Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is the Holy Gospel reading which has already been read.

Dear friends in Christ, Jesus and His disciples went up on a mountainside to rest, but lo and behold, He looked up to find a group of five thousand men, plus lots of women and children following. Perhaps there were about fifteen thousand people that day. Maybe even twenty thousand. At any rate, the crowd followed Jesus because they had seen Him perform miraculous signs on the sick. They wanted to see even more miracles from this wonder-worker. Even though they were just following Jesus to get something out of Him-miracles-He had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were in the middle of nowhere at dinnertime with nothing to eat.

So Jesus asks Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" Philip fails the test. The correct answer would have been the standard Sunday School answer: "Jesus." But Philip doesn't even consider that the solution might be standing there in front of him. He does the math, and concludes that the situation is hopeless. In today's terms, you would need about 1700 loaves of bread and 5000 pounds of fish to feed the crowd, which no working man could afford with even 8 months' wages. Philip saw that they had neither money nor a place to purchase food, so he concluded that things were hopeless.

Likewise, Andrew couldn't see any solution. He found a boy with five loaves of bread and two small fish, but then with despair asks, "How far will they go among so many?"

But Jesus wasn't worried. He knew all along what He was going to do. He is the Lord, the Good Shepherd, so He makes His sheep lie down in the green grass, takes bread, gives thanks, and distributes it to them-as much as they wanted. Afterward, 12 baskets were leftover-the people couldn't have wanted for anything more. "The Lord is My shepherd, I shall not want."

And the people were impressed. They had come seeking a miracle and had gotten one-and they wanted more. They began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." The Jews were expecting a prophet to come along because the Lord had promised one in Deuteronomy, over 1400 years earlier. God promised that He would raise up a prophet like Moses from among the people to speak the Word of the Lord. And since God had given manna to Israel through Moses, perhaps this Jesus who multiplied the loaves also was God's Prophet. And in fact, in Acts 3:22, Peter specifically identifies Jesus as that Prophet. So the crowd had come up with the right title for Jesus, but they didn't understand what kind of prophet He was. Our text says that Jesus knew that they intended to come and make Him king by force, so He withdrew again to a mountain by Himself.

See, once the crowds saw Jesus perform some great signs-such as healing the sick and feeding twenty thousand people-then they concluded that Jesus would be the powerful leader who would restore Israel to its former glory and put a chicken in every pot. As Moses had led the people out of slavery and had given them manna from heaven, the people now thought Jesus would be the promised Prophet who would use His power to release the Jews from Roman oppression and feed them as much bread and fish as they wanted as long as they wanted it. You might even say that these people were part of the "bread and circuses crowd." Let me explain.

"Bread and circuses" was a tactic employed by ancient Roman politicians to get the votes of poor Romans. The provided free food and entertainment, "bread and circuses," in order to make the masses happy and ensure their political support. The theory was that if you can keep people full and occupied, they'll go along with your programs; they'll be content and distracted. If you've ever seen the movie Gladiator, there is a scene where the crowds are being showered with bread as the gladiators enter the ring. The Roman satirical poet Juvenal lamented how Roman citizens had once been interested in the governance of Rome, but now all they cared about was food and entertainment, "bread and circuses." Some observers of American culture have noticed a similar trend: if people have plenty to eat and drink, and a 24/7 source of entertainment on their TVs, radios, iPods, and computers, they aren't terribly interested in political involvement, or in community and church involvement, either. The "bread and circus crowd" just wants to be full and have fun, all the while blissfully unaware that they are merely slaves of the rulers who fulfill their desires.

Well after Jesus had done all those miracles and produced an incredible free meal, the crowd wanted Jesus to be their bread and circuses King-their full-service fulfiller of all their desires. But let's apply this to us today? Is that the kind of Jesus you're looking for? Do you want a Jesus who will swoop down and solve all of your day-to-day problems? Who will heal all of your sicknesses, and give you perfect happiness? Who will give you all the money and power and sumptuous food you could desire? Who will give you your best life now? Wouldn't a Jesus like that be great to have around?

Repent. Jesus would have nothing to do with the crowd's desire to make Him a bread and circuses King. He withdrew from them and headed for the mountains. Likewise, when we view Jesus as someone who is just there to give us what we want, when we want it, we also make Him into nothing but a bread and circuses King. When we think that Jesus is just there to be a full-service fulfiller of all of our desires, then we have lost the true Jesus.

A little later in John chapter 6, the crowd tracks down Jesus again, because they still want to make Him their bread and circuses King. Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves" (John 6:26). In other words, they sought Jesus because He had filled their bellies, not because they recognized from the signs that He was the Messiah, the Savior of the world who had come to set them free from sin, death, and the devil.

Jesus did not come to enslave us with bread and circuses, but to liberate us from our greatest enemies. So He didn't see, "Come to me to get all of your earthly desires fulfilled." Rather, He said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matt 6:33) and everything else that we need after that will be provided. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then we will be liberated from the condemnation for our sins and the enslaving lust for temporary happiness. And where do we find the kingdom of God and His righteousness?

St. John writes, "So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull…There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." (John19:16-19)

On the cross-that's where Jesus shows what kind of King He is. He withdrew to Mt. Calvary all by Himself and became a King of suffering love, earning righteousness and salvation for you. God the Father made His Son a King by placing Him on the cross to suffer and die for the sins of the people. The people never could have made Jesus a King by force. Rather, He became our King by the opposite of force-by giving His life as a ransom for all. He prepared a place for us in the Kingdom of God and earned righteousness for us when He poured out His holy, sacrificial blood. He conquered death, and on the third day rose from the grave, never to die again-and He will always be our King.

Now, He won't be our bread and circuses King, to fulfill all of our temporary earthly desires; that would just put us back in slavery to our appetites, to the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. But Jesus does promise to provide all of our earthly needs and He desires to be our Bread of Life King, to fulfill all of our eternal needs. And amazingly, Jesus uses bread and wine to do this. Right before He died, King Jesus showed His disciples where they could dine at the royal banquet, under His gracious care: "On the night when He was betrayed, Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: "Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me." In the same way also he took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

Jesus died on the cross not to be a bread and circuses King, but to become a Bread of Life King, a bread and wine King, a body and blood King-the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep and continually feeds them with His very body, which was given into death for sin, and His very blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins. And in our Gospel reading we see a glimpse of Christ's desire to feed His sheep. In the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and distributed it in a miraculous way. He showed that He can provide for His sheep in superabundance. In the institution of the Lord's Supper, Jesus taught the Church that His desire was to feed His people with His own body and blood under the bread and wine, abundantly distributing to them the forgiveness of sins.

In the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus performed a miracle that is beyond our ability to fathom; He does the same thing in the Lord's Supper, in which He can simultaneously feed far more than five thousand people with His own flesh and blood. Indeed, this very Sunday throughout the world, He feeds millions of other Christians with His precious body and blood.

So Jesus is our Bread of Life King, our Bread and Wine King-our Body and Blood King. We live because the Bread of Life died for us. He said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh" (John 6:51). He gave that flesh on the cross for the life of the world, so that we may live, and He promises: "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:54).

Jesus certainly provides us with our daily bread, but more importantly, He gives us eternal Bread through His holy Word and Sacraments. So greet [or look forward to greeting (non-Communion service)] your Bread and Wine King at this altar, where He gives you His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins, life, and eternal salvation. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.