When Hearts Attack

Text: Mark 7:14-23

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Dear friends, even if you were to quit all of your habitual cursing, swearing, drunkenness, lust, greed, and gossip, that would not make you a Christian.  You might go to hell for all that.  God is more concerned about the attitude and status of your heart![1]

That statement is a paraphrase of an old Lutheran theologian in a lecture to a bunch of young men training for the ministry.  His point was that these future pastors should not go into their future pulpits to simply rant about horrible sin that may be running wild in the congregation.  He was trying to show them that continual ranting would be useless.  Otherwise stated, the people will certainly quit the sinful practices that are rebuked from the pulpit, but then in two weeks’ time the parishioners would then return to their old ways.  The reason why?  This kind of preaching is aimed at the surface level and does not aim at the heart!  This kind of ranting is like cutting down the top of a nasty weed; however, as you know the weed will just grow back.  Clean the outside of a cup without cleaning the inside, the water will never be poured out clean.  Put a Band-Aid over a portion of skin cancer: it becomes concealed, not destroyed.  Wash, polish, and wax the outside of a coffin, it does not change the fact that it is full of dead man’s bones. 

Listen, dear friends, to rant against these visible sins, without getting to their sources, does not accomplish much.  The reason why this is so, is that from within, from the human heart, evil and visible intentions come forth.  

Now, it is true that God created humanity as good; however, sin is like a nasty virus that corrupts mankind.  It goes deep.  As a virus is a small infectious particle that invades living cells and wreaks havoc on the whole human body, sin likewise is throughout all of mankind as well.  This means that you and I are not slightly infected with the virus of sin, but rather this corruption is so deep that there is nothing complete or uncorrupted in the human body or soul.  Everything is infected: our thoughts, our emotions, our external actions, and ours doings.  All infected.[2]

Furthermore, the damage of this virus of sin is so bad that we typically do not even recognize it within our body and soul, but boy do we recognize it in outward actions, especially the sinful actions of our neighbors.  What I mean is that we can see this virus of sin at work, not in high temperatures or cold shakes or runny noses, but rather we see this virus of sin at work in the visible actions of theft, murder, fornication, adultery, slander, and so forth. 

The religious leaders during Jesus’ day were certainly serious and attentive to these visible sins.  It can be said though that these religious leaders did not recognize or see sin like an infectious internal virus.  But rather, they saw sin like a germ.  You know what I am talking about!  Germs: they are found on toilets, handrails, door knobs, cell-phones, pencils, and keyboards.  These nasty germs are lying upon unclean things waiting to pounce on you and get you sick.  To the point, the religious leaders saw sin not as an internal virus within mankind, but as germs that were out there on dirty things.  Thus, in order to protect themselves from these germs of sin, spiritual masks and spiritual gloves were needed.  Spiritual caution tape was required.  They concocted 613 rules to protect themselves from germs, to keep themselves away from sin.  Do not do this, but do that.  Keep away from this and keep away from that.  Look there, sinful germs; stay away.  Go here, it is sanitized, this path is clean and free from germs.     

Please know that this was not and is not all bad.  You and I should—yes, should—avoid these sin-germs. The Apostle Paul says, “Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.”  Exposing oneself to sin-germs is not good.  No rationale mind knowingly eats filthy germ infested dirt.

But like we heard from our opening illustration, even if you or I could keep all the germs away, that would not make us a Christian, for we have not dealt with the real issue.  That is to say, we have not dealt with the virus of sin within… the virus of sin that is at the root of all problems.  You may sanitize yourself of these sin-germs and you may purify your surroundings of these sin-germs as well, but you have not dealt with the sin-virus that lay within.

Jesus is really right; we must listen to Him.  He said, “There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”  This means that the greatest threat of evil for you and me is not some germ out there, but rather, an infectious virus right in your midst, the virus of sin that has permeated your whole being.

I don’t know about you, but this idea of sin as a virus that has infected my thoughts, words, and deeds, terrifies me.  I can somewhat deal with the idea of sinful germs out there that I need to avoid, but to hear from Jesus that I carry the sin-virus around inside of me?  That petrifies me, and it should do the same to you as well.  This is not good.   

Indeed, Jesus says that deep down in our hearts is the source of evil, not good.  Jesus says that we cannot trust our hearts for good.  We cannot trust our heart for truth.  Jesus basically says that we cannot trust our hearts – that our hearts are infected within.  You and I carry within us a deep core of rotten viral filth that is our sin.  It is disturbing to us to hear from Jesus that what is closest to us—our hearts—betrays us.

Furthermore, do you know what the most troubling characteristic of this sin-virus within us is?  The most troubling aspect is that you and I can do nothing about it.  Every righteous deed we try to do … every pure thought we try to have is infected by the evil that is within us.  We cannot help ourselves because our own heart betrays us and works diligently to drag us down to hell.  What hope do we have against such a severe sin-virus? 

...

My friends, we would be lost and infected forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation by a salvation that is beyond us – outside of us – greater than us.

Dear friends, hear the gospel!  Jesus Christ the Son of God has given Himself—all of Himself, nothing held back—to sin infected, virus stained, people like you and me.  He withheld nothing—for you. 

If anyone asks you about yourself, you can actually confess that you are one of those virus infected sinners.  But you can also confess and you should confess—no you must confess with boldness—that Jesus Christ is your Lord and that He has redeemed you and forgiven you from the infectious consequences of sin.  You are forgiven!  Yes, you!  You, who have been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, confess confidently that Jesus has snatched you from the jaws of hell, won you, delivered you from the sin-virus-death you deserve, and restored you to the Father’s favor and grace.  Confess confidently in this world that is infected by the virus and germs of sin, that you are not possessed by the grips of this sin-virus, but belong to the Lord who was made to be this sin-virus for you.  Confess unashamedly, that this Lord Jesus Christ has taken you under His cleansing and healing protection, because He was damned in your stead.[3] 

Now, it is true that as you live life in this veil of tears that this sin-sick-virus will continue to cling to you until your death.  Day by day as long as you live, this sinful nature is carried around your necks.  Otherwise stated, it is true that the germs of sin will still abound around you.  And it is also true that you will suffer setbacks to this virus and these germs in your times of weakness.  When this happens to you though, you may be tempted to run and grab Clorox bleach, hand sanitizers, masks, cleaning rags, and so forth.  In other words, when you are deceived and suffer defeat to this sin-virus and sin-germs, when sin has its way with you, you may be tempted to try and scrub the sin out of your life.  You may be tempted to bleach it out.  You may try to concoct your own antibiotics and medicines to fight the virus and germs of sin.  Do not go here.  The reason why?  No matter how hard you scrub, no matter how much you clean, no matter how much you sanitize, you cannot eradicate this sin-virus.  You cannot do surgery on yourself.  You cannot cleanse yourself.  You are not the Great Physician.  You are not the antidote to viral-sin. 

Dear Baptized Saints, instead, remember your baptisms.  Your sin-sick-viral-infected old Adam is wicked, deceitful, lawless, slanderous, prideful, envious, foolish—and yes—unbelieving, yet, it finds its end in the waters of your baptism, a baptisms that connects you to Jesus’ death and resurrection. 

Definitely scrutinize everything carefully and be aware of the sin-germs of life that you come against, but remember your baptism more.

Definitely cling to that which is good and true, while resisting the sin-germs of life that are all around you, but remember your baptism more.

Definitely recognize and confess your viral-sin-infected nature within, but remember your baptism more. 

You are baptized!  Your baptism was not some scrawny, weak, and empty ceremony in the church, but an aggressive flood that covers you completely in the righteousness of Christ.  The power and effect of your baptism is the slaying of the old Adam, the slaughter and destruction of the virus of sin.  Therefore, as your virus-sin-filled-heart continues to yield sin, remember and return in repentance and faith to your baptisms, where this sinful nature finds its end and where you may daily be reminded that your baptism is your daily garment that you are to wear at all times.  Every day you are to be found not in the virus and germs of sin, nor are you to be found in your own attempts to scrub and sanitize these sins away.  That is not who you are   But rather, you are in this baptismal faith—you are baptized!  You are clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness—with all its fruits, suppressing this sin-virus.[4] 

You bunch of Baptized Saints, do not forget!  You have been washed.  The robe of Christ’s righteousness covers you and holds you in this sin-sick world.  Do not fear; do not fret; your baptism and forgiveness remain day by day as long as you live, for He is faithful to you.     

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

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[1] C.F.W. Walther, Law & Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2010), 91.

[2] Formula of Concord: Epitome I:8.

[3] Martin Luther, The Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther for Ordinary Pastors and Preachers: The Third Article on Being Made Holy. 

[4] Martin Luther, The Large Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther: Fourth Part Concerning Baptism.

Because We've Always Done It That Way!

Text:  Mark 7:1-13

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Traditions are everywhere.  We have our family traditions when we gather together for Christmas or Thanksgiving.  Certain stories are told, special deserts are to be had, and special games are to be played.  Year after year, the same routine happens.  We also have sports traditions in hockey, football, basketball, and even golf.  Lucky shirts are worn, beards are grown out, and fun rituals are performed in order to not jinx the tournament.  We have work traditions too.  We are told the stories of the founding of the business with certain slogans and work ethics that are to be mimicked and practiced every day.  We even have traditions in the church.  The church has a calendar, specific church attire is worn, potlucks are regularly scheduled, certain feasts are celebrated, and traditional orders of service are practiced. 

These traditions are nothing more than the passing on of customs and beliefs from one generation to another younger generation.  These traditions though can be good or they can be bad.  They can teach and pass on valuable and worthy aspects of a generational heritage or they can perpetuate sinful habits from one generation to the next.  On the other hand, there are some traditions that have absolutely no meaning whatsoever, but are basically done because we’ve always done it that way—it’s tradition!

Now, with all that said, in our Gospel reading from today it seems as if Jesus is unleashing negative judgment upon all traditions.  We heard Him say to the Pharisees in a very snarky tone, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!” 

Now, we must especially take note of Jesus’ strong words as a church, for as you know Zion Lutheran Church is a part of a denomination that has a long heritage with a number of ancient traditions.  In other words, we are a part of a group of churches—some 6,000 churches in the United States and many more across the world—that have agreed to follow certain forms of worship, follow a certain church calendar, and have certain practices that have been handed down from previous generations.  Indeed, many of the elements of our Sunday Divine Services and things that we do as a church go back literally thousands of years.   

With that stated, we must ask ourselves, if Jesus is advocating the removal of all traditions?  Do we as LCMS Lutherans need to be purged of tradition, to have some sort of modern day reformation?  Some people would read today’s Gospel reading and would conclude that this is the case.  They shiver at customs and rituals and would advocate that any and all traditions in the church should be thrown out, that the slate should be wiped clean.  However, history has shown us that when certain traditions are eradicated from the church, new traditions have a way of popping up in their place.  In other words, when ancient traditions are removed from the church, these ancient traditions are immediately—whether it is intended or not—replaced with contemporary traditions.  This is just the way that it is.  We are people of tradition.

But is this what Jesus is so concerned with in our Gospel reading?  Is Jesus an anti-traditionalist?  Should all tradition be condemned, burned, and discarded?  The answer is no.  You see, what Jesus is against in our Gospel reading is ‘bad’ tradition.  Yes, there is such thing as bad tradition and there is such a thing as good tradition.  As we will hear later, good traditions should be preserved, passed down to younger generations, respected, and revered.  However, bad traditions should be resisted, rejected, and scoffed at, as Jesus did in the Gospel reading from Mark. 

You see, what Jesus is so concerned about is that the Pharisees during the first-century had a hyper-piety.  This hyper-piety of the Pharisees led the Pharisees to follow certain manmade traditions that were not even in the Old Testament scriptures.  Furthermore, the Pharisees elevated these manmade traditions to the status of being God’s Law.  Somewhere along the way these manmade traditions were elevated to the status of God’s Word, as if God prescribed them Himself, when He actually did not.  To put it another way, these traditions were formed on the basis of mankind’s own voice and spiritual experiments, not by God’s command, which led to these traditions taking the place of God’s Word.  Mistakably, the Pharisees were enforcing these manmade traditions upon the people as if they were God’s binding Word, which resulted in people essentially following the traditions of man rather than the Word of God.  They were doubly damned: bound in manmade traditions with no voice of God. 

Dear friends, any tradition that you or I create—whether old or modern, whether rustic or contemporary, whether boring or hip—any tradition that is developed from our own self-centered opinions, our own selfish desires, and our own agendas; any tradition that we create that opposes Christ and His forgiveness; any tradition that elevates itself above Jesus and His Word… is evil and must be rejected.  I humbly ask us this: what old looking or modern looking traditions have you and I established in our life and in our church that stand in opposition to God’s Word?  Furthermore, in what ways have we invented for ourselves traditions according to our own reasoning that serve us, appease our sinful nature, excuse our sin, deprive love to our neighbors, and dismiss God’s Word? 

Dear friends, when our own voices shape our traditions and when we allow our manmade traditions to guide us, while distancing God’s Word from us, we have then fallen into that which Christ condemns in our Gospel reading from today.  We must repent of our foolishness and self-deception. 

All this stated, we are beginning to understand that tradition can be bad.  However, it can also be good.  It can oppose Christ or honor Christ.  It can stand in the way of scripture or elevate scripture.  It can point us to ourselves or it can point us to Christ.  It can bind a conscience or reveal the peace of the Gospel to a conscience.  We can wrongfully hang our body on a bad tradition or a good tradition can bring us to the body of Christ hung on a tree. 

Ultimately the traditions of the Pharisees led them and the people away from an honest view of themselves, as sinners in need of grace.  Furthermore, their traditions created a layer between them and God’s Word.  As a result, they ignored the wickedness in their hearts while counting themselves righteous.  They created their own traditions, waved their fingers at those who didn’t pass muster, patted themselves on the back, and considered themselves worthy, while the Lord was off on the sidelines. 

Believe it or not this was one of the things at the heart of the Reformation of the Church in the 1500s.  Martin Luther and the Reformers actually were not anti-tradition, but rather, intentionally rejected many of the Roman Catholic Church’s traditions that obstructed the Gospel from the people and that wrongfully obscured the Word of God.  They rejected traditions made by human beings for the purpose of appeasing God and for earning grace, for this eliminated the need for the bleeding savior.  That’s right, they excluded traditions that were contrary to the Gospel and that were contrary to the teachings of the Christian faith.  However, we must—I repeat—we must keep in mind that the Reformers did not abolish every single tradition of the time.  Why not?  The reason why was that many of the traditions and ceremonies actually ‘did’ serve the purpose of teaching the people what they needed to know about Christ; many of the traditions ‘did’ lead the people to the confession of their sins and the reception of the Savior.  These good faith traditions and ceremonies were preserved by the Reformers!  It would have been foolish to toss these out, for they were noble, good, and true.  They served the saints of the church by bringing them to Christ and His Word.

Traditions are either formed from the imaginations of mankind or they are shaped and inspired from the Word of God.  You and I must reject bad traditions, for they assault the faith of the children of God and lead the faithful away from Christ to reliance upon human wisdom, human piety, and human false doctrine.  These bad traditions lead us to our own agendas, our own piety, our own doings, and our own work in regard to salvation; they lead us to the pits of despair, hell, and damnation.  However, good faith traditions can and should be respected, insofar as they point you and me to Christ and Him crucified for our sins and for the sins of the world. 

Baptized Saints, while we respect faith traditions not because they make us acceptable to God, or, because they are necessary for salvation, we respect them and follow them because they direct our attention to Christ Jesus and His gifts.  For example, the pattern of our services, the candles, the paintings hung on the wall, the sign of the cross, the changing of the colors on the altar, the changing banners, the architecture of the church, the artwork created by saints of the past, bowing at the altar, the stained glassed windows, the clothing and vestments of the pastor, and all the decorations are not just a meaningless show, but rather grant beauty, dignity, and reverence.  This beauty and dignity and reverence are not for the sake of being worshipful, but rather are for turning our eyes, ears, and minds to Christ and His gifts.  These good faith traditions block distractions and pull us out of our sometimes mundane lives so that we can hear—so that you can hear now in this Divine Service the crystal clear Words of Christ, “Come to me and I will give you rest.  I will make you clean; you are clean for I bled and died for you.  You are forgiven.  You are redeemed.  You are adopted as my child.  Take and eat, this is my body.  Take and drink, this is my blood, given for you for the forgiveness of all of your sins.  You are mine.  Do not fear.  I will be with you to the end of the age.” 

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

No Climbing Necessary

Text:  John 6:35-51

To Him who loves us and has washed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen.

Jesus said, ““I am the bread of life, I have come down from heaven.”  In other words, food for the soul does not originate or come from life under the sun—that is to say, from this life in the veil of tears—but rather, it comes down from heaven to us.   Furthermore, the bread of heaven is a ‘person.’  Yes, a person who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.  This person is none other than Jesus Christ.  He comes down to give of Himself because we cannot ascend to Him.

With that said, it seems to me that much of our life is about us doing and us trying to overcome a problem or an obstacle in life. 

When a friend ends up in critical condition in the ICU, we typically say that they are fighting an uphill battle.  In other words, an uphill battle is a fight for life when the odds are stacked against them or where there is going to be tension, work, effort, and a ton of doctoring involved. 

When I used to visit my grandfather he would tease me and tell me how great I had it. He would tell me about the days when he was growing up with the hard farm work, the drought in the 30’s, the great depression, and then he would tell me how he had to walk to school uphill both ways.  According to him, life seemed to always be an uphill battle. 

Otherwise stated, when it comes to making it in life on the farm, in manufacturing, or in a business, the road to success runs what?  It runs uphill. 

What is consistent with all of life is that life seems to be an uphill fight.  It seems that we constantly have to climb, overcome, and reach for victory.  With the challenges of work and life, everything has an uphill battle.  This is the reason why the average person becomes angry when things seem to come so naturally for the guy who just has everything delivered on a silver platter and never seems to work for it.  It just seems too easy.

So, it is very natural for us to come to Christianity with the same mentality.  In other words, often times we place the ideology of having to go uphill upon Christianity and then as a result we get tied up into this mindset that it is up to us to climb spiritually speaking to reach God.

So we climb—upward and onward—trying to become more and more moral through pulling ourselves up by our spiritual bootstraps.  Through our will, emotions, and minds we attempt to reach high to fulfill our potential where we will supposedly find eternal bliss, peace, and harmony.  We think to ourselves, “If God is above, all will be better if we can just expend strenuous effort to ascend to Him!” 

Approaching Christianity this way sees God as some sort of treasure that must be discovered, earned, and acquired through our own efforts and climbing. 

The problem with this idea of us ascending to God though is that it honestly doesn’t work.  Are our wills strongest enough to make it to the top?  If so, how will we know if we have given it our all and have summited? Are we emotionally stable enough to make the climb?  If so, how will one know if our mystically experience is genuine enough once we supposedly reach the top?  Are our minds strong enough for the upward journey?

Dear friends, if it is up to us to ascend and go uphill in our spirituality, there will always be one more step to climb, one more degree of spirituality to accomplish, and we will never have assurance.  No matter how hard we try, we can never ascend high enough, we can never be perfect enough, we can never pray enough, or work enough to reach up to God.   He is too high, too perfect, and too grand for us.  Martin Luther once said, “No wisdom, smartness, shedding of blood, giving of alms, or whatever else the human race may contrive in its [cleverness,] piety, or holiness will aid in arriving at this doctrine or salvation in Christ. It is written that no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him.”

You see, Jesus Christ turns the tables on us.  Yes, He flips everything around.  In our Gospel reading from this morning we hear how Jesus fought a downhill battle to come to us.  Jesus does not call us to ascend to get the bread of life, rather He shares that the bread of life comes down from heaven to us.  To you and to me!

Sometimes the best thing that can happen to you and me is for us to fail and give up spiritually speaking.  Otherwise stated, we can get so busy trying to be good pastors, good parents, good workers, good students, good church-goers, and good citizens for God that we get tied up into wrongly thinking that we need to do all this huffing and puffing in order to ascend to God or purchase His approval for salvation.  We end up doing good works in order to be forgiven, rather than doing good works because we already are forgiven.  In other words, we can get so busy trying to earn the bread of heaven in the church and community, as well as trying to justify ourselves before God, that we fail to realize two things. 1) That we can never be that perfect pastor, parent, student, worker, church goer, and citizen; we can’t ascend high enough and 2) That we do not need to ascend, because Jesus came down for you and for me. 

This is why Scripture says in the Gospel of Matthew the fifth chapter, “Blessed are the spiritually bankrupt; blessed are the meek; blessed are those who mourn; blessed are those who hunger and thirst.”  Blessed are those that know that they cannot ascend to God, for they receive the Kingdom of God that has descended to them.

Simply stated, Jesus came down to us because we cannot ascend to Him.  We cannot ascend to the bread of life!  We cannot climb high enough; we cannot purchase Christ; we cannot barter for forgiveness; we cannot obtain eternal life by our will, intellect or emotions, it is that simple.  Quit your climbing.  Rather, the bread of life descends to you and me as gift.

So, God comes down to us because we can’t ascend to him.  But why?  He comes to us for the purpose of wanting to feed us and grant us forgiveness, life, and salvation. 

Dear Baptized Saints, Christ Jesus your Messiah and Redeemer was sent to this world because God so loved the world; He loved you.  Otherwise stated, the whole purpose of Jesus being born in the manger; the whole purpose of Jesus living His life here on earth; the whole purpose of the miracles; the whole purpose of the cross; the whole purpose of the suffering; the whole purpose of His death; the whole purpose of the resurrection; the whole purpose was for you.  The mission of Jesus was for you; the love of Jesus is for you; God’s plan of salvation is for you; the gift of the Holy Spirit coming in the water, the word, the bread, and the wine is for you!  Jesus came down for you and He comes to you and me in and through His Word to feed us the message of the Gospel. A message that announces forgiveness, grants us life, strengthens our faith… right here and right now.  Christ Jesus lived, died, and rose for you; for the forgiveness of your sins.  You are redeemed!

That is the whole purpose of our Divine Services.  You come to Zion Lutheran Church not to ascend to God but to hear, receive, and be fed by a the Lord who comes to you in His Word and Sacraments.

But you may be saying to yourself, my sin is just too terrible.  My sin is just too deep, too nasty, to grotesque to even think of or mention.  My friends, no sinner has fallen so low that the power of the Gospel cannot reach him or her.  Christ died for every single sin the world has ever known on the cross. No sin was left out, not even those hiding with the skeletons in your closet.

It gets better though.

Jesus comes down to us for the purpose of raising us up on the last day.  Permit me to share a story to illustrate what I mean. 

There was a pastor who was teaching confirmation and he put a drawing upon the board.  As he drew he talked about how in the beginning at creation everything was great. Then he talked about how sin entered the world and then drew a big chasm between God and man.  Then he asked what God did.  The kids said, “He sent Jesus and the cross became a bridge between God and man.”  And then he asked, “Right on!  What happens next?”  Several of the students responded, “After God gives us a bridge we simply walk across.”  The pastor was about to move on, that is until a girl with some physical and mental handicaps raised her hand and said, “Pastor, you are wrong.  We don’t walk across, oh no we don’t, for Jesus comes across and picks us up and carries us home.”  The Pastor in the story said that he encountered one of the greatest theologians he has ever seen, a 13 year old mentally and physically handicap girl.

 “Pastor we don’t walk across, Jesus comes across and picks us up and carries us home.”  Good news indeed. 

Jesus comes down to give Himself to us.  He comes to mankind for the cross. He comes to you in the Word and Sacraments to give you everything that He accomplished on that cross, so that you might believe and have eternal life.  And then He promises that He will raise you up and take you to Himself at the end of the age.    

He comes down to feed you and give you life; He promises to take you home.  He promises to raise you up to Him at the last trumpet.  He who came for you will come again and carry you home.

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

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Dinner And A Movie?

Text: John 6:22-35

To Him who loves us and has washed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen.

The people just kept coming back to Him.  Who wouldn’t?  They had received multiplied bread and fish from Christ and they wanted more.  The problem though is that during the night Jesus had crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  Their food supplier left them.  Therefore, when the crowd woke up, they began to search for Jesus, which led them to the other side of the sea where Jesus was. 

Obviously at first glance this seems like a good thing.  Is it not good when people seek out Christ and go to Him?  Should we not applaud and be excited when people go closer to Christ?

Well, here is the catch; this group of people came to Jesus with motives that were mixed, if not downright wrong.   Keep in mind that the day before they were about to take Jesus by force and make him their King.  Jesus was like a rock star and they were like hungry paparazzi following His every move.  They would have liked nothing more than to crown Him king and to have Jesus fulfill their desires of overthrowing the Romans Empire.  They wanted Him as their King, which is commendable.  However, they wanted Him as a king that would be in debt to their ambitions and their desires.  These self-centered desires are only amplified and become real obvious as we listen to our Gospel reading from today more closely.  In our Gospel reading we heard that Jesus fleshes out their true desire for seeking Him. 

There is an ugly reality to the motives that we have for following Christ.  It should come as no surprise to us that we as Christians often do not have the best track record or motives for following and seeking out Christ.  From our Gospel reading we hear that this group of people were not drawn to Jesus on the basis of His teachings but were drawn to Jesus because they were entertained by His miracles and because their bellies were filled full from food provided by Jesus.  Free food I might add. 

Now keep in mind that the miracles that Jesus performed were holy and just.  These signs of healing the sick and multiplying the food were to serve as Jesus’ credentials, the proof that He was who He claimed to be, the Savior of the world.  These signs were to grant faith to the people.  Jesus was not trying to entertain and fill guts, but wanted to create faith and serve the crowd’s physical needs.  The problem was not with the actions of Jesus but with the crowd’s response and interpretation of Christ’s actions.   

So, from the perspective of the crowd, Jesus provided free food and free entertainment, who could not be for this?  Hasn’t free food and free entertainment always drawn a crowd?  Sadly, has anything changed in our day and age with the church?  Generally speaking, food and entertainment are powerful motives.  Give us good food and good entertainment where we can be “wowed” and where we can have a full stomach without having to pay anything and we are in!  Even if the entertainment isn’t that great, if there is a free meal, many of us are so cheap that we lunge at this!  Frankly speaking, the motives of the crowd were selfish at best.  In other words, what was so important that they had to track Jesus down on the other side of the lake?  Food and entertainment!  They saw Jesus as a bread vending machine that was broken and just spit out food without needing any coins while showing a great movie flick. 

Considering this, is this who Jesus is, one who merely entertains and feeds?  My friends, Christ is so much more!

We want to be entertained and fed; there is no doubt about it.  In of itself, there is nothing wrong with enjoying some good food with friends, but when this becomes the main motive to go to church or to be a Christian we have serious problems.  As I think about this story I am reminded of a time while I was serving in a church in Southern California.  Every year the church down the street would actually appeal to people’s need to be entertained and fed by advertising far and wide that there would be free “In and Out” Hamburgers at their worship service along with bouncy castles and games.  Because our worship service time was a little ahead of their worship service time, we would have our service and then after our service many of our parishioners would go down to that church for a free meal and some good fun.  Why not?  Just thinking about this, it makes me chuckle.  The church was trying to attract people and it did, a handful of faithful attenders of the church that I pastored at.  The parishioners from my church figured, “why not take in a free meal.”  

Besides this being kind of funny, the problem with this mentality and the problem with this kind of temptation for the church in our modern day and age is that to appeal to these motives of feeding and entertainment is really a distraction.  In fact this is quite easy to do.  It is extremely easy to draw a crowd my friends.  But here is why this is so detrimental, if the church gathers a crowd by entertainment and appealing to the stomach, if this is the reason why people gather, generally speaking this will be the very thing that will be needed to keep the crowd.  In other words, this crowd that surrounded Jesus looked upon the signs of Jesus as entertainment.  They thought it was great to get free food.  The next day, they wanted more.  

“Fill our stomach more Jesus, show us something more amazing! Jesus, give us a sign… impress us, wow us, make us excited and then give us food… then we will continue to follow you.” 

My friends, Jesus is so much more than mere entertainment and so much more than a bread machine.  Think about what we heard in our Gospel reading, the bread ran out from the day before, and they came back looking for more.  I am sure that Christ could have made some more bread; He could’ve done some more miracles, but He was not content to let them merely marvel at His gifts and not see Himself as the Messiah.  The reason why? Jesus was and is so much more! 

Christ exposes the crowd’s motives and He goes right for their jugular. Listen to what Jesus said: 

“Truly I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves.  You had your bellies filled and you want me to do it again!  Stop worrying about your bellies and start worrying about your eternal life!”

Dear friends, if we are totally honest with ourselves we can’t help but admit that we all struggle with the same motivations.  As we contemplate our own motives there are so many times that we look to Christ and we want to be “wowed.”  We may say,

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know that old Gospel story, but God do something that I want.  Give me a great sign, feed my belly and show me something that will make me want to come back the next week for more!  I don’t want the ordinary, I want something extraordinary, impress me.  Wow me; give me that exciting feeling!” 

Truthfully we have our own wants and desires and our own plans.  Yes, there are times where our intentions are wrong and sinful.  There are times when we call upon Christ, not as our Savior and Deliverer but as an entertaining bread machine.  We worry too much about our bellies and not enough about our eternal life.   

…

My friends in Christ, the reality is that you and I have been given every sign that we need to have faith.  Just look to the Cross of Christ and what more could we ask for?  The day that Christ was crucified, the earth shook, darkness came on the land, the curtain was torn and Christ proclaimed, “It is finished!”  Do we honestly need another sign?  The tomb is empty my friends.  Christ rose from the grave.  What else do we possibly need?  

Furthermore, God doesn’t merely fill our bodies with food that is temporary; He fills us with His Body and His Blood.  This is a gift that grants us forgiveness of sins and ministers to the depths of your soul.  Mere food cannot do this my friends.  In the Lord’s Supper our souls are ministered to and the Lord’s Supper has eternal ramifications.  Basic food merely goes into your stomach and lasts for a while, but the Lord’s Supper is so much more!

God also has chosen not to simply entertain you into the kingdom; rather you and I are baptized into the kingdom of God.  We are washed.  We are brought from death to life.  We are counted as members of a new household.  We are marked by God. 

Can you imagine having a Lord who would have to “woo us” into the kingdom by entertainment and food?  That kind of Lord would be a pathetic, powerless joke!  Christ is so much more my friends.  No—I take that back, He is not more, He is completely different.  He is not a bread machine.  He is not an entertainer.  He is not some street performer.  He doesn’t entertain you, but comes to you and grants you and me faith bringing us from eternal damnation into eternal life.  He does not try and hold our attention by performing signs that distract us from other alternatives; His sign of the cross and the empty grave actually do something for us!  In Christ, we are declared righteous; in Christ our sins are actually forgiven.  He doesn’t merely feed us with temporary food that only lasts awhile, but He is the bread of heaven that has come for you and me.  And now we are given the eternal Word of God that feeds our souls… the Word that will never perish.  

Baptized Saints, Jesus is not a circus entertainer or a rock star entertainer or a life coach or an example.  Jesus is not some mere inspirational guru that we use to get to a different end.  But rather, Jesus is the crucified and resurrected Savior who gives you certain signs and proof of God’s love for you, which surpasses all worldly understanding.  Jesus is Lord. 

In Christ, you have been Adopted as a Child of God; you have been declared not guilty of sin; you have been converted from death to life; you have been rescued from hell, the devil and God’s wrath; you have been Given the Holy Spirit; you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit; you have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm.  Jesus promises never to leave nor forsake you; He has authored your faith and promises to continually perfect it.  In Christ, you are accepted, accepted, accepted, accepted… 

Jesus is not a bread machine, but the bread of life.  Receive Him; believe upon Christ my friends, for He is your sustenance. 

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

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