Jesus weeps for those who refuse to see.

Sermon for Trinity 10, August 25, 2019

Grace to you, and peace.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  Amen.

Luke 19:41–48  ⁴¹As he came near, he saw the city and wept over it.  ⁴²He said, “If you, yes you, had only known on this day the things that would bring peace to you.  But now, it is hidden from your eyes.  ⁴³In fact, the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.  ⁴⁴Within your walls, they will dash you and your children to the ground.  And within your walls, they will not leave one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time when God came to help you.”  ⁴⁵Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling things there.  ⁴⁶He told them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”  ⁴⁷Every day he was teaching in the temple courts, but the chief priests, the experts in the law, and the leaders of the people continued to look for a way to put him to death.  ⁴⁸They could not find any way to do it, because all the people were clinging to him and listening.

Jesus weeps for those who refuse to see.

Dear fellow travelers in a world of hatred and violence,

            About thirty-four hundred years ago, the Children of Israel were massed just outside the Promised Land, poised to enter the inheritance long promised to their forefathers.  The man who led them to that point, however, would not be allowed to enter.  For his transgressions, Moses would die. Still, God took him up a high mountain and allowed Moses to see the Promised Land from a distance. 

I sometimes wonder, how much was Moses allowed to see?  Could he see just the rich land that would be his relatives’ new home?  Or, was he allowed to look into the future and see the great victories God planned to give His chosen people?  Did Moses shed tears of joy upon seeing the land of prosperity and peace his people would enjoy?  Or, did Moses suffer the heartbreak of seeing the weakness of faith among future Israelites and the consequences of their unfaithfulness? 

Moses died on top of that mountain without having entered the Promised Land.  Then, taking Moses’ soul to heaven, God buried his body, so no one will ever be able to know just what Moses saw, and no one can build a shrine at his tomb.

About fourteen hundred and fifty years after Moses led Israel to the edge of their inheritance, Jesus led a vast crowd of followers to the edge of Jerusalem, a city whose name means, “Foundation of peace.”  But, as Jesus came to the top of the hills overlooking the city, He was moved to great sadness because He could see the future of those people He was gladly giving His life to save.  Considering what Jesus saw, we see that Jesus weeps for those who refuse to see.

Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem.  The city is personified to represent the people within.  Jerusalem was the center of Israel’s worship and governing authorities.  There stood the temple with all it’s glory.  In that city, especially, the people should have known the holy scriptures that foretold the coming of God’s Son.  Yet, it was primarily the leaders and teachers, charged with proclaiming God’s Word, who refused to recognize Jesus for who He truly is. 

The book of Deuteronomy ends with this solemn praise for Moses, “No other prophet ever displayed all the mighty power, and the great, awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.” (Deuteronomy 34:12)  Yet, here in their presence was the One who had empowered Moses, who in a pillar of fire and cloud had been the real Leader of Israel through the sea and the wilderness.  Here was the Son of God incarnate in human flesh, teaching, healing, providing food from heaven, and raising the dead.  In their presence was The One who gave Moses eternal life.  Yet, the teachers of Israel blinded their own eyes to Jesus’ greatness.  In their self-inflicted blindness, they rejected the humble Christ and sought for a way to destroy Him as an enemy.

Earlier, outside the tomb of His friend, Lazarus, Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" (John 11:35-36)  Here, outside of Jerusalem, we see how Jesus loved even those who hated Him.  Jesus wept not because He was afraid to suffer and die for sinners.  Rather, Jesus wept because He hated to see how those who didn’t believe would suffer because they rejected His perfect offering and sacrifice for their souls.  He wept because He loved them enough to die for them, and for all, and it grieved Jesus that some would refuse to see the salvation He brings.

In our times, too, there are many who refuse to see Jesus as the true Son of God come down to earth inhabiting human flesh.  There are many who refuse to see their need for a Savior.  There are even many who, again, would gladly try to destroy Jesus by getting rid of His book, the Bible. 

All those who refuse to see Jesus and His mission of mercy should take heed of Jesus’ next words.  He said, “If you, yes you, had only known on this day the things that would bring peace to you.  But now, it is hidden from your eyes.  In fact, the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.  Within your walls, they will dash you and your children to the ground.  And within your walls, they will not leave one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time when God came to help you.” 

The Son of God came into this world to do everything necessary to give the whole human race peace with God.  The people living in Jerusalem were God’s chosen people.  They had Moses’ law.  They had the prophets and the writings.  All of those scriptures pointed to Jesus, and only Jesus fulfilled every prophecy concerning the Savior God promised to send.  The people who rejected Him, did so only because of the hardness of their own sinful hearts and their refusal to believe they needed help.  They refused to believe the evidence right in front of their eyes.  The truth was hidden from their eyes by their own foolish arrogance.

Therefore, Jesus prophesied a bitter end to that great city.  His prophecy came true within forty years when the Roman armies surrounded the city and built up a barricade so no one could go in or out.  The people gradually began to starve, even to the point of turning against each other, and it is reported that some even resorted to eating their own children.  At the end, Rome showed no mercy.  That great city was torn down like few others in history.  Every portion was demolished just as Jesus had foretold, and the majority of the people were slaughtered with cruel efficiency.  The few remaining were carted off to cruel slavery as conquered symbols of Rome’s earthly dominance.  But, just as Moses was a foreshadowing of Jesus leading people to the Holy Land, so Jerusalem’s destruction foreshadows the demise of those of every place and time who reject the Lord of salvation.

What Jesus saw in Jerusalem was teachers who believed in their own righteousness, and supposedly righteous individuals who were far more concerned about earthly riches than faithfully sharing God’s message of salvation, which we see when Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling things there.  He told them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!” 

The elite, of the city that Jesus wept over, showed no sign of faithfulness to the Lord of salvation.  In fact, Jerusalem’s rulers and priests plotted in the shadows to kill this miracle worker they thought endangered their status and power.  We might compare them to pastors, today, who preach a so-called prosperity gospel—teaching that people can motivate God’s grace by their self-promoting efforts and pleadings, or to politicians who seek authority to rule based on self-promoting, godless morality and government largess, or yet again, to those who declare themselves above God’s authority all together.

But, we needn’t spend our time pointing to the faults of others.  Rather, we should examine ourselves to see how often we fail to honor the Lord of life.  How often do we willingly break the commandments God gave through Moses on tablets of stone?  How often do we give more attention to our own supposed good efforts than to the shame of our disobedience?  How often do we allow our day to day lives to take precedence over listening eagerly to Jesus’ teaching?

No, there is no one who can boast of his own righteousness before the Lord of glory.  We each have failures enough to keep us out of the Promised Land of heaven.  But then, let us sit with those who eagerly clung to Jesus even as the leaders of Jerusalem assailed Him.  While those wicked men sought to kill Jesus in secret, “They could not find any way to do it, because all the people were clinging to him and listening.”  The humble masses clung to Jesus knowing that they couldn’t enter God’s heaven on their own.  They understood that Jesus is the source of life and hope. 

And, this is our hope and confidence—that Jesus is the Friend of sinners.  He came into this world in humble means because God didn’t win our reconciliation by defeating the powers of earth in a physical war.  He won the battle for our eternal, spiritual lives by taking on the forces of evil on their own turf.  Jesus came into this world taking on human flesh to live among us in poverty and meekness, so that what the devil had corrupted and ruined in the fall might be made holy once again.  In Jesus, holiness before God is reestablished.  In Jesus, we have peace with our Creator and Lord.

With His perfect obedience to all law and to all His Father’s will, Jesus gave an offering of perfect righteousness to His Father in our place.  On an altar of a wooden cross, the Lamb of God gave His life in exchange for ours—His holiness credited to us—our sins put on Jesus.  His life laid down in death as full payment for the sins of all mankind so that when the time is right our lives can be lifted up to the Father in heaven.

Dear friends, Jesus wept for you that day.  He wept for those times we can’t see straight.  He wept for the cruel pain inflicted on us by enemies who would lead us astray.  Jesus wept because He loved you in spite of your sin, loved you enough to suffer and die in your place.  Then, Jesus went resolutely forward on the path to His death so that His teachings and sacrifice could give you life. 

The Jews who hated Jesus at that time couldn’t see the full picture of God’s salvation plan.  They knew the law and the prophecies, but they had a hard time seeing them fulfilled in Jesus.  You and I, however, have no excuse.  We heard God the Father’s approval of all that Jesus lived.  We know that Jesus died but didn’t stay dead.  We are blessed with the eyewitness accounts of those who saw Jesus risen victorious from the grave, men who received the outpouring of His Spirit and wrote down all that Jesus did so that you and I can live, and we know that together with His Father, Jesus sent His Spirit to us in Word and Sacrament to give us hope and a future. 

It is the Spirit of Almighty God who gave you faith in Jesus.  Through the Spirit’s work in Baptism and the proclamation of the Gospel, you were rescued from the delusion of self-righteousness and the curse of sin.  In that holy washing, you were washed clean and set free from the power of Satan and the death of his hell.  Connected to Christ Jesus by faith, we too now live victorious over sin, Satan, and the grave.  God grant that none of us ever again turn against the Lord of Life, and may He also empower us to continue telling the Good News of the living Savior who wept for those who hated Him while refusing His mercy.  All glory to His holy name.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

God is faithful in forgiving.

Sermon for Trinity 9, August 18, 2019

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

1 Corinthians 10:6–13  ⁶Now these things took place as examples to warn us not to desire evil things the way they did.  ⁷Do not become idolaters like some of them—as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to celebrate wildly.”  ⁸And let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell.  ⁹Let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and so were being destroyed by the serpents.  ¹⁰And do not grumble, as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer.  ¹¹All these things that were happening to them had meaning as examples, and they were written down to warn us, to whom the end of the ages has come.  ¹²So let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall.  ¹³No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing.  But God is faithful.  He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it. (EHV)

God is faithful in forgiving.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            It has been said that those who do not read are no better off than one who cannot read.  The person who chooses not to read makes himself functionally illiterate.  The same is true of those who do not prioritize studying God’s Word—both Old and New Testaments.  Sadly, it is readily apparent that in our day for the vast majority of people to have no functional knowledge of God’s Word, especially of the Old Testament.  Thus, they leave themselves illiterate concerning God’s message of grace.

What’s worse is that, today, even most Christian denominations no longer think it important to study the history of Israel or the messages of the prophets.  The result of this biblical illiteracy is that most people no longer view sin as all that dangerous.  The common view imagines that as long as no one gets hurt, everything and anything is okay, but the truth is, every sin hurts someone and usually hurts everyone involved in some way.  It has gotten so out of hand that, oftentimes, speaking out against real evil is considered the most disgraceful thing a modern person can do.

St. Paul was addressing Christians living in a society that was about as vile as ours has become.  Idolatry, sexual immorality, selfishness, and faithlessness were as rampant then as now, as was also so often the case among the Children of Israel in Old Testament times.  The message of our text this morning is that while God is unlimited in His grace, He also has a limit to His patience.  The message for our comfort is that God is faithful in forgiving.

Paul uses the shameful events recorded in Israel’s history to emphasize that God does have His limits.  Perhaps you have wondered why the Holy Spirit caused so many bad events to be remembered.  This is highly unusual when recording a nation’s history.  You won’t find anything like this anywhere else in the world.  Most governments try to cover up their sins.  Most people, too, want to show only the good stuff.  Well, at least that used to be the case.  Today, many people have become so emboldened in their wickedness that they publicly boast about the shameful things they do, and our society often applauds it. 

In the case of Israel, the bad stuff was remembered, too, but Paul explains that the Holy Spirit recorded these shameful things not to celebrate the evil, but so that you and I would know that God does limit His patient forbearance.  For those who turn away from His holiness, there will eventually be a judgment day.  Maybe not today, maybe not even this week, but at some point, God will have had enough, and the end of God’s patience brings destruction to the sinner.

Paul pointed his listeners to the episode of the Golden Calf in which the people, newly rescued from Egypt and their slavery, weren’t willing to wait for Moses to return from the Lord’s presence, so they turned back to worshipping idols like the Egyptians had.  The cost for their rebellion against God was forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and only Moses’ intercetion for the people turned God’s burning anger away so that the whole nation wasn’t destroyed.  Still, three thousand died that day.

When men of Israel gave into the temptations of the prostitutes of Moab, the Lord again responded by bringing judgment of death upon twenty-three thousand of those idol worshippers.  And when the people rebelled and complained about God’s care for them as they wandered during those years, God sent the fiery serpents and His avenging angel to bring judgment on those who refused His leadership.

Unfortunately, many people today read those lessons and claim that God is too capricious, or too judgmental or cruel.  However, the truth is, throughout history, God has used the law to make it extraordinarily clear that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  So, it’s not that anyone can honestly claim not to know that certain things go against God’s design and will.  Rather, by continuing to live in their wickedness, people convince themselves that evil is tolerable.

Still, in spite of the tendency of all mankind that “the thoughts he forms in his heart are evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21), God is primarily patient with us sinners.  St. Peter assures us that, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)  Taking all of the Scriptures together, we should understand that though God is patient, His patience has a limit, and those who are not living in faithful repentance and humble trust in the Savior will be condemned to eternal torment.

Now, the word, repentance, literally means to turn completely back.  When God calls for us to repent, He is calling us to turn around from sin and death to the light of His face.  In our sins, God’s presence is too frightening to face and too holy to allow us in, but in the blood of Christ God cleanses us of all guilt and welcomes us into His divine glory as dearly loved children, just as He did with Israel in Old Testament times.

At the same time, if we should go back to the sinful ways of the world around us, we are literally repenting of God—turning our backs on His mercy and grace.  This is what Paul is warning against in this text.  The Corinthians believers were surrounded by wickedness of all sorts and multitudes of people who advocated for the wickedness of that world. 

In other words, the believers at Corinth were living in times just like ours, so Paul calls them, and us as well, to true repentance—repentance that turns away from sin to trust in the mercy of our loving God and the grace He has provided in Christ Jesus.  Paul wrote, “So let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall.  No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing.”  The challenges we face of living in a world that trumpets the fools’ gold of sin and idolatry is no different than any other generation has ever faced.  Rather than despair of the difficulty, or give in to the temptation, the Holy Spirit calls us to step up to the challenge, but He doesn’t call us to stand alone. 

St. Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Spirit, “But God is faithful.  He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it.”  The Christian believer never stands alone.  Even in the vilest persecution, we are never alone.  Even when tempted beyond what any one of us would think we can bear, Jesus remains near.  Now, do we always see or feel Him?  We all know the answer is “No.”

However, when idolatrous Roman rulers marched Christian leaders and families into the stadiums to be destroyed by gladiators and wild animals, it wasn’t Rome that gained the victor but those who remained faithful and the Lord Jesus who had won for them eternal life.

You see, God is faithful—He has already won for you forgiveness of all sin and life everlasting.  No earthly force can take that away from you.  Therefore, you always have help to resist the ways of the world and the temptations the devil and his kind bring into your way.  The faithfulness of God doesn’t mean that we can sin freely for that would mean we have turned back away from God to walk with His enemies.  What it does mean, however, is that even if we should stumble and fall into grievous sin, God is faithful in forgiving.

The Holy Spirit implores us to live holy lives, but more than just telling us to do it, the Spirit enters us through the Gospel in both Word and Sacrament.  By coming into our lives, the Spirit gives us new life, a new heart of faith that desires to serve our living Savior.  By His power, we were washed clean in baptism.  By His Word, the body and blood of Jesus comes to us in His holy supper giving us new forgiveness and strengthening our weak resolve to live for the Lord who saved us. 

By God’s grace, he also invites and commands us to share His loving kindness with those around us.  When our children stray from the holiness Jesus lived, we can call them back to grace.  We don’t have to ask whether they are old enough to know better.  No one is ever too young or too old to be brought back into God’s loving embrace.  So, if we truly love those around us that we see falling into sin, or living in a way that makes the world rejoice, the loving thing for us to do is not to applaud their wickedness, but patiently and with all kindness, help them see what our holy God desires for their lives, both by showing His law, and especially by pouring out His saving Gospel on those who can see their sin and want to repent or turn back to the Savior who carried their wickedness to a cross to suffer and die in their place and ours.

Will this be an easy task?  Not usually in this world of sin.  But this world has been infested by sin and idolatry since Eve first listened to the conniving lies of a snake, and believers will always be opposed by those who like what that serpent says.  But God is good, and God loves His redeemed children with a love that never ends, poured out on the world in the blood of His owe dear Son.  It is through Jesus’ sacrifice that you and I have forgiveness, peace with God, and life everlasting, all because God is faithful in forgiving.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

The Lord provides food for the soul and body.

Sermon for Trinity 7, August 4, 2019

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God His Father—to Him be the glory and the power forever.  Amen.

Mark 8:1–9  In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples and said to them, ²“I feel compassion for the crowd because they have already stayed with me three days and do not have anything to eat.  ³If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way.  Some of them have come from a long distance.”  ⁴His disciples replied, “Where can anyone get enough bread to feed these people here in this deserted place?”  ⁵He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?”  “Seven,” they said.  ⁶He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground.  Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks, and broke them.  He gave the pieces to his disciples to distribute to the crowd, and they did so.  ⁷They also had a few small fish.  He blessed them and said that these should be distributed as well.  ⁸The people ate and were satisfied.  They picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.  ⁹About four thousand men were there.  Then he sent them away. (EHV)

The Lord provides food for the soul and body.

Dear friends in Christ,

            It is often the case that we learn things best by experience rather than simply by being told.  Too often, instruction goes in one ear and quickly out the other.  Like most pastors, I pray that won’t be the case as I speak with you this morning. 

Now, on the one hand, the Israelite people had a long history of God demonstrating His care and concern for them, but here in our text, we see Jesus demonstrate His loving concern for a crowd that likely consisted primarily of Gentiles, people who didn’t have the background knowledge of Israel’s history.  Therefore, God shows His gracious care for them, and for us, as The Lord provides food for the soul and body.

Jesus was in an area known as the Decapolis, a league of ten cities which had banded together for mutual protection from foreign invaders.  On a previous visit to the area, Jesus had healed a man who suffered horribly from demon possession, but that miraculous healing so terrified the people that they begged Jesus to leave.  Though the healed man had begged to accompany his Savior, Jesus instructed him to stay and tell his neighbors what God had done for him, and here, we see the results.  On Jesus’ return to the area, the people flocked to Him for His healing and His message.  They eagerly listened to Jesus for three days.  They stayed at Jesus’ feet in rapt attention until whatever supplies they may have brought were exhausted, but Jesus showed them His concern.

Jesus told His disciples, “I feel compassion for the crowd because they have already stayed with me three days and do not have anything to eat.  If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way.  Some of them have come from a long distance.”  Our God and Savior is always conscious of our needs and daily provides everything we need to live, but sometimes we need a reminder of His loving care.  The Israelites had the history of God providing for them miraculously.  For forty years of wandering in the wilderness, God provided bread in the form of manna outside their tents six days every week.  They knew, too, how the Lord had provided for Elijah by having ravens bring bread, and later, keeping the prophet fed through a widow’s meager supply that never ran out.  Now, the gentiles would get that special attention, and that should encourage us, also, never to worry, because our Savior’s loving concern for our welfare is continuous.  This event also reminds us of Jesus’ words to His disciples: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

Now, please notice a few things about this crowd: they weren’t clamoring for a miracle, there is no report of fear on their part, and before it even entered their minds to wonder, Jesus was already feeling compassion for their welfare, even before He was ready to send them back home.  What confidence that gives us, as well.  The Lord sees what we need before we even recognize it.  Remember how Jesus taught His followers not to worry, "So do not worry,…Certainly your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” (Matthew 6:31-32)  Thus, Jesus not only tells us not to worry about our physical needs, but He also demonstrates that He is fully willing and able to provide.

In perhaps an hour or two, Jesus showed the people how well He can take care of them, but let us not forget that Jesus spent the first three days teaching them how much God loved their souls.  To a people who had been harassed and tormented by idol worship, false teachers, and the whims of the demons, Jesus brought the good news of how God was delivering them from sin and death through the gift of His Son.  For three days, Jesus taught them about sin and the redemption God planned.  He taught them what the prophets had long told Israel and how He was the fulfillment of those plans.  This too is what our Savior wants us to focus on—that He has come into the world to save sinners, that He “plans to give you peace, not disaster, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Now, when we examine the response of the disciples to Jesus’ plan, we see that like us, they too sometimes forgot the lessons.  His disciples replied, “Where can anyone get enough bread to feed these people here in this deserted place?”  It seems like a natural reaction to such a daunting task.  How could anyone feed a crowd of thousands out in a wilderness with no supplies or stores close at hand.  The disciples couldn’t imagine how they could feed those people even if they would have had the money, which they didn’t.  How sad that they had already forgotten the miracle Jesus had performed not long earlier when He fed five thousand plus using only the lunch of a young boy.

But, lest we be too judgmental, we need to examine ourselves to see how often we forget that Jesus cares.  We live in a world in which so many people are terrified of the future, afraid that every change of weather will somehow spell worldwide disaster in the coming months and years.  We live in a time when people clamor for the government to take the riches God has granted to some and share it with everyone else.  People are afraid that rocks will fall from the sky to snuff out our futures, that everyone of a different skin color must surely hate them regardless of the evidence, and we live in a world that is just as tormented by idol worshippers, false teachers, and demonic temptations as those people of the Decapolis.  So, what hope is there for us who have sinned so often with worry and fear?

            Well, dear friends, “Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:8)  Our help is found in Jesus, The Lord who provides food for the soul and body.  Jesus asked them, “How many loaves do you have?”  “Seven,” they said.  He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground.  Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks, and broke them.  He gave the pieces to his disciples to distribute to the crowd, and they did so.  They also had a few small fish.  He blessed them and said that these should be distributed as well.”  Before they even asked, Jesus took care of their need.  Before they even learned who He is, Jesus had provided a teacher from their midst, a man who once suffered terribly but had been healed by the Savior’s love.  Before any of them really understood the greatness of God’s mercy, God had sent His Son to live and die for them., and that is the Lord you and I have looking out for us, too.

            Now, does that mean we will never have trouble or hardships?  Not at all.  Those thousands who had flocked to Jesus came to Him with all the troubles this world has to offer.  They grew hungry just like everyone else.  And after Jesus sent them home, they still had their difficulties in the world.  However, they could thereafter rejoice confidently with their fellow Judean believers, knowing that “By the mercies of the LORD we are not consumed, for his compassions do not fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

            Are you aware that some studies show that our country is filled with some of the most anxious people on earth.  Here we are in the lap of luxury, where war seldom touches close to home and our stores are stuffed to overflowing with goods, where by and large we live in nice houses, and we drive automobiles that cost many thousands of dollars, and still, so many people are afraid for tomorrow.  They are afraid of losing their stuff.  They are afraid of every imaginable illness that could hurt them.  They suspect that every business and politician is out to get them.  But worst of all, many of them don’t know Jesus.  They don’t know how great God’s love for them has been, and still is.

            The people of the Decapolis learned it firsthand.  You and I have to take the word of those Jesus appointed as witnesses.  Mark reports, “The people ate and were satisfied.  They picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.  About four thousand men were there.  Then he sent them away.”  With seven small loaves of bread and a few small fish, Jesus again demonstrated that He is ready, willing, and able to sustain us in this world.  Therefore, why should we ever worry about any physical need?  Now, that doesn’t mean we should quit our jobs and sit around waiting for a free meal to fall out of the sky.  Instead, we are strengthened with the knowledge that however God plans to use us will turn out for our everlasting good.  Furthermore, it is His care of our souls that really should be our strength.  Remember, The Lord provides food for the soul and body.

            Christ has given us a certain future in the kingdom of heaven, so even if the Lord should see fit to allow us to suffer hunger, poverty, or persecution, why should we be afraid?  We have the Gospel—the Good News that Jesus lived a perfectly holy life in our place, that He then took all of our sins upon Himself, and He paid the due penalty to satisfy Gods just anger for our sins.  Furthermore, we know that Jesus didn’t stay dead but rose from the grave triumphant over every enemy who would seek to keep us away from our God and Creator.  We have the reports of numerous eyewitnesses who were present as Jesus gave up His life on the cross, was buried, then rose on the third day in fulfillment of every promise, so that you and I are completely and permanently reconciled with God.

            Dear friends, go forth today, and every day, having seen through the eyes of the apostles that the Lord Jesus is God’s Son, that He loves you enough to die for you, that He is concerned for your every need and willingly provides for your physical, spiritual, and eternal welfare.  Come and partake often of the bread of life, the Gospel in Word and Sacrament.  Remember that “The eyes of the LORD watch over the righteous.  His ears listen to their cry.…The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears.  From all their distress He delivers them.” (Psalm 34:15 & 17)  Know without a doubt that no matter what trials or hardships might come your way, The Lord provides food for the soul and body.  Amen.

May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our fathers.  May he never leave us or abandon us.  May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways.  Amen.