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Understanding the Loaves

enrichuregina


Numbers 11:1-9, 31-34; Mark 6:45-52


Opening Prayer:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts 

be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord. Amen. 


Introduction:

Let us set the stage: turbulent waves roll across the Sea of Galilee in the pre-dawn darkness, tossing a small fishing boat to and fro. Jesus’ twelve closest disciples strain at the oars, having spent most of the night labouring to the opposite shore. Out of the darkness, they catch sight of a figure walking past them in the midst of the storm, and are terrified–understandably so, I’d say. Imagine for a second that you are on one of those crab boats on Deadliest Catch, being slammed every which way by the ocean when suddenly you see the silhouette of a figure calmly walking across a cresting wave. That is how the disciples must have felt amid admittedly smaller waves, but on a much smaller boat. But then Jesus calmly announces Himself, and they see that the spectre was in fact their master and teacher. 


Matthew concludes this story with the Apostles worshipping Jesus, declaring, “Truly You are the Son of God” (Mt. 14:33), which seems straightforward enough. Walking on water–through a storm, no less– is no feat to sneeze at, let alone calming the sea as soon as He sets foot in the boat–but Mark points us back to the Feeding of the Five Thousand, how “they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened” (Mk. 6:52). 


John, the final Evangelist to include this story, follows this account with the Bread of Life sermon (Jn. 6:22-40)–so what is with this bread? What is with these loaves? 


In last week’s passage, we see Jesus as the Good Shepherd, teaching His flock and seeing to their physical needs. This crowd was large–at least 5,000 strong– yet by way of a miracle, Jesus was able to sate them all with a meager amount of fish and bread. Food-related miracles are not unique to the New Testament–indeed, the Lord fed His people in the wilderness with manna, a food that fell in flakes from the heaven, at a much larger scale, for the population of Israel has been estimated by some to be around 2 million based on the census at the start of the Book of Numbers. Yet even the Israelites, the beneficiaries of this great miracle, could not grasp the greatness of the Lord our God through provision of bodily food. Instead, they grew weary of their manna and yearned for the food they had in Egypt as slaves. Neither the Israelites in the wilderness nor the Apostles in the boat understood this essential truth: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). I seek to impress upon you how we should respond to this with confidence and thanksgiving. 


Food for the Body:

Now, in response to some criticism I have received in the past, I am going to tell you a story from my bank of experiences–a tale from the gas station, if you will. As you may know, I have worked at the Co-op in Emerald Park for quite some time. You may also know that I have a stubborn streak. To get to where these two facts intersect, you must also know that my gas station is right across from a Dairy Queen, and that once upon a time they had this wonderful thing called a $6 Meal Meal (which became a $7 Meal Deal, and an $8 Meal Deal, soon a $9 Meal Deal). Anyways, with this you get a burger (or chicken strips), fries, a fountain drink, and a sundae–pretty good value for less than I made in an hour as a high schooler. I probably ate more of them than a doctor would recommend, but it was a nice thing–at least for a while. Fast forward to today, and I despise Dairy Queen’s food, and avoid going there unless I have to–you can probably see where this is going. 


For the first stretch, I loved it. Cheap fast food with ice cream: what more could a growing boy desire? Then it wore on me, having the same sloppy, nearly tasteless burger day after day. Once the shine was completely gone, and I could not eat it without feeling disgust or finding reason to complain (the mayo is always in in one big glob on the last half of the sandwich, there’s too much ketchup, it’s stone cold, etc.), I kept buying it, because it was cheap, and I often forgot to bring lunch with me. I stubbornly choked these meals down for far too long before I smartened up. And so something nice became a nightmare. 


Now, I am sure some of you have tales about foods you have made yourselves sick of by having too often. It is a pretty common experience, even when you are afforded the choice to eat other things, as I was. But some people aren’t afforded the choice–they simply have to make due. There are people without the means to choose what they eat, be they trapped in poverty, or held captive under inhumane conditions. In comparison, I am quite fortunate. What are they to do?


The Israelites certainly had no choice but to rely on manna as the staple of their diet, and yet the anger of God was kindled against them when they complained and begged for meat. The answer lies in that the food of the body will never truly sate us. Recall the words of our Lord: “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Mt. 4:4, c.f. Dt. 8:3). 


Our Daily Bread:

Now the truth is that the foods we have to eat, the clothes we have to wear, and the home we have to live in are all gifts from God. It is meet and right to give thanks to the Lord, whether we are living on caviar or watery porridge. Indeed, this is something instructed by our Lord when He taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread”. 


What does this mean? To quote Luther’s Small Catechism, it means that “God gives daily bread, even without our prayer, to all wicked people; but we pray in this petition that He would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving”. And Luther expands this beyond just food, including under this petition almost every fixture of daily life: health, family, friends, government, and so on. 


Our sustenance is in the hands of the Lord, whether lavish or meager. Keep sight of that, dear ones, and rejoice for what you have rather than mourn what you lack. Above all, you have a loving and merciful God. In light of that, what relevance does anything else have? 


The Bread from Heaven:

Let us take a moment to read from the Gospel According to John, the sixth chapter:


Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” . . .

Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

(Jn. 6:26-27, 32-33)


It is this teaching which seals the importance of the loaves. No one, not even His closest disciples, understood that the importance of last week’s miracle was not the feeding itself, but rather what it signified (I hope you can see now how the worship described in Matthew’s telling fits in). For the Feeding of the Five Thousand was a sign for the multitudes that the Bread of Life had come, Emmanuel was here, God is with us. Dear ones, what truth is more important than that the Almighty God, creator of the whole universe, with stars and planets innumerable, came down from heaven to live alongside us, teach us, nurture us, and serve us. Daily sustenance and even miracles pale in comparison to this fact. That is the importance of the loaves. 


Dear ones, understand that it is no small thing that the same God who created this world and everything in it, on the night of the Last Supper took in His hands a loaf of bread, broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you” (1 Co. 11:24). 


Conclusion:

This is what I say to you: as you leave this sanctuary and go back to your daily lives, take heed of the fact that the Lord provides, and be grateful for His provision whether it be great or meager in the eyes of men. Remember that the greatest possible gift has already be given to you: the body of our Lord and Saviour


Let this news give you confidence as you face the storm, even when the boat feels small and the waves large, you have the Triune God on your side. To quote the words of St. Augustine, “He came walking on the waves; and so he puts all the swelling storms of life under his feet. Christians, why be afraid?” Whatever bread of this world awaits you, accept it with thanksgiving, for the Lord is your provider. 


Let neither the good times nor the bad take your eyes off the mercy of mercies, Jesus Christ crucified for us. 


Closing Prayer:

Lord have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

Lord have mercy.

Take our lips and speak through them,

Take our minds and think through them,

Take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. 

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©2023 Enrich Life Church
3200 Avonhurst Drive, Regina, SK

S4R 3J7

Affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, (P.A.O.C.)

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