Well, wonderful things
have been happening in and around London, Team GB have been defying expectations,
but something far more wonderful will happen here this
morning. Instead of a world which says
it’s what you achieve that’s important, we are told by God that it’s
what you believe
that really matters. It sounds strange, many people will think that I am mad
for saying it, but Olympic glory will fade, others will be faster and stronger.
What we are to strive for is a glory which is more than gold or silver: the
glory of heaven, the joy of eternal life in God, and of believing in him, and
doing his work in the world.
In this morning’s Gospel, we see people who have been fed in
the miraculous feeding, the feeding of the five thousand, following Jesus
around. Perhaps they’re hoping for another free lunch? They haven’t seen the
signs; they haven’t understood what’s going on. Jesus feeds people not as a
combination of magic trick and mass catering, but as a sign of God’s generous
love. That God loves us, you and me, all of us, so much, that he longs to feed
us with himself, that he gives himself to be tortured and die on the Cross for
us, to show us that he loves us.
Jesus wants us to believe in him, to trust in him, to be fed
by him, with him, the Word of god made flesh, to be fed by word and sacrament,
to be strengthened to run our race, and to live out that faith in the world
around us. Jesus is the true bread come down from heaven which satisfies our
spiritual hunger in a way which the world: success, money, possessions, what we
have and what we do, cannot. He is the living water which satisfies the thirst
of our souls. If we believe in Him, and in Him alone, we will never be thirsty.
He gives us not what we want, but what we need: a love, a true love which gives
meaning to human love, and to all of human existence. If we trust in God, and
live our lives according to his will, loving God and each other, with faith in
him alone, we can be victorious, and win a prize far greater than a medal of gold
or silver, we can win a reward which lasts far longer than human praise or
glory: the crown of eternal life and the glory of heaven. So let us be fed by him,
with him, nourished by word and sacrament, let us believe in him, let us love Him
and one another, and live lives which proclaim his life, his truth and his victory
to the world around us: a victory which allows us to win a greater prize,
a greater glory than that of the Olympics – true life, true glory, and true joy
with him forever in Heaven, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
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