Pentecost 12
“Both Guests and
Givers”
Text: Matthew
14:13-21 (Isaiah 55:1-5; Romans 9:1-5)
Grace, mercy,
and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Amen.
The disciples were sensible, and sending
the people home was the sensible thing to do. After all, it was getting late in
the day and the people needed food. So dismiss them, Jesus. Tell them that’s all for today, go home and get a bite to eat.
But
Jesus does not live within the boundaries of the sensible. It was not
sensible to tell fishermen who had been fishing all night and caught nothing to
go back out in the day when the fish went deep and try again – but Jesus did, and provided
a great catch. It was not sensible to assert that a girl who had died was
simply asleep – but Jesus did, and then
showed it by raising her from the dead. And in the same way it was not sensible
for Jesus to tell His small group of disciples when faced with a crowd of well
over 5,000 hungry people: “You give them something to eat.” But Jesus did. Perhaps the disciples
were getting used to that by now, as part of their continuing education, for
they don’t object – they simply take what they have and give it to Jesus. Five loaves of bread and two fish. And it is enough. For
anything in the hands of the Lord is always enough. And more
than enough.
Jesus then says grace, blessing God from
whose hands come bread and fish. Then the bread passes
from the hands of Jesus to the hands of the disciples, and from the hands of
the disciples to the hands of the people. They now do as Jesus had told them,
giving them all something to eat. And all not only eat – they have their fill.
Jesus is lavish with His gifts. He does not carefully measure out to each an
exact portion: 2 ounces of bread and 1 ounce of fish for each adult. There you go, that’s enough, move along.
No. Jesus gives and gives and keeps on giving. More than we think. More than we
expect. More than we imagine. For here in this man Jesus is our giving God in
human flesh and bone. Here in this man Jesus is the One who has come in
fulfillment of the words of the prophet Isaiah, providing wine and milk,
or in this case, bread and fish, without money and without price. That all may come and be filled.
And that “all” means not only the people
in Isaiah’s day, or the over 5,000 gathered in the countryside around Jesus,
but also you and me today. The feeding our Lord began then continues to this
day as we have come to our Lord here in this place and receive
His food. From the hands of His servants today, Jesus is still feeding multitudes
– not with bread and fish, or mere bread and wine, but with His very own body
and blood. He does not leave us to discover our own “spirituality,” or send us
away in search of our own spiritual nourishment, but comes to provide for us. And not just a morsel, but to give an abundance of His forgiveness, life, and salvation. That we be
filled with Him and His life.
That is Jesus, your Saviour. The One we
just sang about: the living bread from
heaven who well feeds His guests. (LSB
642)
But while we are guests, we are not only
guests. For with Jesus, guests do not remain just guests. For when you get
Jesus, it is as
And so in the story of Jesus feeding the
5,000 today, we not only sit with
the crowds and receive the gifts of Jesus, we also stand with Jesus, like the disciples, as givers. Now, there’s an
important difference here, for not all are called by Jesus to be pastors, as
Jesus was training those twelve disciples to be when He told them to feed the
crowds. But you have been called by Jesus into the priesthood of the baptized.
He has given you places to serve in all the vocations He has given you to live
– in families, or as friends, workers, neighbors, and more. In those roles, you
too stand with Jesus for those around you in this world, who
have all kinds of needs. And as such, what has Jesus told you to do? Well, it is quite simple actually. Just as Jesus simply
told His twelve: They’re hungry? Well then,
you give them something to eat! So He tells us today: They’re in need? Well then, you help them. Love them. Love all
people, no matter how good they are or no matter how much they get on your
nerves! Love your neighbor and love your enemies. Do good
to all people. Help, serve, pray for them. Be humble
and consider others better than yourselves. And above all, forgive. No matter what. With no strings attached.
Now, perhaps that list sounds about as
non-sensible to you as Jesus telling His twelve to feed all those people! Perhaps
you think: I can’t do those things. It is
too much for me. Send them away to someone else to get what they need! All I
have are these 10 miserable fingers, 2 stumbling feet, and 1 very black and
sinful heart! What are these to do all that you have asked? . . . But Jesus does not live within the bounds
of the sensible. Like with the twelve, what you have, in the hands of
Jesus, is enough. No matter who you are, your
shortcomings and failures, your doubts and fears, your age, your health, your
problems, or your past – in the hands of Jesus it matters not. What you are,
what you have, is enough. No – it is more
than enough.
Because the hands of Jesus that held
those five loaves of bread and two fish and fed so many people, were the same hands
that took the nails and wood of
For consider what those hands of Jesus
have worked – and are still working – in you. For in Holy Baptism, the hands of
Jesus have taken a person born dead in sin and raised you from the dead to a
new life. In those waters His hands have made a saint out of a sinner, and a
son out of a rebel.
In Holy Absolution, the hands of Jesus
take a person who has again plunged back into the filth of the sin of this
world, and washes you clean in forgiveness. A forgiveness that is not carefully
and stingily measured out, but which is lavished upon you! With those words His
hands pull you out of the pit of sin, rescue you, and restore you prodigals as
sons.
And then again, as I mentioned earlier, in
the hands of Jesus mere bread wafers and a cup of wine become His own
life-giving body and blood, given to feed you with His forgiveness, life, and
salvation. A banquet that never runs out, but which is here
for you as often as you need it; a feast that will not end with this life, but
will continue even forever, in Heaven.
And so in the hands of Jesus, we become what we were not before. From the hands of Jesus, we receive all
that we need, and more. And under
the hands of Jesus, we live under His blessing and love. To be not all
that we can be – but to be all that
He has made us. To live as His own, loving and serving and forgiving as we are
loved and served and forgiven. For as it was then, so it is now – there is
always more Jesus than we think. More than we expect. More than we imagine. More Jesus given to us
and also through us. From His hands to ours, and from ours to the world, for the life of
the world.
In the Name of
the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Amen.
(Some thoughts for this sermon
taken from Rev. Dr. Norman Nagel in Selected
Sermons of Norman Nagel, p 192-193.)