2 Samuel 11:1-15; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21
Ordinary 17B; Proper 12
We do not lack for material or choices this Sunday.
The epistle this week gives us a prayer. Our Old Testament reading details King David’s abhorrent behavior with Bathsheba and Uriah. The Gospel lesson recounts John’s version of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and then walking on water.
David’s actions toward Bathsheba take on a new relevance in the era of #MeToo, and Jesus’ compassion for the crowd and his subsequent instruction to the disciples to give them something to eat resonates when the headlines tell of refugees and migrants desperate for life’s basic necessities. It would be easy to turn these two stories into a compare-and-contrast: Be like Jesus, don’t be like David, or be more like Uriah and a lot less like David. But that reduces the Bible to a morality tale instead of the God’s inspired Word.
Starting with the prayer from Ephesians helps mitigate the temptation to use these stories as a warning to be good. The prayer imploring that Christ dwell in our hearts by faith, that we would be rooted and grounded in love and that we know the love of Christ moves us beyond an admonishment to behave toward an openness to the Spirit that will shape us to be more like Christ. Remembering that sheer will alone won’t help us pass the “test” of compassion and faith, knowing that Christ can do more than we hope or imagine and recalling the signs and power of Jesus puts us in our place and helps us heed the word of the Lord rather than work in opposition to it.
We, like David, often use our power to abuse others — perhaps not as obviously or egregiously, but nonetheless hurtful to those for whom we should have compassion. One of the challenges of both the story from 2 Samuel and the one from John is how long distance from us they seem. We aren’t as bad as David and we can’t miraculously multiply loaves and fish like Jesus. We try to treat others as we’d like to be treated and we intend to share what we have. What, therefore, do these stories of rape and murder, miracles of multiplying bread and walking on water have to do with us?
Starting with praying the prayer of Ephesians 3:14-21 for ourselves and others points us to our need for divine intervention if we are to live in ways that reflect our knowledge of the love of Christ when we are tempted to abuse our power and when we are faced with overwhelming need. Praying this prayer moves our attention away from us and toward God and opens us to following Jesus’ instructions to us, whether we are tempted to abuse our power or feeling useless in the face of the world’s needs.
May we be strengthened in our inner being with power through the Spirit. May Christ dwell in our hearts through faith as we are rooted and grounded in love. May we have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. What if this was our daily prayer for ourselves and for our communities of faith and for the world? Perhaps beginning with these petitions would shape how we treat Bathsheba and Uriah, the hungry crowds, the threats at sea, the use of our power and the sharing of what we have.
An openness to the power of the Spirit and an expectation that Christ will dwell in our hearts helps us to give what we have instead of take what is another’s. Being rooted and grounded in love reveals that nothing really belongs to us anyway. An awareness of the breadth, length, height and depth of the love of Christ inspires us to a breadth, length, height and depth of love for others that we did not know we could extend. Being filled with the fullness of God prevents us from being too full of ourselves.
Our behavior may not be as bad as David’s or as good as Jesus’ — but with the help of the Spirit, maybe we can be dutiful in our responsibilities like Uriah or generous with what we have like the boy with five loaves and two fish. Through Christ dwelling within our hearts, we might be moved with compassion for the crowds rather than inclined to send them away hungry. Rooted and grounded in love, we could give what we have to God instead of grab whatever we can for ourselves. As we gain knowledge of the expansive nature of the love of God, we will no doubt experience that God can do through us more than we could ever ask or imagine, like feed 5,000 with a meager offering and even have 12 baskets left over.
When it is all too easy to get overwhelmed by the breadth of the hunger in the world, the length to which people will go to get more power, wealth and influence, the height of abuse of the vulnerable, the depth to which humanity sinks, we inevitably look at five loaves and two fish and ask with Philip, “What are they among so many people?” That’s when Jesus says, “Make the people sit down.” Stop and watch. Know that even when we fail the test of faith, Jesus is faithful. When we are empty, Jesus gives bread that satisfies. When we worry that there is not enough, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love means that there are baskets of leftovers and nothing will be lost. And if we are struggling with imagining that such miracles are possible, we can begin with saying:
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his 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.
And then perhaps all we ask and imagine will reflect all that God asks and imagines until all are satisfied and none are lost.
This week:
- Carefully read all the accounts of the feeding of the 5,000 in the other three Gospels. What differences do you notice? Are they significant?
- What is the connection between the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus’ walking on water? Why are these two stories put side by side?
- In John’s Gospel, the feeding of the 5,000 is one of Jesus’ signs and the story points back to the wedding at Cana and forward to the resurrection appearance of Jesus eating breakfast on the beach with his disciples. Read each of these accounts. What common threads do you notice?
- Consider each person, named and unnamed, in both the 2 Samuel reading and the reading from John. What can you learn from each person in each story?
- How is Jesus’ test of Philip different from the Pharisees’ tests of Jesus?
- When have you experienced God doing more than you could ask or imagine?
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