Sermon for Pentecost 11, Proper 13B, preached on Sunday, August 5, 2018, by the Rev. Daniel M. Ulrich.
We
seek after the Lord the most when we want something, and that something is
usually tied to our earthly life. The
things of this life, all our necessities, all of our wants, they’re always
before our eyes. We’re driven by them. We’ll do just about anything for health,
wealth, and happiness; and whenever any of these are missing, that’s when we
come to Christ. We want, no, we expect
Him to give us these things. We want Jesus
to be our very own Bread King.
That’s what the people in the
Gospel reading wanted. The day after
Jesus miraculously feed the 5,000 with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, the
crowd searched for Him. They desperately
wanted to find Him, so much so, that they got into boats and crossed the Sea of
Galilee.
Now, I’m sure you and I would’ve
do the same. If we saw someone perform a
miracle like that, you bet we’d follow after them. We’d drive thousands of miles, we’d sail
across the oceans, we’d get on an airplane and fly ½ way around the world and
then hike to the remotest place on earth if that’s where a miracle man
was. We love to see the
extraordinary. If we witnessed that miraculous
meal, you bet every one of us would be on one of those boats. But not because we saw a miracle.
When
the people found Jesus the first thing He said to them was, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are
seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the
loaves” (Jn 6:26). The people didn’t
come to see Jesus because they saw the miracle.
They didn’t seek Him out because they believed He was God’s Son, the
promised Redeemer. They crossed the Sea
of Galilee because they wanted breakfast.
They were hungry. They wanted
Jesus to feed them, to fill their bellies, to satisfy their desire.
Too
often this is why we seek out Christ. We
want Him to give us a full belly. We
want Him to satisfy our desires, and boy to we have a lot of desires. We want a comfortable life. We want to enjoy life on earth. Much of what we do is for this very
purpose. We labor for health, wealth,
and happiness. All the work we put in at
the office, all the time we spend exercising and eating right, all of the money
we spend pursuing hobbies and leisure and vacations, all of it is because we
want an easy life. We want to enjoy our
time on earth. We don’t want to struggle
or suffer in any way.
When
we have our desires, when we’re healthy, when we have enough in the account for
our needs and a little bit more, when we feel a sense of happiness and contentment,
then everything is okay. It’s at these
times when we think less on our Lord.
But how long does it last? Not
very! Inevitably something happens and
that feeling of happiness and contentment is lost. It’s at these times when we turn to Christ, and
yet we turn to Him only wanting Him to fix the current situation. Our desire is for happiness in the here and
now. But this isn’t why Christ came. This wasn’t why He feed the 5,000. Jesus isn’t a Bread King, supplying us with
all our wants and an easy life. Jesus is
the Bread of the King, the Bread that gives everlasting life.
Earthly bread doesn’t lead to
everlasting life. Having the things we
desire: health, wealth, and happiness, they don’t lead to everlasting
life. They’re nice, but they only go so
far; they always fail in the end. Jesus
told the crowd, “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” (Jn 6:27). Jesus
came to give the things that lead to everlasting life. Hearing this the people stubbornly asked for
a sign to prove Jesus’ words, even though they already witness the miraculously
feeding of the 5,000 the day before.
They stubbornly asked for a sign similar to the one their fathers
received in the wilderness: manna, bread from heaven. The people were still thinking with their
bellies! They wanted bread from heaven,
but the bread they wanted still didn’t give life. Their fathers who ate it still died. But the True Bread of heaven, those who eat
that, they’ll never die.
Jesus is that True Bread from
heaven. He said, “my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down
from heaven and gives life to the world….I am the bread of life; whoever comes
to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (Jn
6:32-33, 35). Christ Himself is the
Bread. He’s what’s necessary for
everlasting life. He’s the one who
overcame death with His death on the cross.
He defeated it when He rose on Easter morning, and this resurrected
everlasting life He gives to those who believe in Him. This is what Jesus meant when He said they’ll
never hunger or thirst. Christ isn’t
promising you that your bellies will always be filled. He isn’t promising you that you’ll have all your
desires, that you’ll have a comfortable and enjoyable life. What He’s promising you is that you’ll have
everything you need for everlasting life.
You’ll have His everlasting life.
This
life He gives in the waters of Baptism. In those waters, God joins you to Christ so
that you will have His everlasting life.
Christ gives you His life in His Supper.
The bread of Holy Communion is Christ Himself, His very flesh, His flesh
sacrificed on the cross, given for the forgiveness of your sins. Receiving Christ’s Body literally into your
mouth, you commune with your Savior and you receive all that is His. It’s these things we should labor for. It’s Christ that we should seek at all times,
not to be a Bread King, but as the Bread that gives everlasting life.
The
people who ate their fill of Jesus’ miraculous meal sought after Him the next
day because they were still hungry. They
sought the food that perishes. But
Christ calls us to seek after the food that doesn’t perish, He calls us to seek
the things that lead to everlasting life, He calls us to seek after Him. Health, wealth, and happiness come and go,
but Christ is forever. He alone is the
True Bread that leads to everlasting life.
So come and eat. Come to this
altar and receive that Bread. Partake of
this meal of your Savior’s flesh and blood so that you might have His
everlasting life. In Jesus’
name...Amen.
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