Hunger and Power

My, my what a week! 

Our politics in the USA have taken more twists and turns than a steep mountain road in the Appalachians! 

Then this weekend with the opening of the Olympics on Friday in Paris, we had quite the online kerfuffel when a scene depicting the Bacchanalia feast of Dionysius featuring drag queens, genderqueer people, children, elderly and amputees was misconstrued to be a depiction of DaVinci's Last Supper painting.  

You would have thought someone had desecrated a church altar by the outrage flying all over the internet Saturday morning. Apparently the thought of God's kingdom including the otherwise excluded was a heresy.

And this was all leading into a weekend in which we women who are Episcopal priests were preparing to pay respect and homage to the eleven women who, 50 years ago in Philadelphia,  challenged church authorities to become the first women ordained in our church, shaking the patriarchal strangle-hold on the Holy Spirit. 

With all these things in my mind Friday and Saturday....this is what I came up with to preach on the texts presented to me for Sunday. See what you think. 

Texts: 2 Samuel 11:1-15; John 6: 1-21

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What are we hungry for?

What will satisfy our hunger?

I realize those are some dangerous questions to pose at this hour when perhaps we might be feeling a little grumbling in our stomachs.

But I think…given our readings this morning from the Second Book of Samuel…and our Gospel account from John…these are two important questions for us to chew on.

Because what we have are two very different stories that speak to a metaphorical type of hunger: the hunger of power.

This is about how one who is the authority figure uses or abuses their position of power.

And the appetites they satisfy are completely different.

We have the one…Jesus…of whom we praise and sing hymns about crowning him with many crowns…sitting down on a mountainside with his disciples and five thousand hungry people…for an amazing meal.

And we have his ancestor…David…the second king of Israel …the conqueror of the giant Goliath…strolling about on his rooftop and spying on Bathsheba as she bathed…a sight that awakens a hunger in his heart for domination and self-satisfaction.

I remember when this reading from Second Samuel came up six years ago.

It was my last Sunday at St. Thomas before I was going off to seminary.

Our rector…Father Dwayne Varas…noted that there were multiple things wrong with David in this story.

For one thing…as a king…he should have been with his army and not hanging out on his couch in the castle. Kings were supposed to be with their troops…not playing peeping Tom on their subjects.

As a king…David was all-powerful.

When he sent messengers “to get’ Bathesheba…this wasn’t an offer she could refuse.

Because the king had said “come”…. she was compelled to go.

The text does not necessarily describe what happened next as a rape…but I tend to side with those biblical scholars such as the Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney who think that it is.

Even if Bathsheba was willing…this is still very much a coercion. Remember…kings were all-powerful, so “No” was not an option.

In many ways…Bathsheba is a woman who is treated as an object.

Women were identified by their relationships to the men in their lives.

For David…she is a bright shiny object…a thing that belongs to one of his subjects…his officer Uriah…and her father Eliam.

With Uriah off to fight the battles of King David…Bathsheba is left unprotected.

She can’t even bathe in her own home without the prying eyes of the king upon her.

And once David’s uses her for his own sexual pleasure…he sends her home.

He’s not attached to her…and has no more concern for her.

Until she forces his hand.

She sends word to the king.

She is pregnant…so now what, King David?

Caught with his pants down…in a manner of speaking…David uses his authority to commit another sin.

He tries to get his committed soldier Uriah drunk so he’ll go home and have sex with his wife Bathsheba as a cover up for his own abuse of this woman.

But Uriah…who is a Hittite…hence a foreigner…protests. He’s so loyal to David…the king of Israel… that he won’t go home.

David then commits yet another sin.

As the king…he gives a specific instruction to his general to set up Uriah to die in battle.

With Uriah dead…King David gets away with rape and murder.

His hunger for power over others is satisfied.

And as the king…he could do what he wanted to whoever he wanted.

This is the type of power we’re used to in our own times, isn’t it?

We live in world where we give deference to others to have power over us.

We seem to accept that it’s normal and almost expected that there will be those who can command authority over us.

As a reporter…it was stunning to witness the sausage-making process of a state legislature often times resulting in grinding up various vulnerable groups…usually children or the elderly… to feed the appetites of those hungry for more power.

We think of powerful men and women as those who have money and status.

Too many times…those who have the means use their positions to enrich themselves.

We see it with politics…we see it in business…and we even see it in churches.

The hunger they’re satisfying is their own insatiable appetite to exercise domination and control over other people and the planet.

The creatures of God become things to possess.

And when people become things…inanimate objects…we’ve violated one of the core principles of living our lives together as baptized Christians…in the Episcopal tradition…

“to respect the dignity of every human being.” (BCP,305)

This is why the scene on a mountain side by the Sea of Galilee gives us a radically different concept of both hunger and power.

Jesus and his disciples keep trying to get away for some time alone…but the crowds keep finding them and following them.

They’ve heard about the healing that Jesus offers to people who are not only sick in their bodies but sick in their souls.

When it becomes clear that it’s time for the crowds to go home…Jesus quizzes Philip about buying bread.

Andrew notes there’s a boy with two fish and five loaves.

And while Philip and Andrew are trying to figure out how to stretch a meal out this meager offering…Jesus tells everyone to sit down.

He blesses the bread and the fish…he breaks them up…and then feeds this crowd to their satisfaction.

And—wow—there are even leftovers!

Jesus gives.

He doesn’t take.

Jesus sits with the people not above them.

He has compassion…and truly is a companion to the people…a person who breaks bread with them…as an example of a more intimate caring authority.

The people…so overwhelmed by this miracle…want to make him their king.

But that’s not what Jesus wants.

That’s not what he came for.

Unlike the human kings…such as his ancestor King David…Jesus is always demonstrating that true power is not found in domination but in cooperation.

He’s been teaching and showing and practicing a type of leadership which encourages those who are his followers to see that when they tap into the power of Love…when they love their neighbors…when they bless…break…and give to each other…they are exercising a power far greater than any earthly king can do.

It’s a superpower that requires no special training…no extra tools.

It’s that mustard seed planted in the heart that grows into a giant bush.

The power of Love is so much stronger than power of fear…and much more genuine than the power of lust.

By sharing bread and fish with such a large crowd…Jesus shows us once again what Love can do when Love is shared.

The theologians Dorothee Soelle and Dietrich Bonhoeffer have noted…that this is God who is a power with us…as opposed to power over us.

A God who saves us by empowering and teaching us that we are not helpless and hopeless when we trust in the Love within us…and act out of that place.

Each of us has this capacity to help one another…feed each other in ways that are loving, life-giving and liberating.

We all have the ability to feed the hungry…and I’m not talking about soup kitchens.

I’m talking about the need of people to be seen…heard…and listened to.

Practicing and living a life in Love requires making an intentional shift in our thinking.

It means taking time and recognizing the sacredness of the people we encounter…and treating them with love and respect.

It means seeing God as that Love that is the power with us and not over us…helping us to do more things than we can ask or imagine.

Shifting our vision and recognizing the power of “We” as greater than a power of “I” …can and will make a difference.

It will move us closer to the power of Jesus than the power of a King David.

It will feed us and our neighbors a meal that will stretch for longer.

In a world starved for more love…more justice…more peace….feed the lambs.

In the name of our one holy and undivided Trinity.