Jesus Alone, but Not Jesus Only

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 779 Wiping out “Fish” Sign

A man starting in the fish business hung out a sign, “Fresh Fish for Sale Today” and invited his friends to the opening. They all congratulated him on his enterprise, but one suggested his sign might be improved. Said he, “Why the “Today”? Of course it’s today, not yesterday or tomorrow.” So the fishmonger removed the word. Another said, “Why the “For Sale”? Everybody knows that, else why the store?” And off came the word. Another complained, “Why the word “Fresh”? Your integrity guarantees every fish to be fresh.” Finally, only “Fish” remained, but an objector said, “Why the sign? I smelled your fish two blocks away!”

O holy and most merciful God, You have taught us the way of Your Commandments. We implore You to pour out Your grace into our hearts. Cause it to bear fruit in us that, being ever mindful of Your mercies and Your Laws, we may always be directed to Your will, and daily increase in love toward You and one another. Enable us to resist all evil and to live a godly life. Help us to follow the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to walk in His steps until we shall possess the Kingdom that has been prepared for us in Heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Matt 14:13-14

Matthew 14:13–14 ESV

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

As mankind moved, in its finite worldly wisdom, away from Emmanuel, the God-With-Us who is declared in the Holy Scriptures and seen in the face of Jesus Christ, we momentarily toyed with the God who, in the words written by Julie Gold and made famous by Bette Midler, “is watching us from a distance,” before coming to an uncomfortable “rest” in the current immanent frame where we are searching for a “god within us.”

The empty echo that we find in our hearts and minds, however, pushes us to search, because the work of the Law in our hearts will not be satisfied with the sounds of silence nor will the sound of either our voice or Satan’s, doing its best impersonation of God.

One of the beautiful revelations of God in the Scriptures is found in this passage. Jesus looks upon the crowd that has sought Him out, not fully knowing why, but knowing that, somehow, they need to stay, “nearer, my God, to Thee.” So He “had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

In Matthew’s Gospel, this takes place after Jesus had visited Nazareth where, due to their unbelief, Jesus did not do many mighty works there. Matt 13:54-58

Matthew 13:54–58 ESV

and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

So they were aware of the reports of the miracles, but they did not believe in Him. They rejected, not what He could do, but who He was. During the same time, Herod executes John the Baptist, and when He hears about this, along with, in Mark and Luke, the return of the 12 from their mission trip, and, in John, Jesus’ confrontations with the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, Jesus takes His leave of Nazareth and heads into a desolate place on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

Taking the Scriptures as a whole, one thing that you can see is that God never actually forces Himself upon humans. Repeatedly, He offers and invites, and generally, we accept Him for as long as we find it satisfactory to do so, before we turn and reject what it means to fully submit to Him, even though we recognize that God has done nothing to deserve the rejection that we repeatedly give to Him.

It’s funny when you think about it. We get mad at God because He doesn’t dance to our music or play “genie in the bottle.” But we trust in people who lie, cheat, steal, take advantage of us, and generally do the very things that we might do if we were in their place. Think about it, what new sin has come into being because of any technological advance over the past century? How does 21st Century man behave any differently from how 1st Century man did? Which of the 10 Commandments have we evolved enough to say, “we no longer commit that sin?”

Yet God is still loving, still proclaiming His love for us, still drawing us to Himself, still bringing us to the Cross where we will find Him pouring out grace and mercy. And He is still bringing His Church into this outpouring of His grace, still telling the Church that He chooses to make us part of what He is doing to overcome the unfruitful works of darkness. Matt 14:15-18

Matthew 14:15–18 ESV

Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.”

We look at the needs of those whom the Lord seeks to bless and make whole. We look at our own resources and, surprise, they are not enough. We get embarrassed when Jesus responds to our diagnosis with the words, “Help them,” because we know that He knows that we don’t have enough. When I see the guy standing on the corner holding the sign, and I don’t have any money in my pocket, or enough in my checking account to get him a room for the night. When I hear about another community that struggles with trying to get more of its residents out of the day-to-day living hand-to-mouth cycle that goes nowhere, while keeping them furiously engaged in not drowning. We want the Lord to fix these things, to make poverty and sickness go away, to make divisions go away… to make sin go away.

But it’s only when we confess that we don’t have it all together, that we are simply holding on to God’s grace by God’s grace, only then when we are looking to Jesus, not just for what He can do, but for who He is - that’s when God has always shown, not only His power, but His love, as He looks beyond our fault and sees our need, then works through His Bride, the Church, to proclaim forgiveness to the guilty, deliverance to the captive, and healing to the broken. Matt 14:19-21

Matthew 14:19–21 ESV

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

“They all ate and were satisfied.” On that day, it was physical hunger, but that was just a type - the antitype, the full expression is given in prayer by St. Paul in Eph 3:16-19

Ephesians 3:16–19 ESV

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Not just enough of God to get by, but enough of God so that neither the world the flesh nor the devil can take away your love, your peace, or your joy! Enough of God so that “no weapon formed against you shall prosper.” Enough of God so that we are looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, saying, with the Psalmist in Psalm 115:1 “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”

That’s what our Confessions are all about. That’s what our Small and Large Catechisms are all about. That’s what our liturgy and hymnody are all about:

Sola Gratia - Sola Fide - Sola Scriptura - Solus Christus - Soli Deo Gloria!

Grace alone - Faith alone - Scripture alone - Christ alone - to the glory of God alone!

When our Lord returns from heaven at His Second Coming, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We shall behold Him face to face, in all of His glory. And so we shall always be with the Lord.

And the peace of God, that passes understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.