Sermon for 7th Sunday after Trinity, 2021

Homily for Trinity 7, 2021

Fr. Tony Melton

Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way; for divers of them came from far.  And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?

I cannot remember the title of the movie, but I remember this scene when a man finally realizes that he is a miserably addicted drunk. He needs to dry out, for good, or he will lose his family and his life. So, he asks somebody who loves him, I think his son, to chain him to a tree, and to bring him food and water everyday, but to not let him free from the tree until a certain amount of time had past. At first, it went just fine. But then the withdrawals started, and he quickly became raving mad. Nothing in him kept him safe from reentering the pub and his drunkenness, except the chains that bound him to the tree. He howled at the sky, cursed at his son, begged and begged to be let free. But, his son rightly kept his father’s prior wish to remain bound to that tree. After a couple of weeks or so, the man started to return to sanity. He felt a clarity and peace that he had not felt before. His chains became a comfort to him because he recognized that they had saved him from himself.

Our topic this morning is religion. The word “religion” comes from the Latin word religare which means “to bind”. Like the drunk who chained himself to a tree, we bind ourselves to Christ in such ways that break our addictions to the World.

This is a needful topic. One of the fastest growing areas of research is the science behind addiction, and I’m sorry to say that it is not primarily being utilized to keep people away from addiction. Rather, it is being used to make apps, games, food, and even work more addictive. The World is an expert at getting us to be addicted to things, and we are all way more addicted than we might think.

Our text for this morning is our Gospel proper from Mark 8, the feeding of the 4,000 in the wilderness. Read typologically, it is the story of the Church who has bound themselves to Jesus in discipline and who is satisfied by Him in the wilderness of life. First, we will look at the Collect for this morning, then an exposition of Mark 8, and then an application to our lives as addicts in need of Christ.

Our Collect his morning is one of my favorites. “LORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

“Increase in us true religion…” As I mentioned, religion means “to bind”. It comes from the Latin word religare, or ligare. You can here the root “lig” as in ligament in the word religion. A ligament binds bone to bone, Religion binds us in heart and will to God, practically, in ways that restrict our freedom. The idea is appropriate for this Sunday, as our Epistle from Romans 8 makes clear that we are freed from sin in order to be made a servant to God. A priest’s collar is a reference to the slave shackle worn around the neck by Roman slaves. We sing in the Lorica that we “bind unto ourselves the Name of the Trinity” in Baptism. Baptism binds us sacramentally to Jesus. Our Faith binds us to Christ. We also bind ourselves to Christ through Discipline. We also bind ourselves to Christ in the Eucharist. We are religious because we recognize that we must be bound if we will survive, like the drunk on the tree.

Alright, let’s look at the text. First, a brief overview of Mark 8. There is a great multitude that has followed Jesus into the wilderness. We learn later in the passage that they’ve been with him for three days, and there is no food for them to eat. The Meltons are road-trippers. We love to throw the kids in the car and go to the beach or back to Missouri. A lot of time in the car. If there is one thing that I can rely on, it is that all the humans in the car are very attuned to their current state of hunger or fullness. I have never had the experience of driving for a long, long distance, skipping a meal or two, asking my kids, “Children, are you hungry?” and them saying, “Gee whiz, dad, you know, now that you mention it, I really am famished. I hadn’t even noticed my stomach roaring until you just mentioned it!” That is not the way things go, for them or for anyone. The first moment that we  feel the slightest space in our tummy, we sound off, “I’m hungry.” My family’s hunger alarm is more reliable than the sensors on my car. And yet, a multitude of people who apparently have no food of their own follow Jesus into the wilderness. They could have easily seen that there was no camel pulling a wagon of bread for them. There was no food. Either they didn’t notice because they were so fixated on Jesus, or they did notice and didn’t even whine about it because they were so bound to Christ that wherever He went, they would follow.

Next in the story, Jesus notices that they are starving and tells his disciples to feed them. “Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way; for divers of them came from far.” Jesus notices their need. He moves to fix it. They didn’t need to whine. Going back to our Collect, they had such a love for their Messiah that they bound themselves to him religiously, so He nourished them with all Goodness.

It is significant that Jesus told his disciples the problem, as if He wanted them to fix it. They obviously felt like He was telling them to fix it because they respond with, “From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?” “It’s impossible, Jesus!” Jesus asks what the disciples have for food. They reply, “Seven loaves of bread.” Obviously insufficient to feed 4,000 men, not to mention the women and children.

Then the text says that He took the bread, gave thanks, and brake it, and gave it to his disciples. The Gospel writers are using a form here that was used at the Last Supper and in the Communion liturgy. This is an obvious reference to the Eucharist. As the story goes, the seven loaves were miraculously multiplied and several thousand people were fed in the wilderness.

If we read this passage typologically, we see why it is chosen for this Sunday where we ask God to increase in us true religion and nourish us with all goodness. What do we see in the example of the people who followed Jesus far passed the point of comfort and safety? The Church is to follow Jesus past the point of earthly provision. We are to follow Him into the wilderness, where all things that we use to prop up our own existence run out, and our only hope is the sustenance and consolation that He gives. When we leave our comforts and convenience and all the things that artificial prop up our sense of Self, it is a kind of wilderness. Spiritual discipline is taking a step into the wilderness with Jesus.

The second thing we learn from reading the passage typologically is that the Church, like the multitude, should be so fixated on Christ that only He tends to their needs. We all fall into the mode of being hyper aware of what we think we need in this life, when what we really need is Christ. He can tend to our hungers, hurts, and hopes far better than we can. What do we hear? He had compassion on the multitude. He saw them. We don’t have to whine in the backseat. He knows. We just have to keep our eyes on Him.

Jesus asks the disciples to fix the problem so that they would ask Jesus for help. It was a test. They respond, “From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?” They failed the test. They should have known that no mere man was with them in the wilderness. In this passage, bread represents the answer to people’s deepest needs. The disciples rightly recognized that they do not have enough to make a dent in the great need of the people. The seven loaves represent what God’s people have to satisfy their great need and the needs of the world. The bread that we offer Christ is like the seven loaves from the disciples. It, too, represents the insufficiency of what we possess that might satisfy our existential angst and our need for consolation and sustenance. Our possessions, our statuses, our pleasures, they are insufficient to sustain us. Though we are addicted to them, they cannot satisfy. A person without faith would have hoarded it the seven loaves. But, the disciples gave it to Christ. A meager offering of bread. Almost less than bread. The wafers we place on the Table as our Offering are a perfect image of our ability to satisfy ourselves and the needs of others. Everything that can prop up our sense of Self is as papery as that wafer, and as small as the seven loaves which the disciples brought to satisfy those who follow Christ. Yet, with Christ, even our meager offerings are enough to satisfy all men. He feeds the world through what the Church brings to Him. He is the one who satisfies, and He multiplies the bread of the Church to do it. A typological reading of Mark 8.

Lately, we’ve been focusing on religion. It is a focus for this time of the year. We don’t typically preach on Fasting, Vices, and a Rule of Life during Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, etc. But, during Trinitytide we seek to enter into greater Union with the Triune God. How do we do that, practically? Many of the answers would fall into the category of religion. So, we schedule our Clergy Check-In Calls during this part of Trinity. We are trying to help you build out a good Rule of Life that you bind yourself to in order to bind yourself more fully to God. We’ve been training you on Fasting and other spiritual disciplines. This is in line with our petition this morning that God would “Increase in us true religion.”

Some people have a strong reaction to these things. “This is legalism!” The drunk—was he a legalist or a realist? Here is the reality…we are all addicted to the World. Our only hope is to bind ourselves to Christ religiously. Some people fit their religion into a safe, comfortable space. These people are miles away from that point of reliance or even danger that if Jesus doesn’t come through, they are doomed. Christ is found in the Wilderness. Some people pretend that they are “spiritual” but not religious. This is ignoring the nature of our spiritual disease. It is like the drunk pretending that he can get sober by thinking good thoughts. Christ feeds those that bind themselves to Him by discipline. The people in the Gospel could simply follow Jesus. We must walk in His steps, and most of the time, Jesus was either walking into the wilderness or to a Cross.

This is why we take so seriously a Rule of Life. This is why it is so important to establish rhythms of Feasting and Fasting. If we only feast and dwell in the cities, then the line between our gifts and God’s provisions becomes blurred. What is propping up my life? What is making me feel okay? Is it pleasure, likes and clicks, respect from our peers, our image, youth, sugar, caffeine, money, stimulation?  We fast from these things to ensure that we are not addicted to them. We fast from them so that when we offer up our meager gifts upon the altar, we are under no illusions that they are enough to satisfy us.

We are the people in the wilderness who have bound themselves to Christ in ways that deny normal human logic. We are a people that pushes past our ability to prop up our own existence. We ignore our discomfort because we fixate on Christ. At the last cell group meeting, we learned that the Church fasts on Fridays. This means that on Sunday, they have pursued Christ into the Wilderness for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: three days. We are hungry. Through our Faith, our Religion, we bind ourselves to Christ and nothing else. We aim to be free from attachments so that we can be more perfectly attached to Christ. We aim to be free from sin so that we can more fully serve Jesus. On this third day in the wilderness of self discipline, Jesus looks upon his Church and says, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way; for divers of them came from afar. Verily, some have travelled from Cumming, Buckhead, Canton, Acworth, and, lo, even Jasper.” So he commanded the people to sit down on the green grass: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.  So they did eat, and were filled, they were satisfied.  And he sent them away.

What are you addicted to? What is propping you up artificially? You who are bound to Jesus by baptism, when He leads you out into the wilderness, for what will you whine first? Would it be food? Fast from food. Would it be your phone? Fast from your phone. Would it be the validation you receive from people? Sell your fancy clothes. Your car? Go put a dent in it. Would you miss your entertainment? Cancel it for a month. Unplug the console. Your morning cup of Joe? Cut it out for a time. In the wilderness, would you miss the comfort of your marriage bed? You know St. Paul says you should fast from that from time to time, right?

Imagine what the Church could be if we were as fixated on Jesus as the people in the wilderness. Imagine what nourishment Jesus would give His people if they bound themselves to Him far passed the limit of what is safe, tidy, manageable, convenient, and optimistic. We are a religious people. We bind ourselves to God by following Jesus through acts of discipline. We walk his steps. We do his deeds. We fast because he fasted. He follow him to wedding feast. We follow him in the wilderness. We pray his prayers. We think his thoughts. We eat His food, and upon His food do we prop up our life, our sense of Self. We are addicted to nothing except Christ. He is our only fixation. The only thing we can’t live without, and the only thing that can satisfy men in the wilderness is Jesus. Brothers and sisters, let us be a people that can walk with Jesus is feasting and in fasting, in the city and in the wilderness. Let us bind ourselves to Christ that his food is our only hope. Amen.