St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
August 2, 2015
Year B, Proper 13:
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Psalm 51:1-13
Ephesians 4:1-16
John 6:24-35
Growing Up
Sometimes
I forget how old I am. I mean, I know the number (It’s 32, actually…) but sometimes
I forget that I am – or am supposed to be – a grown up.
Does
this ever happen to you?
But,
then every once in a while I get reminded that I’m not a kid anymore – that in
fact I am, or at least should be and am expected to be, a grown-up.
It
happens every time I get a haircut and I look in the mirror and see my
middle-aged face looking back at me under hair that by now is at least as gray as
it is brown.
And
it happened to me on Friday when I had a lunch meeting in Newark with some church
leaders.
Obviously,
I’ve been at many, many meetings – too many, believe me – and plenty of lunch
meetings but there was something about this one that, well, felt very grown up
to me – it felt like I was no longer at the kids’ table but had been promoted
to sit with the grown ups!
Sometimes
we feel very grown up when we’re given new responsibilities – maybe a promotion
or a new job or, of course, when we feel the weight of responsibility for a
child or grandchild or when we find ourselves responsible for a parent or
grandparent when their health fails.
And,
unfortunately, sometimes we feel very grown up when we face fear – the fear of
a lost job, the fear of not enough money to pay the bills, the fear of not
being able to provide for ourselves and for those who depend on us.
Growing
up.
It’s
a lifelong task, isn’t it?
In
today’s second lesson, the author of the Letter to the Ephesians calls on us
Christians to grow up.
He
writes, “But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him
who is the head, into Christ…”
Growing
up.
Well,
in today’s Old Testament lesson, King David does some growing up, doesn’t he?
If
you were here last week, I’m sure you’ll remember the juicy and very terrible
story of David and Bathsheba.
David
spots the beautiful Bathsheba bathing on the roof and decides that he wants her
for himself. After all, he’s the king and, like a child, he wants what he wants
and doesn’t care about “minor” details like the fact that Bathsheba is married
to one of David’s finest and most loyal warriors, Uriah the Hittite.
After
Bathsheba gets pregnant with David’s child, the king scrambles to cover up his
sin, finally making the horrific decision to arrange it so that Uriah is killed
in battle, leaving Bathsheba for David and, he thinks, covering up the secret
forever.
Except,
of course, that, as we heard today, God knows what has happened.
And,
God sends the Prophet Nathan to confront David with his sin in a very clever
way, using a parable to trick David into essentially condemning himself.
We
can hear the sadness, shame and guilt in David’s simple words, “I have sinned
against the Lord.”
Growing
up means learning that there are some things – and some ones – who aren’t
available to us.
Growing
up means learning that our actions have consequences.
Even
if you’re a king.
Now,
let’s turn to today’s gospel lesson where we hear about people who certainly sound
like they have some growing up to do.
We
pick up pretty much where we left off last week.
Jesus
performed one of his greatest miracles – the Multiplication of the Loaves and
Fishes – somehow feeding thousands of people with just a few loaves and a
couple of fish.
Now,
some of those same people have come looking for Jesus.
Jesus
criticizes the crowd, saying, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me,
not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”
Jesus
tells them that they just care about the bread. He goes on to tell the crowd
that they must believe in him.
Now,
remember these are the same people who had just been fed most miraculously by
Jesus the day before. And, yet, they say to Jesus: “What sign are you going to
give us then, so that we may see it and believe you?”
They
sound like children saying, “That was fun! Do it again!”
Like
children saying, “That’s it? I want more!”
“What
have you done for us lately?”
Finally,
Jesus gives them more than they can understand, tells them more than they can
probably handle: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be
hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Growing
up.
No
matter our age, no matter our responsibilities, we all have some growing up to
do.
We
grow up when, like King David, we recognize that not everything – not every one
– is available to us. We grow up when we recognize that there are consequences
to our actions.
We
grow up when we stop expecting God to be the divine magician, performing tricks
for our entertainment and benefit.
We
grow up when we realize that God gives us all that we need – gives us the Bread
of Life – that God gives us the Bread of Life each time we gather here in this
holy place, in this holy community – each time come to the altar and reach out
our hands and receive the Body and Blood of Christ into our bodies and souls.
We
grow up when we realize that God gives us Jesus – gives us the Bread of Life –
gives us the nourishment we need to face the trials and challenges of life.
We
grow up when we realize that God gives us the Bread of life – gives us the
strength and sustenance to take care of each other here at St. Paul’s and to go
out into our neighborhood, out into the world, offering love – love especially
to those who are so hard to love.
We
grow up when we become more like Christ – when we, in the words of the Letter
to the Ephesians - when we grow up into the calling to which we have been
called, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one
another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace.”
And,
finally, we grow up when we realize that we’re not fully grown up – that, yes,
sometimes we want and take what’s not available to us – sometimes we demand
that God be a magician to make us happy, to make our lives easier, to give us
what we want – that sometimes we don’t speak the truth in love – sometimes
we’re not humble, gentle, or patient, sometimes we refuse to even try to love
those who are so hard to love.
No
matter our age or our responsibilities, we’re not fully grown up.
The
Good News is that, like a good parent, God continues to forgive, continues to
teach, and continues to feed us with the Bread of Life.
And,
together, we’re growing up.
Thanks
be to God.
Amen.
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