary to your experience.

But speak and act He must do, for He is your Creator, and without His speech – His Word and action you would not be here. Nor would the creation which you inhabit from one day to the next under the sun.

He spoke by the Prophet Isaiah: A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.”

From that Word of the LORD came John the Baptist who, as a proclaimer of the Word, points the finger precisely at your Christ Jesus, Who this day makes smooth in the desert a highway for your God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Who has come down to drench you in the waters of His Word and Baptism so that you may be severed from the desert, from the unbelieving world, and instead abide in Christ Jesus, who is your imperishable Bread, given up for men, women, and children.

No surprise there. God spoke through His prophet Isaiah, and then, about 700 years later in time came John, preaching in the wilderness and pointing to Christ who was incarnate and born in the fulness of time. All time is of one piece with God, and He has put you smack dab into it, for you are here by His will and by His Word.

But here is the surprise. Here is what you did not expect. Nor did John. Nor did his disciples: John was thrown into prison and beheaded. Not for any crime, mind you, but for faithfully performing the duties of his office.

The prophet Isaiah says nothing of John’s imprisonment and beheading. The disciples are genuinely disturbed and even John the Baptist is disturbed because God is not acting the way they think He should.

He never does, does he? “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross and save Yourself!” So cries out the flesh of fallen man.

But do not be surprised or alarmed. It may not be written or spoken by the prophets, apostles, and evangelists, but if it happens it is in accord with God’s gracious will and provision from the beginning.

What you hear from the Holy Gospel today is at the apex, the highest height, of how God wishes to deal with you all, men, women, and children. It is not just how He wishes, but it is what He does.

“Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself.” That is to say, Jesus, with his own ears, heard that the last and greatest of the prophets, had been cruelly executed, and he did what you also would do when matters of great import and saddening news are brought to bear: you seek to escape. To be alone. To get away from it all. A vacation. A vacation from anyone and anything. Just stop the world. I want to get off.

So from this – that your LORD Jesus Christ withdrew by Himself upon hearing of John’s death - you can see that your Father in heaven, in and through Christ Jesus knows and suffers with you the trouble and anxiety that comes with the world and its thirst for blood, power, vengeance, falsehood, idolatry, and lust.

Such would you be, had you not been severed from the unbelieving world in God’s Baptism of you, and placed into the ark, the boat, with water all about you and drowning in the righteousness of Christ Jesus your Lord and saving you from sin, death, and the devil.

So from this – that your LORD Jesus Christ withdrew by Himself upon hearing of John’s death - you can see that Your Father in heaven, in and through Christ Jesus, is true man, born of the virgin Mary, and as such He, too, withdraws from all the trouble and troubling news.

But he is not just doing this to escape it as you would do. He does not withdraw for His own comfort. He withdraws so that He, in all faithfulness for you and on your behalf, may draw nearer to the Father in prayer.

After all, He is your substitute in life and death, while also experiencing what you experience. He knows it all. He has felt it all. As the Son of God He has spoken it all, and it all comes into being and will run its course from the beginning and unto eternity under His gracious Word and life for you.

So Jesus withdraws and takes the boat. He takes a cruise, all by Himself. Safe and secure, as if hovering over the waters even as the Spirit of God hovered over the waters before the land became a dry mass. Of course He is not alone, for in Him and through Him, and by Him all things were made. In Him, by Him, and through Him all things are sustained as it has been from the beginning.

But, by all appearances He is alone in that boat. No doubt, according to what you would to do when everything around you is nothing but trouble, He withdraws, gets away, because solitude provides opportunity to have gratitude and to hear and to speak with God the Father alone, in and through the Holy Spirit.

The solitude is not going to last for long. There is work to do while it is day. Imagine taking yourself on a single solitary vacation only to discover thousands of people following you.

How many people follow you? How many friends do you have on Facebook? Who is paying attention to you? Do you even want them to pay attention? Add them up. Are you up to 5,000 or more?

According to all four Gospels, five thousand people were there to meet and greet Jesus who went by boat alone while they went on foot through the wilderness. Five thousand *besides* women and children, so the total number could easily have exceeded ten-thousand. Imagine that waiting for you in your pursuit of peace and solitude.

It is true today that a good many famous people have way more than five thousand followers. But if you did an internet search today to see who is the most famous person – and by no means should you look to the internet as a source of ultimate truth; you should look and listen for that here, from this pulpit and from this altar – but the most famous person today according to the internet is . . . wait for it . . . Your dear LORD Jesus Christ, Who laid down His life in payment for your sin and took it up again.

Yes. He had five-thousand people besides woman and children meet him after a brief time of solitude in a boat following news of John the Baptist’s imprisonment and execution. Imagine setting off for some time of solitude, and then meeting thousands of people not only eager to see you, but also eager to hear you speak, and to receive help from you.

And this is really the heart and center of the Holy Gospel as preached to you this day: Christ Jesus is the only source of help. Whether it is in the wilderness or in the city. Whether it is at home or at work.

This one man, born of the Virgin Mary, whose flesh and bone and blood are just like yours, Who grew hungry and thirsty and tired, is also He who comes to your aid from one day to the next and into eternity to give you all you need for this body and life, and all you need for the life to come. He gives Himself, yes. And in demonstration of that, He feels compassion for the thousands who came on foot, out into the wilderness to see and hear this Christ Jesus.

Fame is not his object. Fame is not His purpose. Fortune is not his goal. Power and control is not His aim.

His object, His purpose, His goal, His aim, is to make payment for your sin with His own body. It is to take that payment and apply it to you not just as an idea, but through concrete means, and those concrete means are the apostolic ministry, Holy Baptism, Holy Supper, and Holy Absolution.

Yes. Your LORD Jesus is intent upon sanctifying you and keeping you in the one true Church until the Last Day when He shall raise you up.

This feeding of so many people in the wilderness, so many men, women, and children – they call it the feeding of the five thousand but it was five thousand besides women and children so it might as well be the feeding of the ten-thousand. This all comes and is multiplied from the provision of one small boy – he must have been a boy scout, because boy was he prepared.

St. Paul writes, “grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied unto you, and multiplication it is from one day to the next. Where sin did abound, there did grace abound all the more. By his feeding of so many with the resources that were so small, Christ Jesus, just as He does at the wedding in Cana – demonstrates Himself to be true God, begotten of the father from eternity.

You see, you cannot abide with God and have sin. You cannot have your sin removed unless God removes it. God cannot remove it unless He takes upon Himself your nature apart from sin, and He cannot remove it unless He is true God.

So this feeding in the wilderness is for you a sign that your Father in heaven will feed you just as he fed all those people in the wilderness. He does not do this begrudgingly but gladly.

What your LORD Jesus Christ did for the people then, and what He does for you so faithfully and well this day and every day, it is all at His own expense, having denied Himself the same comfort and benefit with which He serves you.

He has gone hungry and thirsty that He might feed you and quench your thirst. He has gone homeless, that He might shelter you; naked, that He might clothe you. He has borne all your griefs and sorrows, all your sickness, suffering and death, that He might heal you and give you life forever.

You shall not live by bread alone, but by that Word of God in Christ, the Word-made-Flesh, who speaks to you in love and gives Himself to you as Bread for both your body and soul. He is the Rock who has opened Himself up to pour out water and blood to quench your thirst and cleanse your spirit and give you life, even in the desert.

He does it now, as then, by the hand of His disciples, His apostles, His Evangelists, and His preachers, but He is the One who acts, who speaks: He takes the bread, He blesses and breaks, and He gives it to you: Take, eat, be satisfied, and live and abide with Me forever and ever.

And now we shall take, eat, be satisfied, and live and abide with Him forever and ever.

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A Good Day

Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. -Psalm 19:2

It has been my practice over the past several years to think of each day on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of whether it is a good day.

The only day for me that will ever be a 10 is the day my baptism is completed and I am in the nearest presence of Christ, my LORD. That is the day upon which, according to this world, I die.

If there happens to come a day at 1 or below it will be a day that I, by my own reason and strength, reject Christ Jesus. That is the day upon which, according to this world, I live.

Most days have landed above a 5, but below an 8. Being a bit creative, I tend to take the assessment out two decimals, so today, June 26, 2020 would rank at about 6.89.

All of this raises a question of serious import: What constitutes a good day? Or, as the world puts it, a “nice” day.

Is it a good day when everything goes just as you wished and planned? The question is loaded. What is “good?” What does a day count when there are so many, not to mention an eternity to follow?

The course of history from the beginning is that days mark it out in the biggest way. We have come to mark days out in 24-hour increments, and have even taken time into nano-second considerations.

But who owns time, and where did it come from, and what makes your time good or bad?

For those who are baptized into Christ Jesus, all of time is good, even though by all appearances much of it is bad. The pains of a troubled conscience and the prospect of death, along with certain losses, one would allocate to the bad side of life.

But wait. Since those who are baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into all of time at once, what appears bad is, in fact good. Why? Because it is God’s creation and time, into which He entered with flesh and blood like yours.

A good day is measured on God’s terms, not yours. It is His aim to love and discipline you in His only-begotten Son, Christ Jesus. This He does just for you, every day.

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The Spoken Words

“What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. -Matthew 10:27

And just like that, things are looking red. Not the paraments and the vestments which are still green to mark the Ordinary time of the Church, but the letters of the Gospel text this day, spoken by Christ Jesus in your midst.

You have heard of “red letter” versions of the Sacred text, have you not? They are versions where the words spoken directly by Christ Jesus as He went in and out among the Apostles are printed with red ink.

Were it not for the words repeated from the Holy Gospel from last Sunday, namely these eight words, “These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them,” every single word of today’s Gospel is spoken directly by Christ Jesus. Every word is a red letter word.

It is fitting on this second Sunday in the ordinary time of the Church year to have such a rich and full text consisting only of words spoken by Christ Jesus, for it is by His Word and by His speaking, and His alone, that the Church comes into being and lives and is sustained from day to day and into eternity.

You know, this is why, when the Holy Gospel is read aloud in our midst, we do not sit on our behinds. We stand up. We do not just stand up, but we sing the Alleluia verse.

You confess with St. Peter, “LORD, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Words of eternal life they are. Better than food which perishes.

Today you sang, “Alleluia. Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven.” This is most certainly true, for by His Word Jesus imparts all things, including Himself, so that you may be brought to the Father and kept there forever.

Red letter words: the Words spoken directly by Christ Jesus, first to His hearers who were the disciples and apostles, and now this day to His Church, where the ministry of the Apostles continues until such time as this age is complete.

We will circle back to these red letter words in a few minutes, but for now what about the other words? What about the other words? What about the black letter words? What about words that do not come from Christ Jesus and do not teach of him?

Do you remember the words that were spoken when you were conceived in your mother’s womb? No. At that time your consciousness was not developed enough to have a memory.

But God remembers, because when you were conceived in your mother’s womb it was together with His express will and Word. You are not an accident. Some speaking took place.

But what was said, and how was it said, when you were conceived in your mother’s womb? Do you think there was a narrator? The manner and method of words is so multitudinous. The ways to express things, as you have now come to learn, is so various.

There is first, second, and third person. There is direct discourse, indirect discourse, and all manner of voices such as making a statement, asking a question, making an exclamation of surprise, giving a command, expressing a wish or desire, all while considering the past, the present, and the future.

There are even things placed before your reason and senses for which you and everyone around you are at a loss for words.

Not only all this, but how many sources have there been for all the words you have been given to hear? What were the first words you ever heard and comprehended? Where did they come from? Maybe it was your Dad, who said in so many words, “Welcome to the world, O little stranger.” Yes. Direct discourse from your Dad. He was talking to you and no one else.

Maybe it was your Mom, who said in so many words, “Hello there, my little love,” directly and only to you.

It is without question that other words were spoken in your hearing even before you were born, but these are probably not words you remember. Nevertheless they also did not go without effect. Words do not sit in a vacuum. They do something, as you well know.

As for the other voices, who are they and where do they come from? Books. Magazines. Newspapers. Movies. Audio recordings. The strangers you encounter from day to day. The people you work with. The friends you keep company with. The people you work with. Your brothers and sisters. Your spouse. Radio and television broadcasts. The internet. And then there are the thoughts that pop into your head. Where do those come from, and whose idea was it to put them there?

Oboy. Are you beginning to see just how many words there are, how many places they come from, how many ways they are expressed, and what effect they have had on you from the day you were conceived in your mother’s womb?

It again is no wonder that, as last weeks Gospel says, “distressed and dispirited” is characteristic of the situation for you and all those around you.

But the One Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit in His mother’s womb, namely Christ Jesus, as your one and only Savior and substitute in every aspect of life and of death, heard and spoke only those words which will bring you to the Father in everlasting joy, so it is His Words, more than any others, that are to cut through all the other voices out there – especially the voices that would drive you to pride, despair, and every kind of shame and vice – His Word and voice cut through all the garbage (as it were) so that you are obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you are now committed: a disciple of Christ Jesus under His Cross together with Him.

Is it not true, that when you hear the words spoken by Christ Jesus, preserved for you and for the whole Church throughout the ages by the Holy Spirit, that when you hear these words they are completely distinct from those other things you hear from day today or think up for yourself?

Where you would think to yourself, “I will stand up on the side of all that is good, true, and right, even if I must die for it,” the fact is, when the Shepherd is struck you would turn tail and run like hell just like each and every one of the disciples did in the Garden of Gethsemane.

It is precisely into scenes such as this, where you would count on your own thoughts and words to sustain you, that Christ Jesus speaks red letter words into your heart by His Holy Spirit: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”

You see, this Christ Jesus, Who has body and soul, has come to save you body and soul with His body and soul. His life. That is what He imparts to you, who were conceived in your mother’s womb under His tender mercies at the beginning, and who are sustained in life to this very day.

Having been utterly abandoned on the Cross for all your sin and transgression, and having been raised from the dead on account of His faithfulness ON YOUR BEHALF AS YOUR SUBSTITUTE, He is able to strengthen and encourage you so that - not by your reason or strength, but by His Word - you may proceed without fear of death or anything man may do to you in this life.

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

Where you would think to yourself, “I will just go along to get along, live and let live, and not judge anyone, not upset anyone, not rock the boat and float through life with as little pain or trouble as possible,” the fact is that you who are baptized into Christ Jesus cannot make an easy way for yourself.

It is precisely in the face of thoughts such as this, that Christ Jesus speaks red letter words into your heart by His Holy Spirit: “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

You may say, “But Jesus is speaking to his Apostles here. These words are not for me, are they?”

Well, you tell me. What do you hear and what do you see in the world today? Do you and everyone around you confess Christ Jesus before the world without any negative consequence whatsoever, or are those who confess Christ hated and persecuted?

Indeed, it is the latter that is happening. You know it has been this way from the beginning. The righteous are persecuted. Those who cling to the one and only true God are despised by the world.

“Why is that?,” you say, with your own internal direct discourse (or maybe you wonder it aloud together with your fellow Christians). “Why does the world hate Jesus?” O, they do not only hate Him, but they take His words and twist them into excuses for their own shame, or turn Him into nothing more than a nice, smiling man who was a great teacher in His day.

But why?

Because it is the nature of light and of darkness to be opposites, just as it is the nature of sin and holiness to be opposites.

You who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, who abide in Him, and who are taught by Him, who are under the care of pastors sent by Him, you do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and you do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but you present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members – your arms, legs, fingers, toes, mouths, ears, eyes, reason, and all senses - as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

The world hates that, and will have nothing to do with Christ except to crucify Him anew, along with anyone who believes, teaches, and confesses His Name. “If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul (which is in effect calling Him “Lord of the Shit Flies” or “Prince of Demons”), how much more will they malign the members of his household!”

But, as Christ Jesus says to you this day, you need not fear them. The LORD is with you like a dread champion. Your persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed, with an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.

“Therefore,” says Jesus with direct discourse and red letter words, “do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.”

Where have you heard that before? What radio or TV show? What work of fiction? What documentary? You have not heard these words anywhere than from the mouth of Christ Jesus, and they are still in effect. From Him you know and have been taught that you, and all that pertains to your body and life in this age, are an open book before God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

What Jesus discloses to His disciples in that short time where His body of flesh was soaking up the sin of the world with the glory of God hidden under the cross of darkness, this is NOW disclosed, revealed, and proclaimed to every tribe and nation and tongue, so that the great harvest is underway to the present day even unto the end of this age; a harvest which has brought you into the tender care and mercies of Christ Jesus, your Dread Champion who presents you to the Father in His Name and sustains you by His Word and Spirit, red letters and all even as His Word was, is, and evermore shall be.

In all truth, God the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit has made you his own from the beginning, so that He is yours with every blessing, to protect and help you in all need.

Look. The one Who bids you to fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell has given His soul and body voluntarily into just that condition, not as a ghost, but while garbed in the same flesh and blood you have. This He did not do for His own sake, but for yours.

Having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, you have this gift, resulting in sanctification, that is a separation from the ways of this world of sin and death, AND resulting in the outcome, namely eternal life both now and forever as your God and Savior brings you to Himself.

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