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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
When I was a boy traveling some distance by car with my family, as I recall, we often took with us our own “Food for the way”. We were not necessarily going on a route where there would be no restaurants or stores, nor were we necessarily going at a time when those restaurants or stores would be closed—as my mother and I did on our most-recent trip when we headed south from northern Illinois very, very early in the morning—but I think that our family’s packing our own food saved us money and gave us greater flexibility for where and when we ate—at a picnic or rest area, wayside, or park, whenever we wanted. When traveling, your family also may have taken its own “Food for the way” for the same reasons.
Five loaves and two fish apparently were all that the approximately fivethousand families following Jesus on foot from the cities in today’s Gospel Reading packed with them. Yet, Jesus miraculously fed them—maybe a total of some twentythousand people. One person’s sharing his or her food did not just prompt other people to share their food, but this was a real miracle, at least fiftytimes greater than a miraculous multiplication of food associated with the Old Testament prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:42-44), and the only miracle, other than the resurrection of our Lord, that all four New Testament Gospel accounts report (Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15), though only one of those other accounts of this miracle is also used in our threeyear series of Readings.
The vast majority of the great crowd of people in the Gospel Reading may not have worried about bringing “Food for the way” because the people rightly trusted Jesus to provide for them (so Theophylact, ad loc Matthew 14:13-14, p.124), or the people may not have bothered to bring anything because they wrongly wanted by force to make Jesus a king Who would feed them without their doing anything (John 6:15). We really do not know what the great crowd of people were thinking about their not bringing food, because the Holy Spirit did not inspire St. Matthew to tell us. However, St. Matthew’s account does tell us that, when it was evening, apparently past the usual time of the evening meal, Jesus’s disciples came to Him and told Him to send the crowds away, so that having gone into the villages, they might buy food for themselves. Jesus’s disciples may have just wanted to be free of the crowds (so Gibbs, ad loc Matthew 14:15, p.747), or the disciples sincerely may have been concerned about how the crowds would eat—they apparently had already checked to see what food was on hand. But, when Jesus told His disciples to give the crowds something to eat, the disciples lacked the faith in Jesus to imagine how that feeding was possible.
This past week I helped two different individuals who did not have enough food to eat or the resources to get enough food. Most of us do not have those problems of not having enough food to eat or the resources to get enough food—except maybe during “Snowmageddon”, or when the power is out for days, or when we lose our income. We may lose sight of God’s providing us with “Food for the way” in the past precisely because we think that we ourselves are earning our income and buying our groceries, forgetting that God has given us our jobs and the ability to do our jobs. Even with such past provision from God, we may doubt that God is able and willing in the present and future to provide all that we need to support our bodies and life. Such doubts, like all of our physical and spiritual issues, are reminders of our original and actual sin that warrant not only death here and now but also torment in hell for eternity, apart from the Holy Spirit’s leading us to repent.
In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus was at least trying to get away from the crowds of the cities, by Himself or at least with His disciples, by boat to a desolate place. But, having come out of the boat, He saw a great crowd, and, instead of being frustrated or angry as we might have been, Jesus had compassion on them and so healed their sick and fed them, as Jesus has compassion on us and so heals and feeds us, forgiving us and giving us “Food for the way”. As God in human flesh, Jesus not only has Divine compassion, but Jesus also acts on that Divine compassion. He can miraculously multiply loaves and fish; there is nothing that He cannot do. As we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (Romans 9:1-13), God’s plans and actions always are gracious, even though they are beyond our understanding. The Lord of all things delivered His people of old in various ways, and He also delivers us. The Messiah, the Christ, the Savior helps those who cannot help themselves. He loves us, and so He freely gives us the forgiveness of sins that He won for us with His death on the cross, dying in our place the death that we deserved. He freely gives us who repent the forgiveness of sins through His Word in all of its forms, especially Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Holy Supper.
With today’s Gospel Reading’s telling of Jesus’s miraculously feeding, by way of His disciples, more than fivethousand men, besides women and children, we especially think of the Holy Supper. To be sure, Jesus could have fed the people out of thin air, as it were, having manna rain down from heaven for them, as manna had rained down from heaven for the people of Israel in the wilderness. But, Jesus chose instead to miraculously multiply the five loaves and two fish, as Jesus chooses to be present miraculously now in bread and wine with His Body and Blood, feeding us by way of His pastors, and thereby giving us the forgiveness of our sins and so also life and salvation. No matter how much or how little that we eat or drink, we still receive the whole Christ, and the supply of Him never runs out. Like the people in today’s Gospel Reading, we eat and are satisfied. We are strengthened and preserved, in body and soul, to life everlasting.
As the Divinelyinspired St. Matthew tells of the miracle, the great crowd may not even have realized that a feeding miracle had taken place (compare John 6:14), and all those fed that evening grew hungry again, and those physically healed on that occasion eventually died. But, Jesus’s disciples certainly realized that a feeding miracle had taken place, with perhaps each taking up one basket full of more broken pieces left over than what they had when they had started. Some commentators speculate that each disciple then sat down with his basket to eat his own meal and to share some with the Lord from Whom the food had come, so that He could eat His meal, and that is a nice thought. God certainly works through means. He blesses us with an abundance, and, from that abundance, we bless those in need. We give back to Him a portion of what He has first given us, and He uses our offerings to support the work of His Kingdom in this place. And, as the congregation gives a portion of what He has given the congregation through us, God also uses our offerings to help support the work of the Church at large. As we prayed in the Collect, we acknowledge His gifts, give thanks for all His benefits, and serve Him in willing obedience—and, when we fail to do so, as we will fail to do so, with daily repentance, we live in His forgiveness of sins.
We may not always pack it, but God blesses us with “Food for the way”, provisions for your journey through this life. The Latin term is viáticum, and in Roman Catholic usage it refers especially to the Holy Supper given as part of the Last Rites. But, we need the Holy Supper sooner than our death beds, and we need the Holy Supper more than just that once! As our Compassionate Lord called in today’s Old Testament Reading (Isaiah 55:1-5), so I say, Come, eat and drink!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +