Lent IV Laetare March 2, 2008
Lent IV Laetare
March 2, 2008
“The Feeding by the Word Encourages Us and Strengthens Faith”
A Sermon for National Lutheran Schools Week
The Scripture for this morning’s sermon is the Gospel Lesson for today, from John 6:1-11 (ESV), The Feeding of the Five Thousand by Jesus.
Prayer: Abide with us, O Lord, today, And fill us with Thy grace, we pray; And with Thine own true sweetness feed/ Our souls, from sin and darkness freed. Amen.
I’m going to begin this morning by asking your forgiveness, for you see, the sermon today is shorter than usual. As you know I had a couple of weeks off from work for health reasons and I only really got back to work this past Friday. I also want to thank you for your kind words and concern, and for the cards. And mostly the prayers. They mean a lot, and I know that especially the prayers helped. I’m feeling a lot better now.
But I know we also have a lot going on in the service today with the children singing and Communion, and it is also the day of the MOST auction, so I don’t think anyone will mind if I keep the sermon short and help keep today’s service short.
This being the beginning of National Lutheran School’s Week I thought that I might mention a number of statistics concerning our Missouri Synod Lutheran Schools. God has blessed our church with 2 Seminaries, 10 Colleges and Universities, 102 High Schools, and 1,018 elementary Schools. 280,426 children are enrolled in the elementary and high schools of our Missouri Synod.
That makes our Lutheran school part of the largest non-Roman Catholic religious school system in the nation. Thanks be to God!
Now, we have to remember that our wonderful Lutheran School system has grown up from log cabin schools and later one-room school houses. Often the early schools served as churches on Sunday and the parsonage the rest of the time!
Its like the baskets of food that resulted from Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the five thousand. We started out with very little, but God has given the increase with His blessing.
And another thing I want us to pay attention to today is that this Sunday is called Laetare, which comes from the Introit and has to do with rejoicing and gladness. In the middle of Lent we are still called upon to be glad and rejoice—even when the message of Lent is one of sorrow over sins and repentance because of our Savior ‘s suffering and death—still we rejoice because we know that He rose from the dead Easter morning and that death and the grave, and sin and the devil are all defeated. So we rejoice, which is why the kids sang such a happy song.
And we also rejoice that in our Lutheran Schools children every day are learning these things: about Jesus and the cross and heaven.
This week a writer to the editor of the Saginaw News wrote concerning the plight of public schools. He made a comparison between parochial or religious schools, arguing that parochial schools succeed where public schools often fail. He feels tax money should be available for parochial education. He wrote:
Quit pretending that students attending our parochial schools don’t exist. Their parents pay taxes that support their community public school systems, and the parochial schools today are the ones that clearly are doing the best ”overall” jobs of educating their children. Learn from them and fund them on the level of all of the other students in the community public schools. Over 95 percent of the space, activities and time spent in these parochial schools are not in doing any religious education. It is relatively easy to separate these religious activities within these schools.
I’m afraid that the writer is unaware of our Lutheran Schools, because it is different here, where Jesus is taught every day to the children.
It is different here where God’s Word is believed and applied to lives. Where children are admonished by God’s Law and comforted with the Gospel. Where God is a child’s creator and not chance. When forgiveness is available regardless of the enormity of the sin. That each person is so valuable because Jesus’ blood was shed on the cross for that person to be in heaven.
In our school it would be very hard to separate religious education from the rest of the curriculum. Again, Jesus says just a couple of chapters after this in John chapter 8,
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 (ESV)
But I have also learned the task we undertake here—whether in the church or the school can be at times almost overwhelming. Like Jesus at the end of the lesson, often the expectations and demands are not centered on the kingdom work but on the earthly bread that doesn’t satisfy but keeps needing replenishing.
Just this past week they told us that consumer spending was up. But it was up because we’re spending more to just live—not to buy luxuries or entertainment. But I ask you is a Lutheran School a luxury? Is Church a necessity?
Like the disciples in the Gospel Lesson, there are those who allow financial concerns and the lack of financial resources direct ministry. We need to avoid that. The two hundred denarii that Philip spoke of were 8 months wages. That was too much for him to suggest anything further.What Philip forgot is that they had Jesus. And we often times forget that we have Jesus, don’t we? And it is Jesus who provides abundantly, and miraculously and graciously.
Jesus death on the cross provided for all the sin of every human being. His life giving meal of His body and blood forgives sins and give s life and salvation. Certainly our school is the biggest part of our budget—
When we are intimidated by the challenges that face us, whether they be our sins, sickness, financial, worries or whatever, then is when we need to come with the little bit we have—which are the promises of God and trust in His Word. All we may have is small loaves and fishes. But like the persistent six year old we keep tugging at the Savior’s robe offering what we have and beg “let me help!”
The small boy with the five loaves and two fish sounds just like our Andrew who is always wanting to help out in his six year old way, and doesn’t let the enormity of the problem keep him from pestering me to let him help. I am also reminded of Jesus words about children such as
“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:3-6 (ESV)
Today’s story of the feeding of the five thousand has special meaning for me today as I come back to my pastoral duties after a health related break and rest. Often human resources seem very limited. There are times when all you can do is bring what God has given to you.
But His forgiveness, strengthening Spirit and encouragement along the way is more than enough to see us through to heaven. Amen.
