PENTECOST 10, B – August 9, 2009

SCRIPTURES – 1 Kings 19:1-8; Eph. 4:17 – 5:2; John 6:35-51 

"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” With these words Jesus proclaims that satisfaction, fulfillment, and contentment – now and always – will fill those who believe in Him. Why, then, are we not always satisfied, fulfilled, and content? Why do we feel strong in faith one day, but weak and doubting the next? Why do our moods go up and down, so that we are sometimes joyful but other times struggle at times with sadness, discourage-ment, and even depression?

  Even Elijah, that great prophet of God, so despaired that he ran away and laid down and said to God: “I’ve had enough. Now, O Lord, take away my life.”

I wonder how many of my fellow pastors have felt that way. I checked this week and  found out that over 20% of my seminary classmates are no longer pastors in the LCMS. (This does not include those who have died or retired). They have left the Holy Ministry in our Church, for which they had spent years studying and preparing.

 

Sadness and depression and feelings of emptiness and uselessness are not good. Satan uses such feelings to weaken faith and lead us away from helping others, as we see with Elijah. So, what can we do when such feelings fill our hearts?

 

First, lift up your heart and look ahead – but not at what lies ahead of you in this world, for that is uncertain and unknown to us. How many times has something you worried about not come about, because circumstances changed? No, look at what lies ahead for you in Christ, the wonderful life to come in heaven. “Whoever believes in me shall never thirst,” Jesus promises.

 

I’m not talking about escapism. Plenty of people deal with the troubles and heartaches of this world by escaping into a fantasy world:

• It might be a TV show or movie, where problems are resolved in one or two hours.

• It might be old movies and songs and remembering how good things were.

• Young people immerse themselves into books and movies about Harry Potter, or teenaged vampires.

• Perhaps it’s playing Halo or some other computer game in which you can confront enemies and overcome them with your skill and wits.

• Today’s reading from Ephesians speaks of people escaping in sex, “giving themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” This is our world today, isn’t it!

It is all fantasy, however. While you might find a temporary relief from what troubles you, this is not dealing with reality. It may even lead you away from Christ.

 

Heaven is no fantasy world, and longing for heaven is not ignoring reality. It is remembering the promises we have in Christ, of all sins being gone forever, along with the sadness and sorrow and tribulations and sufferings that accompany them. It is yearning for the day when evil and all evildoers are crushed under Christ’s feet and removed forever from us. It is looking forward to living in God’s presence in eternal joy, with new and glorious and perfect bodies and lives. This will be ours in Christ, and you can be certain of it, because:

• God the almighty and eternal Father has called you to this and wants this for you. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,” Jesus tells us. You who believe in Jesus – it is because God the Father is working in your heart and life! He wants you to believe in His Son and be with Him forever!

• And, Jesus will never fail you. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out… I will raise him up on the last day.” You can be certain of living with Him in heaven, for your sin could not hold Him, nor could death itself. He who overcame every evil and rose from the dead has the power to raise you! And, since Christ became food for you and gives Himself to you as bread, you can be sure He desires to raise you.

• The Holy Spirit of God was also been given to you in your baptism to seal you for the day of redemption.

The Triune God is at work to save you! To long for that salvation’s fulfillment in heaven is not escapism. It is what God wants for you. It is embracing His eternal salvation. Lift up your eyes, then, and look forward with longing and with certainty to that glorious day when Christ returns and we live with Him forever! As you do, He will cheer you and lift up your heart.

 

And, as your heart is lifted, you will be better able to look at, and rejoice in, what you have right now in Christ. Jesus tells us: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” Has; eternal life is our possession right now! Whoever believes: eternal life is not yours if you feel good and think positively, nor because you strive to be a good Christian. Jesus is the One who has perfectly obeyed God and then who paid for your sins. Your salvation has been won! Faith in Him is the only thing He mentions, for faith receives Him. Through faith alone in Him eternal life is yours.

 

In Christ you are eternal people! It’s no surprise, then, that we are at times saddened and grieved and depressed in this world. It’s a fallen world: a world filled with people with hard hearts, who reject Christ and call His Word and way of life empty and foolish and even evil. “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart,” says saint Paul. “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” It’s no surprise that Elijah was threatened by Queen Jezebel, or that people oppose our faith today. We are different! We are eternal and holy people in a sin-filled and dying world! 

 

Even so, be comforted by who you are and what you have in Christ. In Jesus you are God’s beloved children! Do not good fathers in this world provide for their children, help them when they are in need, love them, shelter them, protect them, sacrifice for them, and do everything in their power to make sure that their children are healthy and strong and safe and good and happy? How much more is this so with your good and holy Father in heaven, who loves you with an eternal love in His Son! How well He provides for us. As we see with Elijah, the angels, the inhabitants of heaven itself, serve us! God sends them to be even our bakers and provisioners. He even sends His Son Himself down from heaven to be your bread, the provision you need for your journey through this world. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven,” says Jesus. “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." And here, this very day, we are given His flesh and blood. Heaven is here! Eternal life is yours! Christ is giving you His life, the life that has overcome sin and death and lives forever. How can sadness fill us when He who is life and joy fills us? Martin Luther – a man who was himself often afflicted with sadness and depression – spoke of this:

“Whoever is in despair, distressed by a sin-stricken conscience or terrified by death or carrying some other burden upon his heart, if he would be rid of them all, let him go joyfully to the sacrament of the altar and lay down his woe in the midst of the community [of saints] and seek help from the entire company of the spiritual body—just as a citizen whose property has suffered damage or misfortune at the hands of his enemies makes complaint to his town council and fellow citizens and asks them for help. The immeasurable grace and mercy of God are given us in this sacrament to the end that we might put from us all misery and tribulation and lay it upon the community [of saints], and especially on Christ. Then we may with joy find strength and comfort, and say, “Though I am a sinner and have fallen, though this or that misfortune has befallen me, nevertheless I will go to the sacra-ment to receive a sign from God that I have on my side Christ’s righteousness, life, and sufferings, with all holy angels and the blessed in heaven and all pious men on earth. If I die, I am not alone in death; if I suffer, they suffer with me. [I know that] all my misfortune is shared with Christ and the saints, because I have [in this living bread] a sure sign of their love toward me.” (LW 35: 53-54) 

What a wondrous sign of God’s love for us do we have in Jesus, in His bearing of our sin and dying and rising for us. He is the sacrament of God’s love. And here He comes to us, the living Bread from heaven, and gives Himself to us. What joy and peace is ours! It truly passes all understanding.

 

Our Lord promises: "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Believe Him and come to Him. You will find in Him satisfaction, fulfillment, and contentment – now and always!