St John 6:1-15/Exodus 16:2-21/Acts 2:41-47
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Give us this day our daily bread. It is the first thing for which you pray, that is, after you pray for our Lord’s Name to be hallowed, after you pray for His kingdom to come, and after you pray for His will to be done.
First, you pray for the needs of the soul, then you pray for the needs of the body. Bread will come. It always does; but only according to the goodness and loving kindness of our heavenly Father who desires greatly to give us His holy Name, to give us His kingdom, to do for us His good and gracious will. The Our Father puts our priorities into proper perspective.
For if left to ourselves our prayers would consist mainly of the Fourth Petition – give us stuff for this life. Bonhoeffer said, “If we were dependant on ourselves alone, we would probably often pray only the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer. But God wants it otherwise. Not the poverty of our hearts, but the richness of God’s word, ought to determine our prayer” (Psalms 157).
And so we are taught, as little children, to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and only then to say, Give us this day our daily bread. For God gives daily bread without our prayer, even to evil people. He teaches us to see His care with the eyes of faith and to do as the Christians in Acts: to receive our food with glad and generous hearts, praising God. God gives not because we ask, but because it is who He is. He gives. We receive. That is Christianity.
So it is that Jesus, who is the living Bread come down from heaven, gives to the crowd even before they ask. The Israelites grumbled in the wilderness. They complained against Moses and thus against the Lord. They rejected His grace: the merciful way He redeemed them from slavery, the mighty way He saved them at the Red Sea, the tender way He led them in the wilderness. They wanted to fill their bellies. They cared not for the righteousness of faith, but for the lust of the flesh.
So too Philip. He was preoccupied with this work-a-day life; two hundred days wages worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little. Even at $5 a foot-long, we’re talking at minimum $25,000 worth of sub sandwiches! But Jesus knew what He would do. He tested Israel in the wilderness. They failed. He tested Philip on the mountain. He failed. He tests you. You have failed.
When our Lord withholds from you for a time that which is meant by daily bread, do you not grumble? Consider the extensive list: food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. Are there none among these for which you have not complained? None which you have not misused? None which you have not coveted or stolen?
Repent. The desperation of our hands and our prayers, betrays the poverty of our hearts. We take and we horde for ourselves. For like the Israelites in the wilderness, we lack faith that God will provide again tomorrow. What has become of our leftovers? They have bred worms and stank.
Again, “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people.” In His love and mercy for you, He would lead you to realize this, to repent of your lack of trust, receive your daily bread with thanksgiving, and to support the needs of others.
He is the giver of every good and perfect gift. And so the Church, His body, mercifully gives as she has received. This is modeled for you in the Jerusalem congregation described in Acts. Not necessarily to sell your possessions and have all things in common. Yet to attend to the needs of those around you, by the means which God has given you, to be together with the baptized, to devout yourself to the doctrine of the apostles, to the communion of the saints, to the Divine Service, and to live freely and mercifully in the vocation in which God has placed you.
For you have not only the model of the Church in Acts, but the humility of this little boy. Our Lord is always using children to teach us the way of faith. He gives his meal; not meat and potatoes, not apples and chicken, but bread and fish. Our Lord is always using bread and fish. This boy, who was a real person, also represents the Christian, who gives back to the Lord that which he has received from Him for its use in the proclamation of the Gospel and in service to those in need.
This is the Church, my friends. She is a place of mercy. A refuge for the weary and hungry, both in soul and body. She lives freely by and from the mercy of God in Christ, who is the Bread of Life.
And then, even before she is asked, she is caring for the needs of others. And this happens in your daily lives, in your vocations, which is the living out of your baptism into Christ Jesus. Is this not recorded in Acts? So those who received His Word were baptized. And they devoted themselves to the apostle’s doctrine and the life together and the Eucharist and the Divine Service. And they were selling their possessions and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Priorities. First things first. Of utmost importance, essential to the Church is the preached Word of Christ, His doctrine, and the blessed Sacraments. And then, secondarily, mercifully caring for others. The Church is where the Word is preached in its truth and purity and where the Sacraments are given according to Christ’s own institution. Without these there is no Church. But with them, in them, by them, is the Church. And where the Church is, there is mercy.
Now some liberal scholars like to think that this miracle, the feeding of the 5,000, is really a lesson in sharing. The little boy shared his lunch, and his charity and humility set an example for others. They took out their sack lunches and began passing them around. But sharing does not yield an abundance, as is described here: They ate as much as they wanted. That is not a snack, but a feast with plentiful leftovers.
Jesus truly fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, on the five barley loaves and two fish of a little boy. In the hands of He who is the Bread of Life, by His Word, grains were multiplied and fish aplenty was given for all. That is the miracle. But no less a miracle that He continues to perform everyday through His natural means of rain and growth and harvest. So what, then, is the sign? For after the crowd sought to make Him king, Jesus said, 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).
What is the sign? Well, St John points to it early in the account, did you catch it? Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. It is not an insignificant detail. But this is a sign that points to the fulfillment of all the signs. For on the night when He was betrayed, that is, on the Passover, Jesus again took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and distributed it saying, Take, eat. This is My Body which is given for you.
The Eucharist is the culmination of the signs – both Old and New – it is the New Testament in His Blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Manna in the wilderness, bread on the mountain side, these point forward to the Living Bread from heaven, come down to give His flesh for the Life of the world.
The people wanted to take Him by force and make Him king, but He withdrew. Kings are not made so by force. They are born. And He would not be ruled by His subjects. He was among them as One who serves, and gives His life as a ransom for many. The coronation of this King is with thorns and He is raised up on the throne of the Cross. But do not mourn for Him. Rejoice! For He Himself knew what He would do. Behold He is not dead, but lives!
Having received His Word, you are baptized. Our Lord has added you to the number who are being saved. And you do have all things in common; living together in Christ all that is His is yours. The Gospel, the free forgiveness of sins, eternal life, everlasting salvation, mercy, love, charity, and here, bread that is His Body and wine that is His Blood. These are yours!
Before you even ask He has taken care of your all needs of body and soul. Here your true daily bread is given. Here His Name is hallowed. Here His kingdom comes. And by your fellowship in the Body and Blood of Christ, you are made one with Him and one with each another.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Give us this day our daily bread. It is the first thing for which you pray, that is, after you pray for our Lord’s Name to be hallowed, after you pray for His kingdom to come, and after you pray for His will to be done.
First, you pray for the needs of the soul, then you pray for the needs of the body. Bread will come. It always does; but only according to the goodness and loving kindness of our heavenly Father who desires greatly to give us His holy Name, to give us His kingdom, to do for us His good and gracious will. The Our Father puts our priorities into proper perspective.
For if left to ourselves our prayers would consist mainly of the Fourth Petition – give us stuff for this life. Bonhoeffer said, “If we were dependant on ourselves alone, we would probably often pray only the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer. But God wants it otherwise. Not the poverty of our hearts, but the richness of God’s word, ought to determine our prayer” (Psalms 157).
And so we are taught, as little children, to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and only then to say, Give us this day our daily bread. For God gives daily bread without our prayer, even to evil people. He teaches us to see His care with the eyes of faith and to do as the Christians in Acts: to receive our food with glad and generous hearts, praising God. God gives not because we ask, but because it is who He is. He gives. We receive. That is Christianity.
So it is that Jesus, who is the living Bread come down from heaven, gives to the crowd even before they ask. The Israelites grumbled in the wilderness. They complained against Moses and thus against the Lord. They rejected His grace: the merciful way He redeemed them from slavery, the mighty way He saved them at the Red Sea, the tender way He led them in the wilderness. They wanted to fill their bellies. They cared not for the righteousness of faith, but for the lust of the flesh.
So too Philip. He was preoccupied with this work-a-day life; two hundred days wages worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little. Even at $5 a foot-long, we’re talking at minimum $25,000 worth of sub sandwiches! But Jesus knew what He would do. He tested Israel in the wilderness. They failed. He tested Philip on the mountain. He failed. He tests you. You have failed.
When our Lord withholds from you for a time that which is meant by daily bread, do you not grumble? Consider the extensive list: food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. Are there none among these for which you have not complained? None which you have not misused? None which you have not coveted or stolen?
Repent. The desperation of our hands and our prayers, betrays the poverty of our hearts. We take and we horde for ourselves. For like the Israelites in the wilderness, we lack faith that God will provide again tomorrow. What has become of our leftovers? They have bred worms and stank.
Again, “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people.” In His love and mercy for you, He would lead you to realize this, to repent of your lack of trust, receive your daily bread with thanksgiving, and to support the needs of others.
He is the giver of every good and perfect gift. And so the Church, His body, mercifully gives as she has received. This is modeled for you in the Jerusalem congregation described in Acts. Not necessarily to sell your possessions and have all things in common. Yet to attend to the needs of those around you, by the means which God has given you, to be together with the baptized, to devout yourself to the doctrine of the apostles, to the communion of the saints, to the Divine Service, and to live freely and mercifully in the vocation in which God has placed you.
For you have not only the model of the Church in Acts, but the humility of this little boy. Our Lord is always using children to teach us the way of faith. He gives his meal; not meat and potatoes, not apples and chicken, but bread and fish. Our Lord is always using bread and fish. This boy, who was a real person, also represents the Christian, who gives back to the Lord that which he has received from Him for its use in the proclamation of the Gospel and in service to those in need.
This is the Church, my friends. She is a place of mercy. A refuge for the weary and hungry, both in soul and body. She lives freely by and from the mercy of God in Christ, who is the Bread of Life.
And then, even before she is asked, she is caring for the needs of others. And this happens in your daily lives, in your vocations, which is the living out of your baptism into Christ Jesus. Is this not recorded in Acts? So those who received His Word were baptized. And they devoted themselves to the apostle’s doctrine and the life together and the Eucharist and the Divine Service. And they were selling their possessions and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Priorities. First things first. Of utmost importance, essential to the Church is the preached Word of Christ, His doctrine, and the blessed Sacraments. And then, secondarily, mercifully caring for others. The Church is where the Word is preached in its truth and purity and where the Sacraments are given according to Christ’s own institution. Without these there is no Church. But with them, in them, by them, is the Church. And where the Church is, there is mercy.
Now some liberal scholars like to think that this miracle, the feeding of the 5,000, is really a lesson in sharing. The little boy shared his lunch, and his charity and humility set an example for others. They took out their sack lunches and began passing them around. But sharing does not yield an abundance, as is described here: They ate as much as they wanted. That is not a snack, but a feast with plentiful leftovers.
Jesus truly fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, on the five barley loaves and two fish of a little boy. In the hands of He who is the Bread of Life, by His Word, grains were multiplied and fish aplenty was given for all. That is the miracle. But no less a miracle that He continues to perform everyday through His natural means of rain and growth and harvest. So what, then, is the sign? For after the crowd sought to make Him king, Jesus said, 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).
What is the sign? Well, St John points to it early in the account, did you catch it? Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. It is not an insignificant detail. But this is a sign that points to the fulfillment of all the signs. For on the night when He was betrayed, that is, on the Passover, Jesus again took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and distributed it saying, Take, eat. This is My Body which is given for you.
The Eucharist is the culmination of the signs – both Old and New – it is the New Testament in His Blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Manna in the wilderness, bread on the mountain side, these point forward to the Living Bread from heaven, come down to give His flesh for the Life of the world.
The people wanted to take Him by force and make Him king, but He withdrew. Kings are not made so by force. They are born. And He would not be ruled by His subjects. He was among them as One who serves, and gives His life as a ransom for many. The coronation of this King is with thorns and He is raised up on the throne of the Cross. But do not mourn for Him. Rejoice! For He Himself knew what He would do. Behold He is not dead, but lives!
Having received His Word, you are baptized. Our Lord has added you to the number who are being saved. And you do have all things in common; living together in Christ all that is His is yours. The Gospel, the free forgiveness of sins, eternal life, everlasting salvation, mercy, love, charity, and here, bread that is His Body and wine that is His Blood. These are yours!
Before you even ask He has taken care of your all needs of body and soul. Here your true daily bread is given. Here His Name is hallowed. Here His kingdom comes. And by your fellowship in the Body and Blood of Christ, you are made one with Him and one with each another.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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