Focus on these words of our Lord in our text. "I have compassion on the crowd." He speaks them to you, today.

Last week was kind of a tough message to hear. It described what we are as Christians. It said all that we were created to be. As St. Paul had said last week in our Epistle lesson, we have died to sin, we no longer live in it. Improper anger, slander, and being unwilling to forgive and forget are the behaviors and attitudes that have died when we became Christian. It's something Christians don't do.

But we recognize we do them. We recognize that although we have died to them, and that it is an impossibility for us to do these as Christians, as sinners we engage in these behaviors all the time. We hate it about ourselves. We hate it even more when these failures are brought out for us to see. But we also know we can turn to our Lord and know that out of His grace and mercy He has paid the penalty for our failures and our rebellions. So, it's all good. But it was still painful, because we would like to think we just keep growing and maturing as Christians, and we are shown we aren't.

So, that was a tough message. A good one, because it was one from the Lord, but tough all the same. Today, the Lord knew we needed a message of comfort. It wasn't just because of the sermon last week. We need Him to bind up the wounds of our congregation. We need Him to look at us, just as He had done at that great crowd of 4,000 people gathered in the wilderness, and have compassion on us.

You know why this is. This week we got the letter. The only ones who wouldn't know what the letter is, are those who are guests. Otherwise, anyone who is a part of this congregation, knows about the letter. As the letter said, just as it has been a difficult time for my family, it has been a difficult time for our congregation.

Our Lord's timing is impeccable. Last week's text was perfect for our situation because it told us as Christians--we do by nature, that is our new nature--what the letter said we would need to do for healing. When we don't--also just like the letter said--it would make us more reliant on His mercy.

So, this week He shows that mercy abundantly. He gives generous gifts of life. That's what He had been doing with the crowds for 3 days. He had been giving them words, words of life, gifts of life. But after He was done, He looked at them, saw their rumbling tummies and had pity on them. After joyfully meeting their spiritual needs, He just as joyfully met the needs of their bodies. This is what He does, especially for His people. That's the basic message of today's text.

Just as St. Paul had done, I address you as God's people. You are His people because He has made you His--and yet, not just His people--but His sons. You are called "sons," because you are dressed in the Son. This is by virtue of your baptism. As St. Paul had said in his letter to the churches in the region of Galatia, "For you are all sons of God through the faith in Christ Jesus, for just as many of you who were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ."

Follow this simple logic. If you are dressed in Christ, then you are seen as Christ. Since Christ is the Son of God, you are seen as Him. You are a son of God. That title comes with special privileges. It comes with the assurance that He will supply all you need, which He gladly does. As sons of God, you can expect this.

But expecting Him to supply all our needs, looking to Him, and relying on His mercy doesn't just come. As sons of God it would, but we are not just sons of God. We are sinners also, and we struggle with that.

By our sinful nature, we want to think we can do it all. That's all fine, when everything we need is visible. We can feel like we are supplying it, or even say to ourselves God is supplying it, when everything is comfortable. We can quite confidently say, "God will supply everything I need, as long as we are getting what we think we need.

As soon as things become scarce, though, all bets are off. We quickly revert to worry and fear. As soon as the Lord holds back a little bit, and things don't go the way we think they should, then we question His wisdom and His care. When these things happen, our sinful nature takes advantage of the situation and questions how well He cares for us.

Sitting there in the wilderness for three days and not seeing any food had to be a bit of a test. It was a bit of a test for the Israelites right after they left Egypt and saw no source for food or water. The Lord said He would cause bread to rain down on them and He actually brought water from a rock, but they had to rely on Him to do that. They had to trust that He would act as their heavenly Father just as He had said He was.

So, did the folks that Jesus fed. They saw no food, and when 7 loaves of bread and a few fish were brought forward they probably would not have thought to themselves, "Ahh, here comes our meal." It would seem to be about as good as having nothing. But it was exactly what fed them. The Lord multiplied the fish and the bread and all were fed and some was even left over. The Lord saw what they needed, had compassion on them and supplied it.

Now, this miracle is not to be confused with the feeding of the 5,000. The details were different. A lot of you will probably remember what we had said about this miracle last year.

That's the advantage of following the one-year series. It was only one year ago that we had witnessed this miracle, and therefore only one year ago that we had talked about it, seeking to see what was being said to us in it.

If you recall, 4,000-plus were fed. They started with 7 loaves and a few fish and ended with 7 baskets left over. In the other miracle, 5, 000 plus were fed. They started out with 5 loaves and 2 fish, and when they were done, 12 baskets were left over. Now, if you recall, we had pointed out what was going on here between these two groups. Consider these details again. The group we are looking at today is a smaller group than the 5,000. Logically, smaller groups eat less than larger groups, right? But they had less left over. They had only 7 baskets left over, whereas the larger group had 12. So, the larger group ate less. Not only that, today's group, the smaller group, started with more food, whereas the larger group had less at the start. So, with a smaller group, more food to start with, and less left over, you can see they clearly ate more than the larger group. They were hungry, in fact hungrier than the 5,000.

Their hunger was for the Lord's gifts. They focused on His Word. They saw their need, not merely for food but for salvation. They focused on His kingdom, His gracious reign over them, His people. They focused on the righteousness He gives them by His mercy. As they meditated on His mercy, they also saw their unworthiness. They saw how they didn't deserve His generosity. As they did all this, they grew hungrier and hungrier for whatever it was He would give them. As they meditated on their need and His joy at supplying their need, they grew--not stronger but weaker and therefore more dependent. They grew by seeing their weakness. Their faith grew because their dependence grew. They grew hungrier.

And so we control how merciful we see Him to be. No, we don't control how merciful He is. He has already shown mercy in Christ. He is already generous. But He could be doing all this and we may never recognize it. Food never tastes better than when you are hungry.

That's the point of that line in the letter. Adversity will make us a stronger congregation by making us more reliant on His mercy. We will grow stronger as we see we are weak, and as we help each other see we are weak. As we each take a look and consider what we may have done which has contributed to where we are now as a congregation, we are given a golden opportunity to see just how weak we are.

I'll be the first to admit. I made a lot of mistakes. As I had said back in Feb. I neglected what should not have been neglected. I treated as small, matters which apparently weren't to others.

I still make mistakes. I still sin. Pride still gets in the way of what I should do. My desire to look intelligent or witty, gets me to say things I wish I hadn't; things that can hurt other people, plus all the other ways I hurt people. God forbid that I should deny that I do sin. If I were to get to that point, then what's the point of Jesus' payment? Like I heard it said, "If I can continue to not sin, I'll put Jesus out of business." What need is there of a Savior from the penalty of sin, if I commit no sin? Thank God, the Holy Spirit keeps me aware of my sin. Like it is for you, though, it's painful. I'm not happy to see my sin. Who is? Thank God, though, He has more forgiveness than I have sin.

That's where He wants each of us to be. He wants us to be hungry for His mercy and forgiveness. He wants us to be like those crowds in the wilderness who hungrily grabbed at His words of life. When we do, then we will know His goodness. When we seek His kingdom and His gifts of righteousness first, when we see how eager He is to give us all of this, then we will find He will supply all of our material needs as well.

And that's what He wants us to know today. He will not leave us without. He will supply all of our needs, and that includes our material needs. The Lord put Adam in the garden to work it and keep it. The Lord was already showing His recognition that we have bodies and bodily needs, and He was going to provide for them.

We are taught the same thing in the 4th petition. Give us this day our daily bread. God provides daily bread, even without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that we recognize it and receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. He supplies. We just need to see it.

Will He supply what our congregation needs? Absolutely. He is right now. He is giving us the words of life. He is directing us to His Son's sacrificial death so we can see we have been reconciled to Him. By His Son's death, the penalty for sin was paid. By our baptism, the payment was applied to us, and then we were clothed in Him. We are seen as sons. If we are sons, then we can expect Him to take care of us, because that's what you get when you are a son.

AMEN