Sermon - Laetare - John 6:1-15

“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her.” Those are the opening words of the antiphon from the Introit. The introit, after the hymn of invocation, is the first part of the divine service that changes from week to week. The introit therefore is the first taste of the theme for that Sunday. Sometimes the theme is harder or easier to figure out from the introit, but today it is quite easy. Today in the church year is named after the first word of the antiphon in Latin, Laetare, meaning rejoice. The theme for today is all about rejoicing. 

However the theme of rejoicing can seem a little odd when we consider that we’re currently in the season of lent. Lent is a somber season, a time when we refrain from the church’s most joyous of words: alleluia. So how is it, that in the midst of lent, the church rejoices?

Such is the way of the church. In the midst of this sorrowful life, the church rejoices because Christ continually nourishes us both bodily and spiritually. Indeed, Christ is He who loves His bride the church. He protects her, He defends her, and He feeds her. With His word He promises to love us and with His suffering, crucifixion, and death He shows us that He loves us. Therefore, Lent is always a time for the church to rejoice, because in His body and blood we find joy and comfort that nourishes us even while we are suffering. 

The joy that we have as Christians in the midst of suffering is found in the words of the Introit from Psalm 122: “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!” Psalm 122 is a psalm of ascent, meaning that those words which we said today would have been on the lips of the Israelites as they prepared to eat the Passover meal. Those are the words that would have filled the minds of the crowd that followed Jesus to the mountain. 

As the Israelites sang those words from Psalm 122, they would have been making their journey to Jerusalem, to the temple, to the house of the Lord. The temple for them was more than a building, it was the dwelling place of God. It was the place where God came to His people to show them mercy and compassion by blotting away their sins with the blood of the passover lamb. When the Israelites when to the temple, they went to see God.

So whether or not everyone in the crowd in our gospel reading realized this, when they followed Jesus up the mountain they were going to the true house of the Lord, the true temple not made with hands, they were going to see Jesus Christ. Even though they didn’t realize it, they went to see God.

But their motives were not so pure as to why they followed Jesus to this mountain. This large crowd was following Jesus “because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick.” The people saw the miracles and they wanted to follow after Him. They weren’t interested in Him because of what He would do by dying on the cross, they were interested in Him because of the miracles that He was performing.

“When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.”” Sure they believed that Jesus was the prophet foretold by Moses: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.” But as it turned out they wanted no more from this prophet than to make Him their king to serve their desires as Jesus perceived “that they were about to come and take Him by force to make him king.”

Some wanted Jesus to help set a rebellion against Roman rule and others wanted Jesus just to feed their bellies with bread. The same can be said for many today. We have our own agendas and the only use we have for Jesus is to fit our agenda so that we can come out victorious against our opposition. Nearly every argument we make, we try to put Jesus on our side by cherry-picking a Bible verse out of context.

But Jesus didn’t come just to help us win at life. The purpose of the exodus out of Egypt wasn’t just to free people from an oppressive government; if that was God’s purpose, then He failed by handing the Israelites over to Babylon a few generations later. The purpose of feeding the large crowd of over 5000 people wasn’t to satisfy their gluttony; if that was His plan, He would have given them something better to eat besides dried fish and  barley bread (which was usually fed to livestock, not people). He didn’t come to free us from our earthly oppressors in this life and He didn’t come to make us rich.

Instead the purpose of God’s releasing the people from Egypt, of feeding the Israelites with quail and manna, of feeding the 5000, was to reveal to the people that He is the God of healing and restoration. His miracles aren’t just demonstrations of His power, but they’re demonstrations of His mercy and compassion! His miracles are signs that point to the salvific work Christ accomplishes on the cross.

Just as the Passover was marked by the sacrificial death of an unblemished lamb for the sins of the people, so has Christ become the Passover Lamb who would be slaughtered, not on this mountain, but upon Mount Calvary. By the blood of this unblemished Lamb, the sins of people across the whole world and all times are forgiven. 

The Passover was eaten in haste, with people standing and ready to leave Egypt. In this meal Jesus directs the people to be seated and recline on the grassy hillside. We aren’t encouraged to get up and leave as soon as we’re done, but to stay and feast in the presence of Jesus our God and king.

In the Passover the Israelites had to slaughter and butcher the Lamb themselves for them to eat it. Upon this hillside, Jesus Himself distributes the food for the people to eat. It is all a gift, and Jesus alone is the one who provides and cares for His people with His gift.

What’s more, the Lord Jesus does all of these things and provides for all of the 5000 people on the mountain. Were any of them unworthy of the gifts He feeds them? Of course! Many, if not most of them, were unworthy to be fed from the hands of God. These unworthy, ill-prepared, violent, gluttonous rebels were served by Jesus and ate until they were filled. When they had eaten their fill, there were twelve baskets of leftover barley bread, more than what there was to begin with! The Lord provides an abundance for His people out of His unending mercy and compassion for even the most unworthy sinners.

Thus the mercy that Jesus shows to these poor slobs reflects the mercy that He shows to us poor slobs today. Jesus Christ is our unblemished perfect passover Lamb who was sacrificed upon the cross. His body and blood was shed for our forgiveness so that we might have life everlasting. 

Jesus invites us to recline at His table, His altar, where He feeds us His body and blood. He bids us to come and to stay, not to immediately depart, but to remain in Him because He has given us His body to dwell with us for all of our days. Here He is seated with us, teaching us and preaching to us with such compassion. At this altar, Jesus feeds us grace upon grace, where the patten and the chalice filled with forgiveness are never ending. He is the one who serves you. He is the one who places the bread and the wine upon your tongue. 

What’s more, He does all of this for us who are unworthy to be fed by Him. We are unworthy, ill-prepared, violent, gluttonous rebels who are served by Jesus and eat until we are filled. 

“Let us go the house of the Lord!” In the midst of this sorrowful life, those words give us joy. Before a funeral begins, the words of Psalm 122 are spoken to the family. With joy we go to the house of the Lord, we come into His presence to dwell with Him and be fed by Him. Even in the midst of death, there is joy in this life because of God’s compassion for us. Whether it is Lent or Easter, whether we are dying of cancer or welcoming a new grandchild, Jesus’ compassion gives us joy. “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her.”