Fourth Sunday in Lent

Lent 3, March 23, 2025

What’s the Deal with Eating and Drinking Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Other Lessons: Ezekiel 33:7–20; Psalm 85; Luke 13:1–9

Sermon Theme: By feeding us his body and blood, Jesus reminds us whose we Christians are.

Sermon Goal: That the hearers would look to Christ’s body and blood for assistance against temptation. Based on a Sermon Outline in Concordia Pulpit Resources by Rev. Christian J. Einertson

Sermon: “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play” (v 7). I have to admit that when I read today’s Epistle, this line struck me as kind of strange. After all, there’s nothing wrong with eating and drinking—I intend to do both of those things today at some point. And if any of you have had small children, you know that the natural thing for little people to do once they’ve sat down to eat and drink is “rise up to play.” But the apostle Paul talks about it as a bad thing. Like when the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play, they were doing something wrong.

What’s the deal with the eating and drinking? And since Paul tells us that all of this was “written down for our instruction” (v 11), what does it have to teach us in our life of faith today? That’s what we’re going to be talking about this morning.

Israel belongs to God. How can you tell they belong to God? By what they eat and drink (vv 3–4). When they need food, Israel eats the manna that God miraculously provides (Ex 16:13–15, 31). When they need water, Israel drinks the water that God miraculously provides (Ex 17:1–7). Because Israel belongs to God, God expects them to act in a certain way. They should avoid sexual immorality (Ex 20:14). They shouldn’t test God (Deut 6:16). They should trust God (Ex 20:2–3).But Israel forgets that they belong to God (v 7). How can you tell they’ve forgotten? By what they eat and drink. What are the people of Israel eating and drinking? They’re eating and drinking the feasts that go along with pagan sacrifices. When the people worship the golden calf, they go from eating manna and drinking the water God provides to the eating and drinking that accompany idolatry (Ex 32:6).Because Israel forgot that they belong to God, they fall prey to temptation. They give in to sexual temptation (v 8). The Israelites begin to have illicit relations with the women of Moab and Midian (Num 25:1–9). These relationships drove them further into idiolatry. They put God to the test (v 9). The Israelites despised God’s provision of food and wanted him to give different food and drink than he already had (Num 21:4–9). They grumbled against God and his servants (v 10). The Israelites determined that they would overthrow Moses and Aaron, choose their own leaders, and go back to Egypt (Num 14:1–4). Christians frequently forget that they belong to God. Why do they forget? Because of eating (Gen 3:6). Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. That caused all of their children to be set against God. When Christians, like Israel, forget that they belong to God, they can also fall prey to temptation.

When Christians give in to sexual temptation, it’s often because they forget their bodies belong not to themselves but to the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:18–19).When Christians give in to the temptation to anger, it’s often because they forget they belong to a God who will avenge wrongdoing (Rom 12:19). When Christians give in to the temptation to grumble against God and his servants, it’s often because they forget they belong to a God who will provide for all of their needs. Jesus reminds us that we belong to God. How does he remind us that we belong to God? By what we eat and drink. Under the form of bread Jesus gives us his body broken on the cross, into which we were incorporated when we became children of God in our baptisms into Jesus’ death. Under the form of wine Jesus gives us his blood, which he shed to reconcile us to God, even for all the times we’ve forgotten we belong to him and have given in to temptation. In this eating and drinking where Jesus reminds us that we belong to God, he gives us “the way of escape, that you may be able to endure” temptation (v 13).

If we feel tempted to abandon God’s design for the human body and sexuality, we should look to the Lord’s body and blood, which will enable us to endure the temptation. If we feel tempted to take vengeance on people who have done us wrong, we should look to the Lord’s body and blood, which will enable us to endure the temptation. If we feel tempted to grumble against God and his servants, we should look to the Lord’s body and blood, which will enable us to endure the temptation. Dear friends in Christ, we’re now almost halfway through the season of Lent, a season when we focus on the temptation that each one of us experiences as we try to live faithful Christian lives. So if you “walk in danger all the way,” as we sing in the hymn (LSB 716:1), if you’re still dealing with the fallout of that eating and drinking all the way back in the Garden of Eden, if you feel the allure of temptation—and I suspect you do—I have good news for you: you can endure it. You can make it through. Because you may be tempted, but “with the temptation [God] will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (v 13). And what’s your escape hatch? What enables you to endure? It’s right here on the altar, in the body and blood of the one who overcame temptation for you. By Feeding Us His Body and Blood, Jesus Reminds Us Whose We Christians Are. So take, eat; take, drink. Remember whose you are. And endure. Because “God is faithful” (v 13). Amen.