200322 Lent 4 Home Worship Order of Service <--click for bulletin/order of service
Sermon manuscript:
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Our readings today sound different from the way that they
would under normal circumstances. Under normal circumstances we know where our
daily bread is going to come from. We’re going to go to the grocery store and
buy it. In order to pay for it we are going to go to work and cash our
paycheck. Our pay has enough left over that we can go to a restaurant or a
movie or take a vacation every now and then. Everybody has abundant provisions.
Our second reading from the book of the acts of the apostles
is the report of what happened right after Peter preached the Gospel on
Pentecost. 3,000 were baptized. They met together and broke bread together.
They had all things in common. If there was someone in need, they gave. If they
didn’t have the means on hand, they sold.
When things are operating normally we have measures and
procedures set up for taking care of the less fortunate. Since other people are
taking care of these problems we don’t worry about it. With what is going on
right now, we might very well be called upon to give away our toilet paper to
those who did not hoard it. Giving away our food and supplies, holding thing in
common, is much more of a real possibility today and going forward into the
future than it was a couple weeks ago.
In our Gospel reading Jesus wants the disciples to feed the
huge crowd of hungry people. Philip does the math and says that even if they
spent 200 denarii, it wouldn’t even be close to enough, and to be sure, none of
them had 200 denarii. 200 denarii is about 200 days’ wages. That would be over
$20,000 in today’s money. How are these people going to be fed?
Today we are beginning to hear people wonder aloud how the
economy is going to keep going if everybody is confined to their houses. How
are people’s needs going to be met? Where is the money going to come from? Today
everybody’s attention is on the virus and on the healthcare system. Tomorrow
the news will be focused on the great changes that have taken place in the
economy.
Perhaps we could sum up all these concerns by saying that we
would like to know the future. We want to know where and how we are going to
get everything that we need. When we don’t know how things will be in a month,
or in a week, we become burdened and heavy laden with stress. There is stress
when things are going normally, but that’s nothing compared to when things are
uncertain. And if ever the situation should get to the point where we don’t
know how we are going to eat tomorrow, then we would be greatly troubled.
This was the situation in our first reading from Exodus.
Moses and the hundreds of thousands of people had left Egypt. They had crossed
through the Red Sea. They are on their way to Mt. Sinai. They had already gone
through the first crisis that would take place during a journey like this. They
had run out water. Where are you going to find water in a desert? When they
finally found some, they couldn’t drink it. But God made the bitter water
sweet. He led them to a place that did have good water.
What is the thing that runs low after water? It’s food. The
provisions that they brought along with them from Egypt had run out. What are
they going to eat? They blamed Moses and Aaron for leading them into this
terrible predicament. Here are the harsh and bitter words: “I wish we had died
in Egypt. At least we had something to eat there. Now we have to watch our
children starve in this miserable wilderness.” Reading these words can’t
possibly do justice to the sights and sounds that had to have accompanied them.
There had to be veins popping and screams and tears. If I said that they were
stressed, you would probably say you can say that again. And why were they
stressed? They were down to nothing. They didn’t know the future. Where were
they going to get bread for tomorrow?
Have you ever noticed the redundancy in the Lord’s Prayer
where it says, “Give us this day our daily bread?” The emphasis is on
the day, as in “day by day.” This matches up with our Lord’s teaching
elsewhere. He says, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Again he says, “Consider
the birds of the air. They do not sow nor reap, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Consider the lilies of the field. They neither spin nor toil, but
they are adorned with such beauty that even Solomon in all his glory cannot
compare to them.” “So do not worry about what you will eat or what you
will drink or what clothes you will wear. You have a God. You are more
important and precious to God than many sparrows and all the flowers of the
field.” “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.”
These are wonderful, tender, encouraging words. I want you
to drink them up and satisfy your soul.
I also want you to notice something. Having been satisfied
with trust in your heavenly Father to give you your daily bread, I want you to
notice whom or what you otherwise can’t help but trust in. Times of scarcity
and stress reveal in what or in whom we trust. We trust in some pretty silly things,
when you really think about it. We trust in our bank accounts. What can dollar
bills really do for you if you get right down to it? They are pieces of paper,
or even just electronic bits of information. Under normal circumstances they
work fine, but dollars are far from being infallible. I forget how many
trillions of dollars have been wiped out of our economy in the last month, but
it is a big number.
Or we trust in our well stocked pantry. This is what the
Israelites trusted in too. They had brought along all that they could when they
left their homes in Egypt. But what can butter and eggs and milk really do for
you? These things are very poor substitutes for the real God. The real God can
make bread rain down from heaven and make flocks of quail cover the whole camp.
He can make bread and fish multiply miraculously in the taking, giving thanks,
breaking, and giving.
And these are only the needs that have to do with our
bellies. Nobody believes that money or food can rescue them from death and the
corruption of the grave. These things that we make such a big deal about are
quite limited in what they are able to accomplish. But your God sees to your
every need—not just of body, but also of soul. Even if you lived to be a
hundred and twenty, what would become of you when you are judged for how you
have lived your life? Justice makes its claim on you, and justice will have its
fill. But justice has already had its fill on Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world. The righteousness of life that is required of
you has been lived by Jesus. The punishment for your sins that is required,
because it is just, has been poured out on the spotless Son of God. Your
redemption from death and hell was worked by the suffering and death of Jesus on
the cross. Your God has not just seen to the needs of your body, but also of
your soul. Through faith in Christ you have eternal life for both your body and
your soul, just as Christ is risen from the dead, and lives and reigns to all
eternity.
And so stresses and troubles are not altogether bad so long
as they work together in making us more firmly trust in the one who works our
salvation. If we were good people, if we were wise and pious, then we would
fear, love, and trust in God equally in good times and bad. It wouldn’t matter
to us if we had twenty years’ worth of bread stored up or just enough for the
day. We would be of equally good cheer in both. But we’re not like that. We’re
not good, wise, or pious. We are liable to despise God and fear, love, and
trust in other things. It is only when these other things fail, and show us
their true, impotent colors, that we are given the opportunity to wake up from
our foolishness and trust in the God who will not fail us.
Stress and scarcity, when they are used appropriately, are
very good for us spiritually. Have you prayed more this past week than you did
the week before? I have. My flesh is no different than your flesh—it is just as
lazy and cold. I can’t hardly be whipped into shape unless I’m forced to. I
don’t know a good thing until it’s gone. But even though I do not deserve it,
God gives me the opportunity to grasp him anew, to be cheered with his loving
kindness, and to be able to pass this same thing on to you so that you may
trust in God yet more firmly. Anybody and everybody who trusts in anything else
will be disappointed, but you will never be disappointed when you trust in God
and his promises. God is not a liar. What he promises will come true.
The peace of God that transcends all understanding keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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