MARK 8:1-9 Jesus doesn't do things the way we want him to.

Jesus doesn't act in the way we would, or in the way we wish he would. This makes our sinful flesh angry! Because, our sinful nature wants Jesus to bend to our will. So, he must crucify and kill our sinful flesh. He must act in a way that will bring us to repentance. Repentance is nothing other than a change of thinking, a change in heart and mind. So, he sends us troubles. In our sinful idolatry, we worry. In our sinful pride, we try to solve our problems by our own devices. But when we do, we find that we only make the situation worse. The crowd in our Gospel reading is in the desert. If they depart and seek out a place where they can satisfy their hunger by purchasing bread, they will collapse on the way, for they have been with Jesus for three days now. Jesus must teach them. Jesus must teach us. They have not thought of their hunger for these three days. Why? Because their souls were being so amply banqueted with his Word. Jesus has taught them that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. But now they are hungry. Now they begin to realize their need for Jesus to provide for their bodies. Jesus performs another miracle of miraculous multiplication of loaves and fishes, as he did before at the feeding of the 5,000. Just as at that miracle, the people do nothing. They sit on the ground, and they receive gifts from Jesus. What do you find yourself worrying about? You probably don't worry about your sins as much as you worry about your mortgage. You probably don't think about your need for forgiveness as much as you think about your need for food. The needs of our body have physical results. We feel an empty stomach. We see a credit card statement or a bank balance with our eyes. We hear a doctor's dire diagnosis with our ears. We are like our first parents, Adam and Eve, who fell into sin as soon as they focused on what their ears could hear, and what their eyes could see, and what their hearts could feel. But, Jesus has compassion. The Greek word means that Jesus' inner organs were stirred, moved with deep emotion. Jesus has so much compassion on us that he can feel it deep within himself. But his compassion is not just a helpless feeling of sympathy. Jesus' compassion moves him to act. He takes the bread and the fish. He speaks his almighty Word over them, and he multiplies them to satisfy the desires of thousands of people. In fact, the disciples again gather up far more in leftovers than they had to begin with. Our perfect Teacher, the Lord Jesus, is teaching us from the lesser to the greater. If he can so perfectly, so abundantly, provide for the needs of our body, he can surely also provide just as abundantly for our greater need. Jesus forgives every one of our sins. He distributes to us the forgiveness of sins he earned for the world by his perfect life, his innocent death, and his victorious resurrection. He distributes those gifts in the same way: through his Word. He sets before us his feast of forgiveness: his real body and blood, which he gave on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins. The Lord's Supper, our banquet from Jesus, sustains us as we travel through the desert place that is this world of sorrow. We don't need to worry about anything, either the needs of our bodies or the needs of our souls. Jesus will provide for both.