Consuming Christ

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon title is Come Away, Compassion and Consume. My focus is our Gospel (Mark 6:30-44). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”  Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Has anyone ever encouraged you to come away and rest? Has anyone ever asked you to come on a retreat? I know that some of you will be attending the LWML retreat this Fall. Perhaps you attended one for work or as a family or to enhance your spiritual life. Most districts within the Synod have a spiritual retreat house that is available for pastors’ conferences, confirmation classes, high school students or lay groups.

The word retreat refers to an act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous or disagreeable. It comes to us from two Latin words: re meaning back and trahere meaning to draw. Retrahere meant to draw back, withdraw or call back. It is used commonly by military and religious circles.

After the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they did and taught, he said to them, “’Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. So, they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.” (Mark 6:30-32)

The desolate place recalls the desert, a place of testing, but also a place of solitude and retreat from the world for spiritual intimacy with God. Jesus desired to give them the rest that God promised his people. We read in Deuteronomy, “When you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lor your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety.” (Deuteronomy 12:10) God’s people commemorated that rest every Sabbath, as Hebrews reminds us, “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest.” (Hebrews 4:9-11)

As Jesus’ popularity grew, his disciples had no time to rest. Like him, they were setting aside their personal concerns in order to minister to God’s people. We all know what it means to set aside personal concerns to minister to others. Those people may be our spouses, children or grandchildren, elderly parents or grandparents, customers or co-workers, students or soldiers. Yet, we are tempted to get caught up in the busyness of serving others that we repeatedly ignore the need for prayer, rest and stillness in God’s presence. When this happens, we substitute our own agenda for the Lord’s. Now, if Jesus, who was absolutely intimate with the Father needed to pray, and made time to pray, how much more do we need to heed his command and the words of Psalm 46:10: Be still and know that I am God.

Jesus called the Twelve to come away and rest with him because the first order of business of apostleship found in chapter three is to simply be with Him. We read, “He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.” (Mark 3:14-15) The words – “that they might be with him” – bear repeating. None of us – pastors, preachers, parents, police officers, public officials, teachers, coaches – can do Christian ministry apart from Jesus. Don’t believe me? Read John 15:1-8 or 1^st Peter 4:11. Even the prophet Isaiah knew this when he wrote, “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:3) Before I move to my second point, compassion, ask yourself what keeps you from heeding Jesus’ words to be with him. … And so, we move from my first to my second point, compassion.

Compassion means a feeling of deep sympathy or sorrow for another stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate suffering. Compassionate people believe that victims should be treated with care, concern, warmth and love. Its origin is the Latin word, compassio, meaning to suffer with. As a child, when I got sick, my compassionate parents said, “I wish it were me instead of you.” They were willing to suffer with me in order that I should be well.

Turning to our passage, we see that the retreat Jesus planned for his apostles is sabotaged. Jesus, however, was not exasperated; rather, he was moved with compassion at the sight of the needy crowds. Mark gave us a glimpse into Jesus’ emotion, a deeply felt, gut reaction. Compassion or pity is one of the most distinct attributes of God. Isaiah, Hosea and the Psalmist remind us that God is compassionate to us even when we anger him.

Here, Jesus recognized the crowd as sheep without a shepherd, a phrase that indicated that they were vulnerable to predatory beasts and likely to wander away because they lacked leadership. Mark hints that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who fulfilled God’s promise to care for his people directly.

And so, rather than first feed them or heal them, he taught them. Today, how often do we think we know better than God and what comfort He should give us? Yet, He gives us His word and instruction knowing that is exactly what we need. Jesus’ teaching healed the crowd by liberating them from their captivity to evil. Earlier in Mark, we read how people marveled at his teaching, exclaiming that Jesus possessed a new teaching with such authority that even unclean spirits obeyed him. (Mark 1:27) At the same time, his teaching is feeding, since by proclaiming the good news of the kingdom Jesus satisfied their spiritual hunger.

Before I go to my third point, consume, consider how God has been compassionate to you. When you wandered away and made yourself vulnerable to predators, how did God protect you and prevent you from becoming a victim? Have you allowed God to satisfy your hunger with his teaching? Or do you think the world can satisfy you more deeply with leadership workshops, seminars, books and so forth? And so, we move from compassion to consume.

The word consume means to use economic goods. It also refers to an organism requiring complex organic compounds for food which it obtains by preying on other organisms or by eating particles of organic matter. Plants and animals do that to stay alive.

In economics, consume means one who uses up goods or articles, one who destroys the exchangeable value of a commodity by using it. A box of Pampers has a certain value. Once used, they have no value.

Pampers is a good example to illustrate the definition of economic consumption. Research what we consume nationally or worldwide, and you will discover that Americans spend $6.5 billion a year on greeting cards, $16 billion on jeans, $117 billion on beer, and $7.2 billion a year keeping baby bottoms dry. Annually, the world consumes 10 million tons of coffee, 5.7 trillion cigarettes, 194 million tons of fish, and 122 thousand tons of bread.

I list those products we consume to keep our bellies full and bottoms dry. How do we spend our time?  Annually, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its American Time Use Survey. It reveals that we spend most of our time working. We work full-time and part-time jobs throughout the week and on weekends. Apart from work, most of us spend time doing household activities such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management.

Nearly everyone is engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. We spend three hours a day watching TV, an hour or two providing childcare, and about half an hour a day socializing. We spend no more than 10 minutes a day on religious and spiritual activities. There are many more statistics, but I want to focus on that last one because it relates to our gospel. We spend no more than 10 minutes a day on religious and spiritual activities.

The thousands who consumed the bread and fish that Jesus and his apostles provided also consumed a day listening to him teach them many things about the Kingdom of God. The Feeding of the Five Thousand is one of the most memorable events in Jesus’ public ministry. It is the only miracle attested in all four gospels. For Mark, this not only feeds people, it also reveals to them and us, Jesus’ identity and messianic mission. In contrast the opulent feast of Herod we heard last Sunday, which ended in a death, here Jesus feeds ordinary people with a very simple fare which leads to life.

We know that the people were in a deserted place and that the disciples begged Jesus to send them away to buy something to eat, and that he instructed them to give them something themselves, starting with the fish and bread. They responded with astonishment and sarcasm, to which Jesus simply instructed them to bring what little they have.

The groupings of hundreds and fifties on the green grass is no accidental detail but an allusion to the Good shepherd leading them to rich pastures and God feeding the Israelites in the wilderness. Jesus fed them with a new bread from heaven. The blessing and setting food before the people symbolized his hospitality, contrasted with his disciples’ desire to send them away.

Unlike the other miracles Jesus performed, this one passed silently and modestly. There was no exclamation of amazement and wonder. People simply ate and were satisfied. Just like the manna in the desert, there was more than enough here for everyone. As the Psalmist proclaimed, “You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” (Ps 145:16) By providing abundantly for his people, Jesus took on the role of God himself. Feeding people with bread and fish with 12 leftover baskets was an outward sign of a physical feasting that God alone can satisfy the human heart.

The early Church recognized in the miracle of loaves a symbolic anticipation of the Eucharist when Jesus would share both word and food with his people. When God feeds his people, there is always more than enough to satisfy all. How could it be otherwise since the gift is God himself?

If what God gives us is himself in word and food, and there is always plenty to satisfy all, why is it then that we, 21^st century Americans, think that we can spend as little as 15 minutes a day in prayer, religious reading, Bible study and worship and expect to be satisfied or able to do pastoral ministry? Here’s a challenge for you to take upon yourself. Ask your elders, church officers and volunteers, your spouse and parents how much time they set aside for prayer, Bible reading, spiritual reading and worship. You will be shocked to hear how many of them express the desire to spend more time simply being with God, as I was when I asked them. Pastors who don’t pray?! Elders who don’t read the Bible daily?! Church leaders whose days don’t include devotional time?! This in a church where Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer.”

Friends, you may not have Luther’s time to spend in prayer. I am not asking you to spend more time praying, but I don’t want you to check off prayer from your to-do list, like mowing the lawn, feeding the pets or preparing a grocery list. Rather, deepen your relationship with God.

You can find all sorts of ways to deepen your relationship with God. People are always posting and publishing two, four, six, eight, ten steps to reach that goal. I am going to suggest one way that has worked for centuries across all denominations: memorize and meditate. It’s how we learned our catechism as we prepared for confirmation and communion, and when many felt closest to God.

When we memorize anything and meditate on it, we excel. Whether we are learning the answers to a catechism, notes on a musical instrument, movements for an exercise or athletic play or how to repair an engine, appliance, a broken arm or a damaged heart, we will eventually excel at our craft. Likewise, we will deepen our relationship with God when we memorize and meditate on Scripture, the Creeds, your catechism, hymns, poems, prose or prayers. Spend a week on a praying over a particular passage. Seek the deeper meaning of a parable that inspires or irks you. Ponder the words of a poem or a prayer. Beginning today, we who intend to live eternally in God’s Kingdom can start by building the relationship with God that He desires for us. Jesus instructed his disciples: Give God what little you have. Ask and expect God to multiply your time and talent and make it part of his superabundant provision for the needs of his people, and when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.