Sermons

In the Name of Jesus, the Bread of Life, Dear Christian Friends, How often do you invite someone to join you for a meal? Is that an everyday occurrence? Or maybe it’s just weekly, say on Sundays after church? Or is this something that you do only a few times a year on special occasions like Christmas or Thanksgiving? How often do you invite someone to join you for a meal in a typical year? I would suggest that many of us invite a guest to join us for a meal 1095 a year. 1095! That's 3 times 365. Many of you wouldn't think about starting a single meal without inviting your Savior to join you. It's called a common table prayer, “Come Lord Jesus be our guest…” But let's not think of it as anything approaching common. When you extend an invitation for a guest to join you for a meal two questions come into play. #1) Are they able to join you? And, #2) are they willing to join you? Time and distance and other responsibilities can keep them from accepting your invitation. Then, too, they may not want to join you for a meal. They may make excuses of time or distance or other responsibilities. You really can't know what to expect when you extend the invitation. But when you invite Jesus to join you for a meal you don't have to wonder for a moment as to his willingness or his ability? Jesus is able and he is willing. From the story of the feeding of the 5000, we draw an important reminder: This The Savior Eats With Us! 1) This Jesus Who Fed the Multitudes Is God, 2) The God Who Feeds the Multitudes Is Jesus The multitudes in our story, the 5000 men plus women and children, were drawn out into the country because they wanted to get close to Jesus the healer. Their hunger for those “signs” sent them hurrying without a sufficient concern for food. Their desire was for relief from sickness or disabilities, relief from what we call the “consequences of sin.” We can certainly understand that desire. How many of us have health problems or a loved one with a health problem that would make us willing to walk all the way around Lake Winnebago or beyond, if we heard there was someone there who could help us with our illness or disease. At this time, however, Jesus wanted to get away with his disciples. But when Jesus saw the crowds that had followed him, he realized that there was something even more important than spending time alone with his disciples. Because Jesus knew the time of day and because he desired to eat a meal with the multitude, he asked Phillip: WHERE SHALL WE BUY BREAD FOR THESE PEOPLE TO EAT? Jesus asked Philip to test him, to see if Philip could make the connection between this problem – no food in the wilderness - and the one who could solve the problem. Although Philip had been present when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana, he can only see an insurmountable problem. Where could we buy enough food for such a crowd, he reasoned. His fellow disciple Andrew offers a solution that he knows is not really a solution; five small barley loaves and two small fish. Jesus, however, gives the instructions to have the guests be seated with no meal in sight. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. What conclusion did the people draw from this miraculous meal in the wilderness? After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, SURELY THIS IS THE PROPHET WHO IS TO COME INTO THE WORLD. And then they wanted to latch onto Jesus to be their “bread king.” They wanted to keep him around for relief from another consequence of sin, the sweat of labor to raise food from the ground. They wanted much; they should have wanted more! When the people saw what Jesus did, they failed to recognize that what he was doing only God could do. This Jesus who fed the multitudes is God. He is no earthly or bread king. He is the King of universe. Through his almighty power he is the one who opens his hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing. He is the only one who could take a picnic lunch and turn it into a bountiful banquet for thousands and thousands of people. I wonder if we were among the multitudes, would we have seen the Savior who was eating with us as the true God or would we also have been tempted to make him our bread king. So the question needs to be asked “Just how do we see Jesus and his miraculous power?” Are we tempted to make him our bread king? When we have earthly needs, when our physical health fails, when we loose our jobs, are we tempted to pray, “Come Lord Jesus…” with the thought in mind that I really need your help Jesus and I need it now. But if everything in life is going well, we have our health, we are enjoying peace in our family, our job is secure, do we always feel the need to ask Jesus for our daily bread and remember to thank him for his goodness and mercy? “Come Lord Jesus be our guest…” is more than just a mealtime prayer. It’s an attitude of the heart. It’s a prayerful attitude that acknowledges that everything we need for our body and life comes from the bountiful hand of our gracious God. When we fail to have such an attitude of heart we have fallen into the same sin as the multitudes around the Sea of Galilee who wanted to make Jesus their bread king. Transition: But there was so much more to Jesus’ miracle than the bread and the fish. Most of the people saw his miracle as just a way to feed their hungry stomachs. They saw what was on the table and forgot the Savior who is at the table, who wants to eat with us and speak to us. The real meaning of Jesus’ miracle was to show the multitudes that this Jesus is also the only one who can feed their hungry souls. This Savior who was eating with sinners was also their Savior from the aching hunger of sin. When we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest…” what are we really asking for? In the context of a bountiful meal there is no doubt that we are asking Jesus to be with us as we receive it with thanksgiving. But no matter how many lavish or meager meals we feed our bodies with during our earthly lifetime, one day our bodies will tire and grow weary and we will die. At that time there is only one food that will sustain us. That food is food for our souls. That food only Jesus can give. That food was bought and paid for with the perfect life and innocent death our God’s one and only Son, Jesus our Savior. Jesus’ life was perfect in every way. Jesus never once gave into the earthly temptation of only satisfying his physical needs. It could have been flattering for Jesus to taut around with multitudes of people hailing him as their bread king, their earthly king. But Jesus never once gave into that temptation as he repeatedly refused to give his follows this misguided leadership. And yet, it is for these same type of sins that we daily commit, sins of seeking only our concern for earthly matters, that Jesus was nailed to the cross for. Jesus suffered hell because of the times when we are more concerned about what’s on our kitchen table than who it is that is eating with us. And so when we pray, “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest…” do we really think about what we’re asking. We‘re asking God’s Son to be our guest at our table. We ask him to bless our food, both food for our body and food for our souls. Jesus tells these same disciples, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” We eat our three meals a day because our bodies get hungry. We do that same thing for 60, 70, 80 plus years. Sounds like a lot of eating. But when we eat from the bread of life, Jesus says, we will never go hungry, we will never be thirsty. The forgiveness of our sin in the blood of Christ will fully satisfy all our needs. When we die our need to eat earthly food comes to an end. But when we die the need for satisfying our spiritual appetite will have never been greater. When we stand before God on Judgment Day what a blessing it will be for us to have already eaten from the spiritual banquet that Jesus the bread of life has prepared and offered to each of us. So the next time we pray, “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest…” let us be thankful for the food for our body, but let us also acknowledge who is eating with us and what type of spiritual food he offers to us. Every time we hear his Word, read our Bibles, come to church and listen to the Scripture reading, partake of the Lord’s Supper, or witness a baptism, we know that Jesus is offering to us the spiritual food of the forgiveness of sins. It’s a food that will satisfy every desire, a food that will last for all eternity. Amen