Pentecost 12
Jesu Juva
“Bread for the Journey”
Text: 1 Kings 19:4-8; John
6:41-51
Grace, mercy, and peace to
you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elijah
couldn’t do it alone. Even though
he was a great prophet of God. Even
though through him, God worked many miracles and spoke to His people, urging
them to repentance and faith. At
Elijah’s word, it did not rain in
But Elijah
couldn’t do it alone. When Queen Jezebel learned
that her prophets and her god had lost to Elijah, she threatened his life – and
fear and despair got the better of Elijah.
For what good is miraculous food when you’re going to die? Who would there be to raise him back to life? And so he journeys out into the wilderness,
lies down under a broom tree, and tells God: Take my life and let me be.
It is too much. . . . But God does neither. He doesn’t take his life or leave him
alone – He feeds him. Not once, but
twice. And with no mere bread, but with
bread that supplies strength for Elijah’s entire journey, 40 days and
nights. Bread that sees
him through the wilderness, until he arrives at the
Elijah
couldn’t do it alone. But he was not alone. Elijah
couldn’t do it alone, but even if there was no one else to help him, he was
not alone. And false gods, false
prophets, and evil kings and queens were no match for the One who accompanied
Elijah. The One who
gives strength for the journey. The One who gives no mere bread, but bread of life.
Elijah
couldn’t do it alone . . . and neither can we. No
matter how strong a Christian you are, no matter how strong your faith. How easy it is for fear and despair to get
the better of us. How easy to feel
abandoned and alone. How easy to lie
down in our own little corners and, like Elijah, tell
God: Take my life and let me be. It is too much.
But such words show that we are trying to do it on our own, and relying on our own strength,
our own intellect, our own words, our own ingenuity, our own wisdom and
might. For if life is too much for us,
it is not God’s strength that has let
us down . . . it’s because we’ve (once again!) struck out on our own, through
the wilderness, only to find out that the journey is too great for us. We
can’t do it alone.
But we try because the world tells us that we should
be able to. Don’t be weak, be
strong! Don’t be dependent, be independent! Right? Why go to the doctor when you can do it
yourself on WebMD? Why go to a lawyer
when there are software packages with all the forms you need? “Talk to Chuck” and invest your own
money. Sell your house yourself. And even when it comes to pastors and
church? Nah, you don’t need ‘em
anymore. You can be spiritual yourself. And
maybe we even think we have to be that way in order to be pleasing to God. Not be so dependent. Strike out on our own. Do great things for God!
But Elijah
couldn’t do it alone . . . and neither can we. In
fact, when it comes to our spiritual life, we can’t do it at all. I may think
I can be the spiritual bread winner in my life, in my family, and maybe for a
while it seems that I can. But what
then, when your strength lets you down?
When – sooner or later – you find out that the journey is too great for
you? When the only bread your pride can
buy you is filled with the maggots of sin and death? No, Elijah
couldn’t do it alone, and neither can we.
We need the bread of life that only God can give. The bread that is no mere
bread, but the bread which will see us through this life, through the
wilderness, to the
The journey is
too great for us . . . The journey through this life.
The journey to the next. But it
is not too great for God. And so as
God came down from Heaven to help His needy prophet under a broom tree and give
him bread, so He has come down to us needy people, to give us the bread of life
that we need.
But to us He comes no longer as the angel of the Lord, as He came to Elijah. No, now He has come in an even greater way –
this time, as a man. God
and man together in one person. A man to make the journey
for all men, and God to give His life for the life of the world. To do what we could not do. To make the journey we could not make. To give us the life we need. To come to us who are curled up under our own
little broom trees, in our corners, beat up and beat down. Defeated by the sin without, and overcome by
the sin within. Looking
for bread, chasing after life, searching for hope. To us He comes, like He came to Elijah. Not waiting for us to first get to Him, for the journey is to
great for us! No, He comes to
us. With bread, with
life, with hope. With Himself.
And so the Son of God comes down from Heaven, and
becomes a man. Born of the virgin Mary. Given the name Jesus.
Raised in
And so the Son of God came down from Heaven, to lift the rug where we try to hide all
our sins – not to shame us because of them, but to set us free from them! To sweep all the guilt off of us, and sweep
it all upon Himself.
That we may
live, and that He may die. Die for our sins. Die our death. For that is why He came. To give His life for the
life of the world.
And then He
completes that journey for us, that journey that is too great for us. For after taking all our sin and guilt, and
dying our death, He comes down from the
cross dead in order to rise again
back to life. That
His life might be our life. That we too would rise from the dust of death, and live with Him. And certainly that means in the future, at
the
Like Elijah. His
journey wasn’t over yet, and neither is ours.
God came to Him and gave Him life.
He didn’t take Him out of this life . . . yet! God gave Him life, and
food for the journey. And
so too you and me. The day is
coming when our journey through this life will
be complete, and dying and rising with Jesus, He will
take us to the
And
He does so first, in Holy Baptism, coming
to you and giving you life. That as the
Son of God was born a son of man, we sons of men might
be born again as sons of God. And so you
are. Now.
And
then in His Holy Word, He comes to
you and gives you life. First as His
Word of Law “lifts the rug” where you’ve tried to sweep and hide all of your
sin, and then with His Word of forgiveness which sweeps all that sin away. Now. For if He knows
it all, He also takes it all away.
And
then He comes to you and gives you the
bread; the bread you need for the journey.
The bread of life. The very same body and
blood once given on the cross, now given to you here. To give you the faith that you need; to give you the strength that you need; to give you the forgiveness that you need. Now. Giving you here not mere earthly food, since
our journey through this life is no mere earthly journey! But giving you here
spiritual food and drink, for the journey that will take you through this life,
to the next. That joined to your
Saviour – you in Him and He in you – the One who completed this journey for
you, will take you through it with Him, to be with Him, to be with His Father, to
the mountain of God.
Elijah couldn’t do it alone, and neither
can we. But you are not alone. So if you’re going to curl up and hide under
a tree, don’t look for a broom tree!
Curl up and hide under the tree of the cross, where God gave His life for
you. His life for your life. To be the bread winner for you, and give you
the bread of life. The journey is too great for you, but it is not too great for your
Saviour. “I am the bread of life,”
Jesus said. So come, dear saints; eat
this bread, and live. “Taste and see
that the Lord is good; blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” (Introit)
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.