Jesus has compassion to heal our weakness.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 10, August 6, 2023

Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Matthew 14:13-21  ¹³When Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place to be alone.  When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns.  ¹⁴When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd.  He had compassion on them and healed their sick.  ¹⁵When evening came, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place and the hour is already late.  Send the crowds away, so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”  ¹⁶But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat.”  ¹⁷They told him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”  ¹⁸“Bring them here to me,” he replied.  ¹⁹Then he instructed the people to sit down on the grass.  He took the five loaves and the two fish.  After looking up to heaven, he blessed them.  He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples.  The disciples gave the food to the people.  ²⁰They all ate and were filled.  They picked up twelve basketfuls of what was left over from the broken pieces.  ²¹Those who ate were about five thousand men, not even counting women and children. (EHV)

Jesus has compassion to heal our weakness.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            By the time of the events of our text, Jesus had become well known throughout the land.  Yet, as well known as He was, people didn’t really know what to make of Him.  Some thought Jesus a new prophet, some a healer, others thought He might be Elijah come back to earth, and at least a few, including King Herod, thought Jesus might be John the Baptist brought back to life.  Hearing that the ruler of the land was now afraid, and many others confused about Him, Jesus took His disciples away from the cities to have some time to rest, teach, and assure them.

As you heard, however, because He was now famous for His miracles, the people weren’t willing to let Jesus simply drift off into oblivion.  Though Jesus travelled across the Sea of Galilee by boat, it didn’t take long for that news to spread and for people to start walking around the Sea toward the place they had seen Jesus and His disciples headed.  Along the way, many talked to others they met, and it wasn’t long until masses of the population were going out to meet Jesus.  They took their sick and infirm.  It was as if there had never been any medical care, but now the greatest hospital ever had opened in the wilderness.  Yes, some wanted to see this great Teacher.  Some wanted to hear what Jesus was saying, but many, many came to Jesus as their only hope for healing.  The good news for them and for us, is Jesus has compassion to heal our weakness.

We can only imagine how many miracles Jesus performed that day, but for someone who had come to that deserted place for quiet and rest, we might expect that Jesus would be a bit perturbed or frustrated with the needy attention.  However, there was nothing like that in Jesus’ demeaner.  As He saw that mass of hurting, confused people coming out to Him for help, Jesus had compassion for them.  Rather than think of His own needs, He put theirs above anything He might want.  We need to keep that attitude in mind, for Jesus’ compassion for us is why we can be bold when He says, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)  We can be confident in our requests, because Jesus has assured us, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.” (John 16:23)

As is often the case, however, there may be some confusion among us, as well.  How often do we fall into the trap of asking Jesus only for material things instead of asking for help with our greatest needs?  Maybe we aren’t so blatantly obvious in this as they were, but it can be that we start to wonder if Jesus truly has compassion on us when we have to face things like illness, bankruptcy, cancer, crop failure, a breakup in a relationship, loss of a loved one, or an arrest for a crime we may or may not have committed.  When things don’t go the way we would like, how often do we question God’s love and care for us?

There is a connection between all those things and everything else that troubles us.  The connection is sin, sin that has corrupted this whole world, sin in ourselves and in others that causes so much hardship and pain in our world.  Sin causes disagreements about how people should live.  It is the root of all trouble, conflict, sorrow, and death.  Those people followed Jesus out into the wilderness in the hope of receiving Jesus’ healing care for themselves or their loved ones who were afflicted by the curse of sin on the world.  They came by the thousands.  They came without planning ahead.  They came without consideration of even what they would eat for the return trip home.

Now, we might think Jesus’ disciples would have been better prepared, but they weren’t.  They were used to their needs being provided by others who followed Jesus.  It might be a wealthy person inviting them to dine.  It might be the offerings people gave in support of Jesus’ work.  We know that there were wealthy women disciples who contributed much to maintain Jesus in His teaching and healing ministry. 

Still, the disciples did show some concern for the people.  They soon realized that they didn’t have food to feed thousands of pilgrims in the wilderness.  When evening came, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place and the hour is already late.  Send the crowds away, so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”  The solution the disciples suggested really didn’t help the situation.  It was basically “Tell the people to go away and seek what they could find.”  I suppose you and I could often find ourselves in the same uncaring bind.  How often have we assumed we couldn’t afford to help?  How often have we looked around and discovered we didn’t have an answer to the world’s problems?  This too is because of sin.

This feeding of the five thousand, as it is called, is usually considered Jesus’ greatest miracle, and indeed, it is the only miracle recorded for us in all four gospel accounts.  Truly, it is as amazing as it sounds.  With only five loaves of cheap bread (really not more than what we would call biscuits) and two small pieces of fish, Jesus fed a vast multitude, yes, about five thousand men, but who knows how many women and children were also there in addition to the men.  The writers didn’t bother to count, not because they weren’t important, but simply because the number of people in the crowd was more than could easily be numbered.

Yet, Jesus fed them all out of that young boy’s lunch.  To make doubly clear to His disciples that they hadn’t looked in the right place for help, they gathered up twelve basketfuls of leftovers after everyone in the crowd, the twelve disciples included, had eaten their fill.  It’s no wonder people were amazed.  John tells us that the crowd was so thrilled that they conspired among themselves with the intent to make Jesus their king so that He could do this stuff for them every day. 

The amazing thing about all of this is that Jesus didn’t come into the world to make sure everyone had enough to eat.  He didn’t come into the world to make sure we would be healed of every illness or pain that might enter our lives.  It sounds harsh, but those things are all part of life in a sin-broken world, “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  Jesus didn’t have to come into our world at all.  If God would have abandoned us to our fate as sinners, no one could fault Him, because death and eternal separation from God is what all mankind deserves.

The amazing thing about our God, however, is that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8)  God could no more abandon mankind to the fate we deserved than to deny Himself.  With every right to destroy the human race for our sins against Him, God chose mercy.  As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, God announced His plan to save.  At every step of the way throughout history, man has done stuff that should have brought down the wrath of God upon us.  Yet, God remains faithful to His promise—He sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to make things right.  Jesus’ miracles were but a foretaste, granted to the people of His day, so that they would recognize Him for who His truly is, the God of love.

But what happened?  The same people who at one point wanted to make Jesus king, a short time later turned against Him and shouted, “Crucify, crucify Him!”  You see the same type of reaction still today.  Oh, maybe no one is shouting “Crucify Jesus.”  But plenty of people are shouting that there is no god.  Plenty of people are saying, “Where is God today?  Why isn’t He helping us if He is the God of love?  Why doesn’t He stop all this evil and pain?”

Maybe we don’t put ourselves in the same category.  Perhaps our sins seem pretty minor in comparison to some others.  Yet, how often do we too neglect to show our love for God in our daily lives?  How often don’t we stumble when it comes to loving our neighbor as Jesus has loved us?  There isn’t a man, woman, or child on this planet who doesn’t need rescue from sin, including you and me.  That’s why this miracle can give us so much hope, because Jesus has compassion to heal our weakness.

Jesus didn’t turn away from those people that day, and He didn’t turn away from helping us on the day they shouted crucify.  Instead, to heal our greatest weakness, Jesus carried our sins on His whipped, beaten body as they nailed Him to a cross to die for you and me, as well as for everyone else.

You see, this world is full of trouble.  It’s all we really ever experience in this life.  Even in the best of times, we are walking in the shadow of death.  Our God knew what sin has done to this world, and He sent Jesus to be the cure.  By living in perfect obedience to the Law and to His Father’s will, Jesus became our perfection, which is put over and on us through faith at the washing of Baptism.  With His sacrifice as the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus paid the debt for the sins of the world, and the Father has forgiven all sin, so that He could count all who believe in Jesus as though they had never sinned at all.  The record of all our guilt has been wiped clean by the blood of Jesus.

In His great compassion for those who follow Him, Jesus sent the Counselor, the Holy Spirit to bring this Good News to us in His holy Word, and through that powerful message of God’s grace, stone dead hearts were replaced with hearts that live and believe.  Souls that once were weary and without hope, now rejoice in the grace of God that has healed us of our sin disease and fed us with the life-giving bread of His Word, and feeds us still with the very body and blood of the Lamb who was slain to heal us permanently.

Dear friends, you never have to question God’s love for you.  He showed it by offering His Son on a cross in your place, by counting Jesus’ righteousness as yours, by accepting Jesus’ death in place of a sentence of eternal death for you.  And even in those times when, maybe in our weakness, we wonder if God is hearing our prayers, we can be totally confident that because Jesus lives and will never die again, we too will live and never die in the glorious home Jesus is preparing for us in heaven.  Before He left His disciples to suffer death for you and me, Jesus promised His friends, “I have told you these things, so that you may have peace in me.  In this world you are going to have trouble.  But be courageous!  I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Because Jesus has compassion to heal our weakness, He overcame the world, the devil, sin, death, and even our stubborn hearts, so that we might believe in Him and receive eternal life in heaven.  Rejoice today and always, that Jesus has compassion to heal our weakness.  Amen.

God will fully supply your every need, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.  Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever!  Amen.