Lent 4
Jn
6:1-15
3/10/13
During this past Presidential
election, the Republican candidate for Vice-President, Paul Ryan, had an
awkward moment. Ryan is a member of the
House of Representatives where he serves a district from Wisconsin. He has earned a reputation as a person who is
very knowledgeable about the details of government fiscal matters – the kinds
of things that make most of us yawn. He
has been a fiscal conservative, calling for reduced government spending in the
face of an ever growing federal deficit.
Naturally, in the context of this position, he had opposed the
President’s large stimulus bill that had marked the beginning of his
administration.
Once Ryan had become the Republican
candidate for Vice President, his Democratic opponents produced copies of
several letters from Ryan that were embarrassing to say the least. In these letters Ryan had written to various
government agencies supporting firms in his district who were trying to get
stimulus funding.
Needless to say, it’s not exactly
consistent to oppose the stimulus bill and then to turn around try to help
people get money from the stimulus bill.
Ryan’s explanation, was plausible enough. He said that the letters came
out of his constituent case work system and that he did not know directly about
them because his office sends out thousands of letters. I guess I would say that the idea of
congressmen sending out thousands of letters and having no idea about their
content is not the most comforting one.
The letters from Ryan’s office do
illustrate the fact that if the government is going to hand out money, everyone
is going to line up to get some. And
really, it’s always been that way.
During the time of the Roman empire the emperor had funds that he could
use at his discretion to benefit cities and towns with building projects. And they all sought to ingratiate themselves
to him in order to get a piece of the pie.
In our text today, Jesus performs a
miracle as he uses five barley loaves and two fish to feed more than five
thousand people. When it is done he has to leave because the people want to
make him king. From comments later in the chapter it becomes clear that one of
the reasons they want to make him king is because he will be able to give them
bread for free. He can be their “bread
king” and they will never have to worry about eating again. However, in this attitude they have missed
what the sign of the miracle is all about.
Our Gospel lesson tells us that
Jesus was in the area of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A large crowd was following him, because they
saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up on a mountain, and
there he sat down with his disciples.
And then our text adds, “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at
hand.”
That little reference to the time is
an important one. The Passover was the
remembrance of how God had rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt. It was a time that heightened expectations
that God would act again in order to rescue Israel – this time from Roman
domination. Large crowds made their way
to Jerusalem in order to celebrate the Passover and the population of the city
swelled. The theme of the Passover and
the large numbers of people made it a time when revolt or violence was always a
possibility. And for that reason the
Roman prefect made his way from the beach life at Caesarea on the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea up to Jerusalem as he took extra troops with him.
Large crowds were nothing new when
it came to Jesus and his ministry.
However this crowd had probably grown to be one that was large even by his
standards because of the Passover pilgrims.
In our text we hear, “Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large
crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread,
so that these people may eat?’”
John tells us that Jesus asked this
question in order to test Philip, since Jesus already knew what he was going to
do. Philip’s answer emphasized how
impossible the task was. He said, “Two
hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a
little.” A denarius was a day’s wage, so
Philip was emphasizing what a huge task this was.
We learn that Andrew then reported, “There
is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so
many?” Now we aren’t told anything about
Andrew’s motives in doing this. Why bother mentioning it to Jesus? Was he hoping that Jesus would do something
with it? The text doesn’t tell us one
way or the other, so we will never know for sure. But the other times Andrew is mentioned in
the Gospel he is doing the kinds of things you would hope a disciple would do. He
follows Jesus when he meets him. Andrew then
wants his brother Peter to meet Jesus because he says, “We have found the
Messiah.” He helps some Greeks come and see Jesus. It’s at least plausible that he was hoping
that Jesus might do something with them.
As it turned out, Jesus did. He had the people sit down on the grass and he
used the five loaves and two fish to feed the entire crowd – five thousand men,
plus women and children. Everyone got to
eat as much as they wanted, and when they were all done they were able to
gather up twelve baskets full of leftovers.
It was a stunning miracle. And the people reacted. We hear, “When the people saw the sign that
he had done, they said, ‘This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the
world!”’” They identified Jesus as an end time figure who was going to be involved
in bringing God’s rescue. And so they
decided take things into their own hands.
In fact we are told in our text, “Perceiving then that they were about
to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the
mountain by himself.”
The people had seen the
miracle. But they had drawn all of the
wrong conclusions. In the setting of the
Passover they wanted to make Jesus king.
They wanted to make him king because in Jesus they thought they had a leader
who would supply their needs. That’s exactly what Jesus told them when later
they tracked him down in Capernaum on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He
said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw
signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food
that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of
Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
The crowd had not seen the
sign. Instead they had only seen the
food that Jesus could provide. And as a result, they came to him looking for
the wrong thing. Jesus told them not to
be focused upon the food that perishes.
Instead, they needed to seek the food that endures to eternal life.
How often does that description fit
us? When do we really think about God? Is
it when there is some kind of crisis in life and we feel like we need
help? Is it when we want something and
as we face the uncertainty about whether we are going to get it or not we turn
to God and ask for his help? Is it when
things are going well – when life is cruising along and in the glow of success
we give thanks to God because it just feels good to do that?
Naturally there is nothing wrong
with these in and of themselves. Yet as
a general orientation the problem with them is that they are all about us. None
of them are focused upon God because he
is God. None of them are focused
upon God as the One who alone gives purpose and meaning to life. None of them are focused upon God, because of
the way that our sin prevents and hampers life with God.
Jesus said to the people, “I am the
bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me
shall never thirst.” Jesus declares that
he is the One who provides life. He is
the One who can truly satisfy our deepest needs.
Our text tells us that the crowd was
following Jesus because they saw the signs that he was doing as he healed
people. They saw the sign of the miracle
with the bread and fish. But rather than
put their faith in Jesus – rather than believing in Jesus and his ministry they
decided to take him on their own
terms.
And by doing so they missed what the
sign of the feeding miracle really meant. After Jesus turned water into wine at
Cana, John tells us, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in
Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” Jesus’ miracles are signs that reveal his
glory as the incarnate Son of God. They are signs that invite faith.
Yet they are also signs that point
to the ultimate means by which Jesus will reveal his saving glory. The signs point forward to how the saving
glory will be revealed in Jesus’ death on the cross. During Holy Week Jesus said, “Now is the
judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I,
when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” And then
John adds that he said this to show- literally, “to sign” - by what kind of
death he was going to die.
Jesus Christ was lifted up on the
cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Word became flesh in order to be nailed
to the cross – in order be the sacrifice for sin. And then on the third day he
rose from the dead. He demonstrated that
he had come to give life – a life that overcomes sin and death itself.
In our text Jesus gives a sign as he
uses bread to work a miracle and feed the large crowd of people. And now as he gives the life that he won by
his death and resurrection he continues to give us signs. He gives us signs as they are found in Holy
Scripture. John says near the end of his
Gospel, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which
are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have
life in his name.” We continue to experience the faith creating and sustaining
signs in God’s Word.
And our Lord continues to use bread
to work a saving sign in our midst.
Jesus says in this chapter, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will
raise him up on the last day.” These words find their fulfillment in the
Sacrament of the Altar. There Jesus
gives us a sign that is far more than a symbol.
It is a sign in that it reveals Jesus and his salvation. But it is more than symbol because it is the
true body and blood of Jesus Christ.
In our Gospel lesson the crowd wants
to take Jesus by force and make him their bread king. But instead, at Jesus’ invitation we come to
him in order to receive the bread of life – to receive his flesh and blood
which gives forgiveness and eternal life. And because the risen Lord gives us
this gift we know that we will share in the life of the resurrection on the
Last Day.
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