SPEAKER_00: The congregation may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus feeds you from his own hand.
SPEAKER_00: Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, to him who loves us and has washed us clean from our sins with his own blood and made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve God and his Father.
SPEAKER_00: To him be all glory, honor, and dominion forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: How does our Lord grow his church?
SPEAKER_00: It's not unusual for us to have a habit of believing that we somehow grow the Lord's church through our own machinations.
SPEAKER_00: But everyone a witness doesn't imply that someone else's salvation rests on us.
SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't say your salvation rested on someone else's action or inaction.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, you, dear saints, would say your salvation rests entirely on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's because it's Jesus who does the planting.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus' Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus' word.
SPEAKER_00: Those are Jesus' sacraments.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who breathes life into his church through every word that proceeds from his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: For where the word of God is working, there also is his Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way our Lord works, after all.
SPEAKER_00: That's how our Lord grows his church.
SPEAKER_00: He's always the one doing the doing.
SPEAKER_00: But a better question for today might be: how does our Lord sustain and care for his church?
SPEAKER_00: The answer is, Jesus remains to be the one who feeds and waters his church with his life-giving word and sacraments.
SPEAKER_00: And he does it through the hands of those he sends out to work his field.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the body of Christ can never have too much Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can never have too much of what Jesus is giving out.
SPEAKER_00: And you can never have too much of where our Lord promises to come to you and give you Himself.
SPEAKER_00: For if you have Jesus, you have the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: If you have the forgiveness of sins, you have life and salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But you can reject it.
SPEAKER_00: You can say, no, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: You can tell the Lord of creation who redeemed your life with his own, no, thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want what you're giving out today.
SPEAKER_00: You can either receive what Jesus is giving out or you can reject it.
SPEAKER_00: But if you reject our Lord, the loss is completely your fault.
SPEAKER_00: Your loss would be completely the result of your own stubbornness or desire for worldly things over godly things, which is of no benefit to you.
SPEAKER_00: But who here doesn't want forgiveness?
SPEAKER_00: Who here doesn't want life?
SPEAKER_00: Who here doesn't want to receive the salvation that rescues us from the pit of death in their ears and on their tongues?
SPEAKER_00: But if you, dear saints, want what our Lord is giving out, if you want to be on the receiving end of his grace and goodness, well then understand how your Lord delivers to you what you need to sustain you in this body and life until the resurrection of the dead.
SPEAKER_00: It's always about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's never not about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Today's gospel lesson is no different.
SPEAKER_00: In today's gospel lesson, we hear about Jesus withdrawing in a boat to a desert, a deserted place after hearing that his cousin John the Baptist was killed.
SPEAKER_00: That may seem like a strange thing for our Lord to do.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't confront Herod, he didn't raise John back from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: No doubt our Lord could have, but instead he withdrew.
SPEAKER_00: He may have been mourning, he could have been praying, but our text doesn't give us that information.
SPEAKER_00: But what we do know is it's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And even though he may have gotten away by himself in a boat for a moment, the disciples and the crowds from the towns followed him.
SPEAKER_00: No doubt some of these were the disciples of John.
SPEAKER_00: They too wanted to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, it was John the Baptist that always pointed their eyes to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Not only did the disciples follow Jesus, but they followed him on foot.
SPEAKER_00: By land.
SPEAKER_00: Last I recall, Jesus was on a boat.
SPEAKER_00: That means this Jesus guy must be pretty important to listen to and receive from.
SPEAKER_00: Apparently they couldn't get too much Jesus either.
SPEAKER_00: When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew delivers to us the heart of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't simply talk about our Lord's character, but he shows how our Lord is compassionate for the people.
SPEAKER_00: Splogism in Greek, which means his gut is wrenched, his heart is moved.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus does what only Jesus can do.
SPEAKER_00: He heals them.
SPEAKER_00: He can heal the sick and cast out demons because he is God the Son, and he is in the business of restoring his creation.
SPEAKER_00: But even this is not the point of today's miracle story.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not simply preaching, teaching, or healing people in this part of Matthew's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The crux of the story comes when it's evening.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over.
SPEAKER_00: Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said, They need not go away.
SPEAKER_00: You give them something to eat.
SPEAKER_00: How is it that our Lord, who had healed all kinds of people just that afternoon, and through whom the entire world was created, turned to his disciples and told them to feed the people?
SPEAKER_00: Should they have been able to muster up between themselves enough resources to care for the people?
SPEAKER_00: Should they have come up with the right outreach ministry plan right there on the spot so that they could gather enough funds to purchase food for an overnight makeshift food bank?
SPEAKER_00: In truth, they said to him, We've only got five loaves and two fish.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Bring them here to me.
SPEAKER_00: The point is, the disciples could not provide for the people.
SPEAKER_00: Truly, they did not have enough resources amongst themselves.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there were so many people, at least five thousand men, that they couldn't even come close to providing for the people or what they needed.
SPEAKER_00: This wasn't about the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew doesn't even tell us what their reaction to Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: This is not how they somehow missed the boat and failed, so Jesus had to come and bail them out.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't about what the disciples could do.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, it is about what Christ does and through the means he gives and how he delivers it to his people.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he took it, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
SPEAKER_00: Not only did five over five thousand men, women, and children eat, but they were satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: They received what only our Lord could give them.
SPEAKER_00: In the breaking of the bread, our Lord revealed himself.
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus could take a few loaves of bread, break them, and feed five thousand plus souls.
SPEAKER_00: Does this look familiar at all?
SPEAKER_00: Likewise, today our Lord reveals himself to us in the breaking of the bread.
SPEAKER_00: When do we see the breaking of the bread?
SPEAKER_00: How about every time we partake of the Lord's Supper?
SPEAKER_00: Through this holy communion, his holy communion, our Lord feeds not five thousand, but thousands upon thousands upon thousands for all time until he comes again.
SPEAKER_00: In this way, he not only reveals himself to us, but he also binds us together so that we are one body, his body.
SPEAKER_00: This is where Christ revealed himself to the people, and this is where he reveals himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: We need not doubt his words.
SPEAKER_00: We need not doubt what he delivers from out of his own hands and from his own riven side.
SPEAKER_00: He is where he promised to be for you in water and word and body and blood, which you have received right here before this altar, which you receive through the hand of your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Just like the disciples delivered to the crowds what the Lord gave them to give out, so also your pastor delivers to you what our Lord gives him to give out.
SPEAKER_00: And then in this way our Lord cares for you in both body and soul.
SPEAKER_00: That's why those words are used to dismiss you from the communion rail.
SPEAKER_00: In this way, Jesus feeds you from his own hand, dear saints.
SPEAKER_00: This is why it's so important that we not only hear God's word preach to us, but we receive regularly his holy supper, which grants forgiveness, strengthens our faith, and binds us together in a fellowship that's thicker than blood.
SPEAKER_00: Not only did those 5,000 plus people have enough and were satisfied, but they had an overabundance.
SPEAKER_00: Again, only our Lord could do such a thing.
SPEAKER_00: Only our Lord could produce an overabundance of food for their needs, no different than manna, bread from heaven in the desert for the Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: And likewise, only our Lord grants us an overabundance of his grace that covers all of our sins.
SPEAKER_00: For what he won through his crucifixion on the cross, he delivers to you this very day into your ears and into your mouths for the forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And it's for you.
SPEAKER_00: For only Jesus is the bread which comes down from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You can never get too much Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There is more than enough Jesus to go around.
SPEAKER_00: And this should be the focus of all our ministry here at Peace Lutheran Church.
SPEAKER_00: This should be the focus of all our outreach programs.
SPEAKER_00: It should always be about Jesus, what he has done for us on the cross and what he delivers to us here and now.
SPEAKER_00: Dear beloved saints, hear this now.
SPEAKER_00: You and I cannot provide the people what they really need.
SPEAKER_00: We're sinners, just like the disciples were.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot out-god God.
SPEAKER_00: We can't do it better than Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot out Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, just like John the Baptist, who was undoubtedly filled with the Spirit, we point people to where they can find Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We deliver to them what He has to give out.
SPEAKER_00: We tell them who He is and what He has done for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about how many different kinds of programs we can dream up.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, it's outreach points to Christ in Him crucified for the forgiveness of all our sins.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about entertainment or making people feel special.
SPEAKER_00: It's about having compassion, loving them in Christ, pointing them to the Lord's divine service where he himself is handing out his gifts of word and sacrament to sustain his people through this valley of tears until we reach eternity and we're home with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, remember our Lord's word and his ABCs, holy absolution, holy baptism, holy communion.
SPEAKER_00: They always bring us Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They always deliver to us his promises.
SPEAKER_00: It will always be about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It is never not about Jesus, and you can never, ever get too much Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Be still today and receive what our Lord has to give you.
SPEAKER_00: The forgiveness of all of your sins, eternal life, and salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.