Sermon - Trinity VII - Mark 8:1-9

In whom do you place your hope and your trust to care for you in your bodily needs? If things were to turn sour in your life, and the money dried up and you needed help, who do you go to first? I suppose firstly you trust in yourself and your own hardworking intuition, maybe you trust in a retirement account or a Social security check or a pension, something that you worked for and have now earned. But secondly, you trust in your government, after yourself the next place you turn is to see if the government has some money to give you. Then, third, if you can’t do it, if the government can’t help, then you finally give a last ditch effort and pray to God. 

But we have that order a little mixed up, because it’s Jesus who has compassion on us in both our spiritual and bodily needs. “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.””

Jesus has compassion on the crowds. No one brought this matter up to Him, no one made a case as to why He should provide for this people and give them food, He saw them and He felt compassion for them. He thus makes the conclusion, without anyone praying to him, and showing that He has more compassion than His apostles, He must be the one to feed them. 

So in a show of miraculous love, He takes seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, and has His apostles distribute this food to over 4000 people. This is a miracle, since Jesus bypasses the typical order of growing grain, grinding it to a flour, raising dairy cows and milking them, producing yeast, raising hens and gathering eggs, purchasing all of the ingredients, mixing, kneading, proofing, and baking. Instead Jesus miraculously provides enough food immediately so that over 4000 people can eat until their bellies are satisfied. 

What Jesus does here is a miracle which really and truly took place about 2000 years ago. This miracle gets our attention and it focuses us on the fact that Jesus feeds His people. And while it’s miraculous that He would cause the bread and fish to multiply, it’s not a miracle that Jesus feeds His people. For feeding and providing for His people is simply what He is always busy doing.

When God created Adam and had him work the fields in the garden, it was “the Lord God who formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a Garden in Eden… and out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” 

Though we may be the ones who work the fields, process the harvests, and bake the end result, it’s the Lord who providentially permits it all to grow and preserves the world. You may think nothing of it, but it’s not because of our ingenuity that seeds germinate and grow roots which absorb nutrients in the soil. We didn’t create edible plants, we didn’t create soil, we didn’t create the sun, we didn’t create water; the Lord God did. It’s only because the Lord preserves us that we are still here. 

“The eyes of all look to you O Lord and You give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.” This miracle Jesus performs of feeding the 4000 is to open our eyes to Jesus ordinarily feeding all people every day. The Lord is the one who provides for us all things, even and especially the providence we so readily ignore and take for granted each day. 

So while the government may not be the ones who provide for us like God does, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t work through people. Because He does. Jesus doesn’t walk around to all 4000 people and give them food, but “He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd.” God works through means.

God works through people in this life to provide for others. He works through your hands, He works through the hands of our rulers, in order to provide for the needs of His people. So when you get done working a hard day, instead of sitting back brimming with pride, you should be filled with gratitude to the Lord who provides for you. For your work would be all in vain if the Lord had not blessed it. As the psalmist writes: “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.”

In this the Lord instructs us not to be filled with anxiety for the things pertaining to the body. If you fill your days with anxious toil, afraid that unless you work your absolute hardest everything is going to fall apart, you’re placing your hope in the wrong place because you believe that everything relies upon you. That’s not true, God is the one who will provide for you, so place your trust in Him not yourself or your rulers. 

This by no means permits us to be lazy sluggards, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” Remember that the Lord works through means, He works through your hands, and if you are too lazy to work then neither will you eat. You will reap what you sowed, and if you sowed nothing, then so too will you reap nothing. 

But what shall we say then when one is not lazy, but diligent in all labors, yet reaps nothing but pain and misfortune? Has the Lord forgotten His people? Why does the Christian suffer want while the wicked man receives all form of wealth? To answer this question and concern, which can seem quite personal and intimate at times, we first need to understand that Jesus teaches “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

Jesus’ first and foremost concern for us is not in the things of this earth, and so our first and foremost concern must not be in the things of this body either. Instead, like the crowds following Jesus, they were so concerned with His teachings concerning the kingdom of heaven that they would follow Him for three days and now not be concerned with the problem of having nothing to eat. So we too ought to be not so anxious in regards to our bodily welfare as we are concerned about our spiritual welfare.

What’s more, since Jesus’ primary concern is your spiritual well-being, He has given over to the kingdom of the left, this earthly kingdom and its rulers, the concerns over our bodily well-being. Since this earth is plagued by sin, and the true king of the earth is the devil, we are bound to have rulers who neglect us and fail to care for us. In fact, it will be Satan’s utmost desire to persecute the faithful, distracting them from the kingdom of God and His righteousness with the cares of this life. Whether we’re rich or poor, Satan wills to tempt our hearts away from Christ’s heavenly kingdom to focus only on this body of sin.

So it is my encouragement to you today to be thankful to God for all of His divine providence for you in this life, knowing that He miraculously feeds you even when the devil tries to take it all from you. I encourage you to repent of not seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, but seeking first your temporal goods. And I encourage you to look to the eternal preservation God gives to you and all His church throughout all time. 

For the Lord has provided you with far more than some bread and fish, but our God has provided you with the way to everlasting life where your every need of body and soul is provided for without want. He provides you with this way to eternal salvation through His body and blood sacrificed for you on calvary. His righteousness is delivered to you in this same body and blood at the altar today. This food is given to you not to fill your stomach, but to cleanse this body from sin and satisfy your hunger for righteousness. He has compassion on you, in both body and soul.

Because of His great and tender compassion, don’t worry how much or how little you have, because by God’s great love He has already provided for your greatest need. In fact, “Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked,” and “the blessing of the Lord makes rich,” and finally, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” So let us pray: “The eyes of all look to you O Lord and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hands and satisfy the desires of every living thing. Lord God, heavenly Father, bless us in these Thy gifts which we receive from Thy bountiful goodness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”