Defiled Hearts and Clean Armor

A Sermon on Mark 7:14-23 and Ephesians 6:10-20 for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Series B, September 3rd, 2018.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Pharisees and the scribes last week accused Jesus’ disciples of not following the traditions of the Elders, because they didn’t wash their hands before they ate. The issue at hand was something far worse than getting sick from bacteria, which is what we think of today. Rather, it was that it was necessary to not defile one’s self with unclean things. 

There were substances out there which the Lord told them not to come in contact with. Better ritually purify ourselves in case we got too close, just to make sure. There were pagans in the marketplace. Better wash your hands, and keep their defiled lives away from us. There are so many impurities that build up. Better make sure we purge them all away. And if what we were protecting was already pure, that would make sense. If you have pure water, you put something into it to make it impure. It must be the same with our hearts, right? 

But Jesus said in today’s Gospel lesson, “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.”

The people of Jesus’ day had it all wrong. Just as keeping impurities out of already dirty water doesn’t make the dirty water clean, so also our hearts don’t start pure. They don’t start with the risk of outside things contaminating us. Our hearts are already defiled. They’re already infected by sin. If anything, we need to keep our hearts from contaminating everything around us. Because from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. 

And so part of the Christian life is restraining those things. We resist evil thoughts, because thoughts become plans, and plans become actions. We resist sexual immorality because it devalues everyone involved. We resist theft, because it deprives our neighbor. We resist murder, because it destroys our neighbor. We resist adultery, because it rips families apart. We resist covetousness, because it fuels our selfishness. 

We resist wickedness, because of the pain it brings. We resist deceit, because it denies the truth. We resist sensuality, because it values what I feel above the wellbeing of others. We resist envy, because it kindles hate instead of joy over my neighbor’s circumstances. We resist slander, because it uses lies to make me seem better than I am. We resist pride, because it causes us to deny our sin. And we resist foolishness, because it causes us to deny Christ Himself. These things come out of us like a faucet connected to a contaminated well. And with the help of Christ, we try to turn that faucet off. And that is good, because sin hurts.

But often times we are content to turn it down to a small trickle. We’re satisfied with leaking less sin than the other guy. We may even think that if we’ve stopped these defiling things from coming out, that maybe we’re not so defiled after all. But even if we were to turn them completely off, and have no more sin come out of our hearts, that doesn’t purify us. Any more than turning the faucet off cleans the contaminated well. The problem is in fact the heart itself. And that’s what needs to be made clean.

Jesus says that it’s not what goes into to you that makes you unclean, it’s what comes out, because the heart is sinful. Scripture also makes sure we know that the opposite is also true. It’s not what comes out of you that makes you clean, It’s what goes into you. Good works are important. Good works are what faith does. Good works should absolutely be done. But it’s not the good works that make you righteous, or just, or holy, or able to stand before God. The same way running a faucet with clean water doesn’t make the well clean. Cause and effect go the same way. 

It’s not what comes out that makes you clean, it’s what goes in. What comes from the outside. Wells with contaminated water must have something added to them to make them drinkable. Something that counteracts the poisons. It is the same with your heart. Jesus puts Himself in there. Jesus goes into your heart through the Word proclaimed. Jesus goes in through His Baptism which cleanses you. Jesus goes in through His Supper, which feeds you. 

All the gifts of Christ are from outside of you. Take our Epistle lesson, for example. Where does the whole armor of God come from? The belt of truth is the whole truth that we are sinners in need of a Savior. And that Savior is Jesus. He has accomplished everything. First, by going to the cross and dying on our behalf, and then, on the third day, rising from the dead. He has paid the price for our sin. He has bought us out of slavery. And the cost was His own blood. The cost was the life of God. That is the truth that gives us the strength to stand.

The breastplate of righteousness is the righteousness that Jesus has given to us. Righteousness isn’t that difficult a concept. It’s simply being right. Only we’re not right because we are correct. Or because we win an argument. Our being right has nothing to do with us. It’s this crazy idea that we’re right because Jesus gave us His being right. After all, He kept the whole Law of God perfectly on our behalf. He was never wrong once, when we have hearts filled with wrong. And that’s why we need it so badly. Because, no matter how we try to make ourselves right, it’s not possible for us. So Jesus gives us His instead. And that miracle is salvation for us. 

The shoes that are the Gospel of peace is the peace that the Lord has given to us. Our sin declared war on God. And in our Old Adam, we still fight against Christ. But by His death and resurrection, Jesus has put that war to an end. The Lord comes to us, and tells us that peace has been achieved. We no longer stand as His enemies, but as His friends. Forgiven and made clean by His blood.

The shield of faith is the faith the Jesus has placed into you. The assurance that the fruits of that cross are indeed yours. Jesus died for your sake. And has given that good news to you through Word and Sacrament. That faith is Jesus Himself in your heart, making it clean. And with Jesus there, He is able to withstand more than we are able to. Holding onto us, even as we hold onto Him. 

The helmet of salvation gives us the assurance that there is nothing that this world can do to separate us from the love of God. Not tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor sword. Not death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation. Jesus Christ has already accomplished our salvation, and it is yours. 

The sword of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, given to you. And the Holy Spirit always points to where Jesus is. And so it’s always Word and Sacrament, which is the Word of God attached by promise to either water, or bread, or wine. That’s where Jesus is promised to be given. That’s where we look for Him. Likewise, that sword cuts away all that defiles you. In the new creation put inside you, your heart has been made clean. What comes out from it is good. 

And where does this whole armor of God come from? From inside ourselves? From our defiled hearts? Not at all. Just like it’s not what goes into that makes you unclean, it’s what comes out of you, so also it’s not what comes out of you that makes you clean, It’s what goes into you. And Jesus has put His Word in your ears. Jesus has given you His baptism that washes you and makes you clean. And Jesus has given you His body, sacrificed for your sin. Has given you His blood, shed for your forgiveness. 

Jesus did all of this, not because we were clean enough for Him to make it happen, but because we were so unclean that there was no one else who could. He has seen this great need, and all our others. And in His great love for us, has did everything it took to win us back. He continues to defend us with the very gifts He gives out over and over again. He has given us a new heart. A heart not filled with sin, but filled with Jesus Himself. And with that heart we stand. Not against them out there, not against flesh and blood. But rather against rulers, authorities, and powers of darkness. Christ Jesus has overcome them all. And He still fights by our side today. Thanks be to God.

Submitting to Which Tradition?

A Sermon on Mark 7:1-13 and Ephesians 5:22-33 for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost, Series B, August 26th, 2018.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus hits the Pharisees hard on tradition. And, to be honest, everybody loves it when He does that. If you like a tradition, then you point out how Jesus rails against bad traditions. And then you point out how good your tradition is. How well it keeps the commandments of God. If you don’t like a tradition, you compare it to the Pharisees’ traditions. Point out how it fails to keep the command of God. It works really well. No matter how I feel about anything, this text is just the right tool to make me feel good about whatever it is, because I have the words of Jesus.

I can defend any action. Whether it’s keeping the historic liturgy, or replacing it with something more contemporary. Whether it’s singing the hymns of the ancient Church, or singing the songs of today. Whether it’s in having a church council or having a more modern board of directors. Now, there very well might be right and wrong answers to those things. But we’re not usually interested in that. What is far more important is that – I – am right. Whatever comfortable habit – I’ve – learned, whatever whim – I – feel, – I – can make any of them okay with these verses. Although, I’ve never needed any scriptural proof to do that before. You and I are already experts in self-justification. But now, I can feel like God Himself is backing up my decisions. And that anyone else’s opinion is a rejection of our Lord’s commands.

That’s the danger, isn’t it? That’s what we do when we hear Jesus accuse with the Law. We find a way that we can turn it into a checklist that we’ve kept. Discover how it got those people we disagree with good. We’re likely to put it in far more flattering terms. Make us look like not suck a big jerk about it. But that’s what our hearts say. 

That’s when the Word which Jesus speaks is not directed at them out there, it’s directed right to you and me. And the very Word we use to justify ourselves, is the same Word spoken against us. “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish – your – tradition!” Jesus says. And He’s absolutely right. 

We’re more than happy to listen to the parts we like. Insist on the commands we think we’ve kept. And ignore the ones that hit us too close to home. We make ourselves the bar of who we consider to be a good person. And we accept the world’s definition of love, as if it were right. We certainly each have our own traditions, and they run opposite of what the Lord commands. We have our own Corbans. Our own words to make the Word of God disappear. And think that is sufficient reason to ignore what Christ commands. 

For proof, we don’t have to go far at all. Listen to what your heart has to say when the Word of God speaks saying, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”

How many women here liked hearing those words? Repent. How many men’s ears perked up at those words? You repent as well. And I need to join you. Our Corbans will not take the Law of God away. There’s nothing we can speak to negate these words. Jesus tells us what the right thing to do is. Whether that’s honoring father or mother. Honoring or wife or husband. Honoring those in authority, elected or not. And any tradition that would dishonor these should no longer be handed down. 

Jesus hits us pretty hard with the Law in reading from St. Mark today. And He does so for a reason. So that we stop leaving the Word of God, as He says in verse eight. We think we leave that Word for all the right reasons. Sometimes those reasons have been passed down to us as traditions from those who have gone before. Sometimes, we have passed them down as our own traditions. And we think that makes them all the more reasonable. But to be apart from the Word of God is death and hell. No matter how good and right we make it sound.

When we fail to hear the warnings, Jesus makes the warnings louder, stronger. Not because He a mean guy. But because the danger is so real. And because He loves us that much. When we run for that cliff, Jesus runs after us. When we go over the side, Jesus jumps in after us. When we hit the bottom, Jesus crashes to the ground with us. When we die from the impact, Jesus dies right along side of us. And when we are buried, Jesus joins us in that grave. All so that when Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, guess who’s with Him. And how do we know all that about our Lord? Because that’s what He promises in His Word. And that’s why we need to hear it, and have it. 

Christ speaks both Law and Gospel to us. And we dare not make the Law softer. Or make it easier to hear, or easier to do. Our sin is not what anyone would call small. Nor is it no big deal. It’s only when we dare look at our sin in all it’s severity and magnitude to we finally get a picture of just what Jesus has done for us. Why the death of God was the necessary payment in order to buy us our freedom. Because as big as our sin is, the work of Christ Jesus on the cross on our behalf is even bigger. There’s a reason all of history is focused at that moment. Because there is no more important work in all creation, than the sacrifice of Jesus for you and me.

“…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” He nourishes and cherishes us, because we are members of His body. How we ought to treat one another is exactly how our Lord treats us. And Jesus has fulfilled the entire Law on our behalf. Where we did not, Jesus did. And it is counted to us as righteousness. Not our own, but His, given to us. 

There are all kinds of traditions. Some good, some not. But there is only one thing worth handing over to the next generation. The Word of God. Both Law and Gospel. The traditions that leave that, need to be left themselves. But the traditions that are rooted in that Word will endure whether we pass them down or not, because they are true. But Jesus Word is for you and me. Showing us where we have sinned. Forgiving us that same sin with the blood of Christ. Because Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. And save us He has. Thanks be to God.

Flesh and Blood Jesus

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you…When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”… After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Today, we know that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. That on the night when He was betrayed, He took bread, and when He broke it, He gave it to His disciples and said, “Take and eat, this is my body given for you. This do in remembrance of Me. In the same way also, He took the cup after supper. And when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying, “Take and drink, this is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. This do in remembrance of Me.” We hear the words of Jesus in our Gospel lesson and don’t even blink twice. But the people who heard in Jesus’ day were pretty grossed out by the whole thing.

And it’s not like this group was predisposed against Jesus. They’re not like the Pharisees, who were looking for ways to trap Jesus in His words in order to make Him go away. We’ve been bringing it up every week for over a month in our Gospel readings. They followed Jesus out into the wilderness, to hear Him more. They followed Him back to Capernaum because they loved His bread miracles. They wanted to make Him king. By all our accounts, we would call them believers. However, Jesus kept making things more difficult. Telling them that they were looking merely for bread, and not sings. Telling them that He had descended from heaven, even though He had grown up there. Telling them that they had to eat human flesh and drink blood, despite the command of God. 

And at the last one, they left. All but twelve of them. And our text explains that by saying that no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them. And that is true. But it’s also true that the Father was calling every one of those people who heard Jesus. Because the Holy Spirit doesn’t work apart from means. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just make you believe apart from anything else interacting with you at all. The Word creates faith. The Word creates belief. That Word is spoken. It is also attached to water in baptism. And it is attached to bread and wine in the Supper. Could the Holy Spirit work apart from those? Possibly. Just like it’s possible that I could find my brother at Dairy Queen when he told me to meet him at Taco Bell. But it would be silly of me to look there. The Holy Spirit tells us where to look for Him working. And it’s in Word and Sacrament. 

But what happens when that Word says one thing, and then another? The people are told very clearly that they are not to drink blood, because the life of the sacrifice is in the blood. And that life is not theirs. The people are told very clearly not to sacrifice people. Because people are made in the image of God, and such a sacrifice is considered an abomination by the Lord. The people Jesus talks to know all of this from Scripture. And yet Jesus tells them all to eat His flesh and drink His blood anyways. Jesus is asking His people to turn their understanding completely upside down. 

But not without reason. The blood of beasts is not enough for life. But the blood of God is. The flesh of man is not a sufficient sacrifice, but the flesh of God is. The whole sacrificial system from the Old Testament was put in place to point forward to Jesus. So that we all would recognize what happened when Jesus died on the cross. blood and human flesh is too holy for sinful us. But the death of Christ makes us holy.

Still, how amazing is it that God has flesh and blood? He created such things. How special does that make you and me that He decided to join us in this kind of existence? Here we are, wishing we were only spirit, and free of this body, and God, the Creator of all, Who is Spirit, went through all the trouble to have a body just like ours. Enduring the same troubles that come with a body. Hunger, thirst, tiredness, pain, suffering, death, all of it. And now He wants you to have the life that is in His blood. He wants you to have the holiness that is in His flesh. And in that way, Jesus is asking us to turn our understanding completely upside down as well. 

By becoming a human being, Jesus can now stand in your place. The accusations that are brought against you because of your sin are His. And He is condemned on your behalf. Sentenced to death on a cross as your substitute. Your sin drives the nails in His hands rather than yours. And all this Jesus does willingly. Out of love. And He doesn’t want you to hold any of that sin back for yourself. 

That’s why the confession of sins is a really big deal. That’s why we start every Church service with it. We ask that Jesus take our every sin away. You can name them specifically, if they’re particularly bothering you. That’s why the Church has had private confession available since the very beginning. But the last thing we want it to hang on to our own sin. The last thing we want to do is keep any of those nails for our own hands. It is better to confess and repent, than to say that the sin is actually okay for us, and we pocket it for the last day to stand before God with. That’s why when Jesus takes it away, he literally takes it away. It’s not ours to do any more. Because our sinful flesh avails us nothing. But the flesh of Christ avails us of everything. 

And we may fail. But we then confess our sin again. Give our sin away again. Because Jesus is our substitute. He is the sacrifice upon which all our sins are place. And He dies for them all. But the life of Jesus, the life of Almighty God Himself, is given to you. Take and eat, this is My body given for you. Take and drink, this is My blood, shed for your forgiveness. The image of God is restored by flesh. Restored to us, who by our sin marred the image of God. The life of God is given to us. A life far better than that of a beast. Because this life has resurrection. This life is eternal. 

These are no mere symbols. They’re far more than a sign for us to remember what Jesus did. The promises of the death and resurrection of Jesus are delivered to us. This bread is His body. This wine is His blood. These gifts give us Jesus. They give us eternal life. They raise us up on the last day. Because the Spirit of God is in them. The Word of God is in them. This is where Jesus told us to look for Him. And so we do. As upside-down as that sounds, we do look for Jesus in this supper. And there He is.

The people Jesus spoke to in our Gospel lesson had not yet seen the great sacrifice to end all sacrifices. They hadn’t seen the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world shed His blood on their behalf. They hadn’t seen the cross. So they did not yet understand why Jesus said all that He did. They could have. But so could we. But even though not one disciple was left who believed on the day Jesus died, Jesus didn’t let that stop Him. Jesus rose. Jesus ascended. Jesus sent the Spirit. And the Father granted that all who heard and believed. From the disciples, to those at Pentecost, and all who have believed since. This is His will. And that will is still being carried out today. Because you have heard the words of eternal life and you believe. Thanks be to God.

Descended Bread

A Sermon on John 6:35-51, for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, 2018, series B.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 

Now it was pretty amazing to have Jesus turn five loaves of bread and two fish into a meal for them all. And they were totally behind the Lord calling Jesus as not only a prophet, but the promised prophet, the one like Moses. They were ready to go make Jesus king by force, and resist the Romans. They were ready to follow Him to the ends of the earth if necessary. But there were some places not even they were willing to go.

They had been there when Jesus grew up. Bought woodwork from Jospeh. Heard the whispers that Mary was pregnant before the wedding. They had taught Him when He was a kid. Had meals with His family. Travelled with them to Jerusalem for the Passover year after year. A prophet, sure. He wouldn’t be the first with a humble beginning. However, He had told them, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” That’s not one that they can let slide. Being a prophet with bread power is amazing, but prophets of Yahweh don’t tell lies. We all know your backstory, Jesus, and you didn’t just show up one day in front of everybody from the clouds. You can’t just say You came down from heaven. You can’t just say that You’re the Son of God. Because we know who You are. And You’re not that. Moses had a mom and dad, and brothers and sisters. Moses did amazing things like You do. Come on, Jesus. We’re willing to put you on the same level as the greatest prophet, priest, and king of all Israel. But You’re trying to put Yourself equal to God.

And so they grumbled. Just like the people wandering the wilderness for forty years grumbled. Just like the people in the days of the prophet Samuel grumbled. Just like the people in the days when Elijah overcame the prophets of Baal grumbled. Just like the people returning from the exile grumbled. And just like we today grumble. 

The Old Adam in all of us, no matter what time we live in, grumbles, because Jesus never does His work the way we would.. Bread miraculously appearing on the ground every morning, six out of seven days of the week for forty years? Come on, God, we’re sick of bread already. Being governed by the perfect, incorruptible, almighty Lord of all creation? Come on, God, we want a king like everyone else’s. Had the false gods in our midst destroyed, showing them to be nothing at all? Come on, God, the queen who liked those gods now wants me dead. Literally just delivered out of slavery, and given back everything that was taken? Come on, God, building a new wall is hard. If God really loved us, He’d give us what we want. And He’d give it to us on our terms. 

We look back on them back then and laugh at how ungrateful they were. At how silly their problems seem. They wanted something so small, when the Lord had given them something far better already. So, our advice to them is to tell them to get over it. 

However, that’s not what Jesus says to them. And a good thing too. Because we’re just as ungrateful as they were. Over things just as small. Only they aren’t so small after all. We are forgiven our every sin, the big and small alike. And yet we say, “Come on, God, don’t tell us about our sin again. We’re tired of hearing about it over and over again.” The sins that others have committed against us are also forgiven by Christ. And yet we say, “Come on, God, don’t let them get away with it.” 

We’re promised that Christ’s resurrection is also the resurrection of all flesh on the last day. And yet we say, “Come on, God, I don’t want to wait even a second longer.” We are told that our sufferings are to be rejoiced in, because …suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And yet we say, “Come on, God, I don’t want to suffer anything at all.”

The things we pray the hardest over. The pains we want gone so badly. The losses we want restored right now. The fears so big, that we don’t know how we’re going to go on if they come to pass. Those are small, and the gifts Jesus gives are far bigger than we ever dared ask for. 

But Jesus didn’t tell the people in our Gospel lesson to be more grateful. Even though the gifts He had given were far greater than what they were asking Him to replace them with. And He doesn’t tell us to be more grateful either. Nor to stop asking. Nor to just get over it. Instead, Jesus simply continues to give. Jesus says, “Come to Me, and never hunger into the age to come. Come to Me, and never thirst, for as long as the new heavens and the new earth last, which is eternity. Look to Me and have resurrection from the dead on the last day of this world. Believe in Me, and live forever.” 

Because The Father is drawing His people unto Himself. He kept on calling them in the wilderness, every day for forty years. And then brought them into the place He promised. He called them when they clamored for a king. And eventually, they were given David who was a foreshadow of the perfect King, Jesus. He called them when Jezebel threatened. And then brought them back to saving faith. He called them when they were exiled. And set the stage for Jesus to be the one true sacrifice. He called them when they would not believe Jesus had descended from heaven. And then He died on their behalf. 

He has called His people throughout all time. And He calls you the same way. By His Word proclaimed. By His sacraments where He has promised to be. We call these things means of grace. Because they are the means by which Christ has promised to work faith, and life, and forgiveness, and salvation in you. Faith to believe the promise. Life in the resurrection from the dead. Forgiveness from the sin of despising God’s gifts. And from every other sin. And salvation from Hell itself. That’s what Jesus has done for you. 

The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. And the place where the flesh of Christ was given on your behalf was the cross. That’s where the Father sent Him. And The Father still is sending His Son to you through that cross. So that by seeing Him, we can continue to pray, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” 

And there’s still more promised. As a result of the will of God, as a result of the events at the cross, Christ Jesus will lose nothing out of all that the Father has given Him. Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life. Well, here He is. God Himself has entered into history. He became flesh, and dwelt among us. We know when and where He lived. We know how He died. We know that He did not stay dead, but rose in the very flesh He was born with. We have Jesus placed before our very eyes. And He hasn’t yet stopped giving Himself to you. 

We know that our problems are small in comparison to what Jesus has given, and has promised to give to us. But even the small stuff is more than we can bear. That’s why Jesus is here with us now. To carry us when we can’t go on. To be our strength when we are too weak. To be our bread when we have nothing left to give. Because He is the Bread of Life. And in the strength of that food, He sustains us until the day when we reach His holy mountain. The day we no longer hunger or thirst. The day of the resurrection of our own bodies. The day of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

The Work of God Is God’s Work

A Sermon on John 6:22-35.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This week, we move from Mark’s Gospel to John’s Gospel. The setting is still right after the feeding of the five thousand, and the storm where Jesus walked on the water. However, John’s Gospel included a couple of details in there that we didn’t get from Mark’s account. First, after Jesus had fed that many people with five loaves of bread and two fish, the people said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” And second, they were ready to take Jesus back to the city and make Him king by force. It’s then when the disciples left, and Jesus slipped up into the mountains.

Now, the people knew something amazing had just happened. They knew Jesus was the prophet like Moses who was foretold to them before the people had even entered the promised land. They knew a kingdom needed to be reestablished. So, they went to go find Him. And they did find Him. On the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They didn’t know how He got there, but that only impressed them all the more. You might say that they had faith in Jesus. Believed in Him. Because they wanted to go wherever Jesus went. They wanted to be wherever Jesus was at. And they wanted do anything they could for Him. Including starting a revolt against Rome. We call that kind of faith strong. But Jesus said to 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.” 

Ouch. Jesus isn’t wrong, of course. The whole reason behind their wanting to go, and be, and do was the bread. But that desire for a free meal looks a lot like what we think faith looks like. Because I want to go, and be, and do for Jesus too. And that’s how I believe. Isn’t it? Or is there something that I’m looking to get out of this? 

What do you get out of this? What is your bread? I don’t think it’s the same for everyone. But if your Old Adam doesn’t fight you to come here, there’s a reason. And Jesus calls out that reason in you, in me. That said, finding difficult to come to Church isn’t any better either. We want a strong faith. We want to believe. But how? How do I believe?

“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” We invest so much in the perishable. We put our whole lives into things that we know will not last. And when things are going good, when we have plenty of perishable bread, we’re pretty sure that God’s happy with us. That we’ve got this faith thing right. 

And so we pray, Lord, do not take what is perishable away. In fact, make me more dependent on what is perishable. Because I can’t live without what is perishable. Don’t give me patience. Don’t strengthen my faith. Because I know that those things are hard. And I want my going, and being, and doing to be easy. And if it’s easy, then my faith must really be working well.

But what happens when the perishable bread perishes? What happens when job ends? When the money runs out? When the cancer strikes? When the depression hits? When the loved ones die? When the church building closes? When the world turns against you? How close does your faith feel then? How close does Jesus feel then? We look up, and heaven is further away than ever. If Jesus says my faith isn’t all that strong if I focus on the perishable when things are going well, then where is it now? How do I believe when I’m here? How can I possibly be doing the works of God here?

But this right here is why we don’t know how to believe. The question, what must we do to be doing the works of God? The crowds want the eternal bread. We want the eternal gifts of God. And we’ll take the work of faith into our own hands in order to get it. Because this perishing world is more than we can bear. And we don’t actually trust the Lord enough to have our best interests at heart, since we think our best interests rest in perishable things. So we make faith our work. Not love of God, nor love of neighbor. Our work is pointed inwards. And we have faith in our faith.

Yes, we Lutherans are trained to seek out, and destroy any idea of works righteousness.  But all we manage to do is take the work “works” out. We’re still trying to do our belief. And wondering why it doesn’t work. But Jesus says, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” The work of God isn’t what God has you do. The work of God is God’s work. Belief is God’s Work. Faith is God’s Work. Your work isn’t namely that you believe in Him. Rather God’s does His work in order that you believe in Him. (If you ever want to learn about Greek result clauses, I can prove that’s exactly what the original text says.)

This is the Work of God: Everything Jesus does. The feeding of the five thousand. The walking on water. The instructing the crowds. The journey to Jerusalem. The betrayal. The arrest. The false accusations. The trial before Pilate. The beatings. The mockery. The being stripped bare. The nails. The cross. The wrath of God poured out over every single sin. The crying out. The giving up the Spirit. The death of Jesus. The burial. The Sabbath rest. The resurrection. The empty tomb. The eyewitnesses. The ascension. All of it. This is the work of God, with the result that you believe in whom He sent. 

We don’t need to look up to heaven in order to find out where Jesus went. We don’t need to crane our necks to see how far away God is from us. Jesus joined us right down here at the bottom. Joined us in the place where our own sin has brought us. Joined us where our bread perished. Joined us where what we thought was faith ran out. Joined us where we cry out, “Lord, help my unbelief!” Down here is where our work of faith is at it’s weakest. Repentance even takes our own works of faith away. Which is why we wonder about our faith as long as we’re here. But Jesus is down here too. And down here is where He did all His work. Not for Himself, but for His neighbor. For you. Down here is where what was sown perishable is raised imperishable. Down here is where the actual faith that Jesus gives is truly a shield that holds against the foe. This is where faith is strengthened, not weakened. Because here is where Jesus is. Here is where His work is accomplished.

“Sir, give us this bread always.” 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.” The perishable bread comes and goes. It is good when it is here. But our assurance never remains with it. It’s not a replacement for the death and resurrection of Jesus. who really is the bread of life. Jesus has taken your sin away, eternally. Jesus has forgiven you, eternally. Jesus has given you life, eternally. Jesus has overcome death, eternally. And Jesus is with you, eternally. None of Jesus’ work was for Himself, it was all for others. And that’s where He’d have our works go too. Do not work on your faith. That’s Jesus’ work. Let Him do His job. Hear the Word. Remember your baptism. Receive His body and blood. That’s what He does for you, and in you. And that’s how faith grows. Thanks be to God.