Looking over the texts appointed for today, the words of the Small Catechism kept flooding my mind where it says: that our heavenly Father “richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.” We see illustrated in the miraculous feeding of the four thousand, and five thousand and in our daily lives, but we also see this already in action at the very beginning of time. God takes His newly created man, created in His own image and likeness by means of His own hands and His own holy breath, and places him in the garden, which was especially created for him to work and keep. (We also see that God gives the gift of work even before the fall. Work is a good and godly thing, contrary to what many people tend to believe. But… that’s a different sermon.)
Anyway, God places His highest and most cherished creation in that garden and then tells him: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden.” Talk about providing! Every fruit of every tree was available for Adam to eat! Nothing was out of season. Nothing was stale or old or mushy or bruised. It was all fresh; as fresh as it could possibly be! Ripe for the picking! “All that I need to support this body and life.”
But… we know that there’s more to the story, isn’t there? “You may eat of any of this fruit… except for the fruit of that one single tree; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of that fruit you will surely die.”
We may be tempted to think “Okay… so God also provides a death trap? That doesn’t seem very loving. If God truly desires the death of no man, then why did God provide that tree? If He’s all-knowing, He had to have known they would eat and die. Why provide something that does not support, but rather destroys body and life?”
Folks: I don’t have the answers to those questions. God doesn’t tell us these things. That alone is a loving “stop sign.” Go no further. In the words of Deuteronomy: “The hidden things belong to God, and the revealed things belong to us.” God doesn’t tell you all you want to know, nor does He have to. He tells you all you need to know. Besides, I would caution anyone who dwells on these questions because these are questions of unbelief. “IF God truly desires the death of no man…. IF God is truly all-knowing….” Those questions are no different than the questions straight from Satan’s mouth in the temptations of Jesus: “IF you really are the Son of God, prove it. Turn these stones into bread. Throw yourself off this rooftop. Save yourself and come down off that cross.” God provides us with all that we need; not all that we want.
But focusing on all those “IF’s” is not only wrong, but it causes us to miss God’s good and loving providence staring us in the face. Just listen to what God Himself says to His beloved Adam in regards to that particular tree. “In the day that you eat of that fruit, you will surely die.” God IS providing for Adam! It’s as plain as the nose on your face. He’s providing all that Adam needs for this body and life, including (and especially) eternal life. It’s a loving warning. It’s not a threat. It’s a statement of reality. “Adam, if you eat this, you will die, and I don’t want this for you.”
Of course, we all know how that turned out, right? The problem wasn’t with God’s providence, was it? The problem was with man’s pride; with man’s doubt. Adam wasn’t content with all that he needed. He wasn’t getting all that he wanted. And look what happened. Man turned a deaf ear to God’s loving Word; Word that provided him all that he needed for his body and his life; and instead trusted his own eyes. As you may recall, Chapter 3 tells us that Adam and Eve looked at the fruit, and seeing what a delight it was to their eyes, they took it and ate.
What about you and me? Consider your own lives. I’ll ask, just like St. Paul, consider the fruits you get from your sinfulness: slavery to more sin, and death. Yet, we still long for these deadly fruits of fleshly temptation, even as we stand on this side of the cross. Why? Because they appeal to our Old Adam senses. Let’s face it: We have our wants and desires; our pride, and humility and suffering just isn’t on the preferred menu for us. It’s true, whether we want to admit it or not: We who have been justified and grafted into the Vine of Life that is Christ still in our hearts and minds tend to prefer the fruits of sin. It feels good. It makes us “happy.” Life just seems so much easier when we’re swimming downstream and going with the flow with everyone else; when all our “wants” are satisfied; when we don’t have all those pesky crosses to bear.
The end of all those fruits of sin and selfishness is death. Those earthly things don’t save you. Those sinful fruits and desires kill. They kill the body, but also faith and steal the free gift of God away, “for the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Look to this cross; this tree. Looking to the cross of Christ we see both the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as well as the tree of life. In terms of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, by faith we look to this tree of the cross and we see just how truly deadly our sin is. Our sin isn’t just a malady or an imperfection. Our sin isn’t something we can somehow overcome if we just buckle down and try harder. Our sin is evil. It is death, and we are dead in our sin. DEAD! Since the fall, we are by nature corpses of sin. Dead men tell no tales, and dead men also can do nothing for themselves. They certainly can’t make themselves any less dead!
Look to the cross of Jesus Christ and also see and learn how God lovingly provides. Here is just how serious and deadly your sin really is, yes, but that is precisely why God Himself took on flesh; for the sole purpose of taking that flesh to the cross to suffer and die; to pay your wage of sin in full. And He did just that, paying that wage in full with His own holy and precious blood. That’s why in faith we refer to this event as “Good Friday.” It is God’s holy and righteous “good” that puts to death our sinful evil, paid in full by our good and gracious God. And in this way, looking to this cross we also in faith behold our tree of Life; our very good tree of life. All that we need for this body and life indeed!
Let us no more be like Adam and Eve and look at temptation as that which is pleasing, but instead as repentant and absolved by the blood of Jesus but on the new Adam made by the spirit in Jesus Christ, who is Adam’s fulfillment. Let us behold in wonder and joy that which God has provided to satisfy and is truly pleasing to God and for our good. Look to the baptismal font. Look to this altar. Here is where God Himself nourishes you with the life-saving, life-giving fruits of the wretched yet holy tree of the cross of Christ. God brings His victory over sin, death, and the grave to you! Here is where He grafts you into the Vine of Life that is Christ. Here is where He nourishes you with the fruit of the vine; His very blood. Here is where He nourishes you with the fruit of His bounty; the Bread of Life Himself. Here is where He freely and unconditionally gives to you the gift of eternal life in Christ by the forgiveness of your sins. No longer slaves of sin leading to death, but now slaves of righteousness leading to eternal life, freedom, and peace.
In this light, I have to ask: What more do you need? What more do you want? Seek first the kingdom (the reign and rule of God), and all these things will be added to you.” All that I need for this body and life.
You belong to Christ. No matter what this world throws at you; no matter how bad things may get or things may seem, you belong to Christ, and no one and nothing can ever take that away from you. The most important thing you need God gives to you freely and unconditionally, purely out of His good grace and love in Jesus Christ, and He continues to provide so that you live and grow in faith and understanding, in His Word, from this pulpit, from the Bible, from the font, the altar, and as we speak this Word to each other as fellow redeemed. In just a few minutes, when you leave this communion rail and leave the doors of this church building, you will have the Body and Blood of Christ within you and the message of God’s love and provision ringing in your ears. Your Lord will dismiss you with His Gospel promise and blessing; His benediction of peace. I pray that you eat that which He blesses with His presence and places into your mouth. I pray that you hear, mark, learn, and inwardly-digest all that He richly provides, and I pray you are truly satisfied/contented with His life-giving, life-preserving satisfaction as He truly provides all that you and I need for this body and life which have now received the promise of immortality through Jesus Christ, our God provided, Redeemer, Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas