A whole lot of grumbling going on. . .

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, one year series, preached this week.

There is a whole lot of grumbling going on in the readings for today.  The whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron for leading them out of slavery only to die of hunger in the wilderness.  Moses complained to God about it.  Though what we heard in Acts seems peaceful enough, a few verses and chapters later the complaints betrayed the calm here.  Finally in the Gospel from St. John, the disciples grumbled to Jesus that He had preached too long, the people were hungry, and it was time to send them home.  When Jesus protested, they complained that they did not have enough money to buy bread for this crowd of thousands even if there was a supply available.  Peter complained that a little boy’s lunch would not go far.  Then after Jesus had done the unthinkable and fed them all with baskets of leftovers for each of the naysaying disciples to take home, the crowd grumbled that Jesus was not going to feed them every day.  Why, it sounds like Church!

In every case, the grumbling echoed the mistake of Eve in Eden.  The grumbling presumes that what we really need are things, things to make us happy, to take away our hunger, to relieve us of the labors of this life, to take away our pain, to make us happy or healthy or wealthy.  God is rich in mercy but to us He is stingy with the things we think we need.  Jesus seems to be holding out on us even though He has given us more than our minds could conceive, our hearts could desire, or our works accomplish.  He has given us life and not just life but the abundant life that death cannot end and trials cannot overwhelm its joy.  He has not come to make today better but to give us eternity, not to provide meals to delight our eye and palate but the good of everlasting life, and not to give us things but Himself – most supremely in His flesh and blood in bread and wine.

We are all in the wilderness for now but Jesus is here with us.  He is the author and perfecter of the faith, who has gone before us to carve out the way through sin and its death and He has come back to us to lead us to our home in His presence.  But until we learn to stop grumbling and to start looking to Him who has come for us, the faded promise of the moment will always steal our eternal joy.  The people of Israel got food to satisfy the body but they got so much more in the kindness and compassion of the God of their salvation.  The Church may not have a fortune in the bank or great influence in the public square but we have the Gospel of Christ and Him crucified for us and every sinner.  Your table may not be abundantly set for every meal but the abundant food of His flesh and blood are always near you.
Of course, we do not live by bread alone but that does not keep us from the temptation to judge all by the bread of this life.  In the midst of it all, our Lord is still teaching us what He said in His temptation.  We live by the bread of God’s Word.  Of course, the troubles and trials of this mortal life will soon be over but the Word of the Lord, according to Jesus, is eternal and so is its promise to us.  Jesus is the bread of life and all who eat of His flesh and drink of His blood already have eternal life.  We think what we need is some relief from all that is wrong now but Jesus knows we need something far bigger.  We need forgiveness, life, and salvation.  The world and our flesh are always listening to the devil who says this is not enough.  So we grumble to one another and to God.  Jesus is still there among us telling us over and over again, “I am the Bread of Life.”  It will never be proven to us that His word is true until we no longer need any proof.  So we live the life we live by faith.

Once someone grumbled to me that I lived in a pollyannaish world.  You know.  Pastors  have perfect families and don’t even pay taxes, right?  Of course, this is a lie and one that cuts through the heart of every pastor who struggles to shepherd the flock of God as well as the Good Shepherd.  But that is how faith seems.  It seems like blind optimism or naivete in a world where tariffs loom, real wars are fought, the hungry languish, the afflicted are in pain, the righteous suffer, and nothing seems to get better.  Our help is in the Name of the Lord.  Faith is not reasonable but it is the path of hope in a hopeless world – other than constant grumbling.  We do not have everything we want and sometimes we lack everything we need but we have Christ, the power of His Word to bring us to and sustain us in faith.  We have the baptismal water which gave us new birth to everlasting life.  We have absolution to relieve the guilty conscience so that we might focus not on sin but on righteousness.  We have the bread of His flesh and the cup of His blood to feast upon now as the foretaste of the eternal.

Grumbling presumes that perception is reality.  Faith is the conviction of what is unseen.  The grumbling have no room for joy.  The faithful have a joy and a peace that is beyond reason.  The old Adam presumes that we know what is really real but the new man created in Christ Jesus sees and judges by faith.  What no one has money to buy, Jesus gives freely to all who come.  Forgiveness, life, and salvation and the only price of entrance is faith, prompted by the Spirit, returning us week after week right here.  I cannot command you to stop grumbling but I can call you and me to walk in faith, delighting in the good things of God, and doing them.