IV. SUNDAY IN LENT. TEXT: After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? (And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.) Philip answered him, Two hundred penny-worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley-loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. (Now there was much grass in the place.) So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down: and likewise of the fishes, as much as they would. When they were filled he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley-loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. John 6, 1-15. Our present Gospel, simple as it appears, is nevertheless one of the most important, because it contains so strong an inducement unto faith and trust toward God. Though the word faith does not occur in it, yet it is nothing else than faith and confidence in the goodness and mercy of God which the Lord intends to teach by this miracle. We have here a truly striking illustration of that truth which the Lord expresses in plain words, saying: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt. 6, 33. This is to be our faith, this our trust, if we seek the things which are above, the necessaries of this temporal life will not be denied us. But with many cheerful dependence on the goodness and faithfulness of God is small indeed. Even with true. children of God it is something very frequent that they will count, not so much on that which God gives, as rather on that which they calculate to make by their own industry, wisdom and skill. Every Christian knows that all is dependent on God's blessing, yet when Christian parents meditate on their own and their family's support, they are very apt to think first of their own ability, and secondly of God's blessing. But this way of thinking is surely not a fruit of faith, it manifests the self-dependence which is in the flesh. We are indeed fallen creatures. The Word of God tells us that the visible things are perishable, and only the invisible are abiding. Yet we will ten times sooner put our trust in that which we see, than in that which we do not see. So it is with the righteousness of works and the righteousness of faith. The righteousness of works we see and the righteousness of faith we can not see, but who can step forth and say that his heart is not far more inclined to exclaim: Behold, how many and how excellent are my works of piety and my deeds of charity! than to say: Behold, how many and great are the deeds of the Son of God, my Righteousness. We know, before God the righteousness of faith alone is acceptable, whilst the righteousness of works is before Him as filthy rags; yet the perverse heart will look to the righteousness of works rather than to the righteousness of faith. Similar with food and raiment. So long as we see the barrel of meal and the cruise of oil full it is easy for us to avoid fretting about the morrow; but when these vessels threaten to give out, then anxious cares soon begin to knock at our door. When the harvest is promising we are confident concerning our daily bread; but when it threatens to be a failure, then we are quickly at hand with the questions: "What shall we eat? What shall we drink? Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" Matt. 6, 31. When we are surrounded with plenty confidence is great, but when the abundance threatens to become indigence, then the heart begins to flutter. Now when we experience that in plenty our heart is confident, in scarcity despondent, we should know thereby that there is something in our hearts which is not as it ought to be. And if we search for that something, we soon find it indicated in the Lord's words: "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." John 20, 29. The abundance which we have is so apt to be a stay for our confidence, when in reality, we ought to rest assured of receiving daily bread just as cheerfully when we see nothing, as when we see plenty. This is the faith and trust which this Gospel teaches. Accordingly let me speak of THE MIRACULOUS FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND, I. Some things which preceded the miracle; II. The miracle itself and what followed it. I. How extremely difficult it is for man without seeing yet to believe, is here illustrated in the disciples. But to see this clearly it is necessary to know what preceded the transaction narrated here. Jesus had sent the disciples two by two to preach the Gospel throughout Judea and Galilee, and had given them power over the unclean spirits, commanding them, they should take nothing for their journey, no scrip, no bread, no money in their purses, but should be shod with sandals, and should not put on two coats. So the disciples had gone forth supplied with nothing, had preached the Gospel and performed miracles, and then they gathered around their Master again on the shore of the sea of Tiberias, and to the Lord's question: "Lacked ye anything?" they answered: "Nothing." Luke 22, 35. They had been provided with nothing, yet confessed that they had lacked nothing. When the disciples were again with Jesus the people flocked to them in such multitudes that not even time to eat was left to Jesus and the disciples. Therefore the Lord said to the disciples: "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while." Mark 6, 31. To find a little rest they entered a ship and steered for an uninhabited region where only grass grew. But the people saw them depart and knowing where they were going followed them. And so eager were the people to follow Jesus that they started forthwith without first providing themselves with victuals. Whence this eagerness? By the Scribes and Pharisees those people had been taught that the time for the Messiah to come was at hand, and when He would come He would liberate His people from the yoke of the Romans and would establish a worldly empire at Jerusalem. Believing that the Messiah would be a worldly benefactor and convinced by His miracles they began to think that Jesus of Nazareth was truly the Messiah, and hence they were eager to see more of His deeds, and to do Him homage. Many perhaps cherished the hope that His first and most zealous adherents would obtain the first honors in His kingdom. Therefore it is said of them in the text that they "followed him because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased," and when they had eaten of the five barley loaves and were satisfied they exclaimed: "This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world," and they proposed to "take him by force, to make him a king." They followed Him eagerly, but from a wrong motive. Doubtless there were some among them who hungered and thirsted after righteousness, but the majority hoped for worldly gain. Therefore there was no perseverance in them, but the very next day when Jesus preached: "I am the bread of life," they took exception and walked no more with Him. But the more those people were in error, the more was the Lord moved with compassion toward them. "When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him." He is that Keeper of Israel whose eyelids are not heavy with slumber, of whom David sang in the 33d Psalm: "The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine." He has a sharp and watchful eye. Beholding that company He at once knew that they had brought no bread with them, and that He must provide for them. He sees the desolate field and the empty pantry and the purse without scrip, and though He may suffer poverty to come on His children, yet does He watch over them to keep them alive in famine. Look unto Him in the day of thy need; for He is both rich and merciful. At the same time the Lord's eye detected an evil trait in the hearts of His disciples, and moved by the same compassion He set about to heal it. Therefore He "saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" He intimated to the disciples that it was their duty to give those people a meal, because they had traveled so far to come to them in the wilderness and had remained with them until now; and now the night was drawing on and it would not be right to send them away hungry. Therefore He inquired of Philip, where to buy bread for the people. This question might well startle Philip; for there were present five thousand men, women and children not counted. To feed such a multitude was not a small matter, especially as they had eaten nothing during the day. Philip's predicament is shown by his answer: "Two hundred penny-worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little." The amount which Philip named makes about thirty dollars, and that would certainly not have been sufficient to provide a meal for five thousand men. Likely it was all they had, and Philip meant to say, though they would spend all their money, it would be of no avail. Philip's answer shows that he saw no other way than to let the people go away hungry, that he was at a loss where to look for help in this emergency, and just this was what the Lord wanted to teach him, where to look for help in such needs; for it is explicitly stated: "This he said to prove him." Why did the Lord want to prove or try Philip and in him all the disciples? Was it to find out where Philip's trust stood, or how strong his faith was? Or did He mean to lay a stumbling block into Philip's way, to lead him into anxiety and doubt? Nay, surely not! Neither the one nor the other. The Lord knew beforehand what Philip's faith was and what its ailings were; for rightly did Peter, when the Lord asked him: "Simon, |