Rejoicing in a Day Like Today? – What Does This Mean?

TTT Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. TTT

Dear saints, when we met a week ago, I was certain we’d be meeting here again just like any other Sunday. What a difference a few days make! The world is still ripe with concern, panic, fear, and several other adjectives that apply. More restrictions in more places. The number of infected continues to climb. Governments continue to struggle to balance their actions.

And yet, today is Laetare. It is a day to rejoice. But here we are in Lent and many of us are stuck at home. Even the most introverted among us may be getting a bit of cabin fever. So, what do we have to rejoice about on a day like today? As it turns out, there’s quite a bit.

We heard from St. John that Jesus was attracting large crowds because he was healing the sick. He takes the disciples up a mountain near the time of the Passover and sees a crowd coming. So, he puts the disciples to the test: “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Left to the disciples and their resources, feeding this crowd is impossible. Eight months of wages wouldn’t do the job. But there was a boy with some bread and fish. The lunch he brought with himself. Using it, Jesus blesses it and distributes it to all present. And unlike the manna from heaven, this food didn’t dissipate in the heat of the day. It remained to provide all present to have their fill, and then it was taken up into baskets that nothing would be wasted.

The people see the sign, the miracle, and are prepared to make Jesus their king. He is their King, but not the king they were seeking. They are not looking at things eternal, but of things only in this world. This is the look of most around us. They are full of fear at the possibility of contracting a virus. They look for relief and salvation, not of their souls, but their bodies.

It is tempting and easy for us to do the same. It isn’t wrong to think about our friends and families and have concerns about their health. It isn’t bad to desire our own health. But when the fear of a healthy body consumes us, we can lose sight of the fact that sickness and pestilence only exist because of our sin. No, I am not saying that this pandemic is a punishment sent from God. But I am saying that if we were sinless, we wouldn’t have to deal with such things as sickness or famine or war or economic depressions.

The world looks to themselves or government or vapid songs for relief. We look to Jesus. Yes, we look to God to preserve us in our bodies. But even more, we look to him to preserve our soul. We look to Jesus not only as a Bread King but as our Crucified Lord. The One who shows he is King by serving and even dying for his people.

At Pentecost, Peter delivers a powerful sermon. In it, he convicts those present of murdering the Lord Jesus. He shows them Jesus is the Messiah that they were waiting for. That they rejected him and killed him. They killed the Lord of Life! At hearing this, many were struck. They found the vastness of their sin and their need to be saved from their treachery toward their God. They ask and Peter answers what they must do to be saved. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

About 3,000 were baptized that day. 3,000 were given the Holy Spirit and added to the Lord’s church. These devoted themselves to four things in two groups: the teaching of the apostles and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. They met daily and had everything in common. They gave to one another as they had need. They gathered daily in the Temple and one another’s homes.

In many ways, this is exactly what we do today. We stay devoted to the apostles’ teaching because it is the teaching Jesus gave to them. We don’t meet daily, but ordinarily, we meet often. We don’t break bread, that is, share the Holy Supper daily, but we do it often. We give that the work here continues. We pray, not only what is on our hearts, but the prayers handed down to us by the church and from Jesus himself.

True, right now we don’t gather together daily. Or for the next unknown period weekly. We are being asked to not gather in one another’s homes. But fear not. we cling to our crucified and risen King. We trust that he has washed us in baptism. We remember that he has sent the Holy Spirit to live in us. That we are among those far off whom the Lord has called to himself. We trust and look forward to resuming our gatherings. And, ultimately, we look forward to the day that he gathers us to Himself in heaven.

Our Lord knows about the pandemic the world is seeing. He cares for those affected by it. So much so that he shed his very blood for them. So much that he died on the cross so that they might live eternally. That in that sacrifice, the disease of our sin is healed and taken away. And so, we rejoice. Rejoice that we are called to be a child of God. We rejoice that we are forgiven of all our sins, even the sins that deserve death by sickness and pestilence. And rejoice that our spiritual sickness is healed by the blood of the Lamb. Indeed! There is much to rejoice for! Amen.

TTT Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. TTT

Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD