St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen & Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
July 29, 2018
Year B, Proper 12:
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 11:1-15
Psalm 14
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21
David Takes; Jesus Gives
If
you’ve been in church these past few weeks you know that we’ve been tracking
the rise and the rule of David, remembered as Israel’s greatest king.
David
is a complicated character – one of God’s unlikeliest choices – someone who was
capable of great courage and strong leadership but, as we heard today, someone
who is also capable of great selfishness and terrible evil.
The
story of David and Bathsheba is one of the uglier stories in the whole Bible.
It’s
also remarkable story because it shows Israel’s greatest king in such an
unflattering light – something very unusual in ancient literature, where kings
are usually described in the best possible light - at least if the writer wanted to stay alive.
But,
it’s hard to imagine David looking much worse than he does in today’s quite
horrible story.
The
author of Second Samuel begins criticizing David right off the bat, pointedly
noting that it’s spring – the time when kings lead their armies into battle –
but while the Israelite army is off fighting the Ammonites, King David is
hanging out on the couch in his cedar palace.
We’re
then told he takes a break from lounging to take a walk on the roof where he
spots the beautiful Bathsheba as she bathes.
Apparently
without any reflection on morality or possible consequences, David simply takes
what he wants – takes this woman who was married – married, in fact, to one of
his officers, Uriah the Hittite.
So
far, so bad.
But,
things get even worse when Bathsheba announces that she’s pregnant and David
hatches a plot to hide his paternity, to cover up his sin.
He
calls back Uriah from the war and sends him home, figuring that now everyone
will believe that the child belongs to Uriah.
Unfortunately,
Uriah the Hittite – who is not an Israelite – who is a foreigner –
proves to be far more honorable than Israel’s king.
He
refuses the comforts of home while his fellow soldiers are off fighting in the
war.
And
then this story declines from what’s kind of like a particularly juicy episode
of Montel or Jerry Springer into something profoundly evil.
David
arranges for the death in battle of his loyal and honorable soldier, Uriah the
Hittite.
The
cover-up is worse than the crime.
David the king
takes what he wants.
In
today’s gospel lesson, we heard one of the best-known of Jesus’ miracles – the
only one that is included in all four of the canonical gospels: what’s usually
called the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, or the feeding of the
multitude.
We’re
told that after performing the miracle, Jesus realizes that the people want to
make Jesus king.
This
is a little surprising to me – it’s surprising that this idea even occurred to
people - because Jesus is such an unlikely king.
While,
like David, most kings simply take for themselves, Jesus never takes anything
for himself.
Instead,
Jesus gives – gives and gives and gives. Jesus gives bread and fish
today – and, ultimately, gives away his life on the cross.
So,
it’s surprising to me that it even occurred to people that this Giver could or
even should be king.
Partly,
I guess it must have been their full bellies talking, but I wonder if it wasn’t
also that, more important than bread and fish, Jesus had given them a taste - a
vision of abundance.
For at least a
while, as they passed around those baskets overflowing with bread and fish, the
people had the ability to see the great truth that, thanks be to God, there is
more than enough for everybody.
We
don’t usually see things that way, though, right?
Partly
that’s because we’ve made a mess of the world, allowing so many people to live
in terrible poverty while others live in their cedar palaces.
And,
partly it’s because often we’re like Philip and Andrew at the start of today’s
gospel lesson, focused on scarcity, focused on what we don’t have – we’d need
six months wages to feed all these people – all we have is this kid and his only
five loaves and two fish – the glass is half-empty, or, emptier even that that.
Those
who know me well know that by temperament I’m a glass half-empty kind of guy –
and, yes, I’ll admit it, sometimes, emptier even that.
I’ll
give you an example that “someone” reminds me of, fairly often.
If
you’ve been there, I think most of you would agree that one of the best things
we do all year is our Good Friday Stations of the Cross Procession through the
streets of our city, stopping and praying at places of violence.
After
the first time we did this four years ago, Sue and I were breaking our Good
Friday fast and talking about how amazingly well the procession had gone.
I
said something like, “Yeah, it was great, but, you know, I’m kind of
disappointed that so few people from St. Paul’s showed up.”
Sue
looked at me with mix of pity and frustration, pulled out a piece of paper and
said, ok, let’s start listing everyone from St. Paul’s who was there.
And,
so we began listing names.
And,
we continued on and off the rest of the day and into the evening, as we would
each think of someone else.
By
the end – and I’m not sure we ever listed everybody, I was forced to realize
that our parishioners had made up about one-third of everybody who had
participated in the procession!
In
that moment, despite my glass half-empty disposition, I was given the
opportunity to see the abundance that’s right here all around me, all around
us, all the time.
And,
that’s really the gift that Jesus the giver gave to that large crowd long ago.
Yes,
Jesus gave them bread and fish that filled their bellies for a while, but much more
important, and much longer lasting, Jesus gave them the ability to see and
experience God’s abundance.
And,
if we’re open to it, Jesus the giver gives us that gift today and every
day.
In
preparation for today’s sermon, I’ve been trying to see the full glass of God’s
abundance all around me, all around us:
The
abundance last week of a congregation that gathered in a hot and dark church
and were such good sports with some using the little flashlights from their
cellphones to see the words in the bulletin and in the hymnal – with the choir
huddled over on the side near as much natural light as they could find and
still sounding really good and then our finance committee and vestry gathering
upstairs for a marathon meeting.
The
abundance of heading over to Majestic for one last time with the faithful team
of Vanessa, Gail, and Dee Dee, giving it our all for just a few remaining
residents and for the staff who have plenty to worry about and said that they
really needed the healing that we offered.
The
abundance of Sonia, Eric, and Norma, going over to Garden State Episcopal”s
homeless drop-in center every month, serving food at least as good as we serve
ourselves, serving it to brothers and sisters who’s names we don’t know, people
who will never and can never repay us.
The
abundance of the garden around our church, which, thanks to the hard work of
Susan, Vanessa, and Emily, has never looked better, offering beauty, offering
an oasis, offering a little environmental boost, right here in the middle of
the city.
(Just
yesterday, a neighbor who’s not a parishioner posted a picture on Facebook of
at least three different kinds of bees hard at work on one of our sunflowers!)
The
abundance of Jersey City Together activists spending hours in court on Monday –
with some even taking a day off from work to be there – standing with one of
our own as she was unfairly targeted for eviction.
(Case
dismissed, by the way!)
The
abundance of good colleagues – especially Gary who has been such a blessing to
our church and to me personally – sharing the work, inspiring me to be more
organized and more thoughtful, offering friendship and so much support.
I
could go on – but so much abundance!
And,
I bet, even with all of our very real problems and challenges, we could all
describe the full glass of God’s abundance that’s all around us.
David the king,
like most kings, was a taker.
But
Jesus the King, he’s a giver.
He’s
the Giver.
Giving
us food for our bodies and food for our souls.
And,
giving us the ability to see and experience God’s abundance, today and every
day.
Amen.
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