Lent 4—Laetare
Dear friends in Christ. A few weeks ago, on the First Sunday in Lent, the Gospel reading was Jesus being tempted by the devil. There we heard that as part of His work to save us from our sins Jesus had to endure every temptation to sin that the devil threw His way. That’s because God demands that His holy Law be kept and since we can’t do it, Jesus came and did it for us. Now heaven has been opened to us because God’s holy law has been kept—by Jesus for us. The perfect, sinless, obedience to His Law that God demands Jesus gave—for us. Not only do we see in the account we heard a few weeks ago of Jesus’ temptation that Jesus withstood every one of the devil’s temptation to sin, but elsewhere in Scripture, for example, the apostles write [Heb. 4.15; 1 Pt. 2.22]: [Jesus] in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin and He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.
The thing to remember is that Jesus was not just tempted those 40 days in the wilderness; He did not just endure those three temptations that the Gospel writers record. Instead, all throughout His earthly ministry the devil was tempting Jesus to sin, trying to get Him off that path that would lead to our salvation. One of those times the devil tempted Jesus was at the end of our text: 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. Notice, the devil is trying to get Jesus off the path of bringing about the salvation of the world by holding before Him the Kingship—but one that did not involve His suffering and death, one that did not involve the cross as His enthronement. What the devil was offering Jesus here by the crowds to come and take him by force to make him king was a sham kingship. Jesus knew and held to the path of the crown that first goes through the cross and suffering.
That’s the good news for us! Jesus is truly our King because He was enthroned on the cross. That’s where He is exalted; that’s where He became our king. Here’s our salvation! Later on Jesus says [John 6.32]: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth [that is, on the cross] will draw all people to Myself. Notice, Jesus draws us into His Kingdom, the Church. Jesus calls and invites us into His kingdom by the forgiveness of sin, peace with God and eternal life He won by His holy life and innocent suffering and death. Notice how opposite the devil’s temptation is: the people try to come and take him by force to make him king; the people don’t make Jesus King. He is King! He is enthroned on the cross and now draws/ invites people into His kingdom.
What made the people want to come and take him by force to make him king? Jesus had just fed them—5000 men—in the wilderness with just 5 barely loaves and 2 fish. That’s the miracle/ the sign that our text is about this Sunday. The Church picked up on this miraculous feeding and placed it here at the mid-point of the Lenten season. Much like the crowds that day that were in the middle of nowhere—here we are half-way through our Lenten journey with our Lord to the cross; half way through this season of fasting and prayer; half way through this time of serious introspection of looking at our hearts and lives in the mirror of God’s holy Law. Just as Jesus gave refreshment to the crowd that day, so too Jesus gives us in His Church true spiritual refreshment.
1. The scene is set for us already in the verses right before our text. Jesus had a run in with the Jews and His final words to them were [John 5.46-47]: For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words. Here Jesus talks about Moses, the one whom the Lord used to lead the Israelites out of slavery; the one through whom the Lord had given His holy Law. And now St. John begins our text: After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. By healing the sick Jesus was confirming the word that He was preaching, namely, that He is the long promised and awaited Messiah; the one that Moses had prophesied before. The people, though, were following Jesus—not because of His preaching but because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.
Notice John’s interesting side statement: Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Jesus wanted to use even this—the time of year—to remind and teach the people who He is. The Passover—which was fresh on everyone’s mind—gives the shape/ form/ significance to this miracle that would serve as a sign pointing to who Jesus really is—the Son of God and Savior of the world.
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?” Notice: a large crowd in the wilderness, a crowd which must be fed—sounds like what?—the exodus! the time of the desert wanderings after the Lord had delivered His people out of slavery in Egypt and was leading them those 40 years to the promised land.
Even the simple fact that Jesus—and thus the crowds went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee —is a reminder of the Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea. Although here this going from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other was not a miraculous event, it still would at the time of the Passover certainly be a reminder of that event. And what happened during those 40 years? The Lord provided for His people by giving them water, quail when they complained about no meat, and manna. So what happens here? Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” Jesus feeds them and feeds them abundantly so that all had as much as they wanted. Here is a mini re-creation of the exodus and is a sign pointing to the fact that the One who had fed their ancestors in the wilderness was also again in their midst, providing for them that day. Just as their ancestors had manna those 40 years, here they in the wilderness were fed bread and even fish—by the same One.
By this miracle—Jesus feeding the 5000 with only 5 barely loaves and two fish—is a sign pointing to the fact that Jesus, who was in their midst that day is truly the Lord of the OT, the one true God. Not only could He do what the Lord did, He did it! This miracle is a sign, then, that not only points to Jesus as being the Lord God of the OT, but since the Lord God of the OT is the one true God, that now means that Jesus is that one true eternal and almighty God!
In other words, by this miracle Jesus shows Himself as the true God who is our Creator and also our Preserver. Earlier in John’s Gospel he says of Jesus, the Son of God [John 1.2]: He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Now Jesus shows Himself as Preserver; He shows that God did not just make everything and then leave it alone. Instead, He is actively involved in His creation. Here we see that ultimately it is the Lord who grants us our daily bread and preserves our lives.
Notice as well: Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” What a glorious sign! The people that day did nothing to be fed. Jesus drove home that point as He had them sit down, incapable of any work except simply to receive. Everything that supports and sustains our earthly lives is God’s pure blessing to us; purely out of grace. As St. John later tells us in this chapter, all these people later left Jesus, rejecting Him and His teaching. And although Jesus, the true God, who knows all things before, knew these people would reject Him, He still feeds them. That’s the way God always works, as Jesus says [Mt. 5.45]: [God] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. All enjoy the graces and blessings, the goodness of the Lord because He is our Creator and Preserver—that’s what Jesus assures here in our text as He gives refreshment to the crowd—has them sit down to simply receive: we can rely on Him to support and preserve our earthly lives.
2. But if we look upon Jesus as the crowd here does—as one to provide for our earthly needs, and that’s all, we miss the sign that is the feeding of the 5000. Later, Jesus told this crowd [Jn 6.26], Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Yes, Jesus gave the crowd that day great bodily refreshment—but it was a sign, a sign pointing to something else, something greater. It was a sign that pointed to Jesus as the true God, yes, our Maker and Preserver; but also as the true God who is our Savior—our Savior from sin, death and hell. Remember, this miracle/ sign pointed the people back to the great rescue and deliverance of the Passover and the Lord providing for and bringing His people into the Promised Land! That’s the sign that points us to the true and the greatest refreshment that Jesus gives—spiritual.
Jesus didn’t have to feed the 5000 that day. But He did. He made their need His need. Because they were hungry He had need to feed them. That’s what Jesus did for us all—we were poor, lost, condemned sinners with nothing but damnation in hell awaiting us. What did He, the Son of God, do? He became one of us—true man; He placed Himself under God’s holy Law to obey it for us; He took our sins on Himself to the cross and there paid the price for them as He suffered God’s wrath and punishment over them instead of us. Now, in Christ, we are reconciled to God; now, in Christ, we have peace with God; now, in Christ, our sins are forgiven us and heaven stands open to us. In short, now, in Christ we have true refreshment of soul. We have in the forgiveness of sins in Christ what our restless souls have been striving for-- peace with God.
Jesus now gives us that refreshment in His Church by the Gospel, by holy baptism, by the absolution and by the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. We see a “preview” of Jesus’ refreshing us in His Church. St. Matthew [14.19] fleshes out our text a bit as he writes by the Holy Spirit: And [Jesus] took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. Although it was Jesus who distributed the [loaves] to those who were seated, gave refreshment, He did it through His disciples. The point here is this: in the Church it is Jesus Who is giving us true spiritual refreshment—the forgiveness of sins and eternal life—but He does so through the instruments/ means of the word and sacraments. Jesus gave His teaching, the Gospel and Sacraments, to His apostles and they passed it down until finally we today have the Gospel and Sacraments in our midst and Jesus, through them, is giving refreshment to our souls. We receive the bread of the Gospel from the apostles who received it from Jesus! What a glorious refreshment we get in the Church.
Through this refreshment that Jesus offers and gives in the Church, He is calling and gathering us. And 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. A lovely picture of Christ, through His apostles, gathering us into the Church where He gives us every heavenly and spiritual blessing! What a glorious sign this feeding of the 5000 is—as Jesus gives bodily refreshment we see that Jesus is true God and thus our Creator and Preserver; and also it then points us to this same Jesus who in His Church by word and sacraments gives us true spiritual refreshment to our souls with the forgiveness of sins and peace with God. INJ