Homily for Laetare

[Isaiah 49:8-13 / Acts 2:41-47 / John 6:1-15]

The true God, the living God, is a jealous God, and He does not want His people looking for help or comfort any other place than in His arms. That’s because He alone CAN help and comfort us in our deepest needs.

And so the tests come. God sends our way trails, troubles, heartaches, problems galore. Our own and the troubles of those we love. By the trial and the troubles that are too big for us to handle on our own, our God would train us in blessed dependence on Him. That’s what’s going on in the readings for today.

In the first reading, God spoke through Isaiah: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation, I have helped you.” He goes to describe the journey home through the wilderness, when even though they pass through barren lands, they will not hunger, for God will feed them.

Jesus picks up the same thought in the Holy Gospel. There he teaches Philip and Andrew and all his disciples and you and me where to look when the problem is too big and we are too puny. The crowds had surrounded him, and more people kept streaming in. They came to hear Jesus and to see the signs that he did. They came bringing Aunts with cancer and nephews with epilepsy, they brought to Him those who had given up hope. And as he looks over the crowds, he tosses a problem in Philip’s lap. “Where shall we get food for them to eat?”

A pressing problem. Not a McDonald’s or Burger King in sight. And still the people poured in, an ever rising flood. Philip begins to sweat. With a gulp he confesses that not even 200 denarii, six month’s wages, would be enough to give every one a bite. Andrew chimes in that they do have some bread and few fish, but certainly not enough for this crowd.

Do you see what the disciples forgot to do? They forgot to do what we so often forget to do! When Jesus throws us a problem, he’s not so much interested in how we can wrack our brains trying to solve it as in how fast we’ve learned to toss it back to him.

Jesus shows them and us. He tells the crowds to sit. He takes the bread and fish, lifts His eyes to the heavenly Father, blesses Him for His goodness and then hands out the food to the disciples for them to pass on to the crowd.

Andrew was thinking: “He’s lost it this time. There’s no way this is going to work.” Philip’s thinking: “This is the silliest idea he’s ever had.” All of them were thinking like that as they began to break off grudging little chunks and hand them into the empty hands of the hungry crowds. How long did it take before they saw? How long before they realized and hope and astonishment welled up in their hearts? For no matter how much was broken off and given away, they still had more to give. They couldn’t distribute it faster than He multiplied it in their hands. You can see them look back at him with fear in their eyes and awe and love. And I imagine that He just smiled right back at them. The smile would have said it all: “Do you get it? Do you understand? When the problem’s too big, turn to the One who is bigger than any problem, turn to Me. I will get you through. Just trust in Me.”

When the squeeze is on; when the troubles brewing; when you feel that you can’t take it one more day, Jesus comes to you and places his finger under your chin and gently lifts your head until you are looking Him in the eye and says: “There. Now, don’t look anywhere else.” As we keep our eyes focused on Him we experience the help, the relief, the rescue, and so we know peace. Oh, it still may be very hard to get through, but with Jesus it won’t be impossible.

Do I need to say it? That’s what the Supper is all about, my friends. Here at His Table, Jesus comes into you, and fills you with Himself, so you can rest your weary load on Him and experience refreshment. That’s why the first Church in Jerusalem, as we read about in our second lesson, devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the breaking of bread, to the Eucharist. The poet said it best:

Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face,
Here would I touch and handle things unseen,
Here grasp with firmer hand eternal grace,
And all my weariness upon thee lean.

I have no help but thine; nor do I need
Another arm but thine to lean upon;
It is enough, O Lord, enough indeed;
My strength is in thy might, thy might alone. (LSB 631:1,4)

Now those are the words of someone who has learned how to make it through the times of testing: by turning to Jesus and placing ourselves, our problems, our heartaches into the hands of Him who loved us all the way to the cross and the empty tomb. Those are the words of one who has learned the art of being a Christian, of having the true God for his God, and turning to Him for help in every time of need. May the Holy Spirit grant us all such faith! Amen.