Trinity 7
7/14/13
Mk
8:1-9
In the years that I knew him, at
beginning of every sermon my Grandpa Surburg heard he would look at his
watch. Then, at the end of the sermon,
he would look at his watch again. He did this because he timed every
sermon. I am not sure what length he
considered to be an acceptable sermon, but he certainly frowned on short
sermons that cheated the listener.
My dad and I used to joke about
grandpa’s habit of timing the sermon.
Little did I know that one day I would be timed every Sunday too. Now in my own case this is not a result of
someone deliberately putting me on the clock to find out how long the sermons
are. Instead, it is a result of the fact
that the sermons are recorded so that the audio can be placed on the internet
at the church’s website.
Frank Glaub is our church’s “sound
engineer” and he dutifully makes sure the sermon is recorded so that it can go
on the website. I learned that by digitally
recording the sermons he is also getting an exact measure of how long each one is. From time to time he will mention how long a
sermon was – particularly if it has gone longer than normal.
Generally speaking my sermons are
usually around fourteen minutes. Some
might be a little shorter; some might be a little longer, but they pretty much
fall in that range. There are two
reasons for this. First, we are such a
text based, and now also video based culture, that we have real limitations in
our ability to take in oral communication. There was a time when people thought nothing
of listening to an hour long sermon, but those days are gone. If I started to preach for an hour every
Sunday, I would probably hear about it at the next elders’ meeting – if not
before then.
The other reason is that I am
realistic about my own abilities as a preacher.
If you are going to preach beyond fifteen minutes on a regular basis,
you had better be really good. And while
I think am certainly adequate for the preaching task, I am also realistic about
the fact that I am not good enough to pull that off on a regular basis.
Our Lord Jesus had no such problems
for several reasons. First of all, he did live in an oral culture that was used
to listening for long periods of time.
More importantly, he was a master teacher of great oratorical skill, who
also happened to teach with an authority that was unique to his person as the
Son of God. What he said and the way he
said it was different. People recognized
this and were drawn by it to hear him. And there was also the fact that his
teaching was accompanied by miracles of healing.
When you put all of this together
you find that people were drawn to listen to Jesus for long periods of
time. Yet even by Jesus’ standards, the
events in our text must have stood out as unusual. We learn that people had gathered in a
deserted place and had been listening to Jesus for three days. Apparently it had not occurred to them that
not only had their food run out, but they also were in a place where it wasn’t
possible to get more. Either Jesus’
teaching and presence had captured their attention so greatly that they didn’t
notice this, or if they did, they just didn’t care.
However, our Lord Jesus did
notice and he did care. Our
text begins by saying, “In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered,
and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, ‘I
have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and
have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will
faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.’”
Now we need to realize that this is
not the first time something like this has happened. Two chapters earlier a
crowd of five thousand men, plus women and children, had been listening to
Jesus teach. On that occasion the
disciples had called attention to the problem of food and asked Jesus to send
the crowd away so that they could go and buy some for themselves. But instead Jesus said to them, “You give
them something to eat.” The disciples mentioned the immense cost this would
entail – far more than they could possibly afford. And then our Lord worked a
miracle as he used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed the whole group.
This time, Jesus points out the
problem. And the disciples respond by
calling attention to their location. Literally, the Greek rendering of
their question asks, “From where will someone here be able to satisfy these
with loaves in the deserted place?” The focus was not on the cost, but instead
on the location.
Now when we listen to this account,
we are probably inclined to scratch our head and wonder about the disciples. After all, Jesus has in the past performed
the miracle of feeding a large crowd.
Why do they not have this in mind as they face this new pressing
situation?
Of course when we ask this, we are
conveniently overlooking the ways that we do the same thing. For you see, Jesus
Christ has revealed to you something even more remarkable than the feeding of a
large crowd with five loaves of bread and two fish. He has revealed to you his death on the cross
and resurrection from the dead. He has
revealed that by his saving death you have been reconciled to God and have
eternal life. He has revealed that the
resurrection of the Last Day has already begun in Jesus, and because of your
baptism you have the guarantee of sharing in that resurrection.
You know about this. Yet in spite of
this fact, when faced with financial or health challenges you worry. You know about this. Yet in spite of this fact, when wronged you
choose to bear a grudge instead of forgiving.
You know about this. Yet in spite
of this fact, when you see someone who could use your help you turn away and
get on with your own business.
The disciples were not looking at
the present in the light of who Jesus Christ is and the reign of God that was
present in him. And so Jesus took the
initiative. He asked them, “How many
loaves do you have?” When they told him
that they had seven, he commanded the people to sit down on the ground. Then he
took the bread and when he had given thanks over it, he broke the loaves and he
gave them to the disciples to set before the people. Likewise he blessed some
small fish, and had the disciples give them to the people as well. All of the people ate and were satisfied, and
the bread and fish never ran out. In
fact when they were done eating they gathered up the broken pieces and there
were seven baskets full.
Now perhaps you want to say, “Pastor,
it’s really not a fair comparison. After all the disciples saw Jesus work a
feeding miracle with their own eyes. In
fact, they saw two of them. We on
the other hand didn’t actually get to see the risen Lord on Easter
morning. We have only heard about it
through the disciples’ witness. If we
had seen these feedings with our own eyes, it would be so much easier to have
faith. It would be so much easier to
trust in Jesus and share his love with others in our lives.”
We often think this. But the facts
just don’t support it. The miracles did
not convince the Pharisees. Immediately
after our text they come to Jesus in order to argue with him and they ask him
for a sign from heaven. The miracles
didn’t convince large portions of the people.
And in fact they didn’t even remove misunderstandings from the
disciples.
After Jesus had responded to the
Pharisees, he and the disciples got into a boat to go to the other side of the
Sea of Galilee. We are told that the
disciples had forgotten to bring along bread.
Jesus warned them about the teaching and influence of the Pharisees when
he said, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of
Herod.” Thinking that Jesus was
referring to their absent mindedness, the disciples began talking about the
fact that they had forgotten to bring bread.
Then Jesus responded, “Why are you
discussing the fact that you have no bread?
Do you not yet perceive or understand?
Are our hearts hardened? Having
eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?” Jesus reviewed with them the two feeding
miracles: how much was used, how many were fed and how much was left over. And then he said, “Do you not yet
understand?”
Simply seeing was no guarantee of
understanding and faith. Instead, what
was needed was to know about the event and to know what it meant. What was needed was to know who Jesus was and
why he was doing it. What was needed was
faith and trust in Jesus, because apart from that the event itself only
hardened people in their own ideas about Jesus.
Jesus’ miracles called for faith.
They called for belief in Jesus. And where this faith was present, the miracles
strengthened faith and understanding. Where people were willing to take Jesus
on his terms the miracles revealed that the reign of God was present in
Christ, turning back the forces of Satan, sin, and death.
This is what Jesus still gives to
us. He continues to work a feeding
miracle in our midst. He doesn’t use
bread and fish, but instead in the Sacrament of the Altar he uses bread and
wine to give us his true body and blood. Like the miracles of Jesus earthly ministry,
it is possible to misunderstand this feeding – to deny who is doing it, what it
is and what it means.
But just like the feeding of the
four thousand in our text, the Sacrament is a miracle by which Jesus feeds us
and builds us up in the faith. It is a
miracle whereby the reign of God comes into our midst turning back the forces
of Satan, sin, and death. Through his
body and blood given and shed on the cross for us our Christ gives us
forgiveness, life and salvation. The risen Lord gives into our bodies his body
and blood and so assures us that our bodies will share in his resurrection too
on the Last Day.
The people in our text had to wait
around for three days in a deserted place to experience the miracle of the
feeding of the four thousand. And of
course, they didn’t know that it was coming.
Not even the disciples were expecting it. But in our case our Lord has
told us ahead of time, and there is no waiting or surprise. He has invited us to come to the
miracle. In fact, he has commanded us to
come. Our Lord has promised the when his called servant speaks his words over
bread and wine, he gives us his true body and blood to eat and to drink. It is the miracle that we can count on every
time until he comes again in glory.
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