Proper 14B (Pentecost 12 2024)

Text: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. 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” (John 6:51).

Why was Elijah ready to die?

He was just coming off of a great victory against the prophets of Baal. He had proved before everyone that their God was false and God’s people had responded. They had put the false prophets to death, just as God had warned them to.

Yes, Jezebel— the unbelieving queen of Israel— had threatened him. “2 [She] sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow”” (1 Kings 19:2). She had threatened him, but why would a single threat cause him to sit down under a broom tree and ask to die? He had defied Ahab and Jezebel before. There was no real chance of her succeeding. If he needed any proof that God was with him, the contest with the prophets of Baal had given it to him. So why was Elijah ready to die?

It seems like he felt like he had won a great, decisive victory. He had demonstrated God’s power in front of everyone. Surely Israel would see it and turn back to God and Israel would be back on the right track once again. Suddenly, he was hit with a reminder that this wicked queen was still in control. Israel was still not ‘safe’ for him or any other prophet of God. He would continue to need to have God on his side in order to stay alive, let alone anything else he was trying to accomplish. That is why he sat down under the tree and slept.

Last week you heard Jesus saying that He is the bread of life. Today you heard the next section of John 6, where Jesus is talking about the fact that He is the bread of life. Next week, you’ll hear the rest of this discussion between Jesus and the crowd where Jesus will proclaim to them, “I am the bread of life.” Elijah shows you part of the point of all this talk about the bread of life. The point of all this talk about the bread of life is that Jesus has come to feed you this bread from heaven. The Angel of the Lord comes to you in your complete weakness and despair; He comes to you because the journey is too much for you; He comes because your enemies, the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh, are too great for you to overcome. And He’s here to feed you.

I hope that you feel the joy of God’s grace to you. I hope that, when we started off this morning by singing, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” there was genuine joy behind it. I hope that this building truly feels like a ‘sanctuary’ in every sense of the term. But, soon enough, we’ll be done and you’ll walk out those doors. And, unless God is on your side, you will not be capable of standing against the enemies arrayed against you.

The sinful world we live in will assault you with its hatred, its enticements, and its perverted example. “[It] not only assaults [you] with its hatred, it also tries to lure [you away from God] with its enticements. It has a stinging tail, but it also has a charming face” (Gerhard, Johann. “Prayer for Victory Over the World,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.).

“Inwardly, the devil wounds [your] soul with the poison and fiery darts of temptation (Ephesians 6:16). Outwardly, he harasses [you] with adversities and a thousand traps. He is like a serpent because of his treacherous deception, a lion because of his violent aggression, and a dragon because of his cruel oppression. If he dared to attempt to make himself commander of the heavenly army, will he keep himself from [you], a common soldier? If he did not think twice to oppose the very Head (Matthew 4:3), is there any wonder that he attempts to destroy a weak member of the mystical body?” (Gerhard, “Prayer for Victory Over Temptations and for Safe-Keeping from the Devil’s Plots.”).

On top of the devil and the sinful world around us, you will face the attacks of your own sinful flesh. “[I]t is easier to forsake all creation than to deny [yourself and follow Jesus, as he commands].” The desires of your will drown out the voice of God’s Word. The weed of self-love threatens to choke out the divine love within you. All you want to do is sit down and die in the face of overwhelming lusts that threaten to choke out the seed of grace that was planted within you (Gerhard, “Prayers for the Denial of Self.”).

Evil people will steal the love and joy that are rightfully yours and you’ll be powerless against them. That same sin will ensnare you again and again and again and again. They will try to persuade you that coming here is pointless. The battle is hopeless. There is no point in coming back.

“Arise and eat. The journey is too much for you,” Jesus invited Elijah. And He invites you, too. As the Son of God fed Elijah, he now feeds you, not with just bread and water, but with his own body and blood in the bread and wine of his Supper. “No one can come to me,” Jesus said, “unless the Father who sent me draws Him. And I will raise him up on the last day. …Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

“51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. 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” (John 6:51).

His body and blood were strong enough to resist the devil in the wilderness for 40 days; they were strong enough to heal the blind and the sick; they were strong enough to calm the storm and walk on water; they were strong enough to stand in the face of those who falsely accused Him; they were strong enough to take the beating and the mocking and the spitting; they were strong enough to take on your sin and suffer the pains of hell that you deserved; they were strong enough to walk all the way to the cross and take the nails and say “Father, forgive them;” they were strong enough to defeat the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh.

This is the gift that He lays before you. He prepares a table before you, here in this world, in the midst of your enemies—in the midst of the devil and the world and your own sinful flesh—and invites you: “Arise and eat.” The journey is too much for you. But not for Him.

That’s what we’re here for. This is the place where the Angel of the Lord feeds you with His body and blood in the sacrament as often as possible—even more than every other week if you need it!—where He feeds you by hearing His Word preached and taught. Feeds you so that you can respond by serving Him with every gift that He’s given you, so that you can stand against the devil, the world, and your own sinful nature. In the power and strength that you receive here, we live together in unity of fellowship and confession of faith. In that great feast of His love, given to you in the body He gave for you and the blood He shed for you, you find the strength to love those who fail you, those who despise you, and even to love the enemy who is trying his best to kill you with a thousand cuts.

There are times when God doesn’t just allow more than you can handle, it seems like He’s crushing you. It’s those times especially—as everything we use to prop ourselves up (like our health, wealth, and prosperity) is pulled out from under us—when our ears are opened to hear Him saying, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”

In fact, the more you strive to live like you should, to lead holy lives according to His commandments, the more we see how far short we fall. It’s true: the commandments promise a beautiful life and every blessing when you obey them. But the reality is that there’s always more than could be done. You could have done better. You should have done it with motives that were more pure, less tainted by selfishness.

And, when His law has crushed you, He comes to you and says, “Arise and eat. The journey is too much for you,” and sends you forth to honor your father and mother, to bring up your children in the fear and knowledge of the Lord; to help and support your neighbors in every physical need; to lead chaste and decent lives in what you say and do and husband and wife love and honor each other; to help your neighbors to improve and protect their possessions and income; to defend them, speak well of them, and put the best construction on everything.

As we prayed earlier in the collect, “Gracious Father, Your blessed Son came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world. Grant that Christ, the bread of life, may live in us and we in Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”

As the psalmist wrote: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessèd is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!”

The meal is ready. And yes, the journey is too hard for you. Arise and eat. Amen.