Text: Mark 6:30-44
Beloved
in Christ, the events of the Bible are as foundational for us Christians as our
nation’s events are for us and our fellow citizens. Everybody recognizes that
you can’t truly understand what it means to be an American today if you don’t
know about 1776 and the Declaration of Independence, the Civil War and the
Gettysburg Address, Pearl Harbor, and the like. Those events may have happened
decades or even centuries ago, but they still make us who we are today. Even
recent immigrants, whose forebears never participated in those things, still
are shaped and molded by them. In the same way, biblical history shapes us as
Christians. And so I would like to take you on a brief tour of some biblical
events from the Old Testament first and then come around to today’s Gospel.
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| Tissot, The Gathering of the Manna |
Genesis
explains the origin of the world and of humanity. It then goes on to explain
how one man, Abraham, was called to be the father of God’s people. Genesis
traces Abraham’s line for four generations, but by the end of that first book of
the Bible God’s people were simple a few dozen individuals who had wandered in
Canaan before settling in Egypt. It is in the next four books of the Bible
(Exodus through Deuteronomy) that we see them really becoming a nation—and more
than a nation, God’s people. Several events take place in those books. God
called His people. They heard His voice through the prophet Moses and so they
ran to a desolate area, the Wilderness of Sinai. There they were taught
intensely by God, as He gave them His Ten Commandments and other laws at Mount
Sinai. They were transformed from idol-worshipping heathen into the people of
God. In the wilderness they had nothing to eat, but were fed miraculously with
manna that fell from the sky every morning. When they neared the Promised Land
and Moses died, God did not want them to be “sheep without a shepherd,”
and so He raised up a man named Joshua to guide them into the land of Canaan.
And
that is where Deuteronomy ends. By the time we finish with the fifth book of
the Bible, we see that Israel had everything they needed to be God’s people.
They had been called to be a nation of His priests and kings. They had been
taught everything that God wanted them to know. They had been fed with manna in
the wilderness and were then blessed with a fertile land once they had settled
into Canaan, a land repeatedly described as a “land flowing with milk and
honey.” All their physical needs had been taken care of. And He had
also guided them amid their spiritual needs, too. He had established a
priesthood in order to bring His holiness into their midst. He had promised
that He would also raise up prophets and anoint kings to provide further
guidance. Israel had everything they needed by the end of Deuteronomy, and the
rest of Old Testament history—indeed, human history—should have been a tale of
one spiritual triumph after another.
But
that is not how the story went. You read the next twelve books of the Bible
after Deuteronomy and you see how Israel failed again and again, growing ever
more rebellious and stubbornly unrepentant. Far from being a glorious tale, it
is a story of going from one spiritual defeat to another. Israel spiraled
downward, with each generation becoming more wicked than the previous one. Then
you read the last seventeen books of the Old Testament, the books of the
prophets, and you see the prophets denouncing negligent and wicked priests,
kings who put more trust in politics than in God, and false prophets who are
quick to lie to support evil priests and kings. (We see an example of that in
today’s reading from Jeremiah.) The Old Testament ends with Israel being
scattered and in exile. A few people eventually returned to Judah, but not as
many as should have.
Now
I suppose you could say that there were already hints in the first five books
of the Bible that the story would turn out this way. The early Israelites
showed themselves to be a “stiff-necked people” already in the
wilderness. Their children simply followed in their ways. It was as if the
original Israelites had started the rut, and each generation deepened the
groove until it had become a ditch. And that is the way the situation was until
our Lord Jesus Christ came onto the scene.
So
what do we see in today’s Gospel? We see God calling His people once again. It
isn’t through a mere prophet like Moses that God calls, but through His own Son
in the flesh. When they hear His voice, they run into a desolate area in the
outlying region of Galilee. There they are taught intensely by God, as Christ
teaches them with “grace and truth.” They are transformed from
being lapsed Israelites into God’s faithful people. In the wilderness they have
nothing to eat, but are fed miraculously with five slices of bread and two
fish. This is because God is leading them into a new Promised Land that will be
given to us fully in the resurrection. Because God did not want them to be “sheep
without a shepherd,” He raised up a man named Joshua to be their leader
and guide into their heavenly rest. Of course, we tend not to call this Joshua
by His Hebrew name, but His Greek name: Jesus.
Where
are we in this story? Well, we are in the wilderness, too. We have not yet made
it to the Promised Land. That is because we are going to a better place than
the Land of Canaan. We are heading for the true Promised Land, where the New
Jerusalem comes down from heaven in a restored and perfect heavens and earth.
That will not take place until the Day or Resurrection. In the meantime, we are
still stuck in this old world, where sin and death hold sway. We wander as in a
foreign land, and we need sustenance if we are going to make it.
And
that is why we have something better than fish and loaves of bread. That was
fine fare for people who were caught far from civilization and needed something
to sustain them as they heard Christ preaching. But our Lord knew that we would
need something even more substantial. And so He instituted the Lord’s Supper.
In that supper He gives not only bread and wine, but His very body and blood.
Eating the bread and fish did nothing spiritually for the people. But eating
Christ’s body and blood in the sacrament forgives sins, if we embrace this gift
in faith, as we ought. It is our traveler’s food as we journey through this
life with eternity as our destination.
Notice
how God consistently gives better and better food over time. When the
Israelites were in the wilderness, they were given manna. It sustained them,
but that was about all that could be said. It could be boiled or baked or
fried, but it was hard to have great variety with that manna. Nobody ever
published a cookbook called “501 Delicious Manna Recipes Guaranteed to Satisfy
Your Family.” The food that the people in today’s Gospel ate was better. The
people were more than satisfied. It was a fine banquet. Moreover, whereas the
manna was not permitted to be collected and held over for the next day, here
Christ commanded that this be done. Twelve baskets were gathered up so that
people could enjoy more of the feast the next day. And then there is the Lord’s
Supper. It is not just a meal with Jesus, but a meal whereby we receive Jesus.
He becomes as close to us as possible.
I
should add that with the greater gift comes greater responsibility. Anybody in
the days of the exodus could have eaten the manna. Infants, toddlers, children,
adults, and aged people all ate of it. The grumblers and the pious ate of it.
All were invited to partake of it. It didn’t matter if you recognized the manna
for the gift that it was. Then our Lord fed the 5,000 families. They all
happened to be people who had gone to hear the Lord. It was no casual assembly,
but was rather people who had showed some interest in the Lord. But even then
our Lord was disappointed with their reaction. They wanted a repeat of the meal
the next day, but Jesus scolded them and told them to be more heavenly-minded.
That was what He said about earthly bread. How much more ought we prepare
ourselves to receive His body and blood! Those who do not know what is going on
in the Lord’s Supper—those who have never been taught or reject that
teaching—are not to approach the Lord’s Table, lest they find there the Lord in
judgment rather than in mercy and with the forgiveness of sins. The greater
gift requires greater preparation.
But
if we have been taught our Lord’s Word, believe that what He says is true,
confess our sins, and trust in Him alone for our salvation, we find ourselves
given a great and abiding hope through this sacrament. Consider our hope and
what the Israelites were looking forward to during the exodus. The Israelites
entered the Promised Land and enjoyed it for a while, but in the end suffered
disaster. But that is not going to be what happens when we go to be with the
Lord in heaven and when He raises us on the Last Day and renews the heavens and
the earth. Instead, this time it will work. That is because it will not depend
upon our will power or our moral fortitude. Instead, God Himself will have
established a new covenant. Unlike the old covenant that came into force
through the sacrificial death of animals, the new covenant has come into force
through the death and resurrection of the holy Son of God. Therefore, it has a
staying power that the old covenant never could have had.
And
so, my fellow wanderers in the wilderness, let us embrace the food that our God
has set before us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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