Lest We Forget

LEST WE FORGET
MARK 8:1-9

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

In the name of Jesus:
Lest we Forget is a phrase, first made popular in a poem by Rudyard Kipling. The phrase is found in the refrain of Kipling’s poem called “Recessional”. In the poem, Kipling warns about self-confidence, where a nation would become so full of pride or self-confidence that they would forget where they came from and thus suffer a decline as a nation.
More recently, “Lest we forget” has become a popular slogan for the Prisoner of War/ Missing in Action campaign. The phrase reminds us to remember not just the sacrifices of the military as a whole but the ultimate sacrifice made by those who have been lost in battle or captured by the enemy. “Lest we Forget” has become a rallying cry of sorts after the Korean and Vietnam wars, so that we as a nation never forget those who are MIA or POW’s and that we continue to strive to bring them home to our country.
Lest we forget should serve as the rallying cry for the Christian Church, because in spite of the many blessings that God bestows on His children, we who are followers of Christ soon forget those blessings. And even today, as we gather around God’s Word and Sacrament, we come as a people who have, at times, forgotten God’s mercy and compassion to us in Christ. But God still has compassion on us in Christ, He forgives, renews, and strengthens, so that we might not forget His mercies but continue to trust in Christ, and show that faith in our daily lives.
Note our text: In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.” Did you catch that? Again a great crowd gathered. This has happened before! In fact, it happened four pages ago, in Mark 7 where we see that a great crowd gathered at that time, and Jesus at that time had compassion on the people and fed 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fish.
Here we are, some time later, and the same thing happens, a great crowd gathers and they had nothing to eat. Mark records that Jesus, seeing the crowd, and knowing their needs (because He is the Son of God in human flesh) has compassion on them. Compassion, Jesus felt compassion, a feeling in your gut where you are moved to action out of love and concern for another. And so Jesus, in compassion, acts.
In the feeding of the 5000, Jesus tells His disciples to give them something to eat. The disciples ask the first time where are we going to get something to eat for all these people? Knowing the situation Jesus at this time in the feeding of the 4000, Jesus simply states the problem: “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” What a set up! Surely the disciples will remember what happened last time. Won’t they? Certainly they will remember who is with them! Or will they? How we forget! For the disciples say to Jesus: “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” They say to Jesus: “What can WE do? How easily they forgot who Jesus is and what Jesus had done for them in the past!
So note what Jesus does: He takes what is available and blesses it. And the people were fed! Listen: “And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.”
The people were fed. They were satisfied. Their needs were met, the hunger pangs were quelled and they had no more need to be fed. Having been fed once again there were leftovers! Over seven baskets of leftovers were collected. And the Scriptures state that they went on their way. Did they remember what happened? What would be their response when trouble would arise again?
Dear friends, how easily we forget the mercies of the Lord! The Bible says: Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever!” God is always merciful and gracious, even to us, and yet, sadly, we forget God’s mercies and grace. When push comes to shove, and when you have needs or are faced with troubling issues in your lives, how do you respond? God has promised to take care of you. Do you remember that, or do you easily forget?
How many times have you worried about your physical needs: will you have enough to live on; can you make ends meet; who will take care of you when you are in need of care; will your children be provided for; what about your health; your friends; what is it that you have fretted about, worried about, what has caused you a sleepless night or two? What is it that your have worried about?
Hasn’t the Lord promised to take care of you? Hasn’t He helped you in the past? Your help has come in the name of the Lord? He has given to you what you need. He has richly and daily provided for all that you have needed to support your body and life. How easily you have forgotten how much the Lord loves you and how much He cares for you. He has never failed you, but you have failed to remember that the Lord your God is good and gracious and that He has been faithful to His promises to you. Your sinful heart has accepted God’s gifts, but has failed to thank Him. You have accepted help from the Lord but sadly, when faced with new challenges and difficulties; you easily forget God and His grace.
Freely you have received mercy from God. But how often as sinners do we fail to show it to others! God has forgiven in Christ and yet we find it within our power to hold a grudge, to withhold forgiveness to someone who has wronged us, and we even seek to pay back evil for evil. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, but we would rather take maters into our own hands instead of trusting in the Lord to work all things out for us.
You see, time and again the Lord continues to provide for you and His children. But how easily we forget His mercies! Rather than thanking God we run from Him to the pleasures of this world. All too often we despise the Lord, His Word, and His gifts.
But Christ has compassion. On you and for you! Even as He had fed the 5000, and then again the 4000, so also He feeds you today with His Body and Blood. Come and taste and see once again that the Lord is good! His mercy lasts forever! His forgiveness is for sinners! For Jesus became sin for you, enduring the cross, paying the price for your life by giving His life unto death on the cross. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ! (Romans 6:23). Jesus is the Good Shepherd of the sheep. He as the Good Shepherd laid down His life for you! He has called you by name in the waters of your Baptism. You do not belong to yourself, or the sinful world. You belong to God!
See what God continues to do for you today! He feeds and cares for you. Jesus says that He is the bread of life, and this bread, which nourishes to eternal life, is given freely this day in His Word and Sacrament. His Word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. Jesus comes in, with, and under the bread and wine to give you Himself, so that your sins are forgiven and that your soul is fed. Jesus sees your sins and in compassion forgives you your sins in this Sacrament. He feeds you with Himself so that you can once again taste and see that the Lord is good and that His mercy endures forever. Jesus bids you to come to this altar, to take and eat and take and drink His true body and blood in remembrance of Him. He is really present and in your partaking of this Meal Jesus calls to your remembrance the price He paid for your salvation: nothing else but His body and blood which is given to you in this Sacrament. Come to the Lord this day you who labor and are heavy laden with sin, for in Christ there is forgiveness of your sins. Here God meets your greatest need, for where there is forgiveness of sin, and then there is life and salvation.
Luther said to God’s people in his day on preaching on this text (and his words are poignant for you and me today): “The lesson is that we get our priorities straight and make the searching of God’s Word our first priority. We have a generous Lord, who is concerned about all of our need and in whom we should therefore trust to provide everything that is essential. Even though at times it may seem to us that we are lacking in necessities, he will always take care of us so long as we diligently hear His Word, believe it, and live a life that is pleasing to God. For when Christ is our provider, there will always be an abundance of everything, even when there is nothing, as we clearly see from this Gospel lesson…. We should burn this lesson into our memories so that we may learn to believe that, regardless how poor we may be, if we faithfully and diligently cling to God’s promises, our Lord Christ will still provide us with food and nourishment” (Complete Works of Martin Luther Vol 6: 333ff).
Jesus frequently said: He who has ears to hear, let him hear! And how we need to hear this lesson, remember it, and believe it today! The news is filled with reports of another down turn in the economy, as if there was ever an upturn in the economy! Yes, the economy today is not doing well. People still don’t have jobs; many are struggling to make ends meet. But God reminds you and me today in this passage that He loves us with an everlasting love. Rather than worry and be anxious over things that we need, He reminds us in the feeding of the 4000 and 5000 of His compassion for sinners. Christ will provide. So turn from your worry, repent of your sins, and do not forget that Christ loves you and will continue to take care of you. Make the Lord and His Word your first love and priority! Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and then all these things will be added to you.
Amen