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There was a “great crowd” which had come into being, and they were tired and hungry. They had followed Jesus with great zeal for three days. They were in a rural place with no supermarket, no QT, no McDonalds nearby. No nothing nearby.
You are a “great crowd” as well. You have been called and gathered by the Holy Spirit into Jesus Christ and His Word in this place. By God's grace, you follow Jesus with great zeal as well — hearing His preaching, receiving His gifts, singing His praises, going back out into the world, by faith still, on the way with your Lord Jesus.
But you know what happens out there on the way, each week. You get tired and hungry. Out there is a great wasteland, a great sin–stained, spiritually dry and barren world, a world that attacks you as a Christian, where the devil tempts you to sin and reminds you in your conscience just how sinful and shameful you are. It is a world where your actions fall short of holiness, where you are unable on your own account to please God in any way. The mirror of God's Law shows us this. The devil beats us over the head with it.
Out there, there is not much that feeds you spiritually healthy food. It is a world where the devil seeks to keep the truth of God's Word from people in many and various ways. It is so easy to eat the spiritual junk food of false preaching that does not clearly confess Christ crucified for sinners. A visitor recently told us she would no longer attend our services. She thinks we need to teach more “life–application” sermons, whatever that means. She evidently doesn't want to hear all this Gospel, Good News, Jesus Christ stuff.
I warn the catechism students: You can drink the water out of Lake Lavon directly, unfiltered. But should you? It is easy to drink the unfiltered, untreated, and polluted water of false doctrines and bad practices great and small. It is easy in this world to live on what's bad for you spiritually, only to eventually get sick, starve, shrivel up and die — spiritually and physically.
Fighting the world and the attacks of the devil as a Christian can be wearisome, exhausting, discouraging, disheartening, even sickening. The great crowd with Jesus will continually become weary, exhausted, discouraged on the way, out in this world, and some of them come from far distances to hear our Lord Jesus, and this does not mean just in terms of “mileage”.
But before we can even think to complain of our hunger or problems or to beg for mercy or relief, the Gospel tells us of a compassionate Savior who anticipates our true needs. Jesus says before anyone even says anything, “I feel in my guts compassion upon the crowd, because already three days they are staying with me, and they do not have anything they might eat, and if I send them away to their homes hungry, they will certainly become weary, exhausted, discouraged on the way.” (Mark 8:2–3, my translation).
He who numbers the hairs on your head, He who has known your name from before the foundations of the world, He who is the Lord and Giver of Life, will He not be able to fully anticipate and give to you fully what you need, when you need it, even without you asking for it?
What is it that you need, you who are weary, exhausted, and discouraged by sin, death, and the power of the devil? Is it merely bread? Is it merely that you need more material possessions? Is it that you need a bigger home, a newer car, a brighter disposition, emotional well–being, a happy family, a perfect spouse, a high paying job? Is it that you need life–application sermons, where we coach you how to be a better person, better spouse, worker, etc.? Will these things truly relieve you of your weariness, exhaustion, discouragement? Will these things calm your troubled heart, and relieve your burdened conscience?
Before you could even ask for His compassion, before you even wanted to or even knew to ask for His compassion, God acted on your true needs. You needed to be set free from sin, death, the power of the devil. God acted out of compassion for you. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And Christ rose for us. Christ set you free from your slavery to sin. The wages of sin have been paid, and the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23).
This is what Jesus did for the crowd, pointing forward to His ultimate act of salvation on the cross. Jesus acted out of love and compassion for the crowd, even before they could tell him they were hungry or in trouble. Jesus “commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground to eat. And after He took the seven loaves, after He gave thanks, He broke them and He was continually giving [the bread] to His disciples that they might be responsible to set the food before the crowd, and they set the food before the crowd.” (Mark 8:6, my translation). Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it. The same pattern is used in the Words of Institution of the Lord's Supper.
This feeding of the 4,000 was not the Lord's Supper. That was not instituted yet. But this miracle feeding points forward to the Lord's Supper and to the other Means of Grace. These gifts of Jesus that stream from His cross are the vehicles by which your Lord Jesus comes and shows His compassion, grants you mercy and relief, strengthens you to go on your way, gives you the gift of everlasting life.
“And they ate and they were satisfied [by God].” (Mark 8:8a). Like the crowd of 4,000, you too are gathered here by Jesus to eat until satisfied. Here and today, you feast on your Lord's body and blood. You drink deeply from the cool and clean waters of the forgiveness of sins that He has won for you on the cross, to graze in the pleasant green pastures of His Holy Word that chastens, heals, builds faith, comforts, and strengthens us. God brings you here. God feeds you here. God satisfies your every true and eternal need here.
Here at the font, at the rail and altar, from this pulpit, your Lord Jesus strengthens your weary soul, relieves your spiritual exhaustion, erases and casts away your sin and shame from your discouraged minds and conscience. Here, with the fruits of salvation won for you on His cross and from His empty tomb, your sins are forgiven, forgotten, and removed for Jesus' sake.
What a wondrous gift especially the Lord's Supper is. I am delighted to have had so many Christians in this last year tell me and Pastor Woelmer how highly they have come to esteem and cherish the Lord's Supper now that we have been receiving it every Sunday for the last year. Through it and the preaching and teaching of our Lord's Gospel, you are given great gifts. They are the embodiment of Jesus' compassion and care for you. They sustain you as you go out in the world. They unify us ever more deeply together into the body of Jesus Christ, and being unified with our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ is always the best of gifts. There is no higher worship of God than, by faith in Jesus, to receive these gifts of Jesus' forgiveness and salvation, the fruits of His compassion and love for us.
Did you notice the last verse of our Gospel lesson? “And there were about 4,000 people. And [Jesus] sent them away.” Sounds innocent and innocuous. When our Lord Jesus teaches you His Gospel and feeds you His Supper, He doesn't just wave good–bye. He sends you away into the world with His blessing, His forgiveness, His comfort, His grace, His peace. He has shown His compassion and mercy to you. He has completely satisfied you spiritually and has made you whole and forgiven once again. You do not just travel home. You depart in peace with God. You have been released from the sin that entangles. You have had your sins sent away for all time. You are ready, by faith in Christ, to face the world, standing strong in His grace and mercy and peace.
Sing praise to God for His Highest Good! To God be all praise and glory for His salvation in Christ and for giving it to us so freely! We give our thanks and praise to the Name that is above every name. In Jesus' name, amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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