2021-08-01 – Year B – Proper 13 – The Rev. Canon Christopher M. Klukas
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15; Psalm 78:14-26v; Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35
- Feeling the need to go to the grocery store.
God’s Provision in the Wilderness
- When God’s people departed from Egypt, they took as many supplies as they could (Exodus 12:37-39).
- There is no grocery store in the wilderness! They were now a month and a half into their journey (Exodus 16:1) and they were running low on food.
- What did they do? Grumble (v. 3). Can you blame them?
- What did the Lord do? He provided abundantly. Quail that evening and daily provision of manna thereafter for the rest of their 40-year journey.
- God designed the Manna to last for only one day (or two on the morning before the Sabbath).
- God’s intention, over time, was to teach them to remember and rely on him daily for all of their needs.
- Have you ever felt concerned about running low on things you need? What do you do?
- Grumbling is our natural response. Perhaps anxious feelings or scrambling and striving for solutions as well.
- The Lord invites us to open our hands and ask.
- Our father who art in heaven…give us this day our daily bread.
- God has limitless resources and he delights to bless his children with what they need. Matthew 7:9–11.
- Remember God’s provision for you in the past. Remember the stories in the Scriptures about his provision. You can trust him!
God’s Provision for our Church
- I thought today might be a good day to update you on our church finances.
- Through the end of June, we have a positive cash flow of $1,994.66. This is something to celebrate!
- The last few years we have had a negative cash flow at this point in the year and we have ended the last few years with a deficit.
- Last year could have been a financial disaster, but the Lord provided for us through a Payroll Protection loan which has now been forgiven.
- The vestry has had to make some tough choices, including cutting back on staff hours, but it seems that we are now living within the means of the Lord’s provision.
- God is providing for us! Of course he would! You can add this to your list of stories of God’s provision.
- Thank you all for your continued financial support of our church. You all are the chief means of God’s provision to allow Good Samaritan to carry out our mission.
- Current needs:
- Music Minister | Volunteers for office and tech team
- Please join us in praying for the Lord to meet these needs.
Hunger for the Bread of Life
- Before we conclude, we need to take a look at one other way that God provides.
- The Gospel lesson today follows the feeding of the five thousand in John’s Gospel.
- Through that miracle, Jesus demonstrated that he was capable of doing something only God can do: providing bread for his people in the wilderness!
- On the next day, the crowd found him on the other side of the Sea of Galilee in the town of Capernaum. They were eager for more!
- Jesus responds to this crowd in John 6:24.
- He continues with an important instruction in v. 25.
- There is something more important than bread!
- After a bit more conversation, Jesus reveals that he himself is the bread of life (v. 35).
- When we work for the food that perishes, we are living for today. We need this food to sustain our bodies. Without it we will get hungry and eventually die.
- But the hunger we have for food points to a deeper, spiritual hunger.
- Not everyone is aware of this hunger, but everyone has it.
- If we are not aware of this hunger, we will misinterpret it and try to fulfill it with the wrong things.
- Only Jesus can satisfy this deep hunger—only Jesus is the bread of life.
- So do not live for your daily bread. Eat it and give thanks to the one who provides it, but do not live for it.
- Rather, live for the bread of life who can satisfy the deepest longings of your heart.