Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: John 6,1-15. 7. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

John 6,1-15 3715

7. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 052

Macrina, Virgin, ✠ 379

19. Juli 2015

1. O God, Thou art Faithful and Merciful. You perform miracles when none are expected. You give life, when death seems certain. Have mercy on Your creation. Give us Your salvation and peace. Amen. (VELKD, Prayer for 7. Sn. n. Trinitatis § 1)

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 coming toward 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 days of wages would not buy enough bread 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 arrive into the world!“ Perceiving then that they were about to go and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.

3. After Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5000, the crowd’s response was to contemplate who this Jesus is. Their conclusion is that Jesus is the Prophet who is to arrive into the world. Earlier, the crowd had wondered if John the Baptizer was this Prophet (John 1,21). Who, then, was this Prophet the Jewish people were eagerly awaiting?

4. Moses speaks of this Prophet to Israel before they enter the Promised Land of Canaan: »The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among you, from your brothers: you shall listen to Him; for when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, then that is a word that the Lord has not spoken.« (Deuteronomy 18,15.22). Many prophets arose after Moses. Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah and Daniel were but a few of these prophets. Yet, none of them was the Prophet referred to by Moses. Not even John the Baptizer, the last of the great prophets, was this Prophet. In John 6, the crowds believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy.

5. Moses told the people to look for the Messiah, for He would be the Prophet sent by the Lord. All the old testament prophets shed more light on this Prophet, and John the Baptizer proclaimed that the Prophet was in the midst of the Jewish people. This Messiah Prophet is Jesus, and John testified to this truth. The Father spoke from heaven at His baptism, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove.

6. Words and deeds must prove that one is the Prophet. Jesus taught the people with authority and not as their scribes (Matthew 7,29). The Jewish scribes taught with the authority of the Holy Scriptures; Jesus taught with the authority of the One who had spoken and inspired those Scriptures. Jesus spoke with His own Divine authority, and the people recognized the difference. His miracles backed up His Divine authority. Jesus turned water into wine, fed thousands of people with a handful of bread and fish, healed the sick and even raised the dead. These are Divine actions performed with Divine power and authority.

7. Perceiving all this, the crowds wanted to make Jesus their king. It was not enough for Jesus to be their Messiah and the Prophet. The Jews also wanted Jesus to be their king. This was seditious talk, for the Jews already had a king. Herod Antipas, a son of the infamous Herod the Great, ruled Galilee and Peraea. Archelaus ruled Judea. Furthermore, Pontius Pilate served as Emperor Tiberius’ prefect over Judaea. The messianic expectations in Jesus’ day took several viewpoints. Some argued that the Messiah would only be a prophet, like Moses. Others argued that the Messiah would only be a king, like David. A third opinion argued that the Messiah would be both a prophet and a king, like many Middle Eastern kings were in Jesus’ day.

8. The crowds clearly wanted a Messiah who was both spiritual prophet and earthly king. Jesus again removed Himself from their presence so they could not force a kingship upon Him. The Holy Gospels repeated point out that Jesus emphasized only the prophetic nature of His messiahship. Although He was a descendant of King David, Jesus time and again refused to use that lineage. Recall the famous exchange between Jesus and Pilate: »„So Pilate again called Jesus and said to him: „Are you the King of the Jews?“ Jesus answered: „Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about Me? My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, so that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world.“ Then Pilate said to him: „So you are a king?“ Jesus answered: „You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have entered into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My Voice“« (John 18,33-34.36-37).

9. Ironically, although Jesus downplayed His kingly authority, Pilate’s formal charge against Him was „He is the king of the Jews“ and thus a seditionist against Tiberius the emperor of Rome. The Romans crucified non-Roman seditionists, and thus Jesus died as a rebel against Rome. The man who feed the thousands and fled from them when they wanted to make Him their king, later was sentenced to death on a cross as a rival king to the emperor.

10. The Divine plan of God merged on the cross. Jesus died accused of being a rival Jewish king and in dying under this sentence He showed Himself to be a true earthly and heavenly King. He put Himself in harm’s way in order to redeem all the world. As both God and man, Jesus secured the salvation of every man, woman and child. Our sinful nature made us rebels against our Heavenly Father, but Jesus died in our place, the King becoming the Rebel, and declared us royal sons and daughters restored to His Father’s good grace. Jesus also died accused of blasphemy by the priest and the Pharisees and in dying under this sentence He showed Himself to be the true fulfillment of the Prophet Moses had told the people to expect God to raise up for them in the future. Only a Prophet who was Divine could claim to have the authority to heal and forgive by His own power. Any human prophet who claimed such authority for himself would rightly be condemned as a false prophet and punished for such blasphemy. Yet, Jesus proved His Divinity and authority by feeding thousands of people with a mere 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. When the apostles had gathered the leftovers, they gathered 12 more baskets of bread and fish than they had initially started with! Such a Prophet can thus forgive sins, die a physical death and then raise Himself from His own grave three days later.

11. Jesus is just such a King and Prophet. He is our Messiah and Christ. He is the Savior of the entire world. If He can feed 5000 men, then He can provide for all your earthly needs. If He can forgive a man His sins, then He can forgive all your sins. If He can die, be buried in a grave and rise from the dead, then He can raise you from your slumber of death and give you life everlasting. Jesus does all this for you because He is your Prophet, King and Savior. He will bring all this to fulfillment on the last day when He returns to give you the inheritance of His Father’s kingdom. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, From the rising of the sun to its setting, we praise Your Name so that all the world may know and believe that You are both Prophet and King of all men and women. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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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.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Thursday, July 23, 2015

John 6,1-15. 7. Sunday after Trinity

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