Readings of the Day
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| "David hands the letter to Uriah" by Lastman, 1619 |
On Friday night, for what
seemed like forever, the opening ceremonies of the 30th Olympiad in
the modern era took place in London, England. Supposedly over a billion people
watched the pageantry of the event. The US commentators pointed out famous
people who appeared, often briefly, in the grand scenes telling the history of
the British Isles. It was mesmerizing and captivating. After the arrival of the
queen and James Bond by parachute, from a helicopter, the athletes from
countries all over the world paraded into the Olympic stadium. I lost track of
how long it took for all of these competitors from far-ranging countries and
territories, some with populations under 10,000 and others over a billion.
I only knew a few of these
amazingly gifted and well-trained competitors (and none personally), but within
their sphere of influence, they are heroes and champions. Over the next several
weeks, we will discover just a few of the many heroic natures among these
tremendous talents. What is at the heart of heroes? They are people who provide
hope, embody the human ideal, and remind us to persevere in reaching our
dreams.
Every generation is filled
with millions of heroes who are often forgotten, but one whose reputation has
withstood the erosion of time is the legendary King David.
David’s rise was marked by
amazing moments. Most notably when Samuel anointed him as king as a young, and
most unlikely shepherd, and his amazing victory over the Philistine champion,
Goliath, with a sling and a stone and what he considered the ultimate weapon,
his faith in God. These signs pointed to David as one chosen by God and
therefore the Israelites made David their king, the second king of ancient
Israel, but the first to unite all the tribes. He became such a legend that
years later people still dreamt of a return to the times of his glory, to
somehow reenact the days of old. A thousand years later, the early Christians understood
Jesus as the fulfillment of that desire.
Consider how Jesus and David
are connected. Matthew began his gospel with a very long genealogy tracing
Jesus’ heritage. The first words of that Gospel are, “An account of the genealogy
of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David…” Jesus is called the Son of David
because that points to his royalty (we humans put a lot of stock in someone’s
blood line). This heritage led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, David’s hometown,
for a census. While there, Jesus was born fulfilling the messianic prophecy and
making the connection with David even stronger. The stigma of royalty continued
to haunt Jesus even leading to the accusatory “King of the Jews” tacked above
his head as he hung on the cross.
But in today’s gospel story,
the crowds following Jesus are not following him because of his royal blood but
because of the “signs Jesus was doing for the sick.” They followed him into the
countryside along the banks of the Sea of Galilee. This was not a small
gathering, but a mass of five thousand men and at least as many women and
children. Jesus and the disciples did not plan for such a number. How could
they? The cost to provide for such a group would have been extraordinary,
particularly for an itinerant teacher who relied upon the hospitality of those
he visited. It was crazy to even consider. And yet Jesus provided another sign
that God was with him. That God had chosen him. Each and every one of the
people gathered on that day on the shores of the Sea of Galilee was provided
with food, enough to be satisfied. Miraculously, this food was provided from
the scarcity of five barley loaves and two fish gathered from a boy discovered
by the disciple Andrew among the throng. And when the dust cleared and everyone
had eaten, the leftovers filled twelve baskets. Consider that, Jesus began with
five loaves and two fish and after everyone was filled there were more than
that in leftovers.
After this amazing sign, the
crowds knew that Jesus, like his ancestor David before him, must be their king.
He was a definite hero.
As much as David and Jesus
have in common, they are dramatically different. And these differences can be
seen in today’s lessons as the two biblical legends respond to one of the most
seductive human desires: power.
Most of us know the hero David
by the events that led to him being crowned king. During this time, David consistently
made decisions that reflected his integrity, faithfulness and bravery. But once
he was king, David made many self-centered choices in the way he dealt with his
family and his followers. David consistently demonstrated his humanity. The
most famous is the story we heard today from the book of Second Samuel.
A few things to set the
scene: 1. David has sent his army to fight a battle for him. It used to be that
David would have led the armies into battle, but in this scene David rests
while others do the fighting. 2. David snoozes all day long. He gets out of bed
in the early evening. The narrator is telling us that David has changed. He is
no longer the inspirational hero; he is another tyrannical king.
As David looks out over
Jerusalem, he happens to see the bathing Bathsheba, the beautiful wife of
Uriah, the Hittite. Uriah just happens to be risking his life for David against
the Ammonites. David used his authority as king to call Bathsheba to his
bedroom. When he later finds out that she is pregnant, he calls Uriah back to
Jerusalem where he tries to wiggle his way out of the mess he got himself into.
Uriah doesn’t play along. He proves his almost steadfast loyalty to David.
Unfortunately for Uriah, his faithfulness forces David into Plan C. David sends
Uriah back to the battlefront with a note for Joab, David’s most loyal general.
In the note that Uriah carried, David ordered Joab to allow Uriah to be killed
by the enemy force. Essentially, Uriah carried a note authorizing his own
murder.
David’s abuse of power is
startling. At no point in this story does he make a morally acceptable choice.
Instead, he chooses a self-serving path. Uriah, a loyal subject (and most
likely an immigrant) was obedient and attentive to David’s authority and for
that, he paid with his life.
Jesus’ response to power could
not be more different than David’s. When he noticed that the crowds were
planning to crown him king, Jesus withdrew to a place by himself. He didn’t
want any part in being a king in the human realm (like David), instead he
wanted his disciples to realize that what he provides is more than a temporary
sustenance, it is an everlasting and miraculous manna that will feed forever.
It is not the kind of food that provides us with physical energy but a food that
fills our souls.
This miraculous manna lasts
longer than any king’s reign or any program or any country or any government.
The manna that Jesus continues to provide lasts forever because it transcends
any human desire or want by providing the essence of eternal life. In order to
gain from this manna, Jesus calls us to avoid the natural human desire for
fame, glory, and authority: three exclusive human commodities. What I mean by
exclusive human commodity is that if we share them, they lose their value. It
is natural for humans to desire these powers because it allows us to avoid
feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy and ensures that we are in control.
Jesus calls us to make a
difficult choice, a choice against human nature. A choice that forces us to
break out of the human want for power, not because fame, glory, and authority
are evil, but because when clouded by their effects we forget from whom they
come.
Jesus avoids the power of
kingship because by sharing, Jesus provides all of us with abundant potential.
To reach this potential, we must choose not to be served but to serve.
We think of the feeding of
the five thousand as a moment stuck in time, like the lighting of the Olympic
torch, or David’s victory over Goliath. But Jesus’ miracle transcends that
moment by continuing to miraculously provide abundance. It is not an abundance
that we can see or taste but in sharing ourselves in the same way as Jesus
shared those meager gifts of food, we share God’s power in ways beyond
understanding.
Listen again to the closing
doxology from today’s reading from the Letter to the Ephesians:
Now to him who by the power
at work within us is able to
accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
(Ephesians 3.20-21)
Power exists in all of our
relationships (I spoke about it two weeks ago in another sermon about David and
Jesus). It’s around us all day, every day. Each of us makes choices about how
to wield and how to respond to the flow of power in our lives. From our
earliest childhood, we have made choices that reflect our ability to deal with
the world around us even when things don’t seem fair or equal. Some have been
dealt a challenging hand, often experiencing demands of obedience, like those
experienced by David’s faithful subject Uriah, while others have more
opportunities to make choices about the paths they follow.
But every person, no matter
his or her social position, has experienced being on both sides of the power
struggle and has had to choose how to respond.
Much is made of Jesus’
relationship to David. But Jesus is unwilling to accept the example of his
ancestor. Instead, he calls each of us to share, to serve, and to give, and in
so doing to be a community of satisfaction and abundance. As we give up those
things that set us apart (fame, glory, money, privilege, and authority), those
things that can be translated into power, when we pass them around, we discover
that God provides power that never loses value, but instead, like the bread and
fish in today’s Gospel, miraculously expand to satisfy all who share it, and in
the end, it is more abundant than ever.
As the thousands of athletes
processed into the Olympic stadium, all smiling and taking pictures, and
looking around at the grand show, you realize that there are just a very few
that will take home a medal. For the many others, they have spent years if not
their entire lifetime preparing to compete on that stage, and it will be over
in mere seconds.
Even returning home
empty-handed, they will be heroes, just for having competed. Like the five
athletes from Haiti, or the three from Cape Verde, or the nearly 600 from the
United States. If asked if it was worth it they say, “YES.” It was the
experience of a lifetime, a fulfilled hope that provided the joy of competition.
It is true that not everyone
can be famous, powerful, or wealthy; not everyone can be the Queen, win the
gold, or even qualify to compete in the Olympics but everyone, from those who
gathered on the shores of the Sea of Galilee to all of us who seek to serve,
everyone of us can be completely satisfied with the gift of God’s
never-diminishing, ever-increasing power. It satisfies in abundance.
I close with this prayer
from Ephesians…
I pray that you may have the
power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3.18-19)
2 Samuel 11.1-15, Psalm 14, Ephesians 3.14-21, John
6.1-21
July 26, 2012
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