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March 22, 2009 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent -- Service Guide -- Bulletin

"Wet for Life"

From the Old Testament of the Day: "But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while) the son of the free woman was born through promise.." [Galatians 4.23]

From the Holy Gospel: "When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" [John 6.14]

On the historic Lutheran calendar there are two penitential seasons, Advent and Lent, and in the midst of each there is a Sunday of Refreshment: for Advent the 3rd Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete, which is translated, "Rejoice Ye!"; and, for Lent, it is this 4th Sunday in Lent, called Laetare, which also is translated, "Rejoice Ye!"

The Holy Gospel for today, just proclaimed to you, relates the miracle in which Jesus turns a few loaves of bread and a few fish into a feast for 5000 men, plus women and children. Because eating occurs in this miracle, the temptation is ripe to turn this Refreshment Sunday sermon into a message about the Lord’s Supper. But there is no connection between bread and the body of Christ, or fish and the blood of Christ.

Indeed, this is a Refreshment Sunday, but the refreshment comes not from the Sacrament of the Altar; rather, the refreshment comes from the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Let’s see how, as you meditate on the theme, "Wet for Life!"

I.

The first clue that today is a day of baptismal refreshment comes from the Epistle of the Day, especially where St. Paul writes, "But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise." With these words, St. Paul takes you back to the Old Testament and the life of Abraham. You will recall that Abraham was childless and advanced in age, as also was his wife, Sarah. To this couple, God proclaims the stunning promise that they are the first couple of a new nation, and that from their marital union God will send forth the Messiah. A stunning promise indeed! And as year after year brings no child, Abraham becomes convinced that God expects him to do his part in making the promise come to be. He began to believe the outright, but popular, lie, "God helps those who help themselves." Actually, the opposite is the truth: God helps the helpless, as Abraham is to learn over the years.

His first effort to help out God is to propose that Abraham adopt Eliezer of Damascus, his chief of staff, to be his son. But, God says, "No!" Later, when while in Egypt he acquires a servant girl for his wife named Hagar, Sarah proposes that Hagar stand in for her as the mother of the nation of Israel. But God again says, "No!" – the baby born to Hagar will not be the promised son. Finally, in God’s good time – which is seldom the same as our good time – Sarah conceives and brings forth a Son, Isaac. St. Paul points back to this event to teach this truth: The sons and daughters of God are children by promise, not by human, fleshly planning or activity.

And this brings us directly to the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Baptism is a work of God, not of mankind. Baptism is a promise by God, not a arrangement by man. Baptism is a new birth, not a new commitment by human decision. This is what Jesus teaches when He declares that Baptism is a matter of being born "anothen" (in the Greek – meaning "born from above" though most English Bibles offer the less precise translation, "born again"). Clearly, though, St. Paul wants you to understand that human commitment of the flesh is not how you become a child of God, but rather divine commitment of God’s choosing, of God’s promise, is how you become a child of God. And this is why St. Paul writes, "But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise." So, it is that you have been born, anothen, from above, and have become "Wet for Life!"

II.

So, we turn to the Holy Gospel and the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. What brings refreshment to your mind and soul is not the miracle itself that turns a boy’s lunch into a crowd’s banquet. What refreshes the soul is what this miracle evidences. It evidences – shows forth – the true identity and work of Christ Jesus. The first fast-food banquet in history points not to the feast but to the giver of the feast. This meal is not about refreshment from what is eaten through the mouth, but rather it is about what is eaten through the eyes – to see, to discover, who Jesus is, by virtue of the heavenly powers that He exhibits.

Certainly, the feted crowd learned by what they saw more than by what they tasted. And when the 12 apostles-in-training are instructed to gather up the leftovers, they ended up with twelve bags full – one for each of them to carry with them and to ponder about how great is their Master and who weak is their own faith. Indeed, this lesson of their weakness and Christ’s greatness will be learned again and again until Jesus is crucified, buried, risen, and ascended and the Holy Spirit takes over the teaching of the Twelve.

So, you see, the miracle of today’s Holy Gospel is a miracle of Refreshment. Those following Jesus and the Twelve into barren territory are in need of refreshment, and Jesus supplies it for them. The disciples themselves need to learn – many times – the refreshing discovery of who He is and what He means for them. And all of us, who come across this Holy Gospel on this annual trek into our own barren territory have this same refreshing discovery of Laetare! Rejoice Ye Sunday! The Refreshment Sunday in the Holy Season of Lent!

III.

This Lenten "pause that refreshes" is about who you are, not about what you’ve done or even what you’ve experienced! And to know who you are depends on knowing the promises of God, for apart from these promises, you are left with the option of guessing, of looking within yourself for answers, of making the terrible mistake that understands God’s promises as things that depend on you for their effectiveness.

Lent is a time of repentance; it is a time for sacrifice; it is a time of discipline; it is a time of giving. But all of these things – the repentance, the sacrifices, the discipline, the giving – are useless and even deceiving apart from the work of your Lord Jesus. What makes this season "holy" is what He does, not what you and I do. Indeed, Lent invites your repentance – but, if the theme of Lent becomes about you and me, then it becomes necessary to repent of your repentances, for repentance does nothing – and sacrifice does nothing – discipline does nothing – giving does nothing – unless it is our Savior’s penitence, sacrifice, discipline, and giving that becomes your focus, your relief, and your humble thanks.

And that comes to you through the refreshment of Holy Baptism – where God the Holy Ghost brings you, kicking and screaming, into the kingdom and family of God. Holy Baptism is not the commitment of a new believer to God; it is the commitment of God to the sinner reborn through the water and the Word. Holy Baptism is the work of the One who turns a boy’s lunch into a banquet. Baptism is the work of the One who turns water into wine. Baptism is the work of the One who turns, again today, bread into His body and wine into His blood. And Baptism is the work of the One who turns sinners into saints and makes you, by His choosing, "Wet for Life!"