Lent 4

John 6:1-15 - Laetare Sunday - March 30, 2014
God Tests the People He Loves

Jesus did signs.  We usually call them miracles or wonders.  They are the things that Jesus was able to do because he is God.  He healed the sick, cast out demons, gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf.  They are the things that we cannot explain according to natural causes.  But we don’t have to.  Jesus did not exercise his power and authority as the eternal Son of God made flesh in order that we might figure out how he does what he does — no, but rather why he does what he does.  Jesus did miracles for two reasons: 1) to have compassion on the people God loves, and 2) to direct them to where this love of God is constantly accessible to them.  That is why St. John calls them signs. 

A sign points to something.  A sign draws your attention to itself only for long enough to draw your attention away from itself and on to something else.  Take, for instance, the signs on the side of the road. 

You don’t stare at the speed limit sign.  It won’t help you.  It simply serves to point you to your speedometer and your gas pedal.  Other signs tell you that there’s a bend in the road or to watch out for deer.  It’s a bad idea to stare at these signs and ignore what they’re indicating.  That’s not what they’re for.  Signs direct you away from themselves.  And even if something like a movie poster captures your attention so that you look at it for a while, even here, it is likewise intended to make you want to leave the sign, and watch the film.  No sign points to itself.  Signs point to something else – something greater.  Jesus was doing signs.  That’s why the people followed him.  What did his signs point to? 

Our Gospel lesson gives us a hint: “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.”  These words did not fall idly from the Apostle’s pen.  St. John frequently includes details that at first seem like random facts in a history book.  But they are clues.  By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John is reminding us what to look for as we hear about the wonderful things that Jesus is doing.  So why don’t we consider a few things about the Passover. 

The children of Israel had been in slavery.  God had compassion on them and answered their prayers to bring them out of bondage and into the land that he had promised to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God sent Moses the prophet to demand Pharaoh to let his people go in order that they might offer sacrifices to the Lord in the wilderness.  Through Moses, God did signs – signs that pointed to God’s anger and judgment.  But Pharaoh hardened his heart and said no.  God kept sending plagues on Egypt to persuade him.  Moses kept insisting that these were signs from God that he should let God’s people go.  The signs amazed Pharaoh.  But he refused to look at what they were pointing to. 

We know the story.  The sign that finally persuaded Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go was when the angel of death went through and killed every first born male in Egypt.  But for the sake of his mercy, the angel of death passed over the homes of all his children upon whose doors the blood of the Passover lamb was smeared.  By the death of the lamb and its blood, God spared his people from anger and judgment.  The Passover meal that the Jews celebrated even unto Jesus’ day was in remembrance of this occasion.  It was in remembrance of God’s mercy.  God said that this meal would be an everlasting ordinance throughout their generations.  And it was.  This is what was on Jesus’ mind as our Gospel lesson begins.  That’s why St. John mentions it. 

God said, “Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13).  God said that the blood shall be a sign.  “For you.”  But then God says, “When I see the sign, I will pass over.”  It seems like the sign should be for God, not for his people, since it will be God who will see the blood and pass over.  But no.  He calls it a sign for you.  He wants his people to follow where this sign points them.  The blood of the Passover lamb pointed to Jesus.  It pointed to the fact that God would become Man in order to die and save his people from a much more pressing slavery, sin; from a much more demanding taskmaster, the law; and from a much crueler enemy, the devil.  The blood of the lamb pointed to the Lamb of God who would reveal God’s mercy to the whole world by bearing the whole world’s sin. 

How could this not be on Jesus’ mind?  It was for this reason that he had come.  All the acts of mercy he accomplished for the people were indeed just that: acts of mercy.  He loved them as only God could love them.  Yes, but they were also signs to point them to where God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son into death.  Jesus did the signs because he wanted them to believe in him – so that they would not perish, but have eternal life.  Jesus had not come to condemn them, but to set them free in a way that Moses and the Ten Commandments could not. 

After the Passover, Moses led the children of Israel through the Red Sea where Pharaoh’s army was drowned, and into the wilderness where God led them in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.  St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that they were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.  In the wilderness God tested them, as he always does after he baptizes his children.  He tested them not to see whether they could survive.  It wasn’t an extreme camping expedition to test their endurance against the elements of nature.  No, God had every plan to take care of them without their help: to miraculously feed them with manna from heaven, to miraculously keep them safe from disease and danger, and even to miraculously keep their clothes from wearing out.  No, but God tested their faith. 

God’s test was to see if they would remember why God was doing all of this for them in the first place – why God was feeding them, and caring for their every bodily need.  The test was to see whether they would follow the signs he had given.   It was to see whether they would apply the certainty of God’s mercy and the hope of life to the dismal situation at hand.  This mercy and hope for life they had learned through the sign of the sacrificial lamb of Passover.  With this sign God had taught them that he would redeem them from sin by the blood of his dear Lamb.  How much more would he provide for them in the desert!  This was their test. 

They failed.  They proved to be without faith.  As Paul also records in 1 Corinthians 10: “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.”  Again and again, they forgot what the signs had pointed to.  They didn’t trust God for their daily bread in the desert and took it for granted when he freely gave it.  They wanted his hand to be generous.  But they had forgotten that God’s generosity is always for the sake of his mercy.  They forgot that God gave them everything they had for the sake of Christ who would one day shed his blood in their place. 

And this is why Jesus came – to shed his blood as the true Passover Lamb.  Yes, but first, he had to succeed where his people had failed.  This is why after he was baptized by John in the Jordan Jesus took the place of all people by being tested by God in the wilderness.  He did not fail.  His food and drink was to do the will of his Father who sent him (John 4:34).  And with the word of God he rebuffed every attempt of the devil to ignore the signs once given to his people of old. 

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” Jesus said.  And though he may test me with hunger and fatigue, he will not tempt me.  So neither shall I tempt the Lord my God.  He will provide for me as he promises to do.  And though the world promises so much more than what God gives to me in my hunger, it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”  Jesus served his Father by believing his word.  He lived the life that his people did not live.  He trusted his Father with his life even when it looked like he was going to starve and be denied everything good.  He trusted his Father to honor him even when it looked like his Father had abandoned him.  He had God’s word, and with that he was content.  For this reason, with him God was well pleased, just as he declared at his Baptism.  And in his need, God sent angels to minister to his beloved Son. 

God tests his children.  But he does not test them without giving them certain and definite signs to follow.  In other words, he doesn’t test his people without giving them his word of promise.  He doesn’t lead them into the wilderness without giving them certainty that he will be with them every step of the way.  But he does lead them into the wilderness in order that they might learn to make use of this precious truth. 

Jesus had been doing signs on the sick.  He wanted them to follow him because these signs directed them to the word he was teaching them.  Well, the people saw the signs, and they followed him.  They grew hungry because of it.  Jesus had compassion on them.  He fed them. 

First, he tested his disciples.  “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”  His disciples racked their brains for how in the world they might do it.  But of course the answer was right in front of them.  And they got it half right.  They couldn’t!  There were too many people.  There was not enough food.  They could not provide their daily bread.  That’s the point!  But God could.  And he would.  And Jesus showed them what God was willing and eager to do by doing it himself. 

He took the meager supplies that the crowd could offer.  One boy had only that which his earthly father had provided.  And with it, Jesus showed what his Father was able to do.  It was a sign.  It didn’t point them to their bellies.  It didn’t point them to more bread.  It was intended to point them to Jesus, because it is for Jesus’ sake that God would continue to give them everything they needed for their bodily life.  But God would give them more, because they needed more.  He would provide for their eternal life.  The sign pointed to Jesus who would give himself for the life of the world. 

But the hearts of the people were set on bread.  They wanted to make Jesus their king.  They didn’t care about what the signs pointed to.  They just wanted more stuff.  Another test failed.  “Amen, amen, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26). 

How often we fail the test!  How often God permits us to be hungry for a while – or tired or cold or sore – as he tests the faith of his baptized children – in order that we might turn our eyes to our Father in heaven who feeds all his creatures for Jesus’ sake!  And yet how often we complain instead and wonder how we will make ends meet or afford the things that we’ve wanted for so long.  How often the very test that God intends to drive us closer to his word of promise actually leads us away from going to church or doing family devotions or even praying before we eat or fall asleep at night.  Why?  Because we are too busy wondering with the disciples, “How will we fill so much need with so few resources and time?”  But what foolish thoughts we have!   We can’t.  God will. 

That is why God became Man in the Person of Jesus Christ.  He teaches us what we could not otherwise believe.  But his miracles alone won’t persuade us.  No, like the Israelites of old and the 5,000 in our Gospel lesson, we would simply stare at such wonders like a fool staring at a shiny sign.  But we must look to where the miracles point us.  We look to Jesus who passed the test – who trusted his Father despite the pain in his belly.  We look to him for whose sake God won’t stop feeding us and taking care of us.  We look to Jesus who took our sins of doubt and greed and laziness and pompous self-entitlement, and suffered as the sinner in our place on the cross.  God’s wrath centered and focused on him and him alone in order that by his blood, the angel of death might pass over us. 

God feeds us today with our daily bread for the same two reasons that Jesus did miracles two thousand years ago: 1) because he loves us and cares about what we need, and 2) to direct us to where his love and care are always accessible to us.  And for this, he gives us a greater sign than bread in the wilderness that points to himself.  He gives us bread and wine at this altar that makes us full beneficiaries of everything he has done for us.  He gives us his very body and blood to eat and drink, not as a bitter Passover meal while the angel of death passes by, but as a meal of joy and gladness as God gives to us assurance that our sins are forgiven, and that we have eternal life with Christ who is risen from the dead. 

We come here not to fill an earthly need.  Go home for that.  And know that what you have is provided by your gracious God reconciled to you by the blood of his Son.  But come to this altar for your spiritual need.  And be assured that the God who causes the grass to grow will remain your God even when you yourselves wither like grass and die.  Jesus will not depart you to be by himself alone.  But he will remain with you so that you may depart with him in peace. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.