The Lord who provides all we need

John 6:1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), ² and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish Passover Feast was near. ⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. ⁷ Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" ⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, ⁹ "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" ¹⁰ Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. ¹² When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. ¹⁴ After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." ¹⁵ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Have you ever wondered where some of the common inventions of our life have come from? Leo Gerstenzang thought of Q-Tips when he saw his wife trying to clean their baby’s ears with toothpicks and cotton. King C. Gillette looked for a throwaway product after he had a conversation with the inventor of pop bottle caps. When he found his razor dull, Mr. Gillette thought of the safety razor with disposable blades. Charles Strite was fuming at the burnt toast in the factory lunchroom where he worked and thought up the automatic toaster. Ole Evinrude invented the outboard motor after he got angry when the ice cream in his rowboat melted before he got to his island picnic spot.

There is one common factor in all of these inventions: a person saw a need and answered that need.

That is exactly what we see God doing this morning. Even though the prophet Elisha only had 20 loaves of bread, that was enough to feed one hundred men. The apostle Paul wrote that “in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). And, the Lord Jesus provided all that was needed to feed a multitude of hungry people on the mountain. That’s why God’s Word assures us: “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

John gives us a timeframe for the miraculous feeding that the other three Gospel writers do not. John tells us that the Jewish feast of the Passover was just around the corner. Soon the innocent lambs, without blemish or defect, would be slain. Their blood would be poured out and painted on the doorposts of houses. A sign of life through the death of another. It was the Old Testament sacrament remembering the night in Egypt when death passed over the houses marked with the cross of lamb’s blood from doorpost to doorpost.

The Passover was near, but here, on this anonymous mountain, God’s Lamb, the innocent Lamb of God, without blemish or defect, who takes away the sin of the world, settles in with His disciples. It is late in the day. The sun is going down. Soon it will be dark. And the crowd of diseased and demonized and curious is still there.

“How are we going to feed all these people?” Jesus asks His disciples. He knows how, but He’s testing them. They’ve seen Him make 180 gallons of wine from washing water at a wedding gone dry. They’ve seen Him heal the blind, the lame, the demon possessed with nothing more that a word from His mouth. He’s looking for some little sign of faith, some inkling that His words are food enough for these people.

Philip thinks in terms of money. He sees the problem economically. They don’t have enough money. “You’d have to work over eight months to feed this crowd, and even then they’d get barely more than a bite.” Philip sees the problem as a problem of the numbers – money and resources. He knows how much bread costs, and he knows that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone will have to pay for it, and the disciples’ wallets are too empty. Besides, Jesus had told them not to take their wallets with them.

He has the people sit down and rest. The place is set, the table is about to be prepared.

John tells us that there was much green grass in that place. The Good Shepherd makes His sheep lie down in green pasture. He prepares a table for them, and the cup runs over. Five thousand men sat down in that green pasture, along with women and children, the crowd could easily have been twice that size. Jesus took the five little loaves and two small fish into His hands, He gave thanks, and He distributed them to those who were seated there. Sound familiar? Of course it does. You ears are tuned to hear it. It’s a Lord’s supper, isn’t it? Not quite the Lord’s Supper, but certainly a Lord’s supper. He’s the chef.

The Lord provides all that the people needed. Bread without sweat. Fish without fishing. Even the manna for the Israelites had to be gathered – there was work involved. But here all the people had to do was sit there on the nice, cool, green grass. This was free bread – to fill over 5,000 growling bellies that day. I assume the little boy got his lunch back, and more. All of it without cost to the consumer. And as if to underscore the point for the slow of heart to believe, a perfect Israelite twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered. One for each disciple. One for every tribe of Israel. They ate with God in the Flesh on His mountain, and their baskets were filled to overflowing with the abundance of His grace.

But then we see sinful human nature rear its ugly head. “After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’” Then they wanted to make Jesus their “Bread King.” They saw Jesus as a prophet from God, but not as their Savior from sin.

How do you see Jesus? Do you still see Him as your Bread King? To fulfill your every desire? Give you more stuff? A better family? An easier life? A different job? Fewer troubles? With the way our nation is going recently with gas prices rising, food prices increasing, and jobs being lost, do you just want Jesus to answer your prayers this election year for a better economy, more health insurance and more jobs?

Has Jesus become for you just a god to provide for your physical needs? Is He a god to grant you your every wish? Has He become only a “Bread King” to you?

Why did things turn so drastically bad on the mountain of plenty? The answer lies in the reason why the people were following Jesus. John tells us: “a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.” They weren’t necessarily following Jesus because they believed in Him as their Savior or accepted His teachings. At this point, many were following Him so it was a cool show.

Why are you following Jesus? Do you follow Him so you might get better health or a better job? Do you follow Jesus so you can have lower school tuition or look good in the community? How often don’t we act like the people on the shores of the Sea of Galilee? Following Jesus not because of His teachings, but perhaps hoping for a miracle? Desiring an earthly kingdom and worldly success, rather than cross of suffering that His Kingdom brings? Do we sometimes turn away from Jesus because He just not the kind of Savior we’re in the market for right now? Do we follow Him closely when He’s handing out blessings but shy away from Him when He’s expecting work from us? How often aren’t we like the disciples, not quite getting it, and then stumbling and hesitating and thinking only momentarily and monetarily when we are faced with tests and difficulties?

Jesus withdrew from their notion of making Him their Bread King. That’s because He came to be our Blood King. Because He is the perfect Passover Lamb. He is the true Prophet. The True Substitute. The Blood of God that makes atonement for humanity’s sins. He sprinkles us in the blood of His cross in the waters of Holy Baptism, where we are made children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ. He covers us in the blood of His cross in the words of Holy Absolution, where His forgiveness is pronounced and received. He feeds us with the Bread of Life, the Manna from Heaven, with His own body broken and His own blood poured out from the cross in Holy Communion.

And so the Lord provides for our greatest need – Himself – a Savior from sin.

Since our Lord is in control; since Jesus is our Blood King who also provides us with daily bread; you and I who have gathered here at the mountain of the Lord have a huge asset – we know that everything will always turn out all right.

Christ has not budged from His throne, and Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” – has not evaporated from our Bible. Our problems have always been His possibilities.

In any trouble, in any hardship, in any hunger – Jesus promises to be with you. He has already proven that by coming as God in human flesh. He proved His presence by being with the multitude on the mountain that day. Jesus promises to be with you, but He may not always help you in the way you want.

Sometimes, instead of removing the problem, He may allow it to remain. He may choose to have you suffer the hardship for a time, even as He supplies you with the strength to endure. God permitted Joseph to be kidnapped, but it resulted in the preservation of his family. God allowed the Israelites to be trapped at the Red Sea, but it allowed God the part the Red Sea waters and drown the approaching Egyptians. Jesus allowed the people to become hungry so He could provide them with a miraculous feeding. The persecution of Daniel led to a cabinet position. Christ entered the world by a surprise pregnancy and redeemed it through His unjust murder.

The miraculous blessing usually doesn’t come until the painful problem is first endured.

In 2 Timothy 4:18, the apostle Paul writes his final words from a Roman prison, chained to a guard, within earshot of his executioner’s footsteps. Did Paul consider this a worst-case scenario? Was this a no-win situation? Not from his perspective. He writes: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Paul believed that no disaster is ultimately fatal. He believed that the Lord who had provided a Savior from sin and the Holy Spirit to overcome his unbelief, would also provide a way out from Paul’s predicament. And the Lord did! He allowed Paul to die and go to heaven!

The Lord knows your every need and He provides for it. He gives you the daily bread that you pray for in the Lord’s Prayer. He gives you the Bread of Life His Holy Word. He feeds the multitudes with the perfect Passover Lamb’s body and blood in the broken body and shed blood in the Lord’s Supper. And He gives you manna from heaven in all the every day blessings you may take for granted and mighty miracles that you may miss. Our Lord is far wiser than an entrepreneur and more intelligent than an inventor. He has seen your needs and already answered them.

You see, sometimes, God organizes and orchestrates events in exactly the right way at the right time to help you. There is hunger so God can provide bread. There is the loss of a job so God can provide support. Drought so God can provide rain. Movie theater tragedy so God can provide His secret plan of purpose. Times of testing so God can provide the Answer in His Son. Pain so God can provide relief. Illness so God can provide healing. Your sin so God can provide you with forgiveness. Weakness so God can provide strength. Emptiness so God can fill you up. Sadness so God can provide comfort. Tears so God can provide joy. Death so God can provide the resurrection.

The Lord provides for all of your needs – physical, spiritual and eternal. Amen.