The Psalm: Psalm 14
Profound wisdom and a deep sense of social justice lies behind this psalm: Before God all people are sinful. It ends with a plaintive hope that God will deliver Israel from some unstated ill fortune.
Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one. Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous. You would confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge. O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
The Old Testament Lesson: Second Samuel 11:1-15
The story of David's double sins of adultery and calculated murder form the introduction to a new and troubled phase of the monarch's reign. His adultery with Bathsheba and his plan to cover it up by causing the death of her husband, Uriah, remains to this day the symbol of a very human failure: through pride great leaders often bring about their own demise.
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, "This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite." So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house.
The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, "I am pregnant." So David sent word to Joab, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?" Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing." Then David said to Uriah, "Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die."
The Epistle Lesson: Ephesians 3:14-21
This letter which began as a liturgy for baptismal candidates at Pentecost includes this petition for Christ to come alive in the hearts and lives of those who first heard it. The end result will be that those they will be filled with the fullness of God whose Spirit gives them the power to love as Christ himself loved.
For this reason I bow my knees before God, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of God's glory, you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through God's Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 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. 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. Amen.
The Gospel Lesson: John 6:1-21
The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is the only one that appears in all four gospels.
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
"The Quality of Refuge"
We are being given several lessons today on powerlessness and oppression two of the chief concerns of the Gospels. We learn very early that it doesn't matter what causes the lack of power in life, and that we will turn to many things in our attempts to convince ourselves that we have some "control." Professional degrees, relationships, a larger house, even a cluster of children gathered round your knee can make one feel they have "made a mark" or gained some control on life. In the end however the reality of our own temporal nature requires us to leave all of these things behind. We have no power except that which has been loaned to us by God. Perhaps one of the most startling revelations however, and the one that is most difficult to accept is that despite our lack of true power no one is incapable of becoming an "oppressor."
There would be little "good news" in all of this if it were not for the possibility of "refuge" and that is our focus for this morning. "Refuge" is release from that struggle, no matter how temporary. It gives us breathing space, a different vantage point, and in its highest form security not of our own making.
The feeding of the five thousand, which is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels, has been interpreted in many different ways throughout the history of the New Testament. It is primarily a story of hunger and satisfaction which begs the question - "What are we hungering for and where are we looking to be satisfied?" Is life little more than a constant craving for something so elusive we will never feel fulfilled?
The author of Psalm 14 certainly takes a rather pessimistic view, seeing a world gone mad where everyone is out for themselves alone. A view where all the actions of a lifetime are motivated by the desire to have whatever one wants when they
want it, and any potential for selflessness on behalf of something more worthy is lost.
Paul's appeal to the community of Christians at Ephesus is a wake up call to be "rooted and grounded in love," focused on the righteousness of Christ. It is his understanding that such insight makes us undeniably aware that evil is always "good out of place."
There is probably no better illustration of the tragedy of human evil than the story of David and his convoluted attempts to justify his own actions in his affair with Bathsheba. It is hard to say how he ever got to that point in his sinning where he really believed that there was nothing he could do that would not be too loathesome, but the thought process of believing that one is not held accountable in the same way all others are seems to be something we are born with and a flaw that can only be corrected with some kind of spiritual revelation.
Perhaps the initial temptation for David, just seeing someone from a rooftop, was truly unintentional. Many a person has begun a downward spiral quite haphazardly, but the rest of this story was clearly calculated and willful on his part. There were opportunities along the way, as there are for all of us, that he could have used to go in another direction,--but he did not, would not, take advantage of them.
Human nature hasn't changed much over the milennia. The reality is that no matter how sophisticated we become and how much technology we develop, there is no way to cover up our sins. In the end we will be found out. It was true for David and it is true for us. The response of Psalm 14 is a lament about the "corrupt" actions of people who act the "fool," who delude themselves intentionally, because they say "There is no God." That kind of thought process certainly makes justifying whatever we think a whole lot easier.
But then we read the account of Jesus feeding the 5000 and subsequently walking on water as recorded in John's Gospel. John says that Jesus "already had in mind what he was going to do" in regards to the needs of the hungry people before him. Even as He asked Philip what should be done, he already knew what God would have him do. Before he was aware that "there was a boy"…he already knew that anything that would be needed would be provided. He had a confidence that did not come from his own ability to scheme or manipulate.
So we have a man, David who has everything and knows that God has provided it who suddenly, and almost inexplicably acts as if he believes "there is no God." Who becomes just like any other "corrupt" person who does evil for his or her own gain. Despite the fact that God is the source of every provision made for David, he chucks it all in order to grasp at something he wants (not needs).
Then by contrast we have the message of the feeding of the 5000 where we see that God already knows what we need and has decided in advance what to do about it, to our benefit. We don't need to worry about our needs, it's our "wants" that can be the source of real problems for us. Perhaps the place of "refuge" even begins with an understanding of the difference between the two!
The psalms speak of God as the one who feeds humanity: You open wide your hand, O God, and give us food in every season. The psalmist clearly implies that humans have physical and spiritual hungers, hungers that will be satisfied only by God. We claim that in Christ God satisfies our thirst with living waters and feeds us with living bread. These images voice our desire for communion with the one who is greater than our frailty and fears. They are biblical images of Christ's presence among us in the waters of baptism and the bread and cup of the eucharist…but do we really believe in them?
In her book God Is No Fool, poet and author Lois Cheney tells a story I'd like to share with you:
Once, a man said, "If I had some extra money, I'd give it to God, but I have just enough to support myself and my family."
And the same man said, "If I had some extra time, I'd give it to God, but every minute is taken up with my job, my family, my clubs, and what have you--every single minute."
And the same man said, "If I had a talent I'd give it to God, but I have no lovely voice; I have no special skill; I've never been able to lead a group; I can't think cleverly or quickly, the way I would like to." And God was touched, and although it was unexpected God gave that man money, time, and a glorious talent.
And then God waited, and waited, and waited.....And then after a while, God shrugged in disappointment, and took all those things right back from the man,…the money, the time and the glorious talent.
After a while, the man sighed and said, "If I only had some of that money back, I'd give it to God. If I only had some of that time, I'd give it to God. If I could only rediscover that glorious talent, I'd give it to God."
And God said, "Oh, shut up."
And the man told some of his friends, "You know, I'm not so sure that I can believe in a God like that anymore."
(From God is No Fool, 1969, Abingdon Press)
God uses
what you have
to fill a need which
you never could have filled.
God uses
where you are
to take you where
you never could have gone.
God uses
what you can do
to accomplish what
you never could have done.
God uses
who you are
to let you become who
you never could have been.
(From Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, 1987, Word Books Publisher, p. 25.)
Paul tells us that Jesus's "power is at work within us NOW and is able to accomplish NOW abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine"... we just have to believe that what God offers is enough. Always wanting more can be the death of you!
Pastoral Prayer:
God of refuge and strength we give you thanks today, for welcoming another child into your family. We thank you for the ongoing reminders that you care for all who are the smallest and the least in our world. Bless we pray these parents and all parents who seek to raise their children before you and put upon them the fullness of your love. Help them and all of us to keep the vows and promises we have made and so become living symbols of your love for all people. Help us to care for one another and for your world. Cast out any fear that we have - any sense of inadequacy - any temptation to despair - and give us the courage, the faith, the discipline, the trust, and the love we need to offer the gifts that we have for your work in this world. Lord we pray today for all those who are in need. We pray for those who are sick and who require your tender care. We pray for those who are hungry and who require our outstretched hands, our sharing of what we have. We pray for those who are oppressed and who require our passion and our courage. We pray for those who suffer in mind, spirit and in soul and who require our prayers, our faith, and our witness to our hope in you.
Bless all who are in need this day, O God; both those whom we held up before you in our common concerns, those we hold in the silence of our hearts, those we will always remember who now rest with You, and those that even now you are bringing in spiritual communion to our hearts and minds. Bless us all by the testimony and the actions of your Holy Church, and by the redemption won for us by Christ Jesus, your Son and our Lord, in whose name we make this and every prayer. Amen