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You Satisfy the Hungry Heart Text:
Matthew 14:13-21 Two weeks ago, on July 17, the nondenominational Lakewood Church moved into the 16,000-seat arena formerly called the Compaq Center, once the home of the Houston, Texas Rockets. Lakewood Church, led by Joel Osteen boasts 30,000 members, revenues of $55 million and a television audience in the millions. There is no cross to be seen there, but there is a café with wireless Internet access, 32 video game kiosks and a vault to store the offering. The formerly great religious success story called Willow Creek near Chicago looks downright cozy by comparison. And what is it that draws all the people? Success—a simple self-help message that God does not want to see people suffering and poor; he wants them to be healthy, wealthy and wise. To promote that message, however, one must avoid talking about the cross of Christ and contentious issues like abortion or homosexuality. This is very much the same thing as the so-called “Word/Faith Movement” preachers like Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Paul Crouch, Robert Tilton, Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyers who preach that being poor is a sin and God promises unqualified prosperity. And who can argue with such success? Joel Osteen even refers to today's Gospel reading of the feeding of the 5,000 as an indicator that God is in the business of planting and blessing big dreams of seemingly impossible success.
Now I get in trouble with some people who are offended when we criticize (or even mention) other denominations or religious movements. Such offense, however, can only come from those who believe all religions are okay and nobody has a corner on the “truth.” But a “Jesus” without the suffering and death on a cross is not the Jesus of the Bible. You won't hear the name “Jesus” but one or two times in success-oriented messages and then only as an honorable mention. When the supposed “gospel” centers no longer on Jesus Christ and him crucified but now centers on you, your hopes and dreams of success, this is downright dangerous to a person's eternal salvation. Your problem or “sin” is not that you are poor or sick or lonely, but that sin separates you from God and kills you, both temporally and eternally.
Is the meaning of Jesus' feeding the 5,000 men besides women and children in the wilderness that he is a bread king who, if you only give him honorable mention in your life, he will provide for you not only what you need but even more than you need of earthly wealth? Just as the crowds in our text clamored toward Jesus, even tailing him into a deserted place, people today are often attracted to this twenty-first-century form of the old theology of glory. The miracle of feeding the 5,000 in the wilderness, however, is meant to point us to Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior of the world who provides beyond earthly prosperity. Jesus said, “do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?' or ‘What shall we drink?' or ‘What shall we wear?' …Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” [Matthew 6:31, 33 (ESV)]. The hymn does not say, “You satisfy the hungry stomach, ” but “You satisfy the hungry heart” [HS98 855].
Prosperity preachers are crowd seekers and crowd pleasers. Not so with Jesus. As news of the murder of John the Baptist reached his ears, Jesus saw the road to his own death by crucifixion drawing nearer. Therefore, from here on we see Jesus withdrawing from the crowds, going off by himself to pray. Here “he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.” When the crowds nevertheless found him, however, he still had compassion on them and willingly served their needs and not his own. But this sign, this miracle, as all of them, meant to lift their eyes to their deeper and eternal needs, more than merely for daily bread.
Of course it started with hunger. Evening was approaching and his disciples presented the imminent problem. “Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” And Jesus could have done that! But in hopes of using the moment to lift their eyes to a higher vision of Who He is and what their real need is, he challenged his disciples, saying, “They need not go away…. YOU give them something to eat.” Of course the disciples couldn't do that. They looked at the meager resources at hand, five loaves of bread and two fish, and probably looked stunned at what Jesus said. Then, after a pause, Jesus says, “Give them to me.” In Jesus' hands what was barely enough for a snack became a banquet. Admittedly there were only 5,000 plus which is only one-sixth the size of Joel Osteen's congregation. But I assure you those 5,000 were not fed because they had great dreams or hopes or positive thinking. Maybe a few of them wondered where all the food came from, but probably not. Was it probably not only the 12 disciples who realized a miracle had happened at all?
So what does this miracle mean? The compassion Jesus felt for those people was not just for their empty stomachs. In another place St. Matthew tells us that when Jesus “saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” [Matthew 9:36 (ESV)]. Our deepest need is that we are spiritually lost, captive to sin and death. He calls us to seek his kingdom and his righteousness, because without him we have none. While we thank and praise God for his provision for all our earthly needs they are to be understood as expressions of his Fatherly goodness and mercy, pointing us to the reconciliation with God He Himself has provided by sending His Son who gave his very life for us on the cross. Our true need is for the forgiveness of our sin and restoration to eternal life the way God originally intended us to be. Jesus died on the cross to take away your sins. The blood of Jesus takes away all sin. Without the preaching of the cross and blood of Jesus there is no forgiveness. So likewise there is no real connection with that saving cross and blood without the sacrament of the altar. As Martin Luther said, “We treat of the forgiveness of sins in two ways…. Christ has achieved it on the cross, it is true. But he has not distributed or given it on the cross. He has not won it in the supper or sacrament. There he has distributed and given it through the Word, as also in the gospel, where it is preached. He has won it once for all on the cross. But the distribution takes place continuously, before and after, from the beginning to the end of the world…. If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there. Nor must I hold to the suffering of Christ [only] in knowledge or remembrance, for I will not find it there either. But I will find in the sacrament or gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross.” [1] It is, therefore, right and proper for us also to notice the verbs Matthew includes in this miracle, namely, how Jesus took the elements, said a blessing, broke the loaves and gave them. In the same way Jesus gives us his very self in the eucharistic sacrament of the altar as we DO what he commanded in taking bread and wine, giving thanks, breaking and distributing his very body and blood under the bread and wine by which we also have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Some judge “success” by means of numbers. Because we are few in number they say we are dying, and, they say, it is because of our worship and liturgy that is all about sin and grace, the cross and blood of Christ crucified. But without the cross there is no forgiveness. And without the means of distributing the benefits and fruits of his cross our hearts remain empty.
The myst'ry of Your presence, Lord, No mortal tongue can tell: Whom all the world cannot contain Comes in our hearts to dwell.
You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat. Come give to us, O saving Lord, the bread of life to eat. [1] Luther, M. 1999, c1958. Vol. 40 : Luther's works, vol. 40 : Church and Ministry II (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works. Fortress Press: Philadelphia ___________________
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