The Seventh Sunday after Trinity, 2019
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The melodies are linked in the hymn title.
The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
Feeling the Shortage
The Preface p. 24
In Our Prayers
- Pastor and Mrs. Palangyos' daughter, Jeshra.
- Andrea, whose eye patch is off now. This takes a lot of time.
- Carl Roper, who is being treated for more occurrences.
- Those who suffer from organized violence.
- Elizabeth Mior - has cancer. She is the mother of two small children.
- Those looking for work and a better income.
- Glen Kotten is doing well and appreciates your prayers.
KJV Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
KJV Mark 8:1 In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, 2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: 3 And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. 4 And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? 5 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. 6 And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. 7 And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. 8 So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. 9 And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.
SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Lord God, heavenly Father, who in the wilderness didst by Thy Son abundantly feed four thousand men besides women and children with seven loaves and a few small fishes: We beseech Thee, graciously abide among us with Thy blessing, and keep us from covetousness and the cares of this life, that we may seek first Thy kingdom and Thy righteousness, and in all things needful for body and soul, experience Thine ever-present help; through Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Background for the Sermon, Mark 8
We have two miraculous feedings recorded in the Gospels. Most think of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, but there is also this one, where Four Thousand were fed.
This miracle concerns our daily needs, our worries and anxieties about food, clothing, and shelter. Everything changes and many are left stranded by the economy or their location. Many of my friends settled in the People's Republic of Illinois, because their families lived there and John Deere seemed to promise eternal security and benefits. Someone can be living in their home and constantly worried about the state's power to tax and make up for those leaving the state. No one immune to such changes.
36. In like manner also for a time God sends us temptation, terror, misfortune and suffering in order that we may feel our need and become conscious how utterly unable we are either to counsel or help ourselves; but he does so that we may learn not to go ahead heedlessly according to our feelings, and say: Ah, whither now? Here all is lost. Where shall we get something? That “whither?” and “where?” take out of thy mouth and heart, and instead, run here to Christ and expect what he will say and give to thee. For the fact that you feel your need will not hurt you; he lets you feel it in order that you may experience and feel also his help, his beneficence and his rescuing power, and that you learn thus to believe and to trust him. (https://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2019/08/luthers-second-sermon-on-feeding-of.html)
Luther also says two things ruin the Church - poverty and riches. When people know they cannot have much as church workers, they shun those vocations and the work is left undone. However, when the Church is rich from endowments, lands, and special privileges, the officials live like lords and kings, and neglect the Office of the Ministry. They become ruthless dictators and treat people as their slaves. Naturally, the belly-worshipers covet these positions and struggle to obtain them and keep them.
It should be a great irony for every person - that the church leaders praised in public for their wealth, success, and fine living should also be the ones stranded with nothing years later.
"Seek first the Kingdom and its righteousness, and all these things shall be yours."
Feeling the Shortage
KJV Mark 8:1 In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, 2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: 3 And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.
This kind of passage becomes a trap for some, who deal in half-verses to manufacture new, human dogmas to snare others. They exhaust their superficial knowledge in the first miraculous feeding and do not know what else to say.
We need to see everything in its context in the quoted work and also within the scope of the entire Bible. We do not have 66 books and thousands of verses, but One Book, One Truth, revealed by the Holy Spirit.
I was thinking about the Four Gospels and how man would improve on them - how man has tried to hard to improve on them. The richness of detail we have about Jesus comes from having all four. How does anyone merge the Virgin Birth in Matthew and Luke? It cannot be done. And yet we can carry those details in our memories (a gift from God) and dwell on them separately and together.
Local context - from that work.
The false teachers gallop and stumble through the Scriptures as if the authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit, posted cheerleader slogans for us. Why? So they could manufacture thick books full of what those slogans mean (for them). "Raised for our justification!" - I saw that dozens of times until I put it in its context. Then the phrase was dropped faster than a recruitment letter from AARP. (The verse, part of Romans 4:25, is essential to Justification by Faith, a phrase they deny and reject.)
Local context means what happened before and after the lesson being quoted. Immediately after this feeding, the Pharisees demanded a miracle - and Jesus warned the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. The disciples (as if to model today's experts who see but do not see and hear but do not listen) thought Jesus was talking about bread. And they had none.
Primary Meaning - the 4,000
There are often many lessons within one miracle or one parable, so one lesson here is related to people experiencing a lack and God providing for them miraculously. The believers did not stop following when they ran out of food, but followed Jesus three days, using up all their supplies. They could not return safely without food, and Jesus had compassion on them.
We can observe in God's Creation than animals are not so greedy and self-interested that they eat everything when they spot a supply of food. I left cookies at the feeding place. A squirrel jumped up, ate some greedily, and left. Most of the time birds will flock to a berry tree or bush, eat a portion, and leave.
God's Creation is not static. The weather is offered as if droughts will last forever, flooding will last forever. This variety makes life uncertain but it also leaves us thankful for good weather, enough rain, and the benefits from the changes.
Immediately after the miraculous feeding of the 4,000, the Pharisees demanded a miracle. The story would have raced ahead of Jesus, as it often did. Hearing about it was not enough. It was more like, "We want our own miracle to judge." As Jesus predicted in the first Passion prediction, He would be judged and rejected (our latest Greek lesson, the Gospel of Mark).
As lay readers have noticed, leaven is used in a positive and a negative way in the New Testament. Leaven (what was called Herman for the sourdough) grows slowly but persistently. The leaven of the Pharisees is unbelief, often replacing God's doctrine with a competing and negating doctrine. There cannot be two different leavens.
After Jesus miraculously fed the multitude and next, He left the Pharisees with their demand. The disciples thought, "Oh bread. We have no bread, "no more than one loaf."
I was thinking, the disciples would have been satisfied at first. Then there was the trip to Dalmanutha, and shoving off from there. All it takes is an association with bread and the stomach growls. So Jesus detailed the miracles they witnessed and asked about the leftovers, which were greater than the original food.
Mark 8:16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?
If it true that God is compassionate and guides all activity in His Creation, how can anyone be anxious about the future? And yet we often are. I have noticed how carefully church leaders manipulate the truth, hide the truth, or tell outright lies to make the outcome favorable to them.
The leaven of human sin always involves an effort to rig the results. One common management technique is to tell everyone they are part of a democratic process. At the end, the leaders say, "We have done all this, and you have participated in the studies and open sessions. Therefore, we must trust the process and deal with the results that YOU have brought about."
It goes farther in business, where people are not content to make money based on the market. They want it all, and then even more, and the higher levels make them covetous for undreamed-of wealth, which comes at a price. Mutual blackmail keeps everyone in line, and it is truly demonic. The wealthiest and most powerful are also the most enslaved, the most blind, the most hardened against everything good, sincere, and compassionate.
The Good Example
The 4,000 families comprise the good example in this miracle. They left the security of food and water to follow Jesus, Who offered them the Kingdom.
Matthew 6:33 "Seek first the Kingdom and its righteousness, and all this shall be added unto you."
33 ζητειτε δε πρωτον την βασιλειαν του θεου και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου και ταυτα παντα προστεθησεται [will be given in addition to you] υμιν.
This is the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus was talking about food, clothing, and shelter anxiety.
What is the Kingdom and its righteousness? Nothing more than believing in Christ as the Savior, which means belong to His Kingdom.
Faith in Christ opens our eyes to these truths. The more the abyss seems to open before us, the more His miracles comfort and assure us.
I touch on this topic often because I hear about the wants and anxieties of people in this changing economy. One person thought he would never have a technology job again, and one opened up for him. I hear these stories from the East, South, Midwest, and Left Coast. I cannot tell what the solution will be, but I know God will take care of His own.
Many times our immediate solution is a ball and chain. For example, teaching used to be local, and it still is to a large extent. When local teaching dried up in Phoenix, that catastrophe made it simple to hit the road and teach online all the way to a new location. Some local university teachers said, "You teach year around? How?" I said, "Online." That seemed to be going away but came back, once Obama's economic ideas began to prove themselves. :)
That also happens with medical crises, which come in many forms. We think about that in terms of our two daughters. Their disorder was never completely diagnosed and could not be treated in any way. What began as disaster changed in our eyes as a stream of blessings, no cure, but the blessings of loving and being loved, sharing that love with so many who loved them intensely. God does that in opening our eyes, and He blinds those with no faith, who run away from reality in case it might touch them too.
Luther wrote, as I quoted above:
35. However, it is still well for us that Christ permits us to be tested and disciplined in this way, and through our vain counsels and suggestions, our struggling and doubting, He teaches us to acknowledge our urgent need; otherwise we would never realize that we were in need and would never learn either to believe or to pray. Therefore He shows and reveals here to His disciples their present want and extremity before they themselves think of it.
36. In like manner also for a time God sends us temptation, terror, misfortune and suffering in order that we may feel our need and become conscious how utterly unable we are either to counsel or help ourselves; but He does so that we may learn not to go ahead heedlessly according to our feelings, and say: Ah, whither now? Here all is lost. Where shall we get something? That “whither?” and “where?” take out of thy mouth and heart, and instead, run here to Christ and expect what He will say and give to thee. For the fact that you feel your need will not hurt you; He lets you feel it in order that you may experience and feel also his help, His beneficence and His rescuing power, and that you learn thus to believe and to trust Him.
Life is a roller-coaster, so we have to ask, "Why do people line up for an hour wait to ride on one?" The fright is temporary, and we remember the feeling of regret, profound regret, and the relief of coming to a stop at the end.
The challenges with our daughters taught me how to deal with hardened bureaucracies, so I use that training with others to help them through a crisis. And it is fun to save someone $5,000 or change someone's attitude. I have had people standing up, screaming and pounding the table. I smile inwardly and think, "So you admit you have lost?" It is a warm, lasting feeling. I avoid smiling.
The leaven of the Pharisees is relying on our own works. When we feel the shortage, the want, the crisis, we can rely on God for the solution.
I know people want to discourage me from writing. They work very hard at it and send anonymous, hateful messages. When I quote them verbatim, they shrink back into their dens for a while.
But something else always happens. It may seem small but motivating someone is powerful. One wife said recently, "Every morning my husband has coffee, opens up his computer and reads the latest on your blog. Every day." She went on to say some pleasant things.
I know of a layman who checks in three times a day, including late in case there is one more post. Those are called Ichapeekers. So when my eyes are blurred or burning, I think, "Someone is waiting for the next post," and it is fun to write. Just like those who love to bake, or carve things, or finish elaborate home improvements, the trouble is worth it. In fact, the labor is not labor but fun. Mrs. Ichabod will glance over and ask, "OK, why are you laughing?" And I read the next item out loud.
