As the saying goes: The quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Feed them well and feed them often, and they will love you. But men are fickle. Their tastes change: their stomachs insatiable, and their hearts wayward. What satisfies today is tomorrow's discontent. Leftovers are rarely as good as the food on the day of the feast. This is why we only eat turkey on Thanksgiving, and why every cooking magazine comes out with 5000 ways to serve turkey in the November edition.
The 5000 miraculously fed by Jesus with the five loves and two fish knew what they wanted. They wanted this food always. And so they sought to take Him by force to make Him King. They would never go hungry again. Their bellies would be full. They would be satisfied. And they would love and cherish, serve and obey their bread king.
But Jesus knew better. For He knows the thoughts of man. More than that He knows the very heart of man, that it is filled with evil thoughts, deceit, slander, murder, adultery, and sexual immorality. He knows just how fickle they are, how quickly they can love you one day and hate you the next. When bellies grumble so do their hearts and mouths. And if manna and quail did not satisfy the grumbling hearts and stomachs of their fathers, neither will barley loaves and fish.
Kings are born not made. Kings inherit the crown and throne from their fathers or mothers. They are not made by the people. They are not taken by force to have the crown and throne thrust upon them. Kings rule their people. The people do not rule them. This is what the 5000 wanted. It's not so much that they wanted Jesus to be their king, to rule over them. They wanted what Jesus could give them. They wanted to rule over him, to tell him what to do and when to do it.
But this is not how Jesus works. He doesn't act according man's whims or wants. He doesn't even always act out of their perceived needs. He acts from His own character. He gives according to His divine goodness and mercy. He acts from His own heart, the very heart of God. He acts out of love. And so he serves them. For He feeds them before they even ask. He gives them food before their bellies, their hearts, the mouths even begin to grumble. He looks upon the gathering crowd and shows them hospitality, even in the wilderness. He welcomes them. He invites them. He bids them to sit down, to recline, and to receive what He has to give.
He invites them to believe, to trust in Him. To believe that He is true God begotten of the Father from eternity and also true man born of the virgin Mary. To believe that He has come into the flesh, not only to feed their bodies, but also to feed and nourish their souls. To trust that His sacrificial death on the cross takes away their sin, redeems them from death and the devil, just as He did for them and their fathers in Egypt and in the Wilderness. To know that He will never leave them, as He never left their fathers. To know His generosity, His love is without end, for they gathered up what was left over into twelve baskets full even as their fathers gathered food every morning and evening without fail.
He does the same for us. And that makes us uncomfortable because it means that we are not in control. Faith simply receives from God everything that He gives. And it trusts that what He gives and what He does is always good, even when it is painful, even when it hurts, even when it makes us grumble. For when the body aches, when bellies grumble, when sin and evil wreak havoc in our lives and in the lives of those whom we love, the heart grumbles too.
But Jesus is greater than our hearts. And that is because He is king. Not some king that we have made and taken by force, but a true king, whose head was adorned with the crown of thorns and who willingly laid down His life to be lifted up on the throne of His cross. He is king by way of the cross. By giving Himself into death for sin so that you would not, and rising again to live and reign in eternity so that you, too, would live and reign with Him forever.
This is not an empty promise. His resurrection proves it. But we wait to realize it fully. And while we wait, He gives us a foretaste of what is yet to come. He invites you, even as He invited them, to sit down and receive what He has to give. To receive His divine goodness and mercy. To receive His love. To receive Him. And so He says: "Take eat, this is my Body. Take drink, this is my blood." This is no barley loaf or fish. This is the risen, living, and life-giving flesh and blood of the crucified but risen Lord Jesus Christ. The food from your King's work for you.
Showing posts with label Lent 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lent 4. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Thoughts on Lent 4: There Is Joy in Rest
While the Genesis account of creation climaxes with the completion of God's work and His Sabbath rest on the seventh day, John's Prologue instead climaxes with the incarnation of that creative Word. John's Prologue stops short of the seventh day, and leaves us hanging on day six, the creation of man. The completion of God's work, the Sabbath rest, the seventh-day climax is missing from John's Prologue. Something more is still to come. God's creative activity is still unfolding. The final creative Word has not yet spoken.
And so while in Genesis, God finished the work that he had done and rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:1-2a), Jesus throughout John continues His creative work. Jesus was sent to finish the Father's work (John 4:34). In one of the Sabbath controversies, Jesus said: "My Father is working still and I am working" (John 5:17). And finally, the real fulfillment of God's creative work through His Word comes our Lord's death, when He hands down the Spirit and proclaims, "It is finished" (John 19:30), and then rests in the belly of the earth. As God, Jesus keeps the Sabbath by continuing God's creative work. As man, He keeps the Sabbath by resting in the tomb and rising from the dead. This is why He came. He came to draw all to Himself and give rest to the weary and heavy laden.
We see a glimpse of this in the Gospel for Lent 4, John 6:1-15. It is our Lord's recapitulation of the giving of the manna and with it, the institution of the Sabbath. Jesus gives them their fill of bread before they even grumble for it. This is, after all, what the Israelites longed for in wilderness, to eat their fill of bread back in Egypt (Exod 16:3). And after they have eaten to the full, they gathered and kept twelve baskets full of what remains. It didn't spoil. It was enough to feed the twelve tribes, the twelve disciples, the whole church. It was enough to feed them so that they could enjoy the Sabbath and rest. For "the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). In the feeding of the five thousand, they had a foretaste of that rest even before our Lord did, even as the Synoptics recount that the disciples receive a foretaste of that rest in receiving His body and blood on the night when He was betrayed.
Sabbath is a gift, not a burden. It is a gift of time free from competition, coercion, manipulation, exploitation, abuse, and anxiousness. Sabbath is time for rest, for play--true rest and true play as children enjoy them without anxiety. Sadly for many of us rest and play has become work, drudgery. We don't play golf anymore. We work on our short game. We don't play tennis, we work on our backhand. Sabbath is God's gift of time to rest and play, a foretaste of heaven.
The purpose of Sabbath is to purposefully and intentionally use the time God has given us. Society won't do it for us. We are addicted to the liturgy of productivity and consumption. What is the rush? Why so hurried and harried? Do you not know that Jesus is raised from the dead and lives forever? And since He is raised from the dead, so, too, will you. You will be raised from the dead and you will live forever. Why are you so hurried, so filled with anxiety? Why do you continue to drive yourself, enslaved to the liturgy of this world, to keep producing, keep succeeding? There is no rush. You have all the time in the world. Jesus is raised from the dead and lives forever. You will be raised from the dead and live forever. It'll be okay. Take eat. Take drink. Rest and Rejoice.
And so while in Genesis, God finished the work that he had done and rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:1-2a), Jesus throughout John continues His creative work. Jesus was sent to finish the Father's work (John 4:34). In one of the Sabbath controversies, Jesus said: "My Father is working still and I am working" (John 5:17). And finally, the real fulfillment of God's creative work through His Word comes our Lord's death, when He hands down the Spirit and proclaims, "It is finished" (John 19:30), and then rests in the belly of the earth. As God, Jesus keeps the Sabbath by continuing God's creative work. As man, He keeps the Sabbath by resting in the tomb and rising from the dead. This is why He came. He came to draw all to Himself and give rest to the weary and heavy laden.
We see a glimpse of this in the Gospel for Lent 4, John 6:1-15. It is our Lord's recapitulation of the giving of the manna and with it, the institution of the Sabbath. Jesus gives them their fill of bread before they even grumble for it. This is, after all, what the Israelites longed for in wilderness, to eat their fill of bread back in Egypt (Exod 16:3). And after they have eaten to the full, they gathered and kept twelve baskets full of what remains. It didn't spoil. It was enough to feed the twelve tribes, the twelve disciples, the whole church. It was enough to feed them so that they could enjoy the Sabbath and rest. For "the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). In the feeding of the five thousand, they had a foretaste of that rest even before our Lord did, even as the Synoptics recount that the disciples receive a foretaste of that rest in receiving His body and blood on the night when He was betrayed.
Sabbath is a gift, not a burden. It is a gift of time free from competition, coercion, manipulation, exploitation, abuse, and anxiousness. Sabbath is time for rest, for play--true rest and true play as children enjoy them without anxiety. Sadly for many of us rest and play has become work, drudgery. We don't play golf anymore. We work on our short game. We don't play tennis, we work on our backhand. Sabbath is God's gift of time to rest and play, a foretaste of heaven.
The purpose of Sabbath is to purposefully and intentionally use the time God has given us. Society won't do it for us. We are addicted to the liturgy of productivity and consumption. What is the rush? Why so hurried and harried? Do you not know that Jesus is raised from the dead and lives forever? And since He is raised from the dead, so, too, will you. You will be raised from the dead and you will live forever. Why are you so hurried, so filled with anxiety? Why do you continue to drive yourself, enslaved to the liturgy of this world, to keep producing, keep succeeding? There is no rush. You have all the time in the world. Jesus is raised from the dead and lives forever. You will be raised from the dead and live forever. It'll be okay. Take eat. Take drink. Rest and Rejoice.
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