TITLE: “The Eyes of All Wait Upon You”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Gospel lesson just read from John chapter 6, the feeding of the 5000.

The eyes of all look to You, O Lord, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing (Psalm 145:15-16). Thus the Psalmist prays and gives thanks that God would provide the whole world with food. We say the same thing every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer: give us this day our daily bread. These words are easy to overlook. It’s easy to think of God’s work as the miracle maker. God is the one who does incredible, amazing things that baffle the mind. But what we often forget is that God is the one who takes care of everything, big and little, important and seemingly unimportant. As we say in the catechism:

What is meant by daily bread?
Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, 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.

When we say that God is the creator of heaven and earth, we are confessing that God gives us everything we need to support the body. That means that when I receive and enjoy a good meal after church, it’s from God. When I enjoy a sunset or a good baseball game, it’s from God. The clothes I wear, the house we live in, my work, the roads, everything that we have that hold us together as human beings. It’s all from God. They may be ordinary, they may be normal and sometimes boring, but all of the things of this earth are from the God who gives.

An early church father many years ago put it this way:

Governing the entire universe is a greater miracle than feeding the five thousand people with five loaves of bread, yet no one marvels at it. People marvel at the feeding of the five thousand not because this miracle is greater, but because it is out of the ordinary. –St. Augustine

The people in Jesus’ day were amazed at the miraculous sign that Jesus did by feeding five thousand and more. But that work was simply an overly obvious example of how God takes care of all of his creation every day.

So the question for us is this: why then do we seem to think that we are stuck on our own? How is it that Satan has lied to us and convinced us that how we live, what we get and how we work, that this is all our doing? And why is this important to him? Why does Satan care whether or not we see the food we eat as from God?

The answer is this. If you don’t believe the little things are from God, it won’t be long before you no longer believe the big things are from God. So Satan tries to eat away at our faith. What are our children taught in school about the things of the world? Generally speaking, children are either taught that whatever they get they have to earn and work at, or that they are entitled to whatever they get. Now they’re truth in both statements, but there is also Satan’s lie.

First of all, obviously we want to teach our children that they should work for a living and receive their due for the work they’ve done. The Scriptures themselves teach that a laborer is worthy of his hire. However, even if I’ve worked for something, even if I’ve slaved and sweat like mad, God is still finally the Giver, because He is the one who gave me this body, He’s the one who gave me the smarts and the wherewithal to do what needs to be done. That why we pray and give thanks for the food that God has given us, even though we earned the money to buy it. Everything in heaven and on earth is the Lord’s, and so it is that everything we receive we receive with thanksgiving, because God gave them to us.

To get to our second problem, children are often taught that they are entitled to whatever they get. You deserve a break today, as the slogan goes. We sometimes give the impression that the life of a middle class family is somehow an inalienable right given from God Himself. It is easy to forget that if we got what we deserved, we would burn in hell for our sin. That’s what you deserve, and that’s what I deserve. But God in His mercy feeds us anyway, and gives us whatever we need to support this body and life. But more than that, He feeds us with the body and blood of His own Son for our salvation. It’s pretty incredible, really.

So let’s think back to our text again. The crowds follow Jesus and the disciples, and they have no place to eat, so they are starving and without a plan on what to do. Jesus says to the disciples, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? Philip and the others just don’t get it. They couldn’t believe that Jesus would ask them to do this! How could it happen! They just didn’t remember that they were dealing with the God who feeds everyone every day of their lives. This is the God who multiplies the harvest every year, and makes the plants grow, and the water and the rain come down to care for them. They had forgotten that Jesus was God!

But we shouldn’t be too hard on them. We do the same thing. How often do we waste our lives away worrying about the future, stressing over things over which we have no control, trying to figure out ways to manipulate and change people and even our very lives to fit our view of how the world is supposed to work. And yet through it all, God in His mercy keeps caring for you, He keeps looking after you. He continues to send His angels to guard you in all your ways. For that is who God is. That is what He does.

So Jesus takes care of them. 5000 men, plus women and children. 10,000-12,000 in all. That’s a lot of people. But it is nothing to the God who holds the earth together. And I love that line, when they had all had enough. They were filled! It was enough, with room to spare for others to be fed from God’s hand.

So God shows His love for them and for us. They didn’t know what they needed, they didn’t even really know who Jesus was, but they were hungry. And so Jesus, because He loves them, feeds them and takes care of them. This God isn’t afraid to sit and eat with sinners.

It reminds us of the Old Testament lesson. The people of Israel had heard the Word of God, had made the sacrifices God demanded, and had presented their offerings to the Lord. Moses then took half of the blood and sprinkled it on the people. After that, the elders went up the mountain and saw God. As our text says, they saw God, and ate and drank.

Eating and drinking is the most normal, the most ordinary of activities to most people. We eat and drink to get on to more important things. But to eat and drink with God, ah, that is different. When you eat and drink with God, it is never ordinary. It is extraordinary, because God is saying to you, I love you, I forgive you, you have a place at my heavenly table. That’s why the meal in Exodus is so important, and that’s why the feeding of the 5000 is so important.

And in the same way, you are about to enter into the presence of God, and eat and drink. But you eat and drink no ordinary bread and wine, but the very body and blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus gives to you the most incredible meal of all; He gives you Himself. This is a table for rejoicing, for God is saying to you: come, join me at my banquet. You are my son, my daughter, and you are welcome here. Your sins are no longer with you; you lost them in your Baptism. You are clean and ready to come to the Table and rejoice in that great Banquet of the Lord.

Jesus gives you everything you need to support this body and life. He gives you both the ordinary food and drink of every day, and He gives you the extraordinary food of eternal life. Come and receive it in faith, for He wants to give you Himself. In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Pentecost 10-B (August 20, 2000)

John 6:1-15 (Feeding of the 5000)

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Last Revised: August 22, 2000