John 6,1-15. Laetare

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

John 6,1-15              2019

Laetare  027; 4. Sonntag der Passionszeit „Rejoice“ 

Joseph, Patriarch

Amos, Prophet, 838-759 bc

31. März 2019 

1. O Lord, the Redeemer of Your creation, help us to rejoice for all the mercy You have shown to Your people, so that in rejoicing we remember that You are a gracious Savior.  Amen. (TLH Introit for Laetare) 

2. »After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following Him, because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up His eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was approaching Him, Jesus said to Philip: „Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?“ He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him: „Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.“ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him: „There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?“ Jesus said: „Have the people sit down.“ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples: „Gather up the leftover fragments, so that nothing may be lost.“ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said: „This is indeed the Prophet who is to enter the world!“ Perceiving then that they were about to draw near and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.« 

  3. As today’s gospel pericope draws to a close, the crowd contemplates Jesus’ identity. At the beginning of John’s Gospel they ponder if John the Baptizer is the Prophet that Moses had promised (John 1,21). Now the crowd is convinced that Jesus is this long awaited for Prophet. 

4. This Jewish expectation goes back all the way to Moses. Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses told them: »The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among you: you shall listen to Him« (Deuteronomy 18,15). Many prophets arose after Moses, including Joshua, Elijah and Isaiah. All of these prophets were great, but none ever surpassed Moses in the minds of the Jewish people … until Jesus fed 5000 with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish. 

5. Laetare exhorts us to: rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her (Isaiah 66,10). The long awaited Prophet has arrived and has fulfilled the words of Moses. The prevailing understanding of Jesus’ day was that this Prophet would also be a descendent of David and thus a king. And this is exactly what the Jewish crowd wants to do: they want to force Jesus to be their king. Israel once demanded a king a millennia earlier. We read in the Old Testament: »Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel and said to him: „Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.“ This displeased Samuel when they said: „Give us a king to judge us.“ Then Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people: „These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and put them in his army, he will appoint military officers, he will make some of you to tend to his fields and others to make his weapons of war. He will take your daughters to be his servants and cooks. He will take the best of your lands and 10% of your cattle, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day“« (1. Samuel 8, 4-6.10-18). 

6. Israel did have some fine, Godly kings like David, Solomon and Hezekiah. But they also had wicked tyrants like Rehoboam, Ahaz and Jehoiachin. All in all, Judah had 8 good, Godly kings, but 15 wicked, idolatrous kings. Israel had 18 wicked kings and one who was in the middle. Not a good track record, but one sadly consistent with Samuel’s prophetic judgment. 

7. Jesus would not be forced by the well intentioned but misguided crowd’s desire to be their king. Jesus certainly had the pedigree to be king; He descended from the royal family of David. Matthew traces Jesus’ legal descendants through Joseph’s line, thus making Him Joseph’s begotten son and a descendent of David’s son Solomon; Luke traces Jesus his descendants through Mary’s line, thus making Him a descendant of David’s son Nathan.  

8. The crowd wants Jesus to be both a prophet and a king. Jesus downplayed His royal lineage and elevated His prophetic office. He doesn’t use the obvious Messianic title Son of David, but prefers the innocuous title Son of Man. Jesus knew that to use the term Son of David brought with it political aspirations among the Jews that the Messiah would be a temporal king who would drive out the Roman idolaters and establish an independent kingdom, much like David drove out the Philistines and solidified the 12 Tribes into a more unified nation. The title Son of Man did not have these political underpinnings. It was a Messianic title but one that had not been well-defined in Jesus’s day, except that the Son of Man would be an heavenly, powerful figure in the spirit of Daniel 7 who would judge mankind, so Jesus could shape it and define it according to His messianic teachings. Jesus taught that the Son of Man must to suffer, die, give His life as the ransom of all people and rise again (Mark 10,33-34.45). Jesus uses the title Son of Man 82 times in the Gospels (70 in the Synoptics and 12 in John). No one, not the crowds, not the disciples and not even the Apostles were anticipating a crucified and risen Messiah. 

9. By withdrawing from the crowd, Jesus exhibited the best quality of a King: knowing what is best for his people. A rival king in the land immediately draws the attention and ire of the Emperor in Rome. Soon the Imperial legions would march forth from Caesarea Maritima and Syria to crush such a rebellion. The people would suffer the brunt of the emperor’s wrath for following a Jewish king. But when the time was ready, Jesus would take up the royal mantle, stand before Pontius Pilate accuses of being a Jewish king and He would willingly bear the punishment for sedition against Rome: crucifixion. The Divine throne of the cross is where Lent leads us. Behold, the Son of Man, the King of the Jews, dying in our place to set us free from sin and death. That is God’s notion of a king, and Jesus fulfills it perfectly.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Jesus Christ, who came to this earth to die; keep our hearts and minds focused on Your journey up to Jerusalem, so that in seeing You as the dying and rising Son of Man we also see our King who bears much fruit: the forgiveness of our sins. Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.