Sermon - Laetare 2022 - John 6:1-15

Israel Fed and Given Drink in the Wilderness, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

When things aren’t going as expected and you’re having a bad day, what’s your general demeanor, attitude, and behavior? Typically we’re not full of smiles and joviality, instead we’re grumpy and sour, we lash out at others, we fill our minds and mouths with grumbling and complaining. In this state of mind we follow the path of least resistance, and it’s easier to tear others down than it is to think constructively. 

We see the Israelites doing this in our text today: “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”” They were having a bad day, their stomachs were growling, and they didn’t know where they were going to get their food. So they grumbled against Moses and Aaron, but when you grumble against the Lord’s servants, you are really grumbling against the Lord, which is what they did.

All they could think about was the food they ate in Egypt, but they didn’t remember that they were slaves doing forced labor. What’s more, they didn’t remember all that God had done for them since leaving Egypt. God sent the Egyptians plagues, but spared the Israelites. When the Israelites began their exodus, they got to plunder the Egyptians and take their gold, silver, clothes, and whatever else they wanted. When Pharoah and the Egyptians pursued them, God gave the Israelites passage across the Red Sea on dry ground and drowned the Egyptians. When they thirsted in Marah and the water was bitter, God made it sweet. It was easier emotioanlly for the Israelites to be slaves in Egypt, depending on their earthly masters, than it was for them to be freed from slavery and live as children of their heavenly Father.

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction… that we might not desire evil as they did.” Instead of grumbling like the Israelites every time something doesn’t go as planned, let us learn from their fickle hearts and thus fill our mouths with rejoicing instead of grumbling. The mercies of the Lord change our hearts of grumbling into hearts of rejoicing.

The reason for our rejoicing is that God is our Father and we are His children. This was established in Baptism and it’s reinforced every time we make the sign of the cross and recite our baptismal identity: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” God is our Father and He provides for all of the needs of His children, even and especially when we’re having a bad day.

Our struggle however is that our flesh would rather be slaves to this world than children of the Father. The Israelites preferred slavery to the Egyptians so long as their Egyptian masters kept the food coming. This still applies to us today, even though slavery isn’t technically legal here. We’d often rather be slaves to our employer or the markets or the government, so long as those masters keep the food and toys coming. So long as we slaves keep working for our masters, we get rewarded. But being a child is different, because our Father doesn’t feed us based upon our labor, rather it’s based upon His generosity and what He knows is good for us. 

Being a slave simply requires obedience like a good dog. But being a child requires faith that the Father will provide. It’s easier to be an obedient slave than it is to be a faithful child. On top of that, a slave grumbles against the master because the master is imperfect and doesn’t love the slave; the master doesn’t know what the slave needs or wants, so the slave has to grumble. When the slave grumbles and keeps working hard, the slave gets the piddly raise. 

But it doesn’t work that way as children. The Father loves the children and knows what they need before they even need it. Like Jesus in our Gospel: “Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”” Even before the large crowd had all gathered, He knew they would need to be fed, and He knew how He would provide. They didn’t have to be obedient slaves, they didn’t have to grumble, He simply loved them and knew what they needed.

It is just as St. Paul writes: “So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” We are children and the Father provides for His children. Instead of grumbling like slaves, let us delight in the many mercies which our Father shows to us and therefore let us rejoice! “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; that you may feed and be satisfied.”

What’s more, my brothers and sisters, the benefits of being God’s children are far more than being fed and clothed. The best food which our Lord feeds us is that which endures to eternal life. The Israelites in Jesus’ day made the mistake of thinking being Jesus’ followers was purely of earthly benefit. “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”

When the people found Him again, all they wanted was to eat more bread. So they asked what they had to do to get more bread, they were in the mindset of being obedient slaves; so Jesus told them: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” He told them to stop being slaves. God is the one who does the work, they have only to believe in Him. But what did the Jews do? “The Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”” 

So what did Jesus say to them in response? “Do not grumble among yourselves… I am the bread of life. 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.”

Being God’s child is much more than receiving all of our good things in this life from Him, it’s about receiving all good things from Him both in this life and in the one to come! The Lord provides both our daily bread and our Bread from heaven. Listen to this promise of Jesus: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” What a wonderful promise Jesus speaks to us who eat and drink the blood of Christ! Jesus is the bread of life and from Him we have eternal life and will be raised on the last day.

This is a splendid reason to rejoice! We’re not grumbling slaves trying to earn a reward from our master through our obedience, but we’re children of the Father joyfully receiving His daily mercies which are new every morning. When it appears like things are going down the toilet and we’re having a bad day, or a bad year, let us remember the love of our Father who promises to preserve us through every trial. He knows what we need and has the solution before any problem has even arisen. Instead of grumbling against one another, and especially against God, let us rejoice together with one voice on account of the freedom Christ has won for us! Look at how the Lord provided for His children in all situations, look at how the leftover crumbs were more than what they had to begin with; our Father will do the same and more for you! So in the middle of Lent, in the middle of a bad day or year, even before it gets better, see the mercies of God and rejoice in the Lord!