Sermon - Laetare 2021 - John 6:1-15

The small catechism teaches us: “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” God provides for the needs of all people. The Lord’s providence is always sufficient. Even when we seemingly go without and suffer starvation and deprivation, the Lord is providing us with what we need. Thus our prayer, “give us this day our daily bread” is a prayer to receive God’s providence with thankful hearts, instead of grumbling hearts.

A beautiful illustration of this is in the captivating tale of Robinson Crusoe. As a young man he was dissatisfied with his lot in life, so he set out to sea to seek his fortune. Time and again during his pursuit of wealth, he would find it and disaster would strike. Eventually, he was shipwrecked and washed ashore a deserted island, where he lived alone for nearly 30 years. During his time as a castaway, he came to believe in the Lord on account of having a Bible with him and he realized that even in the midst of his great trials the Lord only continued to provide.

Likewise, we in faith are to recognize that God provides for all of our needs. Even when we grumble and curse the Lord, He still provides. Consider the Israelites in the wilderness: even though they grumbled against God after He had released them from slavery in Egypt, He still provided for them. “The LORD said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’””

What a miracle! God provided for them with bread that came down from heaven and quail that entered the camp each and every day. Of course, in time they would grumble against this too, since they drew weary of eating the same thing every day. It’s also notable, God only provided them with what was enough, He never made them rich. “Each of them gathered as much as he could eat,” but at the same time they couldn’t hoard up extra day after day in order to amass a great wealth of the bread and quail. When they attempted it, “it bred worms and stank.” 

The Lord’s providence was sufficient for the Israelites. It didn’t make them rich, and it perhaps wasn’t exactly what they wanted to eat every day, but it was sufficient for them. God isn’t in the business of making Christians rich and giving them luxurious lifestyles.

 Similarly with the feeding of the five thousand, they all had enough to eat and no one left hungry. “When they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.” Sure there were leftovers, more than what they started with, but it wasn’t enough to feed 5000 people again. God provided them with enough, He didn’t make them rich or feed them the most expensive food, but He did give them what they needed and there was no lack.

God always provides for us too. He maybe doesn’t give us the finest options or the greatest variety, we may not have the best or the most, we may not have what we want, but He does provide. What does He provide? “Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.”

God has very richly provided for all of us. And we haven’t yet even talked about the greatest thing the Lord provides! The manna and quail in the wilderness were great, the fish and bread on the mountain were wonderful, but those were just the small signs pointing to the greater miracle! Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 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 food Jesus feeds us is the greater miracle!

What is this food that endures to eternal life? Jesus said: “The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Jesus is the food that endures to eternal life! 

It’s true that our Daily Bread is all a good and precious gift from God. But all of this daily bread perishes! Too often we’re like the Israelites, always more concerned with the perishable bread than we are with the greater reward. In Exodus, the Israelites forgot about their slavery and being freed, and they only thought about the food! In the Gospel, the people marveled at the miraculous multiplication of bread and fish, but they forgot about the words of eternal life! We might think all those people are so foolish for thinking like that, but we’re typically no better. 

We spend a great deal of our lives laboring for that bread which perishes. We care precious little for anything besides filling our bellies. If it were possible to record all of our thoughts throughout an average day, I suspect we’d find our minds often fixated on our daily bread. I know I would be embarrassed to see a chart of all my thoughts. I’m sure if my thoughts were laid out in a pie chart, a large chunk would be dedicated to my daily bread, and only a small sliver dedicated to the bread of life.

So instead of laboring for the bread which perishes, let us do as Jesus tells us. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So let us believe in the Bread that comes down from heaven! How are we to believe unless we’ve heard the Word which comes from heaven? So let us always listen to the voice of heaven and so always believe in and eat this Bread of life.

God has indeed given us our Daily Bread, and for that we should give thanks without grumbling. God has also given us a better Bread, He has given us the Bread of life. Jesus said: “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 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.”

Jesus is the bread of life and the bread which He feeds us is His own flesh. Dearly beloved, God feeds you a feast, not merely of pork and beef, but a feast of Jesus Christ Himself! When you listen to Him and trust in Him, you’re being fed the bread of life. To make this even more clear for us simple people, Jesus instituted a feast for us to eat every Sunday, a meal which fills not our bellies but our souls, a supper composed of the body and blood of Jesus. 

In this meal we always receive enough, and God provides exactly what we need. Here in the Lord’s Supper Jesus satisfies the hungry heart and the starving soul. In fact, there’s no meal better than the one our God feeds us here. Other foods only fill the belly for a time, but this food saves the body and soul for eternity. This meal is the one more necessary than any other meal. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

No greater promise has been given than the one Jesus speaks there. We who eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus in faith, have eternal life and will be raised up on the last day. So let us gladly receive this meal without grumbling, but with thankful hearts. Rejoice! God provides a very rich meal for us here.