Laetare

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

Where is your trust?

Do you place your trust in money, in your savings, investments, and retirement?

Or is your trust in man, in your families and friends?

What about the youth? Where is your trust? Is it in education and the idea of a promising career and lifelong happiness, that is, once you can escape the homestead?

Today’s Gospel is set in the context of false trust. John 6 begins, “After this…. or After these things.” After what things? Before our text, Jesus said to the Jews, “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you – Moses, in whom you trust.”

You see, the Jews simply believed in Moses; the foundation of their faith is most clearly seen in the Pentateuch, the Law of God - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Their belief was that they were good people because they worked to keep the Law.

Do you believe you are a good person? Then you, too, trust in Moses and the Law. You see faith as a point system where all your good works may be tallied and your sins, your wrongdoings deducted, hoping in the end, at the last day of this life, the good outweighs the bad, hoping to have more successes than failures.

But Jesus says, “Moses, the Law, will actually be your accuser.” The Law accuses; its function is to reveal your sins, not your successes. The Law reveals how you have allowed your tongue to bear false witness and slander your neighbor by spreading rumors and unfounded accusations. How you have coveted what your neighbor has and what God has not given you. How you have been unfaithful in your worship and prayers, placing the activities of this world above God’s Word, not observing what the First Commandment calls us to do by fearing, loving, or trusting in God above all things. You are, as the Epistle speaks, children of slavery.

The Law can never free you; you can never keep it as you ought; you will always fail.

But another thing the Law does is that it reveals where you have placed your misguided trust.

Think back to the Gospel today and the conversation Jesus had with Philip. Jesus asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Philip begins his response by speaking of money, saying, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each person to get a little.”

In this question to Philip, Jesus asks where Philip places his trust, and he answers with dollar figures. So, Jesus will show Philip that the answer is not in dollars or denarius amounts and that Philip has not yet believed in God as he ought.

What about you? Do you believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth?

If you believe in God the Father, why do you fret or become disheartened throughout this life?  Why do you worry, become agitated, frustrated, or angry?

In today’s Old Testament reading, we hear of the grumbling people of Israel. They had lost trust in God and their pastors, Moses and Aaron. 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 enough for one day, promising more for the next day, the day after, and the day after. In doing so, we are also taught to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…”

You would think that by now, after rescuing Israel from one crisis after another, they would have learned to trust their Lord. Yet, even in this small matter of the belly, they do not trust in God. They gather more than they were instructed; they do not possess faith in God’s Word.

When Jesus questions Philip, He is testing him. “Does he trust me?” He is also asking you this question: “Do you trust me?”

Jesus said to His disciples, “Have the people sit down.” In doing so, Jesus teaches the people and His disciples to trust. The scene would be folly and silly to those looking on from a distance. Yet, they all sit and wait patiently, and even though there should be no earthly hope in this wilderness where they all find themselves, God provides for these people, these 5,000 men plus women and children. They sit, and they wait patiently on the Lord.

“What will Jesus do?  He is not merely going to fill their bellies.  Jesus ‘will respond to all their real needs in the ultimately satisfying way’ [Kodell].  Only in Jesus should we trust, for only Jesus can satisfy our real needs of body and soul. 

So, on this day, you are invited again to trust in the words of Jesus. Trust in His true body from heaven, multiplied and hidden under this bread for you. Sip from this cup and have your thirst be satisfied. This meal you are about to receive is no less miraculous; it is the meal your Lord gives to you as He gave to those in the wilderness.

When those people had sat and waited 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 found elsewhere, 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 trusted; these are words of forgiveness, words that give you hope not only for today but for all the days of this earthly life. Like the Israelites, we do not always possess faith in God; we grumble that our needs are not being met, and we become greedy, taking more than God has given to us. Our lives become the food hoarded by the Israelites; it breeds worms and stinks. This is what will happen to our bodies as they are one day placed into the ground, back into the earth.

But that will not be the end. It will not.

Today is known as Laetare Sunday, meaning to rejoice. Today, we rejoice because we are once again fed, nourished, and sustained in this life by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in the Holy Supper. The rose stole worn by the pastor reflects the brief reprieve from Lent and reminds us, even as we dive deeper into our Lenten journey next week --- of the joy ---- the joy that awaits us, not only with this Easter but the eternal joy of Easter in heaven. The day when our bodies will be called forth out of the ground, out of the grave, to be in the presence of Jesus forever.

No longer will we eat bread and manna in the wilderness of this life, but in the joys of eternity, in the joy and presence of God.

This is your Lord’s promise to you, and it’s the only thing that matters. +INJ+