July 31, 2022 Trinity 7 The Sunday of Feeding the 4,000
Trinity 7
Mark 8:1-9
July 31, 2022
“Jesus Provides Everything”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jesus doesn’t just provide some things such as forgiveness, peace, and hope. Jesus provides everything. He provides everything here at Church to you, yes, but He also provides everything at your lunch table today and everything in your home that you go to after Church, and everything anywhere in your life. It’s all from Him.
We have a problem today of separating these things. Separating our faith from the rest of our life. Separating Jesus only into this little spiritual, soul arena. As Nancy Pearcey has described it, we have our Jesus, our faith, in one pocket (for the spiritual stuff) and then we’ve got the rest of our life in the other pocket. And the two hardly ever meet or interchange at all.
But you’re quite mistaken if you think you need Jesus only for the spiritual stuff. In that case, we have a grossly false sense of security. We act like nothing is ever going to happen to us but the reality is that we’re completely vulnerable all the time. How much do you pay a month for all your various insurances—health insurance, auto and home insurance, life insurance, nursing home insurance? You have them because you know everything is vulnerable to attack. Yet no insurance can protect you from this fallen world. Only Jesus can. You cannot protect yourself from hunger, sickness, disaster, food shortages, power outages—you name it. But Jesus is your Protection. He’s your refuge, your fortress, your Rock. He provides everything!
Now let’s learn this from our Gospel today, Mark 8:1-9, the feeding of the 4,000. Let’s go through it together and see what this means. Jesus says, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve been with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.” First of all, this word compassion. He doesn’t only have compassion on you because you’re guilty of sin. He has compassion here because they’re hungry. Because they have no food. In other words, Jesus looks at your entire life—all of what you go through—and He says, “I have compassion on Jon, on Jerry, on Valerie, on every one of you.” He sees how vulnerable you are.
The first time, when Jesus fed 5,000 people (remember that He does this big miracle two different times), it says this, “When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Here’s the real heart of it. We’re sheep without a shepherd. In other words, we’re extremely vulnerable. Sheep without a shepherd are going to die. Not immediately but they will in fairly short order. If Jesus didn’t provide and protect for you and me, we’d be dead in no time as well.
Here in Mark 8, the people are hungry. For food? Yes. But it’s more than that. The woman at the well in John 4 was thirsty but Jesus said He’d give here living water where she’d never be thirsty again. Jesus is the kind of Savior that provides everything so that you truly need not worry about anything. As Psalm 23 says, “The Lord is my Shepherd—I shall not want.”
We need Jesus’s compassion because this world is desolate. Look what Jesus says, “If I send these folks away hungry to their homes, they’ll faint on the way. Some of them have come from far away.” And the disciples say, “Where will we find bread in this desolate place?” Maybe we should start buying “food insurance” or “grocery insurance” since we buy insurance for everything else.
Here’s one reason I thank God for Covid the last two years. As bad as it has been in so many ways, I thank God that it has taught us once again how much of life is vulnerable. We should never take it for granted that we can go to the store and find stocked shelves. That’s an incredible luxury and may not always be there. I thank God that some of those false securities in us have been knocked down. We’re vulnerable in this desolate world. We have no idea what today or tomorrow might bring. Now you can become a prepper and store water and TP and food in your basement. That’s not a bad idea at all. But that still doesn’t change your vulnerability either. Even that will run out eventually. You must have Jesus. That’s the only way you can live without being in constant worry.
The world is desolate. I remember the first time I was in Wyoming (about 20 years ago) and someone said, “Now, watch your gas tank closely because you can go a long, long way and never see a gas station.” What a shock for someone growing up in IL where there’s a gas station at least every 20 miles or so and often much less. Please don’t forget how vulnerable you are. God often leads us into the desert Himself so that we’ll remember how vulnerable we are. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted with hunger. Often the same Spirit leads us into the wilderness also whether that be a severe illness or severe financial concerns or loneliness. When you suffer, amidst all your other prayers remember to thank God for reminding you how much you need Him. Jesus doesn’t just provide some spiritual stuff. He provides everything.
Now in those times when God leads us into the deserts of this world, we struggle greatly with unbelief. We don’t trust. See what the disciples say? “How can a man feed all these people here in this desert?” That’s our usual reaction also. “How am I gonna get through this? How could this ever be fixed? Where will I ever find the time or the money or the strength?” We doubt because we’re sinners.
Remember that the disciples had just very recently seen Him feed 5,000 people with hardly anything. And we’ve seen how God has taken care of us time after time after time. We know how good and powerful He is. But we still doubt and disbelieve. We see the birds and the lilies, that God takes care of them and they don’t worry. But we still worry.
So let’s hear once again then how Jesus provides everything for you. How you needn’t not worry about anything because the Lord is your shepherd and you shall not want. Here Jesus asks, “How many loaves do you have?” And what’s the number? SEVEN! Oh, that glorious number seven. And after He blesses the bread and everyone eats, how many baskets are left over? SEVEN! Oh, that glorious number seven.
There are other glorious numbers in the Bible but seven is one of the best. In our Wednesday morning Bible study we just recently finished the book of Revelation. And we learned that the book can basically be summarized with one number—the number seven. The number 7 is God’s number because it’s a number of completion and perfection. It’s a number that tells us, “God is going to take care of everything.” It’s a number that tells us, “No matter how bad and painful and desolate and scary the world may get—God is going to bring it all to His perfect completion in Jesus.”
Seven is a number that tells you, “Jesus provides everything.” He did in the beginning at Creation when He made the world in seven days (resting on the seventh, of course). And here Jesus takes seven loaves and turns it into enough food to feed thousands with seven baskets left over. God is going to take care of you every single day of the week—not only on Sunday, one day a week. No, all seven days. Jesus provides everything.
In John 6, after feeding 5,000, He goes on to teach them, “I am the Bread of Life.” As we say in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily Bread.” In other words, Jesus gives everything. Now the most particular place that you will know this over and over again is here at the altar where He gives His body and blood for your salvation. This meal here is your weekly reminder that Jesus, the Bread of Life, will provide everything for you. If He has given His very body and blood for your forgiveness and salvation, won’t He also take care of everything else as well? Yes, He will. We can’t hardly hear the words of this feeding of the 4,000 without remembering the Lord’s Supper – “And He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples.” Our minds should go to the Lord’s Supper. Because that’s our constant reminder that Jesus provides everything.
Next, notice how Jesus gives out the food. He involves His unbelieving disciples in the work. How cool was that for them to go around handing out this miraculous bread? Imagine the joy and even delight they got from being able to hand out this miracle bread to over 4,000 people? That was pretty cool, right? And God uses you to do the same thing. In your vocations, you get to distribute God’s goodness to others. As it’s often said, “You get to be the hands and feet of Jesus.” And it’s true. Jesus uses you to distribute His goods. Pastors like me get to hand out Jesus’s Word and Sacraments. Parents get to feed their families and provide for them. Police officers get to provide God’s protection and mercy and help. Teachers get to distribute God’s knowledge and wisdom. Doctors and nurses get to distribute God’s healing medicines and His compassion and mercy. It’s everywhere.
Another significant number is the 4,000. Four is the number that symbolizes the whole world—the four corners of the earth. The fact that Jesus feeds 4,000 is a reminder that He provides for every single person everywhere in the world.
Finally, then, we come to a conclusion that you would have courage and be strong in faith! What do you have to be afraid of? You have Jesus who feeds thousands of people with a few loaves of bread. You have Jesus who makes water come from rocks when He needs to. You have Jesus who is the Bread of Life and gave His very life for you on the cross. You have Jesus who sees how vulnerable you are and has compassion on you. So what do you have to be afraid of?
Don’t push Jesus down into a Sunday morning pocket and think that He’s only for the spiritual stuff. You need Him for everything. A thousand things could happen to you between here and home today. But if you have Jesus, then you needn’t worry about anything. He will provide.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.