The world has gone after Jesus. Will you?

Posted on April 10, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Palm Sunday

John 12:12-26

Once again we’ve commemorated Jesus’ Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem with a procession and with palm branches. I think you all know the significance of this day, why we celebrate it. I think you know where Jesus was going on Friday of that Holy Week, and why, and what it means to follow Him. But no one in that first Palm Sunday crowd knew any of that.

As for Jesus’ disciples, they fetched the donkey, as Jesus instructed them, and they watched the ride, but John tells us they didn’t put it together with Zechariah’s prophecy until later. They didn’t know where Jesus was really going, or why. Still, they went after Him, because they had come to know Him and believe in Him as the Christ who had come from God to save them—whatever that meant.

Then there were the multitudes who waved their palm branches and sang their Hosannas with joy as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. But they didn’t know where Jesus was really going, or why. Still they went after Jesus, because, as John tells us, they had heard of this great resurrection miracle Jesus had recently performed on Lazarus, who lived just outside the city of Jerusalem, whose raising was especially astonishing, because, unlike the other two people whom Jesus had raised—the daughter of Jairus and the young man of Nain—this miracle was witnessed by many, and Lazarus had been, if you’ll permit the phrase, “good and dead.” The other two had died the same day, or, at most, the day before. But Lazarus had already been dead and buried for three days when Jesus called him out of the tomb. They wanted to see Jesus for the miracles that He had done, and might do.

We’re told in John’s Gospel that certain Greeks were also there in Jerusalem, Greeks who had converted to the Jewish faith and who wanted to see Jesus. They didn’t know where Jesus was really going, or why. Still they went after Him, hoping that, even though they weren’t Abraham’s children according to the flesh, He might be the promised Christ who would remove the barrier between Jew and Gentile and make a single Holy Christian Church out of all the nations.

So many people had gone after Jesus that it infuriated His enemies, the Pharisees, who wanted nothing to do with Him, who wished He would just go away. “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!” Well, they were about to go after Him, too, not to praise Him, not to worship Him, not to seek instruction from Him, but to kill Him.

For this reason, or for that reason, and usually for the wrong reason, we might say that the world has gone after Jesus. The question for today is, Will you? And if so, why? And for what? And what does it even mean to go after Him? These are pressing questions that need answering, and they’re especially appropriate for the day on which our two young confirmands will give their own answers to those questions.

Where was Jesus going? He was going to the cross. Zechariah’s prophecy about Christ the King riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was one of the most notable and obvious fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy pointing directly at Jesus as the Christ. That prophecy from Zechariah made the Christ look like a victorious conqueror, and yet also a humble one, a lowly one who would bring salvation to His people. But many prophecies, including prophecies from the same prophet Zechariah, also pointed to the Christ as a suffering Servant who would be rejected by the people of Israel and who would be put to death by them. We’ll be reviewing some of those prophecies later this week.

Jesus had already revealed to His disciples many times where He was going, that He was going to the cross. He reveals it to them yet again in today’s Gospel. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

That brings us to the reason why Jesus was going where He was going. Why was Jesus the Christ going to “fall into the ground and die” like a grain of wheat? Why was He going to the cross? He was doing it, so that by His death, He might rise out of the ground again and grow into a stalk that produces much grain. Or, using a different analogy, that He might be a vine that would produce many branches.

You see, there is no life apart from Christ. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All have earned death and eternal condemnation for their sins. All begin life already dead, already trapped in the devil’s kingdom. But Jesus, who is not only true man, but also true God, would suffer the full penalty for the sins of the world and would give His life on the cross, to make atonement for every wicked thing we’ve ever done and for the evil people we are by nature. He is the righteous One who gave His life for the unrighteous. And now God the Father offers the life of His Son to all people. Repent of your sins! Be grafted into Christ by faith! And so receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. That’s how Christ produces much grain as a result of His death, by bringing many people into His body through faith, so that He shares His righteousness, His sonship, His life with all who are joined to Him.

So what does it mean to go after Him—to go after Him in the right way, in the way that leads to life? To go after Him means, first and foremost, to repent and to believe in Him and to be baptized in His name. Most of you, maybe all of you here, have been baptized. Our two young confirmands were both baptized by me, right here at this baptismal font, Aiden 12 years ago, Lucas 13 years ago. You have begun to go after Jesus.

But going after Him is not a one-time thing, or a one-part-of-your-life thing. Being born to Christian parents, being baptized with a Christian baptism, spending your childhood going to Church and hearing God’s Word is a good beginning. But it’s only a beginning.

To go after Jesus also means continuing to hear His Word and study His Word, not because your parents tell you you have to, but because you know it’s God’s will, and that His words are your source of life. Lucas and Aiden, you’ve spent extra time over these last three years reading and studying the Word of Christ at home and in catechism class. But that’s still only a beginning.

To go after Jesus also means to “do this in remembrance of Him,” to regularly receive His true body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar as your special connection of the branch to the Vine or to the stalk of wheat that has sprung up from the earth in His glorious resurrection. Lucas and Aiden, you’ll begin to receive the Lord’s body and blood today. But that’s still only a beginning.

To go after Jesus also means to imitate Him in His kindness and compassion, to be like Him in showing love to others and in obeying God’s commandments. It means a life devoted to prayer and to sanctification, struggling against your sinful flesh and walking according to the Spirit, as the Spirit of God lives in you and strengthens you through Word and Sacrament.

To go after Jesus is a lifelong following. It has to be. Because if you follow Him for a time and then wander away, you’ll share the tragic end of Judas the betrayer. No, following Jesus means losing yourself, losing your earthly life, putting your friends after Jesus, putting your career after Jesus, putting Jesus ahead of your family, your comfort, your earthly happiness, your safety, even your very life. It means following Him all the way to the cross and bearing your cross with patience, even as Jesus did. As He said in today’s Gospel, He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

The way of Jesus leads to the cross, not only for Him, but for you. It means being hated by the world, if you dare to confess Him before the world. But after the cross comes the resurrection. After death comes life. After dishonor comes the greatest honor of all, being honored by God the Father Himself, because you went after Jesus and stayed with Him for life.

The world has gone after Jesus. Will you? May God the Holy Spirit inspire all of you here today to do just that, to go after Jesus, in the right way and for the right reasons, all the way to the cross, and to the grave, and to the endless life that follows. Watch Him this week. Watch Him take on our enemies of sin, death, and the devil. Watch Him love you to His final breath, and then watch as He rises again and brings life and immortality to light. Amen.

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The Table of Duties: Young and Old and All in Common

Posted on April 6, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Judica – Lent 5

Small Catechism Review: The Table of Duties

We’ve made it to the final midweek service before Holy Week. And we’ve also made it to the end of the end of the Small Catechism, to the end of the Table of Duties. Our final three Bible passages are addressed to young and old, and to all Christians at once.

First Luther cites a passage for the young, from 1 Peter 5:

You younger people, submit yourselves to your elders, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time (1 Pet. 5[:5-6]).

Now, “younger people” certainly includes children. But it refers more specifically to people in their teens and early twenties. We have some of those people here. And what are the two duties Peter emphasizes for the young Christians? Submission to those who are older, and humility. The young tend to find both of those things particularly challenging, don’t they? The young often think they know better than their elders. They probably do know more about some things. But there is no substitute for life experience and maturity and the wisdom that comes with it. Regardless, Christian young people are instructed by God to show deference to those who are older. Submitting includes agreeing to listen, agreeing to learn. And humility includes setting aside your notions that you know more, that you know better. It includes showing reverence and respect at all times, and setting aside your pride. Remember that God resists the proud. He hates pride, when people think highly of themselves and think lowly of other people. But He gives grace to the humble. Think about that around your friends, and around those who aren’t your friends. Think about that around your elders. And remember God’s promise to lift you up if you humble yourself.

We can add Paul’s words to St. Titus about the young: Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded. Sober-minded. That’s a big concept. It includes self-control or “temperance,” that means, never going too far, not letting yourself get carried away, either with excitement or adventure, or with sadness or with focusing on how bad things are. Sober-minded. It includes focusing on the things that are most important in this life. Stopping to think before you speak or before you act. Making wise, well-reasoned, God-centered choices. Those things don’t come naturally to any of us, but especially when we’re young. But here God sets forth these duties to Christian young people. And the same God will give you the strength to carry them out, if you take your duties seriously and apply yourselves to them. The devil, the world, and your flesh will tug at you and pull at you to just forget about God and the duties He’s given you, and enjoy being young while you’re young. You mustn’t let them succeed.

Now, for the duties of the “older people.” How do we define that? Well, I suppose it’s when you’re no longer a “youth.” No matter how young you may feel, you reach a state of maturity and full-blown adulthood at some point, and from then until you reach what we call “old age,” you qualify as an older person. Here’s what St. Paul writes to Titus about the duties of older people: Exhort the older men to be sober, dignified, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be properly holy in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

It is the duty of older Christian men to be sober, as in, literally not drunk (or “high” on drugs, either). Dignified (which the NKJV translates “reverent,” which is not a great translation). Dignified, that is, honorable, well-behaved, worthy of respect. Temperate, which is the same word used for the youth “sober-minded,” level-headed, not being carried away to extremes. They are to be sound in faith, that is, healthy in their faith. And as you know, the only way to be healthy is to eat right and exercise, right? So it is with your faith, too. It requires the regular eating of the pure Word of God and of His Sacrament, and the regular exercise of relying on God in times of trouble. Sound in love. That requires regularly eating (that is, dwelling on) the love of Christ and regularly exercising that same love toward others. Sound in patience. That requires regularly eating (that is, dwelling on) the patience Christ Himself showed when He suffered, and the patience of so many saints who have gone before us, and regularly exercising that patience in times of trouble, by bearing the cross and putting up with afflictions, because you know your God will not abandon you.

It is the duty of older Christian women to be properly holy in their behavior, behaving as holy daughters of God. Not slanderers, that is not women who talk badly about others or gossip about them. Not given to much wine. Wine is fine, but it’s a Christian woman’s duty to know when to say when. Teachers of good things. Sure, that can be for teachers in a classroom. But it’s much more than that. Older Christian women ought to teach younger Christian women, but they must do it with kindness and gentleness and humility. Teaching them, as Paul says, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. You may have heard of “church ladies” over the years who haven’t acted this way, and have given a bad name to the Church. But you older women know it’s your duty not to be like that.

Those words from Paul to Titus aren’t the words of our Table of Duties, though. Luther simply includes this passage about widows from 1 Tim. 5: Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives (1 Tim. 5[:5-6]). When a Christian woman loses her husband, she hasn’t lost all purpose in life. It’s now her duty to trust in God, and to devote herself to prayer and to the kingdom of God. And it’s the duty of other Christians to see that such a woman is cared for, or that elderly Christians in general are cared for, if they truly need care.

Finally, Luther includes two verses that speak to all Christians. From Romans 13: All the commandments are summed up in this saying: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Rom. 13[:9]). And from 1 Tim. 2: Persevere in prayer for all men (1 Tim. 2[:1]).

Love. It’s the duty of all Christians to love. But to love according to the Christian definition of love, love as it’s described in the Ten Commandments. Love that is consistent with God’s Word. Love that is genuine, sincere, from the heart, seeking the best of our neighbor, and especially of our fellow Christians. Love as it’s modeled for us by the Lord Jesus. And prayer. That’s also modeled for us by Him, prayer as a form of love, because we’re praying to God the Father on behalf of others. These are the constant duties of all Christians.

With that, we conclude our study of the Table of Duties, and, of course, more could be said about all our duties as Christians. But I leave it to you now to think about your duties every day and to carry them out diligently, as those who have been purchased with the blood of Christ, washed clean of all your sins, and brought into the kingdom of Christ, not to lounge around, but to serve Him in His kingdom in the ways He Himself has outlined for you in His Word. Where you have failed to do your duties, where I have failed to do mine, let us repent and look to Christ, who fulfilled His duties perfectly and gladly, including His duty to His Father to suffer and die for our sins. As we conclude this Lenten season and move into Holy Week, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as He fulfills all His blessed duties for us, so that we have all the motivation we need to fulfill our duties to Him. Amen.

 

 

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Jesus’ words sound bitter to some, sweet to others

Posted on April 3, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Judica – Lent 5

Hebrews 9:11-15  +  John 8:46-59

I’m sure you wonder sometimes why so many people in the world, even in our own community, have no interest whatsoever in listening to the Word of God, why so few wish to gather with us here, or in any of the right-teaching churches around the world. At the same time, many people around the world and in our own community wonder why on earth we would gather here faithfully every Sunday to worship this God in whom we believe. To us, it seems foolish for them not to join us in worshiping this God, and to them, we appear to be the fools. And that’s the way it’s always been. The truth is, Jesus’ words sound bitter to some, and sweet to others.

To whom do Jesus’ words sound bitter? They sound bitter to those who are still the devil’s children, to those who are in league with the demons. As Jesus asked the unbelieving Jews, If I am telling the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is from God hears God’s words. This is why you do not hear, because you are not from God. The natural state of man—our natural state in which we’re born—is not good, is not godly, is not ready to listen to the Word of the Lord. Our natural state—the state in which the unbelieving Jews were still in—is one of hostility to God, unbelief, blindness, corruption, and wickedness. We trust in ourselves by nature, not in God. We want to listen to our own ideas, our own beliefs, our own desires, not the Word of God. We don’t want to hear that we’re sinners, and that God damns us for our sins, and that we can only escape condemnation if God Himself saves us. We don’t want to hear that our beliefs are wrong, that our actions are evil, that the Man Jesus is also true God and mankind’s only Savior. We don’t want to hear that we must change and become different people, people who live according to God’s commandments. And so, when God speaks—when Jesus speaks words that attack people’s natural wickedness and their natural faith in themselves and what they think is right, then His words of Law and Gospel sound bitter, not sweet.

But to us who believe in Christ Jesus, His words are sweet. He who is from God hears God’s words. When you hear and believe Jesus’ words about your sin and about the free salvation He offers and everything else, you have proof that you are from God, and you give thanks to God for calling you out of Satan’s kingdom and for bringing you to repentance and faith and for placing you on a new path of love and good works that ends in eternal life. To you, the words of Jesus are sweet.

But since Jesus’ words sounded so bitter to the unbelieving Jews, they attacked Him. The Jews answered and said to him, “Do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and that you have a demon?” They think they’re the smart ones, the righteous ones, the elites. They look down on Jesus as a simpleton, as a lesser person. He’s so “hateful,” so “wicked,” that He must be possessed by a demon. Again, why? What evil has He done or spoken against God’s Word? None. He has simply contradicted them and their words. He has revealed their errors and spoken the truth about their lies. But the truth sounds bitter to those who embrace lies, to those who are unknowingly in league with the father of lies, the devil himself.

You know it’s true. Those who speak simple truth and highlight simple facts are viciously attacked still today. And ridiculed. And spoken down to. Say in public that someone pretending to be a girl is actually a boy, say that homosexuality is evil and wrong, that sex is only for marriage, say that every religion except for the Christian religion is wicked and from the devil, and you’ll see just how bitter those words sound to the world.

But Jesus keeps speaking, and His words keep stinging those who remain in unbelief. I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it and who judges. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

Jesus claims to honor God the Father, and that the Father seeks honor for Jesus and judges those who refuse to honor Him. Those words sound bitter to those who will not accept Jesus as Lord, because He’s telling them that they’re doomed. And He assures them that they will see death, because they do not keep His word.

On the other hand, to those who believe in Jesus, His words are sweet, because we know that the Father will spare us from judgment for Jesus’ sake. In fact, we know that the Father loves us, not because we are so lovable by nature or so obedient, but because we have been baptized into the Beloved, baptized into Christ, and because we have been brought to love Jesus. And the sweet words of Jesus assure us that we will never see death. When it comes to each of us, it will not harm us; it will grudgingly usher us into the arms of our Savior.

The Jews simply can’t believe that Jesus would dare to make such a claim, to have power death, to speak words that save people from death. “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets. And you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”

Jesus answered, “If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father who honors me, of whom you say that he is your God. You do not know him; but I know him. If I were to say, ‘I do not know him,’ I would be a liar, like you. But I do know him and keep his word.”

Biting words. Bitter words. “I know God, and you don’t. I tell the truth, and you speak lies.” Jesus says the same thing to today’s world, and His Church echoes His words. “We know the true God, and all you who deny the God whom we preach and believe in—you don’t know God. And if you claim to know Him, then you’re lying.” Bitter words to those who cling to other gods, or who view themselves as their own gods.

But to Christians, even these words are sweet, because they’re true, and we can depend on them. There are not many Gods. There are not many paths to God. There is one true God and one path to Him, through His Son Jesus Christ. We know Him, and others don’t. We don’t speak those words in pride or to exalt ourselves. We speak them because the world needs to hear them, needs to hear that the path they’re on leads only to death, needs to hear where alone salvation is found, in Jesus the Christ, the promised Son of Abraham.

Jesus then presses the Jews on their relationship to Abraham and paves the way for His boldest claim of all. Your father Abraham was glad that he would see my day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old! And you have seen Abraham?”  Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Yes, Jesus, the Man in His 30’s, was claiming to be the eternal God, the LORD, Jehovah or Yahweh, who spoke with Abraham 2,000 years earlier, and whose birth Abraham foresaw by faith. Those words were so bitter to the unbelieving Jews that they picked up stones to throw at Jesus in order to kill Him.

But to us, those words are so sweet that we have abandoned everything in order to follow Him, because we know we’re not just following a great teacher or a great prophet. We’re following God Himself. And next week, as we remember the great suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ during Holy Week, remember throughout all of it that this Man is God, your Creator and your Redeemer.

And remember this, too, that many who find Jesus’ words to be bitter today will be changed by those very words tomorrow. St. Paul found Jesus’ words to be bitter for years while he continued to trust in his own works as a Pharisee, until Jesus’ words changed him and became sweet to Him. So keep believing, and keep speaking the bitter/sweet words of Jesus. Speak them boldly, and stand on them confidently, and pray that many who now find them bitter will finally embrace them for the sweet comfort of life and salvation that they bring. Amen.

 

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The Table of Duties: Slaves and Masters

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Laetare – Lent 4

Small Catechism Review: The Table of Duties

We come to what may be the most difficult part of the Table of Duties, the passages concerning servants or slaves and masters or lords. I call it difficult for three reasons. First, because the circumstances were so different in former times than they are now in 21st century America with regard to social structure and expectations. Second, because our own country’s experience with slavery, tied as it was to racial factors, was historically so different from the slavery mentioned in the Bible, which had little to do with race. And third, because, while the world’s moral understanding of slavery has shifted 180 degrees, it still doesn’t line up with God’s Word and with God’s morality.

First, let’s hear the relevant Bible passages from the Table of Duties from Ephesians 6:5-9:

Servants, obey those who are your lords according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as you would obey Christ; not with service done only before the eyes, as if pleasing men, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill, as rendering service to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive it back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or a free man [(Eph. 6:5-8)].

And you lords, do the same things toward them and leave threats aside, knowing that your own Lord is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him (Eph. 6[:9]).

The Greek word for “servant” in these verses is the same as the word for “slave.” Doulos. It could just as well be translated, “Slaves, obey…” But the verb, which is related to that noun, includes many forms of serving or service. St. Paul often calls himself the Lord’s doulos, the Lord’s “servant” or “slave.” He viewed himself as belonging, not to himself, but to the Lord. And that’s really what a slave was: someone who belonged to someone else, and was therefore bound to service someone else, who was called the person’s “master,” which is the same Greek word for “lord.” But clearly the relationship between Paul the slave and the Lord was a very good one, and, while Paul recognized that he belonged to the Lord, his service (his slaving) wasn’t an unwilling thing, nor was the Lord’s lordship a cruel thing. The fact is, no Christian belongs to himself or herself. As Paul writes, You are not your own. For you were bought at a price—the price of the holy precious blood of Jesus, who has freed us from slavery to sin and death and has made us slaves of righteousness and heirs of eternal life.

Now, it was commonly accepted in the world at Paul’s time that some people belonged, not only to God, but to other people, either permanently, as a slave, or temporarily, like a worker or a house servant. Sometimes people made themselves slaves to another in order to pay off a debt. Sometimes people were captured in war and made slaves. Or sometimes, people just became what we would call today employees of someone else. Hired hands. Domestic servants.

St. Paul’s words to the Ephesians apply to all those circumstances, even to Christian slaves, even to Christian lords or masters. Yes, a person could be a Christian and a slave. And yes, a person could be a Christian and a slave owner, a “lord according to the flesh.” Today’s twisted version of Christianity in the world denies that, and today’s world despises that. But in the truly Christian worldview, it is not the Christian’s highest goal in life to have earthly freedom or to create a society where everyone is equal. Those things do actually flow from Christian morals, but Christianity does not require them or make them a primary goal for Christians. On the contrary, the Christian faith allows for that kind of slavery and that kind of inequity in social structure.

But while the Lord allows Christians to live with those inequities in society, He doesn’t allow bad behavior in those societal roles. In both slave and master, worker and boss, He requires love. And how does He define love in those roles?

Well, for Christian slaves, and in our context, for Christian workers, who work for someone else, love looks like obedience at the workplace. It’s the Christian’s duty to make sure there’s no one who works harder than you at your job. It means showing up on time, and maybe early. It means doing everything that’s expected of you, and more, if possible. It means looking out for your boss’s best interests instead of your own. It means working diligently the whole time you’re on the clock, and not just when people are watching, but even when no one’s watching, even when no one knows, because Christ knows, and it’s Him you’re really serving.

For Christian masters or employers or bosses, love looks like fair and kind treatment of your servants or workers. Your duty is to make sure there is not an employer out there who is fairer or kinder than you. It means not having a haughty attitude toward your workers, as if you’re better or more important than they are. Your duty is to remember that you, too, have a Lord in heaven who sees how you treat those who are under you. So if you don’t want to be treated badly by your Lord, then you’d better not treat your servants badly, either.

Christians can behave this way in these earthly roles because we know that’s all they are: earthly roles that will one day pass away. Already God has made all Christians equal in Christ in His sight, of equal worth, all of us free and beloved children of God, even if a person is a poor slave here on earth. There is no partiality with God. He doesn’t favor the rich more than the poor, or the master more than the slave. He favors all the same in Christ. And when this short life is done, and we all stand before God at the Last Day, then these earthly roles will all pass away, and we’ll all live in the perfect freedom of the new heavens and the new earth.

Now, as always, more could be said about masters and servants, employers and employees, but these midweek services are only meant to serve as a general review of our Christian duties. Where you have failed to do your duties, where I have failed to do mine, let us repent and look to Christ, who fulfilled His duties perfectly and gladly, including His duty to His Father to suffer and die for our sins. Throughout this Lenten season, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as He fulfills all His blessed duties for us, so that we have all the motivation we need to fulfill our duties to Him. Amen.

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The freedom that comes from the Bread from heaven

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Laetare – Lent 4

Galatians 4:21-31  +  John 6:1-15

You all remember the story from the Old Testament when Moses handed down God’s Law from Mount Sinai and sealed with the people of Israel the covenant under which they would live for the next 1,500 years, the covenant of the Law. Do you remember what happened not long before the children of Israel reached Mount Sinai? Well, about two months earlier, they had celebrated the first Passover, when God spared the Israelite children from the plague of death that struck the firstborn of Egypt. The Lord led them miraculously through the Red Sea. And then, when they grew hungry on their journey to Mount Sinai, the Lord rained down that special bread from heaven that they called “manna.” A sign of His goodness, a token of His care, an incentive for Israel to embrace the covenant He was about to make with them, because He is a good God who cares for us poor sinners. And that bread was also a daily reminder that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

When did we hear those words last? Well, it was just three weeks ago on the first Sunday in Lent, when Jesus was forced by His dear heavenly Father to spend forty days in the wilderness without eating any bread at all. And the devil tried to take advantage and tempt Him. Forty years God provided bread for the children of Israel, while His beloved Son was allowed to suffer hunger.

Then, in today’s Gospel, we see Jesus not allowing His followers to go even one day without bread. Instead, He provides for them miraculously. Once again, Jesus suffers what He doesn’t deserve to suffer, but freely gives gifts to those who don’t deserve the gifts.

It’s a simple account. John tells us that the Passover was near. So the people of Galilee already had to be thinking about their plans to make the annual journey to Jerusalem, to commemorate the God’s redemption of Israel from Egypt, and the wilderness wanderings, and the manna, and the covenant established through Moses at Mount Sinai. With those things at least in the back of their minds, the people had spent the day with Jesus, listening to Him and being healed of their diseases. He had compassion on them, because it was growing late and there was nowhere to get food in the place where they were. So before they could even notice their hunger, Jesus had His disciples search for some food for the people, and they only came up with five loaves of bread and two fish—not nearly enough to satisfy 5,000 men, plus women and children. But Jesus blessed the bread and started handing it out to His disciples, who then handed it out to the people. And the bread and the fish just kept being handed out in that fashion until everyone had enough. And more than enough! They collected twelve baskets of leftover pieces.

And so, again, we see the kindness and goodness of Jesus, His desire and His ability to provide for those who follow Him. We see His divine power. We see the same God who provided bread from heaven to Israel now here in the flesh, still providing free gifts to His people. Who wouldn’t believe in this Man who is God? Who wouldn’t want Him for a Savior?

But John’s Gospel ends this account on a sour note. When the people saw the miracle Jesus had done, they said, “This man truly is the prophet who is to come into the world!” But Jesus knew that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, so he departed again to the mountain by himself, alone.

What happened? How did the people go from thankful and amazed to the conclusion that they should grab Jesus and force Him to be their King?

Well, this highlights one of the two errors that Israel fell into over the centuries. Throughout much of the Old Testament, they rejected the God who made the covenant with them through open idolatry, turning away from His covenant openly, openly worshiping idols, outwardly disobeying His commandments, not fulfilling their end of the covenant while still expecting God to fulfill His end.

There were still some in Israel who lived like that at the time of Jesus, but for the most part, Israel had fallen into a different error. While outwardly showing great zeal for the covenant God made with them on Mount Sinai, they inwardly put their trust in themselves and their works, in their circumcision, in their obedience to the Law, in their descent from Abraham. They thought, we’ve kept our end of the bargain. We’ve done our part in the covenant. We’ve kept the Law. Now God has to do His part. They still looked for the Christ to come, but not to save them from sin, death, and the power of the devil. They wanted a Christ who would be an earthly King, someone who would make all sorrow and sickness vanish for them, someone who would conquer their earthly oppressors, someone who would satisfy their bellies and make their lives comfortable and make their nation glorious. Isn’t that what the covenant of Mount Sinai was all about?

No. It never was. What few realized at the time of Christ was that the Law given on Mount Siani was pointing them away from the Law, to the salvation that the coming Christ would bring because of their disobedience to the Law. Everyone’s disobedience, from the open idolaters to those who simply trusted in themselves. The Law pointed ahead to its own fulfillment and to its own replacement, to a new covenant of grace and forgiveness of sins. The Law was there to guide them to Christ.

And so, about a year before fulfilling the Law and instituting that New Covenant in His blood, Jesus performed a miracle similar to the miraculous feeding of Israel in the wilderness. He fed the hungry people of Israel with bread, a sign of who He was—the same God who provided manna in the wilderness. A sign of His care and compassion, of His goodness and love, a sign that a New Covenant would soon be instituted, a sign that they should put their trust in Him, not only for their bodies, but also for their souls. That was the intended message behind the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus is the Prophet, the promised Messiah, who will save you from your sins.

But because the people were still in love with the Old Covenant, the message they received was: We should take Jesus and force Him to be our King, to provide earthly peace and comfort and security. We don’t need a Savior from sin. We don’t need a new covenant.

And the result? Jesus left those people behind. He departed again to the mountain by himself, alone.

This is what St. Paul was referring to in today’s Epistle. The people of Israel who rejected Jesus as the Christ who would offer Himself as an atoning sacrifice to save them from their sins—those people were actually enslaved under the Old Covenant. They pretended that they were keeping the Law, but they didn’t really read the Law or listen to it, because if they had, they would have recognized that their thoughts, words, and deeds were impure, that they had broken God’s Law and deserved only His wrath and punishment.

But Christians know and believe that Christ Jesus has freed us from the condemnation we deserve by suffering, not what He deserved to suffer, but what we deserved to suffer. We believe that Christ Jesus has freed us from having to “keep our end of the bargain,” because we can’t keep the Law as it must be kept in order to earn our salvation by it. We believe that we are saved by faith alone in this good and gracious Savior, who provided the sacrifice for our sins. And we don’t look to Him to take away all our problems and struggles in this world. We look to Him to help us through them, to provide the relief that we need, when we need it, even as He once provided bread in the wilderness to His followers. And we look to Him to bring us safely into His heavenly kingdom, and to the resurrection of the dead, when He will take away all our problems and struggles.

Until then, hold onto the freedom that comes from faith. Hold onto Christ as your Redeemer who loves you. Hold onto the Sacraments, where Christ gives you both forgiveness and strength to live a new life. Live in the freedom of the children of promise. Not free to sin, not free to treat people badly or free to ignore the Word of God. But free to serve your neighbor in love. This freedom from the Law, this freedom from salvation by works, this freedom through faith in Christ, is also the freedom to serve God without fear and to love freely, even as you have been freely loved. May Christ, the true Bread from heaven, keep you firm and steadfast in this faith and in this freedom, by the power of His Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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