Sermon - Lent Midweek 1 - 2018

The first question asked in the Small Catechism concerning the Sacrament of the Altar is: “What is the Sacrament of the Altar?” That’s a good question! What is the nature of this meal? What is it? To which the answer is given: “It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.” This Holy Supper is Jesus who feeds us His body and blood.

Now God feeding us is really nothing new whatsoever. God fed Adam and Eve by creating all of the trees from which they were to eat. “Out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” God gave the earth to sprout forth plants yielding all sorts of food, He gave us animals from which we may eat of them, and in the wilderness He gave the Israelites bread from heaven.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you.’” Now, it seems like Moses uses the term “bread” rather loosely, because when he describes it, it doesn’t sound much like the bread you and I eat, but it is bread nonetheless. “When the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.” When the people asked what this was, Moses answered “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” 

The Lord God provides for His people and gives them food to nourish their bodies. He listened to the grumbling of the people and He answered them by miraculously feeding them bread from heaven. God gave the Israelites this food in order to nourish their bodies here on earth, but this food was only temporary. They were only given enough manna for each day, and if they tried to hoard up more than they needed it would spoil and become wormy by the next day. Ultimately, this food only preserved their bodies while on earth as well, as Jesus said “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.” That bread from heaven didn’t keep them alive forever, it was temporary and was only for their bodies.

The same is true for all of the food that we eat even today. It’s all a great gift from God by which our bodies are nourished for this life. The food that we eat at our Midweek Lenten Services is great! It’s a gift from God! But this is all food that perishes. Instead Jesus reminds us “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.” This bread that comes from heaven and endures to eternal life, this bread is Jesus. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

“For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Jesus is the one who has come down from heaven. He was made flesh in the Virgin Mary. Jesus, the Son of Man, is the bread that gives us everlasting life. All of the bread upon the earth will never truly fill us up, because ultimately we will all be hungry again and need to be fed again. Not just will we grow hungry again, but the food we eat each day won’t keep us alive forever. Even if we get our fill of bread every day we’re still going to die. But the bread of heaven that Jesus feeds to us will make us never hunger again, because His bread gives life to the world.

Where is this bread from heaven found? Jesus says of Himself “I am the bread of life... I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Near the end of Jesus earthly ministry, He gathered with the Apostles “as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you; this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’” 

The Lord’s Supper is where you find the bread from heaven. This is where Jesus promises you that He will be. “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” This really is a hard teaching. It doesn’t make sense how Jesus, who is true man, can be bodily present at the Lord’s Supper even today all around the world. How can some bread and some wine be Jesus? Then why would Jesus tell us that we need to eat Him? That we need to take, eat, His body and take, drink, His blood? This is disgusting and repulsive. How could our Lord and Savior really command such a morbid thing?

I don’t know. This is such a profound mystery but we do know that the Lord doesn’t lie and that He gives us His body and His blood for us to eat and to drink to give us everlasting life. No, we don’t chew on Jesus’ flesh like cannibals or suck His blood out of His veins like vampires, that is disgusting. But Jesus does give us bread and wine, and then tell us that this bread and wine is His body and His blood for us to consume.

Jesus gives us of Himself, His body and blood, given under the bread and the wine. Jesus who comes down from heaven gives us the most precious food to eat; He gives us heavenly bread and tells us that this bread shall sustain us in both body and soul to life eternal. Jesus gives you the only food that will sustain you to life everlasting. He doesn’t give you a diet of soup and crackers, He doesn’t give you steak and lobster, He doesn’t even give you pork. God gives us Jesus, the greatest most precious life-sustaining food in all creation.

Jesus now bids you to come and partake of this holy meal. He invites you to partake of this diet that contains the very body and blood of Jesus, the bread from heaven. So come to the table! Come into the presence of our most high Lord God almighty who feeds you a meal packed with something better than nutrients and vitamins; it’s packed with Jesus and forgiveness! 

The Israelites ate manna from heaven each day, and that food was only good for the body. Our Lord now gives us a meal which is good not only for the body but for the soul! This supper of the Lord gives us living bread from heaven that imparts life to our starving souls. Don’t be filled with doubt about this meal, instead be filled with the Word of God that fills us with the hope of the eternal life that Jesus has come to bring.