Feeding of 4000 in the wilderness

Like the 4000 who embraced Jesus' teaching and followed him wherever he led, so have we embraced him and followed him. And we, also like them, find ourselves in the wilderness of life's woes and pains and sorrows. (Just now we learned, for instance, of mass killings in El Paso and in Dayton, wilderness events). But it is in the wilderness that he feeds us, against all reason and rationality; he commands us to sit here (it is the Third Commandment), and he gives us a morsel of bread, his own Body. And hereby he gives us forgiveness, life, and salvation, and teaches us not to fear. Sermon for Trinity VII.