Two Food Miracles Two Different Outcomes

The Gospel Reading and the Feeding of the Five Thousand

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel.

According to St. Mark chapter 6 verses 30 -44. The apostles returned to Jesus and taught and told Him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.

For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat and they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late his disciples came to him and said this is a desolate place and the hour is now late.

Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?

And he said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out they said five and two fish. Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties.

And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing, broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all and they all ate and they were satisfied.

And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Do you all remember the commercials that featured the world's most interesting man?

I thought those were really funny. In fact quite clever. You know the world's most interesting man he speaks French fluently in Russian. In fact one time the world's most interesting man got into a staring contest with his own reflection in the mirror and four days later he won.

This is the world's most interesting man. Now one of the things that is said about the world's most interesting man is that he has inside jokes even with people who are perfect strangers. It's just kind of absurd if you think about it.

But I say all of that to kind of set this up. And that is that our gospel text today features one of only two miracles that appears in all four gospels. One of the miracles that appears in all four gospels is the miracle of Christ's resurrection and the empty tomb.

The second and this is the only other one that appears in all four. The second is this one. The feeding of the five thousand. And it is so pinnacle and so important in pointing to who Christ is that we dare not just kind of turn it into like no big deal.

It's in all four gospels for a reason and it's important for us to note this. That to a Jew in Jesus' time in the first century reading this account would have included the idea that there's kind of an inside joke here.

And so I'm going to teach you the inside joke that people who are Jewish who knew the Torah and knew the stories of the Old Testament would have seen this for. Because this account, you're going to note, reads like another biblical account.

And that biblical account is found in Numbers chapter 11. If you want to turn there, we're going to spend some time in Numbers chapter 11 and we're going to note the parallels. But the parallels break down at the end.

And there's a very important reason why the parallels break down. One story goes in one direction and our gospel text goes in a completely different direction. Think of it this way. In Numbers chapter 11, we see in stark, terrible detail the effects that sin has on humanity so much so that it created hostility between man and God.

And it's important to note this. Man is always the one who instigates the hostility towards God. And persistent sin and unbelief and God's anger and justice will burn out against you. So if you're looking for a text that graphically describes the hostility of sin, this is the passage.

And we're going to note that this passage includes in it a very important food miracle. Food actually has a major theme in scripture. And we're going to note that in this food miracle in Numbers chapter 11, Moses gives almost the exact exasperated complaint to God that the disciples give to Jesus.

And so that little parallel helps us out here because like I said, a Jew reading this account, there's an inside joke here. If you get it, they're going to realize, wait a second, this inside joke doesn't have the same punchline.

And there's a reason. So let's work through this. I'll back up into the context just a smidge. In Numbers chapter 10, verse 33, we will start. It says this. So they, this is the children of Israel, set out from the mount of the Lord three days.

The account then is like this. In the book of Exodus, children of Israel are set free from slavery in Egypt. They are, God judges Pharaoh with 10 plagues, leads them across the Red Sea on dry ground, while the Egyptian army is destroyed and drowned in the Red Sea.

They are complaining against God because they're hungry and they're thirsty and God gives them manna and also gives them water from the split rock of Horeb. He then takes them to the foot of Mount Sinai where the glory of God then consumes the top of Mount Sinai.

Moses ascends into that glory and is gone for 40 days. God gives him the 10 commandments. God gives him the instructions on how to build the tabernacle. All of the important things regarding the sacrifices and the festival days and the atonements and the Shabbats.

And then Moses comes down. There's a whole golden calf incident. But once everything is built, the Ark of the Covenant now has been built. The tabernacle has been built and now the children of Israel are ready to head to the Promised Land.

This is where we find them at this point. They strike out and they're three days in to heading towards the Jordan River. So they set out from the Mount of the Lord three days. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them.

Three days journey. Ark of the Covenant by the way is a type and shadow of Christ. It is a wooden box overlaid with gold which is a perfect way of kind of talking about Jesus Christ who is God and man.

God in human flesh. And so here's what it says. So the Ark of the Lord went with them and the Lord was seeking out a resting place for them. This is kind of shepherding talk. So the picture then is that God himself is taking his great flock of Israel and like a good shepherd seeking a place for them to rest.

The cloud of the Lord was over them by day. Even God himself was protecting them from the stinging hot rays of the sun there in the Judean wilderness. And the cloud of the Lord was over them whenever they went out from the camp.

Whenever the Ark of Moses whenever the Ark set out, Moses said arise oh Yahweh. Let your enemies be scattered. Let those who hate you flee before you. And when it rested he said return oh Yahweh to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.

And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord. Complained? That doesn't make any sense. They have a visible sign of God's presence. This should be a glorious marching to the Holy Land. This should be a glorious marching to the land that was promised to Abraham to Isaac and Jacob.

And they're complaining. And their complaint is a lot more well deep than are we there yet. It's a lot stronger than that. So the people complained in the hearing of Yahweh about their misfortunes. Misfortunes?

What misfortunes? You guys have been set free from slavery in Egypt. You're heading to the promised land. What misfortunes could you possibly be talking about? God himself is feeding you. And when Yahweh heard it his anger was kindled.

Notice all the fire language in this text talking about God's anger. That's a foreshadowing of hell by the way. And the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outlying parts of the camp.

And the people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to Yahweh. And the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Taborah. Taborah by the way in Hebrew means burning. Because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. This is different than hunger. I remember when Barb was pregnant several times she had these bizarre cravings for bizarre foods at weird times.

Pregnant women seem to have cravings. So this is a craving. This is not hunger. This is not we're hungry. This is oh man I really miss in and out double double animal style. Anyway that's a craving. And those of you who do not know what I'm talking about I will pray for you.

So the rabble had a strong craving. The people of Israel also wept again. And they said. So note they believe that they're in the middle of misfortune. They are full on weeping. And here's the false narrative.

Oh that we had meat to eat. We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt that cost nothing.

That's nonsense. It cost.

You your own freedom. You were slaves. Yeah your master fed you. And so what. At no cost. Are you kidding me. It was at the cost of your own life. So note the false narrative. We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt that cost nothing.

Cucumbers, melons and leeks and onions and garlic. And now our strength is dried up. There's nothing at all but this manna to look at. My mom used to say count your blessings. These people literally are acting as if they are cursed.

When they are blessed. What could cause humanity to become this insanely ridiculous and backwards in its thinking. The answer is sin. This is an example of the hostility that exists against God in all of us.

Where we turn good and through our strange sinful narratives imply that God has meant evil for us. We do it to each other. We do it to God. And this is the result of our sin. Listening to the false narrative of the serpent in the garden who said Oh the Lord doesn't want you to eat that fruit because you know he's kind of jealous.

And he knows that on the day you eat of it you'll be like God knowing good and evil. And he's really insecure and doesn't want to share his glory with others. But go ahead and eat the fruit and you'll be just like God.

False narrative. Here's another false narrative. The text goes on. The manna was like coriander seed. Its appearance like that of bdellium. The people went out and gathered it. Ground it in hand mills.

Beat it in mortars. Boiled it in pots. Made cakes of it. The taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it. Notice the miraculous nature.

Here. Who is fed like this?

Nobody. This miracle stopped as soon as the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River on their conquest of Canaan. God is miraculously feeding them in the wilderness and they think that they are experiencing misfortune.

And the reason for that is because they have rejected God. They do not believe him. They do not trust him. They refuse to believe that God has their best interest in mind and they interpret every single one of his actions as proof that he has it out for them.

So Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans. Everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly. Moses was displeased. Moses said to Yahweh, why have you dealt ill with your servant?

I can almost hear Seinfeld's voice as I'm listening to Moses here. Why have I not found favor in your sight that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive this people? Did I give them birth that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing child to the land that I swore to give their fathers?

Where am I to get meat to give to all of this people? Doesn't that sound a lot like our disciples in our gospel text? It should. The parallels are on purpose. God knows what he's doing. Where am I to get meat to give to all of this people?

They weep before me and say, give us meat that we may eat. I'm not able to carry all this people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you're going to treat me like this, God, kill me. That's a great prayer.

Keep doing this to me, God. Just kill me now. If I have found favor in your sight that they may not see my wretchedness. So then Yahweh said to Moses, gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be elders of the people and officers over them.

Bring them to the tent of meeting. Let them take their stand there with you. Strange answer to the question or to the problem that Moses has presented. We're going to see here in a second what these 70 elders are for.

But let's play a little game, shall we? Man does not live by bread alone, but by what? Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The real hunger that we should be focusing in on is a hunger for the bread of God, the word of God.

And so God in answering Moses is pretty blunt, somewhat direct and extremely raw prayer. Just kill me, God, would you? Is the first thing he's going to do is he's going to send his word among the people.

So watch how this works. All right, so bring them to the tent of meeting. Let them take their stand there. I will come down. I'll talk with you there and I will take some of the spirit that's on you and put it on them and they shall bear the burden of the people with you so that you may not bear it yourself alone.

Say to the people consecrate yourselves for tomorrow you shall eat meat for you have wept in the hearing of Yahweh saying who will give us meat to eat for it was better for us in Egypt. Therefore Yahweh will give you meat and you shall eat.

Now beware, sometimes God will answer your prayers and in answering your prayers it's not to bless you it's actually to discipline you. This is that kind of answer. You shall eat and he says you shall not eat meat just for one day or two days or five days or ten days or twenty days but a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you.

Have you ever had a food that you ate so often that it actually the thought of eating it again would make you heave? This is what God's going to do with them regarding meat as a disciplinary act against them because again they're not acting in good faith.

They've rejected God and are creating false narratives about him and his motives. So you're gonna you're gonna have this all this meat's gonna become loathsome to you and here's the reason why. Because you have rejected Yahweh who is among you and have wept before him saying why did we come out of Egypt?

But Moses said the people among whom I number are six hundred thousand on foot and you have said I will give them meat that they may eat a whole month notice again Moses' words sound a lot like our disciples in our gospel text.

This is all part of the inside joke. So shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them and be enough for them or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them and be enough for them? Great question.

Yeah same thing happened in our gospel text and Jesus somehow fed an entire multitude with a lot of fish that seemed to arrive out of nowhere. So Yahweh said to Moses is the Lord's hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.

So Moses went out and told the people the words of Yahweh and gathered seventy men of the elders of the people placed them around the tent and then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him took some of the spirit that was on him that's the Holy Spirit and put it on the seventy elders and as soon as the spirit rested on them they prophesied.

First answer to the prayer is you all get to hear the word of God. So these seventy elders then are prophesying telling of the wonders of God telling of his mercy and his kindness and through these prophets then and God's word in their mouth counteracting the false narrative of the rabble those who had rejected God doing so with his word.

But they didn't continue doing it. This was a one time prophetic thing for them. Now two men remained in the camp one named Eldad the other named Medad. I think they had a brother named Yodad and the spirit rested on them.

They were among those registered but they had not gone out of the tent and so they prophesied in the camp and a young man ran and told Moses Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. Joshua the son of Nun the assistant of Moses from his youth said my Lord Moses stop them.

But Moses said to him are you jealous for my sake or would that all of the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them and then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

So first order of business in giving them food to fill their craving they get the food of the word of God through these prophets. And now comes the punch line for the Old Testament version of our gospel story.

And the punch line is horrible. The reason it's horrible again is this is a good picture of the hostility that exists between sinners and a holy God. You get impenitent unbelieving sinners in the physical presence of a holy God and it usually turns out very poorly for the impenitent unbelieving sinner.

So then the word of the Lord sprang up and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side around the camp about two cubits above the ground and the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day and gathered the quail those who gathered the least gathered ten homers and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp while the meat was yet between their teeth before it was consumed the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague.

Therefore the name of that place was called Kibrat Ha-Ta-Avah because they buried the people who had the craving. From Kibrat Ha-Ta-Avah the people journeyed to Hazaroth and they remained in Hazaroth.

So to a Jew reading the account of the feeding of the five thousand there are parallels. This is a food miracle. It's a food miracle in the wilderness. There's the disciples of Jesus like Moses saying where are we going to get food to feed everybody?

We know how the story is supposed to end. The story is supposed to end with hostility and God causing fire to come and judge and consume up the sinners. That's how the story is supposed to end because the parallels are unmistakable.

Christ the Good Shepherd Who Teaches and Feeds

Return me now to our gospel text. Here's what it says. Mark chapter six verse thirty. The apostles returned to Jesus. They told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.

Jesus disciples like a good shepherd wanting his sheep to rest. I seem to recall something about that in the text we just read. For many were coming and going they had no leisure even to eat and they were coming and going and they went into the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Now many saw them going recognize them and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. Now we know from the end of the text that this crowd that forms that follows Jesus on the land while he's traveling on the Sea of Galilee is five thousand men.

Five thousand families and in the days before birth control each man had a woman. How many children do you think each of these men had? The older men probably had upwards of twelve to eighteen. The younger men maybe four to six.

The guys just starting out probably had their first child. This is a huge crowd. This is a lot bigger than five thousand. Maybe upwards to twenty, twenty-five, maybe even thirty thousand people. That's a ginormous multitude.

I mean that's a good size crowd at like the Twins Target Field. I don't think they could draw a crowd this big. Sorry, I'm a Dodger fan. I had to do that. So that's the size we're talking about. So they ran ahead of them and when he went ashore he saw a great crowd.

He had, in the Greek it's just wonderful here, where his guts were wrenched. He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. What does Jesus do first? He began to teach them many things.

Just like the children of Israel who had the craving, first order of business is they get to hear the word of God. Jesus seeing them sheep without a shepherd he feeds them the word of God from his own lips.

He began to teach them many things. And when it grew late you think my sermons are long, right? Wow, this one lasted a whole day. So when it grew late his disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place.

Hmm, great multitude. Desolate place. Sounds a lot like a lot of Israelis in the wilderness. That's on purpose. Again, inside joke. This is a desolate place. The hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.

And he answered them, you give them something to eat. And they said, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread to give it to them to eat? This is Moses' complaint. This is Moses' complaint. So all the fish of the sea just jump up on the shore?

What are you talking about here, Jesus? Look at this crowd. The twins are jealous. You give them something to eat. And they said, all right. So Jesus said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see.

So they wander through the crowd. Does anybody have any bread? So the word works through the crowd and the crowd sends back. This is it. Are you ready? And they said, five loaves of bread and two fish.

Can't even make a decent sandwich with that. So he commanded them all, and listen to this wonderful text, to all sit down in groups on the green grass. Out in the wilderness, there's a green grass. This tells us this took place in the spring sometime.

And this sounds so much like that psalm, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He leads me besides still waters. He leads me to green pastures. Makes me lie down in them, right? So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said, a blessing, broke the loaves, gave them to the disciples to set before the people.

Those little details about the breaking and all that kind of stuff. Sounds a lot like the Lord's Supper, and there's a reason for that, but we'll get to that in a minute. So he divided among them the two fish, among them all.

They all ate, and they were satisfied. He took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces of the fish, and those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Now wait a second. The parallels with Numbers 11 are unmistakable.

It's practically the same story-ish, but why isn't anyone dying? Where's all the hostility? It's not present. And you'll notice that Jesus isn't breaking out against anyone. And there's a reason for this.

Remember the words of our epistle text. Ephesians 2, 14 and 16, through 16 says, for Christ himself is our peace. Hebrew for this is wonderful. Our shalom. He's our peace. Who has made us both one, and he has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in the one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

Or, as John says in his gospel, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he is not believed in the name of the only son of God.

Why do these two food miracles that are so parallel in their details end completely differently? One with wrath and judgment and death, and the other with peace. It's because Jesus, God in human flesh, has not come to condemn us in his first advent.

He has come to save us. He's heading to the cross. He is taking all of our broken, sinful, hostile rebellion against God. The sins that we have committed, whereby we have earned God breaking out against us in his hot anger and his wrath.

And Jesus himself becomes the burnt sacrifice on the cross. He suffers the full burning anger of God while suspended between heaven and earth on a Friday afternoon for you. So that you would never have to feel that burning.

So that you can be reconciled to God. You, a hostile, rebel sinner who has slandered God, not trusted God, spoken ill of him, and broken his commandments. He has taken the full fury of God's wrath and all of its burning, hot kindleness on himself.

So that you can walk away forgiven, pardoned, smokeless, and have that thing that we don't deserve. Shalom and peace. That's the point. That's why this inside joke ends so differently. Because Christ is here to forgive us.

And listen to these words then. In the account that John gives us. In the aftermath of the feeding of the 5 ,000. Here's what the crowd says to Jesus. So they said to Jesus, what must we be doing to do the works of God?

Having been fed by Jesus now in the wilderness, they are asking the right question. What must we be doing to do the works of God? Jesus answered them. This is from John 6. I started at verse 27. Jesus answered them.

This is the singular. Tanergon. The work of God. That you believe in him whom he has sent. You see when Jesus shows up and the demons see Jesus, what do they say about Jesus? What are you doing here Jesus?

Have you come here to torment us? Have you come here to throw us into the lake of fire? Why are you here Jesus? That's the demonics response. That's their narrative. Because they know they're getting what they deserve.

But see, Jesus is here. Not to condemn us. Not to torture us. But to bleed and die for us. So this is the work of God. That you believe in him whom he has sent. So they said to them. Alright. So what sign do you do that we may believe you?

What work do you perform? Remember he had already performed the feeding of the 5 ,000. Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, Amen, Amen.

I say to you it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven but my father gives you true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always.

And now we can see how the line works. The feeding of the 5 ,000 was prefigured in the feeding of the people of Israel in the wilderness. And it showed. They recognized that Jesus really is the Messiah.

He's the son of David. The promised one. They want to know what it means to be doing the works of God. And they're kind of hung up on the bread miracle. But even that miracle points to the real fulfillment then.

And that's this. That Jesus is the true bread come down from heaven. He is the bread that you are craving that you don't even realize that you are craving. And he is given by the Father. And he himself then is the one whom we feast on.

On those Sundays when we are blessed enough to have the body and blood of Christ given and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. Remember, Jesus took the bread and broke it. On the night when he was betrayed, he took the bread and broke it.

And there's your connection point. All of this points to this altar. Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven but my father. Sir, give us this bread always.

Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me.

Whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life. Jesus says, and I will raise him up on the last day. The shepherding imagery is unmistakable in the Old Testament text.

The shepherding imagery is unmistakable in our Gospel text. And it finds its fulfillment in this, that our Good Shepherd is taking us to the eternal kingdom. He has washed away our sin. Given us new life.

Forgiven us and pardoned us. Taken the wrath of God upon Himself. And now He has compassion on us. Part of the great multitude of the saints. He has compassion on us and He is leading us to an eternal kingdom.

A kingdom where we will rest forever. So whoever believes in the Son will have eternal life. And I will raise Him up. Why do these texts end so differently? Because it is the will of the Father to forgive you.

It is the will of the Father that you be reconciled to Him. It is the will of the Father that you repent and believe and trust in Christ. Though your sins be as scarlet, His blood is made peace with God and washes you white as snow.