“The Irony of Materialism”
John 6:24-35

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
 Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost—August 5, 2018

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

St. Augustine said, “Lord, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”  Materialism is trying to find satisfaction and fulfillment, not in the Lord, but in material things, acquiring things, having things.  Materialism is a spiritual sickness that we are especially susceptible to in our society.  But, ultimately, things never satisfy.  We think that if only we have this or that we will be happy.  But, as soon as we get it, we are dissatisfied, and start longing again for something else.  “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” The irony of materialism is, the more we strive after the things of this world, the farther we get from being satisfied.  But, Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel Reading that if only we turn to the Bread of Life, he will satisfy our hunger, of both body and soul.

The only miracle of Jesus recorded in all four gospels is the Feeding of the 5,000.  So, we are very familiar with that miracle: a large crowd follows Jesus into the countryside to listen to him teaching; it becomes late and there is no food except what a boy has brought along—five loaves of bread and two fish; Jesus blesses the loaves and fish and commands the disciples to distribute them to the crowd; miraculously, they all eat and are satisfied, with twelve basketfuls leftover.

The Lord says in Deuteronomy, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”  That day in the wilderness, Jesus actually fed the crowd with two kinds of food.  For, the very reason such a large crowd was gathered out in the countryside was to hear him teaching.  So, he not only famously fed them with bread and fish, earthly food for their bodies, he also fed them that day with the Word of the Lord, spiritual food for their souls.  When you hear the miracle mentioned of the “feeding” of the 5,000, you immediately think of how Jesus fed their bodies.  But, that day in the wilderness, he also fed their souls, with his teaching. For, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

In today’s Gospel Reading, John tells us what happened the day AFTER the Feeding of the 5,000: “Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.  When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’”

During the night Jesus and the disciples had crossed over the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum.  The disciples left in a boat and Jesus performed another great miracle when he later walked out to them on the water.

The next day some people from the crowd go to great lengths to track Jesus down, because they want to be fed again.  But, what kind of food do you think they are looking for, what kind of food do you think they are anxious to receive again from Jesus: spiritual food for their souls, or earthly food for their bodies?

Point #1: The people were so obsessed with EARTHLY food that they forgot all about the SPIRITUAL food Jesus fed them.

Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”  The Greek word for “had your fill” is the word for animals at a feeding trough.  That’s what they were like, senseless animals crowding around a feeding trough.

Speaking about himself, Jesus says, “On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”  That was the purpose of Jesus miracles: They were God the Father’s “seal of approval,” signs confirming that Jesus really is the promised Messiah, the Savior.  The miraculous Feeding of the 5,000 was a divine signal to them, the Lord’s way of telling them, as he proclaimed at Jesus’ Transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”  But, they were so obsessed with getting food for their bodies, that they forgot all about food for their souls.

Point #2: Like them we also are often obsessed with MATERIAL THINGS of this world, so obsessed with the things of this life that we neglect preparing for eternal life.

But, Jesus pointedly asks, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul?” It’s not wrong to have and acquire material things, but it is wrong to give those things the number one place in your life, to make them your number one concern.  It’s a question of priorities.  Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Point #3: Jesus gives the greatest treasure of all as a free gift: ETERNAL LIFE. 

“Do not work for food that spoils,” Jesus says, “but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will GIVE you.”  The adage says, “The best things in life are free.”  With his life, death and resurrection, Jesus earned salvation for you, and he freely GIVES you eternal life.  As Paul says in Romans, “The GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Point #4: Faith is not a work we do to earn our salvation, but a GIFT of God, wrought in us by God for our salvation. 

When Jesus tells the people, “the Son of man will give you” eternal life, they think he means God will give them eternal life IF they do something to earn it.  So, they ask Jesus, “What must WE DO to do the works God requires?” 

Jesus takes the words of their misguided question and turns them around: “The WORK OF GOD is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”  “Work of God” in Jesus’ answer does not mean a work demanded by God to earn salvation, but a work performed by God, FOR your salvation.  Paul says it this way in Ephesians: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship.”  Salvation is by faith alone, not by works, and even saving faith itself is the gift of God.  “The work OF GOD is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

“I am the Bread of Life,” Jesus declares. “He who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”  Point #5: First satisfy your SPIRITUAL hunger and thirst through faith in the Bread of Life, and the Lord will also provide you with DAILY BREAD and give you contentment. 

Jesus puts it this way in the Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

It’s a question of priorities, as Paul says in 1st Corinthians: “Those who use the things of the world should live as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.”

“Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”  The irony of materialism is, the more we strive after the things of this world, the farther we get from being satisfied.  But, if only we turn to the Bread of Life, he will satisfy our hunger, of both body and soul.