Laetare 2020

Text: Exodus 16:2-21, John 6:1-15

Sermon Preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Baltimore, MD

Over the past few weeks, our lives have been engulfed with news of the coronavirus named COVID-19. The spread of this virus has occurred at lightning speed throughout the world. On the one hand, this is partly due to the increased ease of travel across the globe. On the other hand, the virus is new, and we don't have treatments or vaccines for the virus. The result has been a world that is reeling and feeling vulnerable and, in many ways, feeling fearful and scared for the days ahead.  

As you look around and as you examine yourselves, has the current pandemic revealed you trust in God to carry you through this time of tribulation? Do you have faith your heavenly Father will provide for the needs of this body and life as you confess in the First Article of the Creed? Is your hope anchored in the knowledge of the death and resurrection of Jesus upon the cross? Do you continue to believe the Holy Spirit creates saving faith in you still today? Or, has a fear of sickness and death, in an otherwise peaceful life caused cracks in your faith?

The problem with cracks is that they permit distrust to seep in. Cracks eventually lead to decay, and in this instance, the result is a decay of faith, a decay in trusting God. In response, we turn inward and begin to believe in ourselves for a way out of this mess. We stock up on supplies we need and supplies we don't need. We fail to love and trust in God with all our hearts and all our mind; we show little love to our neighbors who are isolated and in need of the necessities. Why do we do this? Because, today, we feel out of control in the worst ways. The journey we have through the season of Lent is a time to care for our neighbor, a time to fast and to set aside additional time for prayer to God. Pandemics, such as this, also give pause to our lives for these exact reasons. This pause also asks critical questions of the Christian; “Where is your trust?” “Where is your faith?”

In today’s Old Testament reading, we hear of the grumbling people of Israel. They had lost faith in God. They grumble and complain, "Give us something to eat; we are starving!" And God provides for them; He gives them food in the morning and the evening. He provides for their needs for one day, promising more for the next day and the day after that.

You would think that by now, after rescuing Israel from one crisis after another, they would have learned to have confidence and reliance in their Lord. Yet, even here, they do not trust in God. They gather more than they were instructed, they fail to put their faith in God's sufficient Word.

There is also a theme of trust in today's Gospel; why were the crowds following Jesus? Was it out of love for Jesus? Love for God? Did they follow Him because they wanted to hear the preaching of God’s Word? No, they “followed Him because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.”  They saw what He could do, and the crowds wanted their desires to be met, their needs satisfied, their ailments and diseases healed.

Think back to the conversation Jesus had with Philip. Jesus asked Philip, "Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?" Philip’s first words as he began speaking are of money, saying, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each person to get a little.” In this question to Philip, Jesus is asking, where does he place his faith, and Philip's response is occupied with dollar figures. It is no different for us today during this current pandemic as we contemplate our savings and stocks and the government wrestles over funding for a response. But, Jesus will show Philip that the answer is not in dollars or denarius, it is not in the governmental institutions (although beneficial and rightly ordered by God); the answer for Philip and us is faith in Jesus.

As the Gospel continues, Jesus said to His disciples, “Have the people sit down.” In doing so, Jesus prepares to teach the people and His disciples on the matter of faith in Him. The scene is folly and silly to onlookers. Yet, 5,000 men plus women and children all sit while God provides for them. They sit, and they wait patiently on the Lord. Only Jesus can satisfy your real needs. Needs of body and the soul. The need of being healed and forgiven from the deadliest disease and virus of sin.

So, this day, you are invited again to place your faith and trust in the words of Jesus. At the altar, you are invited to receive His true body from heaven faithfully, multiplied, and hidden under the bread for you. You are invited to receive His true blood faithfully, shed, and given for you. This meal you receive is no less miraculous as the meal provided in the wilderness. It is the meal your Lord gives to you, His dear child, in the wilderness of this rugged and often terrifying life.

When those who flocked to and followed Jesus had sat and were waiting patiently for Him, Jesus "took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to the disciples."  These words are nearly identical to the words you know well: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said:  Take, eat; this is My body…” These are words to be relied upon; they bring the healing balm of forgiveness to you, words of eternal life, words that give you hope in a world that often appears desolate and hopeless.

Like the Israelites, we do not always trust in God. We grumble that our needs are not met; greed fills us and leads us into taking more in this life than God has given to us. In the process, you do not call on your neighbor or keep those caring for the sick in prayer as you ought. You worry about health and who will care for you, especially in days such as this. Yet, the sin of your life has become the food hoarded by the Israelites and it has the stench of worms. The result of sin is that your bodies will all succumb to this life and one day be placed into the ground, back into the earth.

This is not the joyful picture you long for today. You are here in this sanctuary for a reprieve from the disease and death of this world. And a reprieve is what Jesus gives you. He gives you His life in His Word and His flesh and blood for the forgiveness of your sin. He does this with the promise that none of the happenings of this world is the ultimate end. Instead, in Christ, you have hope, you have faith, and you possess a joy that surpasses life within this world.

It sounds out of place to have joy today. But this Sunday is known as Laetare Sunday, meaning to rejoice. Laetare Sunday is a brief reprieve from Lent. A reminder that even as our Lenten journey dives deeper next week, joy awaits us, not only with this Easter but the eternal celebration of Easter in heaven. No longer will you eat bread and manna in the wilderness of this life, fret over the needs of the body, or be consumed with hoarding food or hygiene products in the face of a pandemic. Your joy is in Jesus, who will bring you into His eternal presence. Disease, epidemics, and unease will never cease in this world. However, the unfailing love of God will sustain you, both now and forever. All this, you can confidently believe, because of the Word and promise you have received from Christ Jesus this day. This Word and promise from Jesus is the only thing that matters in this life, and it is the only thing that will bring you true peace and joy, now and forever. +INJ+