2 Samuel 11:1-15
Psalm 14
John 6:1-15
“There is One”
Back in early June, during an intergenerational service, I was talking about the various kings of Israel and Judah – the human leaders of God’s people. And I remember saying that King David was generally a good king, but he also made some bad choices at times.
This morning’s passage from 2nd Samuel tells the story of one of those times. And reading it today makes me think of some of the corrupt and self-serving leaders and politicians in our world at this time as well. In case you didn’t catch what King David did in this passage, let me summarize.
The story begins with David sending his armies out into battle, but he doesn’t go with them. He stays in Jerusalem instead. While his soldiers are fighting for his kingdom, David is lazing about on his couch and walking around on his rooftop. From there, he spies on a woman who is bathing, thinks she is beautiful, and sends servants to get her so he can sleep with her. Essentially, he rapes her, as I expect she wasn’t a willing partner in the affair.
When the woman (Bathsheba) gets pregnant, David schemes to make her husband think the child is his. David brings Uriah (who is out fighting in the battle) back to Jerusalem, and David tries to encourage him to go home and sleep with his wife. But Uriah won’t do it, refusing the luxury of being at home in his own bed while his comrades are still out on the battlefield.
Since David’s trick didn’t work, he chooses another tactic and orders that Uriah be sent into the forefront of the hardest fighting. Then the army is to draw back, leaving Uriah to be killed by their enemies.
Luxury and laziness, sexual misconduct, lying and scheming, violence and disregard for human life… Although David has at times been a strong and courageous leader, a faithful friend, and a devoted servant of God, the power and might he has gained for himself have allowed him to lose sight of things like right and wrong.
We know what that looks like among powerful people in our time. Often it’s scandals surrounding business and money-making because greed trumps ethics when you can get away with it. Other times it has to do with sex, and those in power take advantage of the vulnerable people around them – violating their dignity and causing irreparable harm to families and communities.
Recently, Nick and I were watching a legal drama series on TV that was set in the U.S. between 2016 – 2022. “The Good Fight” included considerable political and social commentary, exploring topical issues such as the alt-right, the MeToo movement, online harassment, and fake news. The main character, longtime Democrat Diane Lockhart, must navigate a world she hardly recognizes, becoming increasingly troubled by Trump-era politics.
When I read Psalm 14 this week, I thought of the Diane Lockhart character, not because Diane was a religious person who was seeking after God, but because of her utter disillusionment and despair at the corruption of people and the state of the world.
In the last couple of seasons, Diane is clearly suffering from depression, and she starts self-medicating by micro-dosing with psychedelic drugs, and then she signs up for a dubious medical treatment involving more psychedelic drugs taken under a doctor’s supervision.
I wonder how many people, whether in the U.S., in Canada, or around the world would want to do something similar if they could – choosing medication to escape the reality of the world we live in today.
When we look around at our world and our neighbours… When we look around to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God (or after goodness), do we come to the same conclusion as the psalmist? “They have all gone astray; they are all alike perverse; There is no one who does good, no, not one.”
The psalmist complains, in particular, about powerful people who have turned away from God, abandoning any commitment to goodness or righteousness: “They have no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and they do not call upon the Lord.”
I would like to believe that there are still people who get into politics because they want to advocate for things like the well-being of the people, standing up for justice, caring for the poor, working for health care for all, and leading us towards responsible ways of living on the Earth with our neighbours.
But it’s hard not to feel like the psalmist when leaders seem to prioritize holding onto position and power over everything else. We lament with the author of Psalm 14: “They are corrupt; they do abominable things; there is no one who does good.”
I wonder if that’s how the crowds of people were feeling too – the ones who were gathered beside the Sea of Galilee when Jesus was passing through with his disciples.
They weren’t used to leaders and rulers who cared about their needs or did much to help them with even the basic necessities of life. The people living in that area were living under occupation, just as others continue to do in that part of the world today. They had a king appointed to rule over them and presumably to advocate for their needs to the Imperial Power, but their lives continued to be very difficult with poverty, illness, and threats of violence all around.
There was no leader capable or willing to help them until Jesus showed up. When they saw the things he was doing for people who were sick, they started following after him. And when he saw them coming, he knew exactly what they needed too.
They were hungry – first of all for food, of course. But they were hungry for more than food too. They were hungry for a good and faithful leader. They were hungry for a safe community and a stable livelihood. They were hungry for meaning and purpose and hope for the future.
And when Jesus performed the miracle – taking the small offering of a little boy’s lunch and turning it into a feast for thousands, they saw right away that Jesus was the one sent from God for them. They were so hungry for what he could offer that they tried to take him by force to make him their king.
But unlike most of the rulers and leaders they had known and we have seen also, Jesus was the one who wasn’t striving for renown or privilege or power. He didn’t feed the people so that they would make him king. He fed them because they were hungry. And when they tried to make him their ruler, he withdrew.
In the years to come, the people who witnessed Jesus’ miracles, listened to his teaching, and received his loving welcome would come to believe that he was indeed the one sent into the world from God. We would come to call him the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and honour him with our praise.
Not because he claimed that power or lorded it over us, but because he was the one who came to love and to serve. He was the one who was not corrupt or self-serving. He was the one who did good.
“But how does this help us today?” we might ask ourselves. If most of our leaders are self-serving, and our institutions and systems are flawed and broken, and greed and corruption leave so many people suffering from hunger, homelessness, violence, oppression, and despair.
How does one perfectly loving, generous, kind, and compassionate leader 2000 years ago make any difference to us now?
Well, it makes me think of that one interpretation of the feeding miracle that traditionalists don’t usually like. Perhaps you’ve heard the suggestion that maybe it wasn’t just a straight-up multiplication miracle that Jesus performed to turn those five barley loaves and two fish into a banquet for thousands.
Now, I have no problem believing that Jesus could just say a prayer of thanks over the food and make it into enough for all. But I wonder if the even more wonderful miracle is the one that doesn’t seem so magical. It’s the one where a little boy gives his lunch away, and then someone else sees him sharing and takes out what they have as well.
It’s a brave thing to do, with so many hungry people around, but the generosity spreads like wildfire, and it turns out that God has actually provided more than enough for all.
I don’t know if that’s how it happened, or if that would even be possible, but it gives me hope. Because if that’s how it happened, it means that Jesus is not the only one.
He is not the only one who does good. First of all, there was the little boy, and then there’s the next guy who followed his example, and all the people after that who decided they had enough to share and they did.
It’s tempting to focus on the powerful people who aren’t doing enough to help or who are blatantly striving after their own power and privilege at the expense of the little people. But I think we need to look, not only for the rare leaders who work to do good, but also for all the people who follow the lead of our Saviour and give what they have for the good of their neighbours.
Have you heard some of those stories in the wake of the terrible fires affecting Jasper this week? Stories of fire fighters working so hard to protect people and properties. Stories of volunteers staffing shelters and helping people who have been evacuated. Stories of neighbours and strangers taking people in, providing for their needs, and holding them up as they watch what seems like their whole lives going up in flames.
I’m sure that if you pause and think about it for a moment, you can identify one or two people you know who are striving day-by-day for goodness and righteousness. They may not be powerful people or rich people who can change the world with a snap of their fingers… But they are quietly, faithfully, sometimes falteringly following in the way of Jesus and trusting that when they give away what they have, a miracle will happen again, and there will be enough for all.
The Gospel tells us that the psalmist was wrong on that day when he struggled to find any goodness, any wisdom, or any righteousness among the people of the world. There was one – Jesus Christ our Lord.
And because there was one, now there are many. Because we are his followers, because we are members of his body. And together, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can feed the world.