Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, the Bread of Life who has come down from heaven: we confess that we wrongfully doubt your loving care. These sins separate us from you, and this separation starves our soul. Come to us, dear Bread of Life, feed us with the forgiveness of all our sins which restores our souls to full health each new day, and reconciles us with You. Amen.

St. Mark 8:1-9 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said: "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance." His disciples answered, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven" they replied. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand men were present.

You who have grown up in America--this land of plenty--this nation, blessed by God with wealth, health, and satisfied appetites--I have a silly question to ask: Have you ever had to face bodily starvation in this country? The answer to this silly question is obvious enough, isn't it? Few in America, even among the poor, have faced literal starvation in recent times. Today, very few kitchen cupboards in America are actually empty. No, we can't honestly say we know what it is like to starve.

But we do know, however, that this is not the case in many parts of the world. People in certain parts of Africa, for instance, often suffer from starvation conditions. We know what starvation does to a body: The belly becomes bloated. The face, gaunt. Arms and legs become rail thin. Our televisions show us how young children in regions like these suffer most. The impression on us in this land of plenty is lasting. It makes our hearts sad. Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be that hungry?

In the gospel today, we are faced with starving people. No, these people certainly weren't starving to death in a physical sense. They merely didn't have enough food to return home without collapsing on the way. To meet this physical need, Jesus was ready and willing to help them. He would soon take a few loaves of bread and some fish, and by His power as God, feed the entire crowd of four thousand men. I did say though, that this crowd was starving to death. In what way? They were spiritually starved in their souls--the very type of starvation that Jesus, the Bread of life, really came to cure. It’s a good thing too; we are also part of this spiritually starved crowd.

Spiritual starvation, what is it anyway? Spiritual starvation is not mere physical hunger evidenced by groaning bellies. Spiritual starvation is that of the heart. It is a hunger which gnaws at us even though we might enjoy three square meals a day. It is a hunger which pokes and prods at us, always reminding us that there is emptiness in the heart that no Big Mac can fill. It is starvation caused by sin which has infected our hearts since we were conceived. Sin starves us because it separates us from God, our Maker.

This is a problem. It is unnatural to be separated from one's maker. In a human sense, Moms and Dads are the makers of their children. The parent-child relationship is often a very strong one, and even grows as the children mature. We sons and daughters never stop relying on our parents, no matter our age. There is suffering when the relationship is severed by the actions of child or the parent.

God and man once had an inseparable bond. The good and holy God created good and holy Adam and Eve. Being without the sin, Adam and Eve's relationship with God their maker was perfect. But suddenly, the relationship was severed--not by God--but severed by the two disobedient children, Adam and Eve. They sinned against God by eating from the Tree of knowledge which he had commanded them not to eat from. With sin now in their hearts, they could no longer have the relationship that they had before. God was still holy and loved his children. But his children now hated him. They became spiritually starved as a result. The empty gnawing in OUR hearts is a reminder to us that sin too separates us from God our Maker. God has not changed. He still cares for us. But we don't trust him like Adam and Eve once did either.

In order to see how our lack of trust in God (spiritual starvation) plays out in the real world, let's take a look at moment in time in the history of the Israelites, just after God had parted the Red Sea and rescued them from slavery in Egypt.

Soon after God's mighty rescue, the Israelites found themselves wandering in the desert without food. They were hungry. The sun was hot on their necks. Their feet grew weary as they trudged over rough desert landscape. But they had just seen God do mighty things. He had sent ten plagues against Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let his people go. He split the Red Sea so that the Israelites, who were trapped between the water and the Egyptian chariots who were pursuing them, would have a path of escape. Escape they did, between water piled up like walls on either side. When the Egyptians tried to follow… the water crashed over them. The Egyptians were drowned. The Israelites were free. Why should they worry now about a little food in a barren place? God would provide!

If they did not have sin in their hearts they would not have worried at all. They would have had no doubt: "He just saved us from the Egyptians; he will surely provide for us out here in the desert!"  End of argument.

But they, like us, had sin in their hearts. Trouble came, and they doubted, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt!" they complained to Moses. "There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death" (Exodus 16:3). The fact that God, in his goodness and despite their complaints, did soon feed them anyway by sending bread (called manna) from Heaven, does not excuse their sinful doubts.

This is our spiritual problem too. Sin makes it impossible in this life NOT to doubt God, even for the believer. We doubt God's ability to care for us, even though each of us continually receives from God just what we need at just the right time. For instance, just before my second year at the Seminary, my son Tyler became sick. My wife Renee' had to quit her job to care for him. I thought I might have to drop out of the seminary to support my family. But God, seemingly out of nowhere, sent us support from family and from many caring Christians throughout this and other church bodies. He provided; He kept me in school. I learned a great deal about how God provides. Yet I also sadly learned again that he never provides enough to satisfy my doubts. "Yes, God, you may have filled my life with good things up until now, but what about today." We all must admit the same, I fear. Sins of doubt separate us from God just as much as any heinous crime does. Our souls waste away without him.

How is it then, that Jesus' miraculous feeding of four thousand hungry bellies cures our spiritual starvation? It is has everything to do with it. Jesus came into this world, not merely to give us loaves of bread. He is the Bread of life which came down from heaven like manna to feed our souls with what we needed most: forgiveness of our sins of doubt and all other sins too!

This is why God gathers us here each Sunday: to feed us with forgiveness. He doesn't gather us together here so that we have a chance to trumpet our ability to trust God when all others don't. He calls us here to acknowledge and repent of our sins, and to feed us with forgiveness in Jesus' name. Jesus, the Bread of Life feeds us, the spiritually hungry, with good things: forgiveness of all our sins; increased trust in his promises; eternal through faith in him. Today's lesson on the feeding of the four thousand teaches all of this. The Bread of Life comes not merely to fill physical hunger but our spiritual hunger.

Mark 8:1-3 describes the scene: "During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said 'I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.'" After the disciples questioned aloud how Jesus could possibly feed all these people in such a remote place, he asked them: "How many loaves do you have?" They answered: "Seven".

Jesus intends to feed all of these people; this is for sure! Yet he has only seven loaves of bread on hand and a few fish. How can this be? Well, it's quite simple actually. Jesus was God! After having the people sit down, he took the bread, gave thanks and had his disciples distribute it. He did the same with the fish. Everybody ate and was satisfied. Jesus, being God, had no problem feeding the people with seven loaves of bread. In fact when the disciples collected the broken pieces of bread into baskets, they came up with seven basketfuls, far more than what they started with!

Once again, how does this help the spiritual starvation of our souls? He worked this miracle before you--so that you would believe in him--not as someone who would simply fill their stomachs with bread--but a Savior who would fatten your souls with forgiveness. Jesus, our Bread of Life, came to be broken into pieces for you on the cross. Jesus, the true bread of life, came to die on the cross in the place of sinners, you and me, the spiritually hungry. His body was broken into pieces. But by his sacrifice for sins, God no longer your sins against you. He reconciled you to himself. This means your relationship with Him is restored once again! Through faith in Christ, you are his children again!

If you have any doubt that this is what Jesus came to do, listen to Jesus as he speaks to a man who had doubts too, even after witnessing the miracle: "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give you. I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never go thirsty. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6,26ff).

It's clear then! The Bread of Life came, first of all, to bring us eternal life! He who believes in him shall live forever! While we live in this world, he will continue to nourish us with forgiveness each and every day. This forgiveness he serves us through the Word of God, on which we feed at this instant. Our thirst for forgiveness is quenched by the waters of baptism. Forgiveness also comes to us in his body and blood in the bread and wine. "Take and eat; this is my body. Drink of it all of you; this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins." These, he serves not to fill our bellies, but to fill our souls! Surely, the Lord fills the hungry, the spiritually hungry, with good things!

Today, then, we can thank God for two things. One, God does provide for our physical needs. We see this as we watch the disciples hand out the miracle meal of bread and fish to the hungry, courtesy of Jesus. But most of all, He provides for our spiritual nourishment through Jesus, the Bread of Life: come from heaven; broken for sinners on the cross; made whole again through His Bodily Resurrection! He forgives the sin that gnaws at the bone of your souls--for all the times you don't trust God as you should. Isn't this forgiveness which we come here to enjoy each week so sweet to the taste? It makes you and I strong and confident that heaven is ours; it assures us that God does indeed provide for our every need in this life. How sweet it is to hungry souls like ours! Just imagine; this is only a sampling of the full-course meal which all of us shall, in a day coming soon, FOREVER enjoy in the banquet halls of heaven!