- Psalmody: Isaiah 66:10a, 11a; Psalm 122:1; Psalm 122:1, 7; Psalm 125:1–2; Psalm 135:3, 6a; Psalm 122:3–4
- Lection: Exodus 16:2–21; Galatians 4:22—5:1a; John 6:1–15
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We know that the Holy Christian Church has crafted the sacred 40 days of Lent as an allusion to other 40s found in the Scriptures, one of them being the 40 years that Israel wandered in the wilderness as Moses records for us in Exodus and beyond. Chapter 16 brings us into their 40 to hear that the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” When in the long stretch of their wilderness-decades was this? It was about a month after the Lord had brought them out of Egypt by great miracles of the Plagues, including the First Passover, of the crossing of the Red Sea, the deliverance of the whole nation by means of water that slew all their enemies, and of the bitter waters of Marah made sweet by a tree being cast into them. Oh, how sweet are our baptismal waters that drown all our enemies; waters into which the tree of the cross has been cast! So, even when the people of God fail Him with our faithlessness, let us praise His holy Name that by His grace He remains faithful to His own heart and promise to deliver us! We see Him do this with OT Israel and now in the new Israel of His Church.
The children of OT Israel had lain bound in slavery to tyrannical pharaoh in the land of Egypt, but still with pots of meat and bread to the full, along with fish…, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic as they point out that they had in a yet later complaint in the book of Numbers. Oh, how their situation in Egypt eerily describes our condition today, where we are content with spiritual slavery just as long as we have our fill of TV, smartphone, pointless online videos, sportsball, celebrity heroes, bounteous feasting daily in our soft homes, and wars, wars that are apparently good as long as we’re making money at them, all-the-while ignorantly, yet joyously holding an apathetic, low value of the things of true, eternal worth. Freedom from the world’s bondage is of eternal worth, higher than any money, possessions, or luxury, for it is the LORD Who brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt. It is the LORD Who brought you up out of the land of bondage and death.
The Children of Israel lost much, yet only in earthly sight, for having eyes they saw not what they gained. This is a call for us to see the Lord Jesus as our highest, priceless treasure. We are not to value more than Him our meat, our bread, our money, our possessions, our hobbies, our pets, our friends, not even our family members. Such gifts from God can only be appreciated in their proper place with Christ above all. It is better to be poor in all those things than to sit with the devil in them, for A little that a righteous man hath Is better than the riches of many wicked. (Psalm 37:16) Let us then not waver in faith, for if we have been delivered from the bondage of sin, death, and the devil, as we most certainly have in Christ, then on account of the Lord we truly live even if having nothing, yet possessing all things.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. Every day God gives. His divine forbearance and patience over our grumbling work for our good, that we may come to realize our sin and His goodness and mercy in contrast to it; that we may prize Christ and His righteousness in our lives by striving to make it our own. The Lord is merciful to us all, yes all. We Christians have earned nothing. We share the same sinful blight of heart as unbelievers. Therefore the Lord Jesus tells us, “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” He desires all to come to the knowledge of His loving disposition toward us. And for His people, for those called by His Name, He gives every day, daily bread, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like, He gives that He may test us. His test is neither temptation nor trap. God tempts no one. What He gives are all tests to see what we do with it, how we treat it, how we honor it, and again, whether every good gift that comes down from the Father of lights is held in proper perspective to Him. It is when we fear, love, and trust in God above all things that all things resound in this life the way that He intends them to, as joyous gifts from our heavenly Father, Who is above all and overall. You shall have no other gods. Let us then receive our daily bread with thanksgiving, looking ever upward to Him in Whom we possess all things of worth regardless of what we come to lack here in time.
Dearly beloved saints redeemed and set free by the Mighty Lord, behold your Savior Jesus captured by Moses’ words in the wilderness in Exodus among the grumbling and complaining hearts of man, so that you may see the glory of God graciously shining ever upon you, not holding your sins against you, which is to the refreshment of your soul! The promise to the children of Israel for bread to rain from heaven is connected directly to Jesus, their Treasure and yours; He, the very Glory of the Lord. Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD. By these words, the children of Israel were given gracious, undeserved promise to see the glory of the LORD at the rising of the sun in newness of day. Wherever the glory of the LORD is, there is Christ, for He is that Glory. In Hebrews it is written, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” The promise and picture of true worth that sustains you, yea, miraculously, in this life is the brightness of the Father’s glory in the express image of His Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He who has seen the Son has seen the Father. It is by the Eternal Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, in perfect communion, desire, and will with the Father and the Holy Spirit, that all children of God are blessed, delivered, and provided for. Jesus is the true Israel Who perfectly trusted His Father, never complaining nor discounting His holy worth above even discomfort in belly. He didn’t fall into grumbling against God in the wilderness when He was hungry or lacking this life’s pleasures, but contented Himself in prayer and fasting, stood firm against the devil’s temptations, and cast him away by His mighty Word. Oh, look and see the glory of the LORD, Who is your everlasting refreshment, for He sees you coming to Him and knows what He shall do to miraculously feed you in this wilderness with His own Body and Blood that fill you with forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
Him, you are to trust and love and fear above all else. He is ever with you, for He hears your complaints against the LORD. In these words of Moses are both conviction of how we doubt the Lord, of how we grumble against Him in little faith, and there’s also comfort of the true doctrine of God, which we are taught and to which we lay hold. Jesus says, “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He sees all. He hears all. He rebukes all, and by His shed blood He forgives all. He hears your complaints against the LORD and calls you to turn from them, to receive by faith what He gives to test you, and to walk in His law as beloved children desire to do. Be comforted in this, because again we receive the refreshment of the Scripture’s unity of doctrine throughout. By Moses’ words in Exodus, we behold distinct Persons in the Trinity. He hears your complaints against the LORD. He, the Son always with you, hears your complaints against the LORD, the Father. He, the only-begotten of the Father, the glory of God, shines brightly upon you as God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, so that you do not long for or remain in the bondage of earthly Egypt and all its trappings. It is Jesus Who provides for you. He is gentle and lowly in heart, Where you will find rest for your souls. Where He has reason to punish your complaining, He instead gives grace that brings you to repentance and trust in Him; trust in Him for all needs of body and soul in this wilderness as well as in the eternal promised land to which He faithfully leads you. As you fill your mouths and hearts to the full with Christ, may He ever be thanked and praised by what then comes out of them!
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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