The Seventh Sunday after Trinity, 2020
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The melodies are linked in the hymn title.
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
O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all
things both in heaven and earth, we humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all
hurtful things and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through
Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth, etc.
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
Miraculous Abundance from the Word
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #216 On Christ's Ascension
In Our Prayers
- Radiation - Randy Anderson, Christina Jackson; Treatment - Mary Howell, Carl Roper.
- Tests and treatment - Kermit Way, Pastor Jim Shrader.
- Jeshra Palangyos and Christina Jackson enjoyed their birthdays.
- Alicia Meyer celebrates her birthday tomorrow.
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.
Gospel Sermon Introduction -
The Creating Word Explains It All - Mark 8
So many struggle with and against the Scriptures. They only need to begin with the foundational truth - the Word of God is never without God's divine power and efficacy. Children explain this without hesitation. How could Jesus walk on water? How could Jesus multiply the bread and fish? How could Jesus raise the dead? They chime in - "Because He's God."
That is so simple it escapes the great scholars. Jesus is the Logos - the Word of God. Nothing was made in the entire universe without Him. John 1:3
Wondering how - that bypasses the foundation. The Three Gorges Dam is not anchored to the bedrock. That did not matter so much, until now. That matters every moment we read the Scriptures or consider the Christian Faith. God's Word has infinite power. We concede that when we pray silently - or loudly - and expect God to hear us and respond. We concede that power when we ask for forgiveness, because that is the great power we can experience in our lifetimes. Why? Because the greatest works cannot erase the tiniest sin, and yet Christ has died for the greatest and most terrible sins - and freely forgiven us through faith in Him. The miraculous feeding is a reminder of the miraculous abundance of God's mercies.
Miraculous Abundance from the Word
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 is a good lesson to consider this year, this moment. Normally I do not mention what is happening in the news. As Karl Barth said, to preach with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. When asked in class, I gave that answer, but added, "With Barth it was more like the newspaper in one hand, a machine gun in the other, while standing on the Bible." I got one of those hateful stares at Concordia, Ft. Wayne, that was used often on me.
In fact, we have the world's largest dam about to collapse, a crisis so bad that hardly anyone reports on it and "live feeds" of the dam are phony. If the Three Gorges Dam does fall apart, it will affect 400 million people immediately and the rest of the world afterwards, due to food shortages and the destruction of industry. If the dam holds, the massive flooding will still have a major impact.
Things are as uncertain as the setting for this miracle, which begins with faith. The crowds follow Jesus, hungry for His Word, until they are three days away and out in the desert. That means access to water (or they would be dead), but no food. The rationalists have them sharing food, but that would be require logistics worthy of an army. So the detail - three days - is essential to consider their faith in Jesus.
If I were walking along in that scenario, I would start to ask - or my stomach would ask - how can we continue without food? Many of us fast for over 24 hours for certain medicals tests, and the loss of energy is dramatic. In fact, the pleasant nature of eating is taken away by physician law and missed greatly.
The disciples answered His question as any reasonable man would -
4 And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?
There is no faith in this response, but it has the advantage of making the dire nature of no food even more dramatic. It hard enough to explain how so many people continued this journey. But it is impossible to see how they could be fed where no facilities exist, even if they had money or means to obtain food.
I may be the only one who has been driving along in a desert area (Arizone), assuming that a gas station will pop up any mile, any 10 miles, oh please before we are stranded. The anxiety sweat pops out. The tape plays, "How could you be so foolish?" Etc. Etc. Once it was in a national or state forest, as devoid of people as any desert.
Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house. Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholdeth its fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.”
8. Behold, this is the punishment for despising the office of the ministry, when such punishment was the most gracious as it has been still in our day, and I would to God, that it might continue so. But when we esteem the Word of God so lightly and the ministers and preachers are so poorly supported that they are compelled to forsake their office and seek their bread through other occupations, and thereby also discourage others from entering this office, who otherwise are gifted for it and inclined to it; God not only sends famine and other great national calamities as now appear before our eyes, in order that no one’s purse may retain anything and no blessing and no provisions remain. But he takes the Word and the true doctrine entirely away, and in their stead permits fanatical spirits and false teachers to enter among them, by whom they are led astray and deceived before they are aware of it both as to their souls and property, and for their neglect they must contribute richly and most bountifully.
Human reason has no answer for the disciples. Luther wisely discussed the matter of providing for congregations. In the old days, the clergy ruled everyone and lived like ancient kings, with banquets and dancing girls for the few, slaver for the rest. The Medieval Church had their own goldmine - Purgatory. They routinely portrayed the horrors of Hell and demanded to know how people would escape such terror. The answer was an elaborate form of taxing where everyone gave, in fear, based on his income. A rich person, to be spared those agonies, might donate his entire estate upon death. A pauper would give only pennies. But like the giant retail chains of today, the only thing that mattered was - the numbers.
So Luther discussed how they could provide for congregations and pastors without having a new version of the Medieval tyranny.
People may differ in their perspective, but all of us have uncertainty staring into the future, because nothing has been quite so unbalance as our current state as a nation.
Jesus' answer to the disciples is not an explanation but visual proof of His power, before anyone tried to ask Him how He would solve this problem of massive hunger.
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.
First of all, we can see that He intended for this to happen. He led people out into the desert, so far that simply going back was humanly impossible. Doubtless some turned back earlier, but a great mass of witnesses were there to see and experience the power of the Divine Word from the Logos - Jesus - Himself.
This is the unlimited power of the Word. Jesus blessed and gave thanks for the elements of loaves and fish - and they multiplied beyond all human comprehension.
This was a foreshadowing of the Lord's Supper but also a reminder of the manna coming down from heaven during the Exodus. The central theme in all three is not abundance of material goods but the Bread of Life from Heaven. The Creating Word is the source, the cause of the abundance - even in a desert.
In the entire Bible, the teaching is clear - the Son is the visible manifestation of the Father, not only in teaching us and dying for our sins, but also in revealing the loving-kindness of the Father.
What is the Father like? - the father welcoming his prodigal son and rejoicing with a feast. He feeds His children with the Word and then takes care of their material needs. Why so much abundance? My aunt figured out every meal for the farm workers, down to the penny person. She wanted them to work hard but not impoverish her with a banquet. (A farm breakfast was a banquet for us - and not because it came out of a freezer.)
This is like saying to the desert followers, "You started to wonder about food, but you put righteousness first, so you were satisfied in both ways."
The Beatitude is even more vivid when we think of thousands out in the desert, with water from the oasis but no sign of food. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."
The question for all time is, "How am I forgiven my sins? Saved? Given eternal life?" Faith in Jesus is the access, the only access to God's grace. The preaching of the Atonement plants this faith in our hearts, the Word conveyed by the Spirit, more vividly - Jesus conveyed to us in a face to face meeting (Romans 5:2, the meaning of access). This is by grace because it is by faith (Romans 4). Hearing the Gospel is essential for faith (Romans 10).
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.
There are a couple of lessons in these two verses. One is that the enormous crowd ate from the tiny offering and still had more left than they started with.
The hidden lunch explanation makes the depth and capacity of their robes beyond all human comprehension, because (that way) the multitude hid enough to feed everyone and had impressive leftovers as well. (Rationalists say they were hiding their food, after 3 days listening to Jesus, and took out their food when the boy shamed them with his offering.)
The first lesson from the actual conclusion (not the rationalistic escape hatch) is that God not only provides the miracle but does so in such a way that no one can doubt the divine origin of this solution. The trouble is, divine causes and effects are so censured today that people are taught to imagine everything BUT God at work. As we see from the entire lesson, this was planned
- to remind them of Moses in the desert,
- to show them the abundance of God, and
- to teach in the future how Holy Communion could continue for thousands of years.
Jesus was greater than Moses because He did not ask for a miracle but provided the miracle before their eyes.
And He sent them away.
They went back home with the Gospel and the Gospel proof. With so many crises around us, and so much uncertainty, we are like those followers, well provided by God but still in the wilderness of uncertainty - about health, about employment, about our children, about the future of our nation.
Whatever Americans are suffering from - in these uncertainties, the other nations are feeling even stronger. So our friends see even more looming before them.
The miraculous means we cannot even imagine what God will do. I can tell you, even after the miracle, those who experienced the miracle of healing will say, "But we never thought or hoped all these other things would be true as well."
The crowd was ordered to gather the fragments, "that nothing be wasted."
My neighbors must wonder why I put old decaying wood into the garden (tree trunks too), plus weeds piled on for fertilizer, cardboard, peat, etc. That is still true - that nothing be wasted - much to my wife's grief. But the neighbors see the results, giant herbs that bring in clouds of beneficial insects and feed herds of rabbits, who attract hawks.
This is easily applied to the blessings God gives us. Not the money. It goes far beyond that. Those fruits of the Spirit grow in different ways among various people. God gives some the vocal cords and makes them want to sing the Gospel. God gives others a background where drawing was a pleasant escape - and that is put to use. God gives to others a quest for the ultimate truths and shows by way of comparing falsehoods and false fruits what His truth is. So people take that discovery and express their appreciation for the Truth by encouraging it in every way possible.
This is a great era for people to tear down anonymously, to burn down while wearing costumes, and to discourage - using silken but deceitful words. God uses the power of evil and turns it against itself for destruction. When was the last time the world was afraid of Italy's (Rome's) military might? About 19 centuries.
God also uses what belongs to the believers and blesses those things beyond comprehension, so those blessings overflow to others. This will always be true.
