Unprepared

A sermon on Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Mark 6:30-44 for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Series B, 2021

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What had Jeremiah gotten himself into? Being a prophet for the Lord is a dangerous business. The people do not want to hear what the Lord has to say. No surprise there, it’s his job to tell them suffering is on its way. Yet Jeremiah wasn’t prepared for the backlash. He had never faced it before. What do you do when nobody likes you, and wants you gone? 

What had the disciples gotten themselves into? Jesus had sent them out two by two, without supplies, without money, and they were expected to survive off of the generosity of those who heard them teach of the kingdom of God. Some places they had to wipe the dust off of their feet when they left. And when they got back, things were so chaotic, so understaffed, that they didn’t even have time to eat. They were running themselves ragged. And they were exhausted. And for what? No one wanted to see them. They all wanted to see Jesus, the great healer and worker of miracles. Did  the disciples know that when they followed him, it would be a life like this? A life with more than they could bear, and little reward readily apparent for such work? What do you do when following Jesus is more than you can handle?

What had the people gotten themselves into? They had seen Jesus slip away in the boat with His disciples, and they knew where he was going. They all dropped everything and ran with their wives and children to beat Jesus to the place He was off to. And they did. And Jesus, gracious man that He is, felt compassion on them, and continued to do what He had done in the city. He taught them and healed them. But there was more to hear. And the hour was late. They came in such a hurry, that they had brought nothing to eat. They had no where to sleep. And going to those things was to lose out on what Jesus would give next. What do you do when following Jesus leaves you without the things you need to get by in this world? 

What have we gotten ourselves into? When most of us were baptized into Christ’s church, we were also gaining something from the world. Going to Church used to have social benefits. People used to think more highly of you if you went to any Church, even if it wasn’t theirs. You were thought to be a good person, a reliable person, a person worthy of doing business with. A person worthy of being a good friend or neighbor. It would help you get a job. It would set you with the right friends in the right places. And right now, today, that is no longer true. 

It is a social hinderance to go to church. People now look at you as suspicious. You are thought to be a bigot and a racist, even though we teach and confess that all people are of one family, and that the blood of Christ was shed for each and every person in the world. Employers don’t allow for Sunday’s off. Neither do family activities, such as sports, or arts, or community events. Neighbors close their doors. Friends stop calling. It is socially unacceptable today to believe in Jesus. Which is a shock, because even ten years ago, it was still okay. Our society changed that fast. So what do you do when following Jesus no longer gives you standing with the world, but takes it away?

Before we answer that, there’s one more piece to the puzzle we need to have. It might not seem to fit at first, but I think it does. The Church usually faces a changing world. A world that uses different avenues of attack each time it goes against the Lord. What Jeremiah saw was different than what the disciples saw. And what the people of Jesus’ day saw is different from either. Every era, the Church is playing catch up. Challenges come quickly and easily against the faith from the world. It takes time and study in God’s Word to answer them. So the Church has usually been behind, still fighting the last battle, while the Satan and the World move on to the next one. 

But Satan just made a grave tactical error. In moving the fight to a place where being in the Church costs Christians in the world is not a new battleground at all. We ourselves may not have experience with it. And if we didn’t cherish our history, we would have no idea what to do next. But the Church already has an answer for this. It already fought this battle. It already went to the Word of God and studied, and prayed, and learned. We know exactly how to fight this fight. Because we fought this exact same scenario seventeen hundred years ago. Christ and His Church won then. Christ and His Church will win this time too.

It’s today’s Gospel lesson that shows us just how to face it. After all, we’re not fighting from personal experience. We ourselves need to learn how to stand up in the midst of a world that makes us suffer for the faith. Just like the Church has done before. And to endure takes Jesus giving us rest. It takes Jesus feeding us Himself. None of us came prepared ahead of time. Not Jeremiah, not the disciples, not the crowds, not us. But there’s Jesus in our midst. Giving us what we need. 

Look at today’s Gospel lesson. Our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples. And You know. You know where these words are used. Jesus fed the five thousand men, plus all the women and children with the same words, the same bread, that He fed the disciples with on the night when He was betrayed. 

How did the early Church survive when the world imposed suffering upon them? They grabbed ahold of the God’s gift of the Lord’s Supper, and did not let go. They went to the place where Jesus said, “This is My body, given for you,” and there they found Jesus suffering at His cross for their sake. Suffering right along side them. They went to the place where Jesus said, “This is My blood, shed for your forgiveness,” and there they found His blood poured out along side of theirs. A great sacrifice that rescued us from death itself. 

When we suffer along side Jesus, guess what else Jesus shares. Resurrection from the dead, for you. A hope beyond anything this world could ever dream possible. A hope that sustained the early martyrs to stand tall, even when face to face with their soon-to-be killers. A hope that gathered around Word and Sacrament, even at the risk of losing everything in this world. And they said, “Bring it on.”

For although none of them could ever stand alone, they never stood alone. Almighty God Himself stood by their side. And He stands by your side too. It’s the Lord who gives you what you need for life. It’s the Lord who equips you with what it takes to survive. And He does it at this altar. This table. And all like it. A miraculous meal. A meal that never ends. A meal that always leaves us more than what we started with. A meal that Jesus Christ Himself says as plain as can possibly be said, “This is My body. This is My blood.” There He is. Here for you. Here to sustain you when the world lashes out. Here to uphold you when you have nothing left to stand on. Here forgive your sins when Satan accuses you. Here to cleanse your shame away when others sin against you. Those promises are found in this bread, in this cup. They’re found in your baptism. In absolution. In the His Word proclaimed. The Lord wants you to find confidence in them. Because He’s in them for your sake. 

When we work from our own strength, our own resources, our own abilities, we find that we are not at all prepared for the days ahead. But we’re not on our own. The Lord joins us where we are. Suffers for us. Endures with us. Feeds us the life of Christ Himself. In Him is a power that the world can never overcome. A strength that not even death itself can conquer. The world has been doing its worst since the fall. And all the Church has done is thrive. 

We know this battle. And if this is the way Satan wants to fight, then today is the time to be ready for new people to come in that door. Because the world is leaving a path strewn with those suffering in the wake of its onslaught. And Christ is there to pick them up. We don’t have the luxury to reach out to the well mannered, or the ideal families. Jesus is picking up the broken, the rejected, the unclean, and the desperate, and He has made room for them here. He suffers with them just as much as He suffers with us. And if history is any guide, there will be more than we are prepared for. 

And they need Jesus. The ancient Jesus who gave Jeremiah the words to speak to ears that would not hear. The Jesus of old, who sailed with His disciples to rest two thousand years ago on the other side of the earth. The Jesus who appeared to Paul. The Jesus who fed the five thousand. The Jesus who gave His body and blood on the cross for our cleansing and forgiveness. They don’t need the world today. And neither do we. Because we have Jesus Christ, Lord of all, Maker of the whole universe, right here. Do your worst, world, and bring it on.

Let us pray. Almighty Father, Your Son prepared a people not ready so that they may proclaim Your saving Word, and receive His saving body and blood. Prepare us as well to receive those same gifts, that we may be prepared to endure the world, and be raised by grace to eternal life. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.