Sermon for Laetare, 2026
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Here we are, Beloved, with the multitude; here we are, sitting among them in the wilderness. We are that multitude who have gone farther than we intended and remained longer than we expected. We are that multitude whose eyes and ears have been fixed upon Him, that multitude who has followed Him with empty hands. We are the multitude in the wilderness. Want and scarcity surround us, and we wonder about provision, for there are hungers that cannot be quieted by our own strength, needs that cannot be answered through our own efforts, burdens that remain even after all our reckoning, measuring, and weighing have run their course.
Even so, like that multitude in the wilderness, our eyes are ever toward Him. For when the starkness of the wilderness becomes plain, when need and lack press in and expose our dependence, there is little else to do except look to the One who stands among us. The eyes of all look to Him, and He gives them their food in due season. And so we sit here, with them, in the wilderness: again, with nothing in our hands, with nothing we can do to answer our own hunger; yet with our eyes fixed on Him.
And we wait.
We wait as they waited there upon the grass while Christ stood before them with the answer to their hunger already in mind. Here, in this place, we rest in the grass at His word, as the Shepherd gathers His flock and prepares for us what we cannot prepare for ourselves, restoring us who have grown weary along the way. The wilderness remains before us; even so, our eyes are turned toward the One who sees us before we speak and who knows what we need before we ask. For Christ sees His people. He sees their need. He sees their weariness. So He takes bread. He gives thanks. And from His hands the bread—which is His Body—is given and distributed among His people, until those who came with empty hands receive what the Lord Himself provides.
Readings:
Old Testament: Exodus 16:2-21
Epistle: Galatians 4:21-31
Holy Gospel: John 6:1-15
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