The Christian Trusts God to Provide

The disciples were sensible. Sending the people home was the sensible thing to do. After all, it was getting late in the day and the people needed food. So, dismiss them, Jesus. Tell them that’s all for today, go home, and get a bite to eat.

But Jesus doesn’t live within the boundaries of the sensible. It wasn’t sensible to tell fishermen who had caught nothing after fishing all night to go back out in the heat of the day and try again – but Jesus did … and provided a great catch. It wasn’t sensible to claim that a girl who had died was simply asleep – but Jesus did … and then woke her from the sleep of death. It wasn’t sensible for Jesus to tell his small group of disciples when faced with a crowd of well over 5,000 hungry people: “You give them something to eat.” But Jesus did. They take what they have and give it to Jesus. Five loaves of bread and two fish. It’s enough. Anything in the hands of the Lord is always enough. … More than enough.

Jesus takes the boy’s lunch of bread and fish and then gives a blessing. Jesus looks up to heaven to thank God from whose providential hands come bread and fish. Then the fish sandwiches pass from the hands of Jesus to the hands of the disciples, and from the hands of the disciples to the hands of the people, and then into the mouths and bellies of the people. Jesus tells them, “You give them something to eat.” So, the disciples give them something to eat.

All the people not only eat – they have their fill. Jesus is lavish with his gifts. He doesn’t carefully measure an exact portion for each person – 2 slices of bread and ½ lb. of fish for each adult. There you go, that’s enough, move along. No. Jesus gives and gives and keeps on giving. More than we think. More than we expect. More than we imagine.

In Jesus, the people have everything they need. While the towns and villages the people came from were places of want and need, the deserted place had become a place of plenty. They were satisfied, which I think means much more than their tummies were full. They were filled with more than earthly food. They were also filled with the Bread of Life. They were no longer harassed and helpless sheep, worried about John the Baptist’s death at the hands of King Herod. On that day, they were no longer concerned about hunger, healing, hurting, or what would happen next. For a few hours with Jesus, they were sheep at peace. Sheep at the feet of their Shepherd. Sheep who didn’t want to be anywhere else, but where they were.

Sometimes when we’re in the wilderness, the deserted and desolate places in life so we can learn that there’s no better place to be. It’s when we’re weak that we find our strength in Christ. It’s when we’re helpless that we find comfort in our Comforter and Counselor. It’s when we’re hurting that God provides healing. It’s when we’re lost and alone that our Good Shepherd calls and finds us. It’s when we’re hungry that the Lord answers our prayers for daily bread.

When things seem to be going well, when our bellies are full, our pantries are packed, and we’re tucked into our warm beds, those are the times that we can be helpless, weak, and vulnerable – we just don’t realize it. We’re comfortable with all the comforts of life surrounding us.

It’s when we’re in the wilderness, the deserted and desolate places that our Good Shepherd has us right where he wants us! Not to punish, but that he may have compassion. When we have nowhere else to turn and no where else to go, we look to him to provide all we need. He can turn the wilderness into green pastures, and the desolate times into times of blessing. Jesus can do what he came here to do – take care of his sheep. The Christian trusts God to provide us with all the care and compassion, health and healing, prosperity and possessions that we need.

When we find ourselves divided on politics or cultural issues, Jesus unites us around the manna of his Word and Sacraments.

When we see mobs yelling at each other about immigration, ICE, or racial tensions, Jesus whispers his soothing gospel into our ears and hearts – a gospel that unites every nation, tribe, people, and language.

When we’re nervous about cancers, surgeries, unemployment, depression, dementia or anything else, Jesus calms our troubled hearts with his divine compassion. He sets everything else aside so he can minister directly and individually to each of us.

In the beginning of our gospel, Matthew reports that Jesus is seeking isolation after hearing about the death of his cousin and the forerunner of the Messiah, John the Baptist, at the hands of King Herod. The crowds disrupt him. Instead of being annoyed by the interruption of his grief, Jesus is moved with deep compassion and heals their sick. Divine compassion prioritizes the desperate needs of others over personal comfort and emotional exhaustion.

Jesus then uses this as a training exercise for his disciples. Jesus tells them, “You give them something to eat” even though he knows they don’t have any food. Jesus is testing and stretching their faith. He wants them to recognize their human inadequacy, so they’ll learn to rely entirely on his divine adequacy. He deliberately uses their small, inadequate resource of five loaves and two fish to show that he multiplies whatever is fully surrendered to him. This is the first time Jesus asked his disciples to help him perform a miracle. Jesus is letting his disciples personally experience his power. How gracious is our Savior that he allows all of us as his disciples to play a small part in his Kingdom work.

The disciples, however, saw all the problems and none of the possibilities. They could tally the measly resources on hand. Their math didn’t fail them, but their faith did. They didn’t understand what kind of Lord they had in Jesus. Jesus taught them that a Christian trusts in God to provide when he said, “Bring them here to me!” They should have done that immediately. It should be our first response to want or crisis. Bring whatever it is to Jesus. Look how Jesus answered! So much food that thousands were fed and there were bushels left over.

Look at our Old Testament lesson and see that a Christian trusts that God will provide – even when the plan makes no sense. At the beginning of a famine in Israel, God places his prophet, Elijah, next to the Kerith Ravine. God then uses ravens to bring Elijah bread and meat every morning and evening. This is a beautiful picture of God’s absolute sovereignty and providence. Ravens are scavengers. They are naturally selfish birds. They hoard food for themselves; they don’t share it. Yet, God overrides nature to make these scavengers become Uber Eats for his servant. The way God provides for his people is beyond our limited human logic. We learn to look past the instrument of delivery and focus entirely on the Provider who orders the delivery.

The ravens bring bread and meat (no veggies) “in the morning and ... in the evening.” Elijah doesn’t fill up a grocery cart for the week. He gets exactly what he needs for that half-day. Jesus teaches us to pray for our “daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer. We don’t need a storehouse of food. We might begin trusting in that storehouse of food. Perhaps when we have nothing but a little water in a creek bed, a small amount of food, and a big promise … that’s enough! We can wake up every single morning, look at the sky, and wait on the Lord. This reminds us that our security is never found in bank accounts, financial assets, or paid-off homes. Our true security is found in the faithful hands of a Savior who has already won the ultimate victory for us.

We need to learn this. We need to trust this. We need to live this. So, when we are stuck in the “wilderness” times in our lives; when we are in that deserted place – alone, forsaken, troubled, worried, scared or depressed. We need to trust that we are not there by accident. Nor has our Lord left us. We’re there so we learn to rely not on ourselves, but on his divine providence. That we may trust that wherever our Shepherd leads us, it’s where we need to be. Our Lord is in control, even when it seems as if everything is spinning out of control.

Jesus also uses us and whatever we bring him for his Kingdom work. He’s God. Yet, he’s willing to use us flawed creatures to bless us and those around us with our time, efforts, and talents. He takes what we give him and multiplies it for the good of those around us.

Jesus gives us all that we need. He gives and gives and keeps on giving. More than we think. More than we expect. More than we imagine.

Because the hands of Jesus that held those five loaves of bread and two fish and fed so many people, were the same hands that took the nails and wood of Calvary to save so many people. The hands of your Savior, who came to provide what you need the most – the restoration of your life with God in the forgiveness of your sin. To provide this forgiveness and restoration not just for 5 thousand or 5 million or 5 billion people – but each and every person. Every person from Adam and Eve until the last little boy or girl conceived before Jesus comes again. Every person, including you and me. He came in compassion to shepherd and save, to forgive and feed.

In Holy Baptism, the hands of Jesus have taken a person born dead in sin and raised you to a new life in Christ. In those waters his hands have made a saint out of a sinner, a son out of a rebel, and a daughter out of a delinquent.

In Holy Absolution, the hands of Jesus take a person who has again plunged back into the filth of the sin of this world and washes you clean in forgiveness. A forgiveness that is not carefully and stingily measured out but forgiveness that is lavished upon you … with plenty to spare!

In the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus is giving you a banquet that never runs out, a feast of victory that will not end with this life but will continue throughout eternity in heaven. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus can do more than we ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

We see what the hands of Jesus have done with the Berlinger family. Hannah, Tinsley, and Wheeler baptized. Tyler and Hannah studying God’s Word together at their dining room table with Tinsley bringing me all her toys during our study. Then Tyler and Hannah received into communion fellowship with us today. Jesus has brought a family together around God’s Word, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. The Lord provided a home church for the Berlinger family. The Lord provided a wonderful family for our growing congregation.

We see what the hands of Jesus have done in bringing teens hundreds of miles to Casper this weekend for our first WELS Wyoming Youth Event. We filled up the day yesterday with a scavenger hunt in downtown Casper, jumping at the trampoline park, a Bible study on spiritual warfare, and then BBQ, lawn games, and Christian fellowship at the Kropatsch home. We already have a similar event scheduled for next spring. Jesus has brought our scattered youth around Wyoming together this weekend around God’s Word, Christian fellowship, prayer, and the Sacrament. The Lord provides the opportunity to realize we’re not alone out here in the wilds of Wyoming. There are other confessional Lutherans … only a couple hundred miles away – but that’s nothing in Wyoming.

Jesus doesn’t dwell in the sensible. It doesn’t make earthly sense to trust Jesus. Yet, the life of the Christian is trusting that God provides all that we need – more than we need. He provides for us physically, mentally, and spiritually. And he always will.

He even has leftovers. Amen.