"Every good gift is already yours in the seemingly ordinary" Laetare 2025

30. March 2025

Lent 4

John 6:1-14

And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled […]Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world” (Jn 6:11–14).

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Jesus does a most extraordinary thing today. He takes loaves and fish and multiplies them for all five thousand men, women, and children to receive as much as they want. He creates abundance out of scarcity. Hungry bellies are filled. These are things that make for joy! Truly, the Prophet has come into the world!

By the prophet, we think of Moses, who fed the multitude daily in the wilderness with manna in the morning and quail by evening every day for forty years, excepting on the sixth day when a double portion was given so that the people might rest in the Word on the seventh day, the Sabbath. By the prophet, we think of Elijah and the widow and her son at Zarephath. Even amid a terrible famine of judgment, the household jar of flour and jug of oil never ran out until God gave rain to Israel again.

Jesus is doing the prophet's job again. And again, He’s drawing your attention to the giver of every good gift, God the Father. It was never about Moses or Elijah. And even Jesus doesn’t glory in Himself but He glorifies His Father. The miracle of the five thousand, like those miracle signs before and those that will come until the ultimate sign of suffering, cross, death, and resurrection, shows you who your God is. You are given to see the length, width, depth, and height of God’s love for you, revealed in Jesus Christ, His Son and our LORD.

But as with miracles, there are challenges. They’re unbelievable and extraordinary and point to a reality that can be received in faith. This is probably why we hope for miracles, but we don’t always pray for them, at least not directly. Yes, we want the cancer gone, but the best we hope for is remission. We want the demon-possessed black mirror on the wall to stop telling us what to think and say and do, but what will we do for amusement and distractions? We want to live content and be satisfied with what God gives, but the needs are too large and debt insurmountable.

Obviously, we need miracles—healing, deliverance, and bread. We hear the stories of patriarchs, prophets, and kings but can’t believe that God could or even would do the same for us. Our puny idols have taken over our hearts, allowing our reasons and emotions to govern us. The gods of our age tell us there are no miracles except the ones we make, towers, technology, and all we do as man over nature. We can overcome poverty with hard work, food scarcity with bioengineering, disease with pharmaceuticals, ignorance with large language models, and even death with longevity schemes.

Human ingenuity and innovation can improve our lives. But they’re quite ordinary. From wheels, to fire, and to metal working, we’ve been using our talents to co-create means to continue to have dominion over creation. Maybe thirty years ago you couldn’t imagine a supercomputer in your pocket or purse, but some men did and made it happen. None of what we have done, even the most impressive feats of science and technology, are miraculous. They’re believable, ordinary, and don’t take faith.

Even though innovation and creativity are impressive, God has given us these gifts and even the way we put those gifts to good use. It is the ordinary course of human history, witnessed within and without the Scriptures. Poverty is overcome through hard work and frugality. Diseases are treated with medicine. Knowledge is given through disciplined teaching. Hungry bellies are satisfied in normal and boring ways, as evidenced by malnutrition worldwide being at its lowest level ever. What we’re concerned with today are the miracles that cannot come by our effort or strength, that are extraordinary, and thus are acknowledged and received by faith in Jesus because these are things that give us joy. Laetare!

John the Baptist rejoiced when Jesus, the bridegroom, arrived. This friend of the bridegroom prepared the people by Word and faith for the most extraordinary thing. Jesus is the one “who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all” (Jn 3:31). As John testifies, his joy is fulfilled because Jesus gives faith, life and salvation. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (Jn 3:36).

Jesus teaches us that nothing we do is as ordinary as we think when it is done in His Word and in faith in His Name. He proclaims that without Him, we can do nothing! “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (Jn 15:7–8). Jesus testifies that all that can be and is done according to His Word is possible, even if it seems impossible. We live in Him and He lives in us. And more than that, when we seek His Word and pray confident in His promises, Jesus gives us joy. He promises, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (Jn 15:11).

He even takes His disciple's sorrow over his suffering and death and turns it into joy by His resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand. All the ordinary things of life are turned into extraordinary joy, now by faith and finally by sight. Again, He promises, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). Joy comes when He drags us out of this world of sin and death into the new world of righteousness and life. And sometimes, like with Moses and Elijah, Jesus gives us a taste of that eternity now.

Without a Word proclaimed, you’d never see ordinary things as extraordinary signs. Economic crisis averted. Boring. Hungry people are satisfied. Normal. Disease healed. Ordinary. But even these small things can testify to the great miracles already yours by faith for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Hunger and thirst for righteousness satisfied. Extraordinary! Death overcome. A miracle! Resurrection and eternal life are yours in Jesus, your greatest treasure! Joy.

Every good gift is already yours in the seemingly ordinary, but most extraordinary gifts of His Word preached, forgiving sins, overcoming unbelief and death, and giving life and salvation now. All in Proclamation attached to Pulpit, Baptism, Absolution, and Supper. What you see in the church seem to be ordinary signs, but with God’s Word, they’re the most extraordinary gifts, giving the greatest good.

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School - Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin