Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:1-5).

Plucking the heads of grain, rubbing them between their hands and eating them was not a violation of the Law. The Pharisees considered what Jesus and the disciples did to be work; they were reaping grain and threshing it. To reap on the Sabbath would’ve been to violate God’s Law: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. On it you shall do no work…[1] It is nit-picking to argue about whether or not plucking a few heads of grain while walking through the field is reaping and threshing. It isn’t. Jesus, by doing it, shows us that it isn’t what was meant by “working” on the Sabbath. It is evidence of the Pharisee’s elaborate framework of rules that they layered on top of God’s Law.

Over the years, the Pharisees had built an elaborate protective hedge around God’s Law.[2] By the time of Jesus, this hedge of protective, man-made regulations was well defined. In fact, the Pharisees considered these traditions of the elders to have been passed down orally from God, to Moses, to the elders of Israel, through the years to them.[3] These teachings would eventually be codified in the Talmud. The purpose was noble enough: to place a barrier between man and the Law, so he did not accidentally transgress it. For example, we are commanded not to take the name of the God in vain.[4] If we never say God’s name, it will be impossible to misuse it. Therefore, the Jews developed the practice of never saying God’s name, YHWH, even when reading the Scriptures. They instead substituted the word “Adonai”, which means Lord. The problem with this practice is two-fold: 1) It actually goes against what God wants us to do. In this example, God didn’t forbid man saying His name. He wants us to use His name properly; to call upon Him in every trouble, to pray, to praise, and give thanks. 2) The man-made regulation, which is supposed to protect us from transgressing the commandment actually causes us to break it. This happens when the Pharisees (and we) teach as commandments of God, the doctrines of men, and when we use the man-made regulation to give us the appearance of piety, while in reality, we are using it to replace the command God has given us. Jesus points out that this is what the Pharisees do when they use their own rules to get out of caring for their aged parents (honoring father and mother) by declaring the money they would have otherwise used to care for their parents as Corbin – a designated charitable gift to God.[5]

The example Jesus cites of David and his men eating the showbread tells us that parts of God’s ceremonial law can be broken to help someone in need. In other words, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, as will presently be shown. In David’s case, he and his men were hungry, and the only bread available was the showbread. 12 loaves of this bread were to sit on the altar each Sabbath to symbolize YHWH’s presence; it was against the law for anyone but the priests to eat. In order to save the lives of him and his men, however, David chose to eat that which was not lawful. Jesus addresses this when He tells the Pharisees to learn what it means, in the words of the prophet Hosea, that God desires mercy, not sacrifice.

People in Hosea’s day put a greater priority on offering sacrifices than on steadfast love of the heart. The Pharisees prioritized the details of the Sabbath law over mercy.[6]

Jesus further illustrates this point when He, preparing to heal the man with the withered hand, asks them: What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.[7]

To say that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath is to say that He has a special relationship to the Sabbath; He has the authority to decide what the rules are. Jesus also claimed that he was greater than the temple. The Pharisees, however,

…were not looking for anything greater than the temple, where God’s Law was preserved. They were amazed to hear anyone claim that something was greater than the repository of God’s Word. Christ not only refused to submit to their interpretation of the Law, but He declared that He was greater than it: “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28).[8]

This is an authority only YHWH could rightly claim. The Pharisees understood what Jesus was saying about Himself, which is why they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus,[9] who was claiming the divinity of YHWH for Himself.

Jesus is the word made flesh; He is God incarnate: He [God the Father] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven.[10]

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[1] Exodus 20:8-10

[2] “Their Traditions.” n.d. Bible History Online. Accessed March 4, 2019. https://www.bible-history.com/pharisees/PHARISEESTradition.htm.

[3] ibid.

[4] Exodus 20:7

[5] Mark 7:10-12

[6] Engelbrecht, Edward A., ed. 2009. The Lutheran Study Bible. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House. Note on Matthew 12:7, found on p. 1604.

[7] Matthew 12:11-12

[8] Packer, J. J., and M. C. Tenney, eds. 1980. Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers. Laws and Statutes, section A. Dialogue with the Pharisees, p. 394.

[9] Luke 6:11

[10] Colossians 1:13-15, 19-23 

Jesus the Bread of Life

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum (John 6:53-59 NIV).

 

The Jews begin to grumble. They don’t like what Jesus is saying. He isn’t talking about restoring the glory of the kingdom of Israel. He isn’t organizing a rebel force to overthrow the Romans. He isn’t even talking about filling their bellies with loaves. The only bread He is talking about is the bread of life. He says that this bread of life that came down from heaven is He Himself! How absurd! We’ve known Jesus for a long time. We know His parents. He must be insane to say that He is the bread that came down from heaven!

 

Jesus goes farther. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Now they begin to argue sharply. How can we eat His flesh! That sounds like cannibalism. Jesus is steadfast: I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Jesus meant what He said. Real eating. Real drinking. He isn’t using the word flesh in a figurative way. He is not describing the sinful human nature, as St. Paul does in his letters. There is no getting around what Jesus is saying. His flesh is real food, and His blood is real drink. The one who feeds on Him will live. The Israelites eating the manna in the wilderness was a shadow of the true bread from heaven that was to come, Jesus.

 

The question asked is a valid one: How can this man give us His flesh to eat? We don’t know how it works, but we do know the means through which He gives it. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread: and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and gave it to His disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, “Take, drink ye all of it. This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.” Jesus provides for us a means to receive His unmerited favor, by eating His flesh and drinking His blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.

 

The Marburg Colloquy - Hoc Est Corpus Meum

Not a sacrifice re-presented to God, but the Bread of Life distributed to those who are His own. God’s word of promise, the forgiveness of sins, joined to physical elements of bread and wine for our benefit. Eating and drinking that bread and wine, we eat the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Believing Jesus’ words, we have what He promises: His body and blood, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The Sacrament of the Altar is given as a daily pasture and sustenance, that faith may refresh and strengthen itself.[1] But here our wise spirits twist themselves about with great art and wisdom. They cry out and bawl, “How can bread and wine forgive sins or strengthen faith?” They hear and know that we do not say this about bread and wine. Because, in itself, bread is bread. But we speak about the bread and wine that is Christ’s body and blood, and has the words attached to it. That, we say, is truly the treasure - and nothing else - through which such forgiveness is gained.[2]

 

 

______________________

 

[1] McCain, Paul Timothy., ed. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions: A Readers Edition of the Book of Concord. Translated by W. H. T. Dau and F. Bente. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House, 2009. LC V 24

 

[2] Ibid. LC V 28-29

Fire Communion

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself (1 Corinthians 11:23-29).

Driving down Morgan Ave. in Evansville, IN I passed by this Unitarian Universalist Church and noticed that their sign said, "Fire Communion". Perplexed by this I had to pull into the parking lot to think about what this could possibly mean and, of course, snap a quick photograph. Perhaps this is a common thing among the UU's; I must admit that I was hitherto unfamiliar with Unitarian Universalism and it's beliefs (which it sort of denies having...), and it was the first time I had been exposed to that particular phrase. All sorts of strange visions began dancing through my head, most of them requiring the use of flame retardant vestments and copious amounts of burn cream.

 

My exotic visions were quickly dispersed, however, when I did some quick research on the internet. According to the church's (term used extremely loosely) website, the Fire Communion service is a ritual used to usher in the new year:

 

Come help us celebrate the New Year with our Fire Ceremony. In this service, congregants burn pieces of paper containing brief descriptions of something they most wish to leave behind and light a candle for a new hope for the coming year (Unitarian Universalist Church of Evansville, 2013).

 

So, people get together and burn up slips of paper with their failings and annoyances written on them in a symbolic, and I suspect ultimately fruitless, gesture of self-improvement. And with what, finally are you communing? Each other? I suppose, being Unitarian Universalists, that is left up to you:

 

Ours is a religion with deep roots in the Christian tradition, going back to the Reformation and beyond, to early Christianity. Over the last two centuries our sources have broadened to include a spectrum ranging from Eastern religions to Western scientific humanism. Unitarian Universalists (UUs) identify with and draw inspiration from Atheism and Agnosticism, Buddhism, Christianity, Humanism, Judaism, Earth-Centered Traditions, Hinduism, Islam, and more. Many UUs have grown up in these traditions—some have grown up with no religion at all. UUs may hold one or more of those traditions’ beliefs and practice its rituals. In Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart (Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, 2013).

 

Not exactly what you would call orthodox Christianity. They could have saved me some time by calling this gathering what it is to begin with - a service of New Year's resolutions.

 

The problem is, this kind of "service" doesn't do anything to help anyone. All of those things we write on the piece of paper, that we want to leave behind in the old year - the anger, the hate, the gluttony, the laziness, the whatever-bothers-you - that is what God calls sin. And even though we'd like to think that we are able to cure our sin by an assertion of our will and the performance of some work, we all, deep down, know differently. We can't do it. Someone has to take care of these things for us.

 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

 

That is the beauty of Christmas. At Christmas the one who would graciously redeem us from sin came into the world. Jesus, true God, begotten of the Father from all eternity, took on flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary and became also true man. He did this for the expressed purpose of dying on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for the sin of mankind. This is what Christianity is all about. He resolved to do this, in obedience to the will of the Father, before all eternity, and before man could do anything to earn God's favor. While we were enemies, scripture says, Christ died for the ungodly:

 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

 

In the Sacrament of the Altar, also called Holy Communion, Jesus gives us his true body and blood to eat and to drink in a way we cannot understand, in, with, and under the visible elements of bread and wine. It is truly a communion, not only between those who gather to hear his word and receive his sacrament, but between those believers and Christ himself. He gives us the forgiveness of sins he won for us by his death and resurrection. The bread and wine of the Lord's Supper, connected with the promise, "Given and shed for the forgiveness of sins," are a pledge of that forgiveness and eternal life we already have in Christ by faith. Communion is spiritual food which nourishes our faith and assures us that, by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and we have been declared righteous before God for Christ's sake.

 

Just about every year I make a resolution to eat more healthfully, to exercise more, to be nicer, blah, blah, blah. There's nothing wrong with resolutions, necessarily, it's just that, more often than not, I've practically broken them before they've been resolved. And furthermore, simply learning how to eat better, or less, or how to control our tempers better, or even to do more volunteer hours will not cure the disease of sin from which we are ailing. Only Christ can take away our sin.

 

He has taken it away. Once you repent and believe in him you stand declared righteous before God. After he has made you into a new creation in Christ, God's Law, which previously condemned us by showing us our sinfulness, will now also serve as a guide to our behavior. As we grow in Christ, he will assist us in conforming how we do act with how we "should" act, and Fire Communion ceremonies will seem to us as ridiculous and unnecessary as they are. 

God will indeed deal with mankind's sin using fire. This will happen on the Last Day, when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead, when every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Christ is Lord:

 

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells....Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire (2 Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 20:11-15).

 

Praise be to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who bore the punishment we deserved on the cross of Calvary, so that our sins would be washed away by his blood, and our names would be written in the Book of Life.

 

O Lord, our God, in the name of whose only-begotten Son we have been called to be Christians and have been blest with Baptism for the remission of sins, make us, we pray, ready to receive the most holy body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of all our sins and to give thanks with grateful hearts to you, O Father, to your Son, and to the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen (Lutheran Worship, 1982)

Works Cited

"Are My Beliefs Welcome?" Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Dec. 2013. http://www.uua.org/beliefs/welcome/index.shtml.

"Fire Communion." Unitarian Universalist Church of Evansville. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Dec. 2013. http://www.uuevansville.org/events/fire-communion-2/.

Lutheran Worship. St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 1982. Print.

Feeding the 5,000 (John 6:1-36)



Jesus feeds the multitude.



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 (John 6:6).

Here Jesus and the disciples face a seemingly impossible situation. It is evening, there is a multitude of people who will need to eat (no doubt the disciples themselves were also hungry), and they have no means of feeding them. Philip reports that two hundred denarii would not buy enough food for each person just to get a bite. To put that into perspective, one denarius was, in Biblical times, an average laborer’s wage for one day.[1] To put that into some kind of perspective; that would be like saying they needed $32,000 to buy the absolute minimum amount of bread to feed the crowd (assuming an average hourly wage of $20/hour, multiplied by an eight hour day, multiplied by 200 for the number of denarii). However you calculate it, they were talking about an immense sum of money. Even if they had the money to buy food for all these people, there would have been no place at which to buy it, as they were sitting on the side of a mountain. Jesus, we are told, already knows how the problem will be solved.

This seems like kind of a dirty trick to play on Philip. If Jesus already knew what he was going to do, why would he feel the need to test Philip? The Greek word translated “test” in this verse may also be translated “tempt”, which makes it seem all the more as though Jesus is making sport of Philip and the disciples.[2] Knowing Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost[3], however, it is safe to assume that this is not what Jesus is doing. To the contrary, by testing the disciples Jesus is endeavoring to strengthen their faith in him. This is not the first instance of such testing to strengthen faith we encounter in the Bible. God tested Abraham in a similar way.[4]

In Genesis 22 God tells Abraham to take his only son Isaac and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Isaac was the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that God would make him into a great nation and subsequently bless all nations through him. It probably didn’t make much sense to Abraham at the time for God to require the death of Isaac, as Isaac’s death would seemingly nullify God’s promise. Abraham, however, responded in faith to God’s command and passed the test. When asked by Isaac where the lamb for the burnt offering was, Abraham replied, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”[5] Abraham conceded that God was in control of the situation and that God knew what he was doing, even if his human reason said that this didn’t make any sense. Abraham’s faith was rewarded. The disciple’s weakness, in contrast to the faith of Abraham, is made evident in their response to Jesus.

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, 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 (John 6: 10-13).

Jesus demonstrates, by feeding the 5,000 with five barely loaves and two fish, that he is in control of this, and every, situation. I once heard a homily preached on the feeding of the 5,000 that was truly amazing to me. The priest, to put it in a nutshell, said that as all the people gathered, it became evident to the disciples that no one had food and that they were unable to provide it for them. As Jesus preached to the multitude, however, the people were moved by his message of peace and love that, by supper time, the selfish people were eager to share the provisions they had secretly brought with them with their neighbors. That was how wise Jesus fed the 5,000 – by guilting the people into sharing what they were selfishly hoarding for themselves.

This explanation is bewildering to those who believe that the Bible is the inerrant, divinely inspired word of God for several reasons. Theologians who have a more liberal interpretation of scripture, and wish to dispense with all things supernatural in the Bible, love this interpretation. What this misguided preacher was actually teaching, whether he realized it or not, was that salvation is man’s work. The people would have gone hungry if they continued in their selfishness. By pooling their resources, however, they were all able to have enough to eat. All it took was a few words from that good teacher, Jesus. By looking at this passage in such a manner, we make Jesus out to be merely a man with nice teachings. He might have said words to the people, but it was the people who made the final decision to share their bread. It was not provided by Our Lord. Human hearts like to hear such nonsense, because it gives us the false sense that we are in control of our spiritual destiny. That is not, however, what Jesus teaches.

The pages of Holy Scripture demonstrate that God gives life by his word. Jesus illustrates this point with a living parable by his miraculous feeding of the 5,000. He explains the significance of what he had done the next day to the disciples and to the people who followed him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal” (John 6: 25-27).

The people were awed by the miracle they witnessed, and they went after Jesus. They did not go, it seems, because they believed in Jesus as a result of the sign they saw. They were interested in him as if he were a slight-of-hand magician. They wanted to see another trick. This is evidenced by the question they ask Jesus in verse 25. They knew he didn’t get into the boat with his disciples, and they wanted to know about the trick Jesus did. Jesus ignores their question about him, however, and responds with a statement focused on them.[6] He basically tells them that by demonstrating that he can sustain their bodily needs of daily bread, he was providing them with a sign that he was the fulfillment of their spiritual needs as well. The people ask what they must do. It is a logical human question. If I am to receive this food that endures to eternal life (v. 27), surely there is something I must do to earn it. Jesus, the bread of life, gives his answer.

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6: 28-29).

Jesus singled out one necessary work: faith in Him, which is God’s gift.[7] Upon receiving Jesus’ answer, one they did not like or understand, they demanded a sign. They wanted Jesus to perform a miracle for them as Moses had done.[8] Surely Jesus wasn’t greater than Moses. This, however, is further illustration that, even after witnessing all that Jesus had done up to this point, they had not understood the sign that was being presented to them – that Jesus was the Messiah. Lenski writes:

“These people failed to see what was so gloriously pictured to them, the divinity of Jesus, his ability to feed their souls as he had fed their bodies, his Savior qualities as the Messiah sent of God. They had held the wonder bread in their hands, had eaten it with their mouths, but had never understood its true meaning with their hearts.[9]”

Jesus corrects them once again. They focused on God’s instrument – Moses – rather than on the true source of the manna from heaven. Jesus makes a distinction between physical food and spiritual food, and then tells them, through the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and by his words, that he is the source of both physical and spiritual nourishment.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe” (John 6: 35-36).

Here again Jesus reveals exactly who he is to the people. He does this in two ways. Jesus uses the phrase “I am” in referring to himself as the bread of life, recalling God’s name and applying it to himself. His words also recall those of the prophet Isaiah, who wrote:

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55: 1-9).

Jesus is telling these people that he is the Servant, whose words Isaiah records. He calls us, and all people, to repentance and to focus on what we really need – spiritual healing and nourishment. That isn’t to say that God doesn’t care about our temporal needs and difficulties. Of what importance is “daily bread”, though, to people who are starving to spiritual death? This is why he tells us not to labor for the food that perishes. Jesus illustrates for us by his feeding of the 5,000 that God provides for our earthly needs without us even having to ask him for such provision.[10] He wants us all to focus, however, on being fed with the bread of life, the food that endures to eternal life. We do that by believing in him; by turning from our sinful ways and living as the new creation we now are in him;[11] by gathering together around word and sacrament;[12] and by proclaiming his Gospel to everyone.[13]

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End Notes

[1] Matthew 20:2; John 12:5

[2] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel, (Columbus, Ohio: The Wartburg Press, 1942), 432.

[3] Luke 19:10

[4] Genesis 22:2

[5] Genesis 22:8

[6] Lenski, 450

[7] The Lutheran Study Bible, English Standard Version, Verse 6:29 notes, p. 1792; Ephesians 2: 8-9

[8] Exodus 16: 13-15

[9] Lenski, 450

[10] Matthew 6: 25-34

[11] 2 Corinthians 5: 16-18; Ephesians 4: 17-24

[12] Acts 2: 42-47

[13] Matthew 28: 19-20