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In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Dear People of God,

In the sermon on the Mount the Lord Jesus taught the people to pray, Give us this day our daily bread . [St Matthew 6:11]

He also gave the command, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? [St Matthew 6:25]

And then, this promise, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. [St Matthew 6:33]

The Lord teaches that we should have faith in God to provide for all of our earthly needs. And what He taught, He then demonstrated in the feeding of the five thousand. Five thousand families had gathered along the sea to hear the Lord teach and preach. They were seeking, above all, the kingdom of heaven and the Lord's righteousness. As the sun was beginning to set, the disciples urged the Lord to send the people to the surrounding villages to find food to eat, but Jesus had other plans. He the people sit down in groups, and then, taking the meager supplies that they had, five small barley loaves and two small fish, He gave thanks to God, broke the loaves and gave them to His disciples to give to the people. All the people ate, and all the people were satisfied. Jesus answered their prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Again, the Lord with all of this is teaching us to have faith, that is, the simple trust that He will take care of us and provide us all that we need. With the heavenly Father worrying about us, we need not worry about ourselves; He takes care of us. This is a very simple lesson to know, but often very difficult to do. The devil often tempts us to think that we take care of ourselves. That we bring home the bacon, that we put food on the table, that we get what we deserve. The devil never wants us to trust God or give Him the thanks or praise. But who provides us with our jobs? Who gives us the health to work? Who causes the rain to fall and the ground to bring forth wheat? The Lord Himself provides our daily bread. All good things come from Him, and are given out of His loving care for us. When you are hungry, He will fill you. When you are cold, He will cover you. When you are sick, He will heal you. All that you need, our Lord will provide. He has promised it. Our Father will take care of all of our earthly needs.

It is as many of you learned in your youth from the catechism,

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothings and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.

This certainty, this faith, this confidence is what the Lord is teaching us in the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. No matter how bad the situation looks (five thousand families and five loaves of bread!), still we would say with boldness, “The Lord will give me all that I need; He will provide our daily bread.”

This doesn't, of course, mean that we don't have to work, to labor. The Lord most often answers our prayer for daily bread by providing a job for us, or income. The fields grow best when they are watered with sweat. But in all of this the Lord gets the thanks. Even after father and mother have had an exhausting day, both working hard to provide a good meal for the family, they do not pray, “We thank you, mom and dad, for the food.” No, God gets all the thanks and praise, all the honor and blessing, “Lord God, Heavenly Father, bless us and these Your gifts which we receive from Your bountiful goodness, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.” Jesus provides for all of our needs. He gives us our daily bread.

And not only does the Lord provide all of our physical needs, He provides for all of our spiritual needs as well, mostly by feeding us the forgiveness of all of our sins through the promise and preaching of the Gospel. Just as the Lord answers our prayer for daily bread, so He answers our prayer, “forgive us our trespasses.” Just as the body needs food, so the sinner needs the forgiveness of all sins. And that is why we have come here today, to feast on the forgiveness of all of our sins.

Jesus lays before us today a banquet of the Gospel, food of forgiveness, His Body and Blood, but not just any body and blood, His Body and Blood for you, given unto death for you. “Take, eat. This is My body, given for you.” “Take, drink. This is the New Testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

These words of the Lord that we are privileged to hear every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper, what we often call the Words of Institution, are so wonderful and so important. These words deliver the gifts, they carry the promise of the forgiveness of all of our sins. In the old rite of the Western church they would be spoken by the priest in a prayer over the bread and the wine, and would often not be heard by the people. Luther (who didn't like to change much in the worship service of the church) changed this. He wanted all to hear these words; and so He says, sing them, or speak them clearly and audibly, so that all present can hear. [i.e. LW 53.28; FC.SD.VII.79] For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. [Romans 10:17] And so no one should miss it. It's too good; the gift is too great.

And so we hear His Words, we believe them, we eat and drink His body and blood, and we have, dear people, that which we sinners need the most: the absolute, certain, doubtless and sure assurance that all of our sins are forgiven and washed away. The Lord Jesus does not give us over to doubt or despair, but feeds us His Word, His promise, His righteousness.

This same Lord Jesus now calls you:

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest fare.
|Give ear and come to Me;
Hear Me, that your soul may live. [Isaiah 55:1,2]

Amen.

And now may the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.