A Sermon given by Deacon Ben Jones, assisting Deacon;
St. George’s Anglican Church, Raleigh, NC;
on The Fourth Sunday in LENT, A.D. 2008.
“REJOICE IN THIS REFRESHMENT”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
AMEN.
John 6:6. “And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.”
The fourth Sunday in Lent or Laetare Sunday is the mid Sunday in Lent. Today is so named from the opening words of the Introit that were recited at the beginning of Mass. “Rejoice Ye with Jerusalem.” Today we break with the rigors of our Lenten Fast. The Priest wears rose vestments in place of the violet vestments we have seen so far this season. Now this is not to say that we can have a free for all and undo all of the discipline of our self-examination so far for this Penitential season. However, we imitate what we have learned from the Introit, “Rejoice Ye with Jerusalem,” [which is taken from the 66th chapter of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, verses 10 through 11a]. Based upon this prophecy, we are told to look towards Jerusalem for our Spiritual nourishment. We are given a glimpse of this Jerusalem in which we rejoice, in the 21st chapter of The Revelation of St. John the Divine, [verses 1 and 2]. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” This glimpse is our focus, God’s plan for us through His Son our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Laetare Sunday is also referred to as “Mothering Sunday.”
It is a custom from medieval times in England, that on this day one would visit one’s mother or parents, bringing them a present, usually a “Simnel or mothering cake.” In accordance with this same custom, visitations to the Cathedral or the mother Church of the Diocese with special offerings would occur on this day. This custom is drawn from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians appointed for this day. “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, rejoice.” And the Epistle continues by describing that we should rejoice for that which God has given us. HERE IS THE KEY => No matter what we feel that God should have given us, He has given us the best that can be given, His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, because in and through Christ, there is our true liberty and freedom.
The verse that follows the Epistle supports this belief. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” Again we have a reference to the “Heavenly Jerusalem.” The 12th chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, [verses 22 through 24], tells of many things that will come to pass. Let’s focus on two phrases from these verses. “But ye are come unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant.”
Are you now beginning to see the whole picture of Laetare Sunday? We rejoice in this “New Jerusalem” to grasp how much better the relationship between God and His people will be under the “New Covenant.” We have an inheritance in this new city of Jerusalem wherein God Himself will live. It is this New Covenant that we will begin to examine in quite some detail today and will get the rest of the story of this New Covenant on Maundy Thursday and see the proof on Resurrection or Easter Sunday.
You may be saying to yourself, this is all very nice Deacon….but what about the Gospel lesson that we heard so eloquently read?? Are we going to hear about the importance of “The Feeding of the Five Thousand??” Ok, ok, let’s take a look at the Gospel lesson appointed for this Sunday.
Laetare Sunday is also known as “Refreshment Sunday” which points to the Gospel lesson of the “Feeding of the 5000” where Christ gives physical refreshment and nourishment to the people who are assembled to set the stage for our Spiritual refreshment and nourishment. Through our lessons for the fourth Sunday in Lent, we are relaxing our Lenten discipline of self-examination during this Penitential season, to check our bearings, to realign our focus to the culmination of this Lenten season; that glorious Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We have this short time of refreshment or relaxation before us because next Sunday begins Passiontide which leads to Palm Sunday, and Holy Week follows. We must align and focus ourselves, because there is no way around the events of the coming weeks in order for us to arrive at that glorious Resurrection Sunday. Christ did not waiver from His Father’s work, and following His example, we must proceed with obedience and faith.
The Feeding of the 5000 is one of only two miracles that are recorded in all four accounts of the Gospel. The other miracle is the Resurrection. This draws back to our earlier references to Laetare Sunday. It is easy to understand why the Resurrection would be included in all four accounts, but why the “Feeding of the 5000?” The recording of “The Feeding of the 5000” provides a rare crossing of all four Gospels prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Apostle John gives an account that the multitude was heading towards Jesus. Jesus had been healing and teaching and had withdrawn with His disciples to the mountains. The multitude wanted more. They continued to follow Jesus. When Jesus saw the multitude approaching, He tested Philip. Jesus questioned Philip about provisions for a crowd of this size. Philip drew from his own resources, rather than turning to Jesus’ resources from His Heavenly Father. Now Jesus will show through this miracle that He can provide for the needs of the multitude, and not only to provide, but to provide abundantly.
The proper response from Philip would have been, “Lord, it is you that can provide for the multitude.” Philip didn’t draw from the lessons which Jesus had been teaching His disciples.
We should always respond to God in Faith. If we rely on our own resources, we will always be deficient. Jesus was always obedient and faithful to His Father. Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks. He distributed to the Disciples, and the Disciples distributed to the multitude. The multitude took as much as they would and were filled. There was abundance as seen by the collection of the 12 baskets of fragments. We should see by this example that we do not waste or put aside the gifts of God to use at our will. God provides to us in abundance in order that we may in turn use His gifts to glorify Him. By glorifying Him, there is no waste.
By this miracle, Jesus is not only letting us know that He will provide for us, but as well, He is the “Bread of Life.” During the Israelites wandering through the desert God rained manna, the bread of Heaven, on His chosen people. Again, God has given us in this miracle, a prefiguring of the Eucharistic Feast. Moses was the prophet in the desert, and now we have Jesus the Messiah, who will give Himself as a sacrifice for us. Only through the accomplished Passion and Resurrection will the true significance of the feeding of the multitude, which is known as the “Messianic Banquet of the Galilean Ministry”, be seen in the same light as compared to the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper in the Upper Room. These examples are left to us as a promise of the redeeming fellowship of Christ with His believers in the New Covenant, of a Heavenly Kingdom, the New Jerusalem, which is not of this world.
Let’s look at this bread just a bit closer. There are three great narratives concerning bread in Jesus’ life. The first narrative takes us to the temptations of Christ in the desert. In the very first temptation Satan says, “If thou be the Son of God, command these stones be made bread.” Jesus was the victor in each temptation because He countered or responded with the authority of scripture; the Word of God. You can’t argue with the Word of God. In these temptations Christ refused to use His Divine power to benefit Himself. That was not the work of His Father. The second narrative is the “Feeding of the 5000”, our Gospel this morning. The third narrative is the “Last Supper, which becomes the Eucharist of the Church, where Jesus declares Himself as the perpetual miracle of bread; the “Bread of Life”. In the second and the third narratives, Christ is responding to the needs of others. Jesus has now set the groundwork necessary to give the bridge to connect the “Feeding of the 5000” to the “Eucharistic Feast.”
If we continue to read in the Gospel according to St. John, we find that on the following day, the people are still seeking Jesus to make Him king, a worldly king. They find Him at Capernaum. Christ rebuked their motives and told the multitude that although they had seen the signs, they had not accepted them for what they were intended; the proof of His true Messiahship. He proceeds with the discourse on being that “Bread of Life” that was sent from Heaven, “that whosoever cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst”. The Law has now become a person, in the person of Jesus Christ, who will be for us that Heavenly banquet “by His one oblation of Himself, once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.”
Jesus carried it a step further, “And in His Holy Gospel commanded us to continue this Heavenly Banquet, as a perpetual memory, until His coming again.”
So here it is. We are the guardians of the Faith by being Faithful. We are called to that Heavenly Banquet in the Sacrifice of the Mass that will be celebrated here at this Altar of God in just a few minutes. We share with those that sat on that grassy hill because of the abundance of God’s love for us in that miracle. We accept this abundance as God’s promise to us, and faithfully partake in this miracle of the “Feeding of the 5000” as God’s command to us. Our Faithfulness to God will provide that Salvation which we will be a part of in the “New Jerusalem” which we have been given a glorious glimpse of in the Sacrament of the Altar.
AMEN.
“AND NOW UNTO GOD THE FATHER,
GOD THE SON, AND GOD THE HOLY GHOST;
BE ASCRIBED ALL MIGHT, MAJESTY, POWER, AND DOMINION,
MOST JUSTLY DUE THIS DAY, BOTH NOW, AND FOREVER,
WORLD WITHOUT END,
AMEN.