Sermon

If you have followed the lectionary readings you will have read the story of David from his initial anointing by Samuel, his conquest of Goliath and his anointing by all the tribes.  That is followed by his bringing the Arc into Jerusalem and his thwarted ambition to build a temple in Jerusalem.  We, the readers, have been assured that he is a king divinely chosen and his future dynasty is assured by God.   

The reader has also been introduced to David’s ruthless political cunning, demonstrated by his willingness to execute one of his loyal soldiers for killing David’s deadly enemy Saul.  That act was calculated to gain favour from Saul’s supporters and was more effective than a snap election. 

Furthermore, according to the US Supreme court, it is now an option for the US President and may well be more effective than just lying.

Today’s reading also focuses on David’s human vulnerability and instinct for self-preservation and there is plenty of that about in the politics of our time.

As we tut-tut over David’s morality, we should also ask questions about Bathsheba’s motives in bathing on the roof in full view of the palace. 

Perhaps the most important message is that God is able to use perfectly normal flawed humans to fulfil the divine purpose.  We are challenged to find God and good outcomes in the normal tangle of self-serving human fallibility. 

Much as we might be concerned over David coveting the beautiful Bathsheba and then using his absolute authority to fulfil his fantasy the ‘me too movement’ tells us that is not unheard of in our world.  Furthermore, in David’s world, he was entitled to have as many wives and concubines as he wanted.  Powerful men in our world tend to behave the same way although the only polygamy we sanction is the serial kind. 

Rich people can of course pay ‘hush money’ but paying it out of campaign funds has proved to be illegal.    

As was conspiring with his general to have Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle.  That was murder by proxy, but it may well have saved Bathsheba’s life.  

In a biblical patriarchal society adultery was a crime one man commits against another and it was the woman who was usually punished.  In many cultures today women are killed to preserve family honour. 

But even in our enlightened world powerful men like to entertain and be seen with beautiful young women.  Certainly, the entertainment industry comes to mind, but it was only recently that a large New Zealand law firm was severely sanctioned for expecting more from its female interns than excellent legal work.

But it works both ways.  I once watched a documentary on the Paparazzi.  At one point a group of photographers, hiding in the rocks above the sea, spotted a young starlet sunbathing on a boat.  ‘She knows we are here!’  Exclaimed one of the photographers.  ‘She is naked enough to demand attention but modestly posed so not to cause offence on a magazine cover next to the supermarket checkout’.  It’s only the successful that get to boost their careers on the Graham Norton show.

Of course, David had absolute authority.  He was the supreme court and there were no other courts to retrospectively award damages for sexual exploitation.  

But if you read through to the end of David’s life you will discover that Bathsheba had well and truly mastered the art of the deadly game of thrones. 

David’s sons fought amongst themselves, and Bathsheba manipulated events so her son Solomon becomes king. 

Reading the whole saga, it is difficult to decide who had the power at any time and I still want to know if Bathsheba bathed on the roof so her son would be king.  

The charm and the power of the saga of King David is that the biblical narrative is totally realistic and aligns with stories of real fallible human beings. 

Like our leaders in politics, agriculture, entertainment, sport and business the biblical characters are not superstars.  The biblical characters are ordinary people, and the stories open our mind to the Spirit’s action amongst the dubious motives of everyday struggles. 

Where David was a warrior king, Solomon strengthened the kingdom through alliances, cementing those alliances through marriage.  His actions greatly improved the economy, and we are continually told that’s a good thing.  Solomon’s reign was probably the high point of the Israelite kingdom.  So, the hindsight of history leads us through all the unsavoury activities to see the divine plan coming together. 

As we reflect on the danger the pregnant Bathsheba could have faced, we are reminded of another unmarried mother called Mary who’s perplexed, but merciful fiancée, and descendant of David, listened to the voice of angels. 

Mary’s boy child, so the Bible says, changed the world though love, inclusion, and shared hospitality.

Jesus’ promotion of what he called ‘the kingdom of God’ is totally different to the power plays we find in the David saga or even in the corruption of contemporary democracy.

As we cross over the Sea of Galilee with Jesus, we find that a large crowd has gathered.  Jesus goes up into the mountains to be with the disciples and there is a reference to the Passover that links us to Moses feeding the people of God in the wilderness.  This is an allusion making the point that, just as Moses formed the people of God in the wilderness, Jesus’ wilderness journey is calling out a new people of God. 

John does not include Jesus’ last Passover meal with the disciples, but he includes this reference to Passover at the feeding of the five thousand.

The concern of the early Christians was the same concern many of us have about our economy.  The economy increased the wealth of the rich and powerful and marginalised the poor. 

Jesus asks Philip ‘where are we to buy bread for these people to eat? (John 6:5) 

Philip gives the same answer that our government gives to so many challenges of our time.  We can’t afford it!  It is the answer our government gives to the challenge of providing healthy school lunches.  Instead, they are going to focus on testing phonics for entrance level students.  That’s in spite of what educational experts say.

Reading is certainly a key to learning, but hungry children don’t learn well.  I also wonder about the writer of the most non-fiction books in Britian.  He is dyslexic so a phonetics test and a single focus method of teaching reading wouldn’t have helped him.  However, he not only writes books about ‘one pan wonders’, but Jamie Oliver is also a tireless campaigner for healthy school lunches.    

I went to a meeting about school lunches that involved students, teachers, principals and those who prepared the food.  What I learned was that there was minimal wastage of food and the students learning improved.  Furthermore, I learned of a group of parents that provided lunches for a number of schools.  That gave them a part time job that not only supplement their income but allowed them to be home when their children were home.

That was a group of parents that took what was available in their neighbourhood, prepared it and distributed to children whose families could not supply a packed lunch.

Sounded a bit like the Galilean fisherman who Jesus asked to feed a crowd in the wilderness. 

On that occasion Jesus was demonstrating that, opting out of the disempowering economy through the power of sharing, welcomes in ‘the Kingdom of God’.  

John focused on potential of the economic challenge and the fact that this was a deliberate action by Jesus.

But the question about cost is also important in contrasting the cash economy with the caring and sharing economy of the Kingdom of God. 

There wasn’t enough money to go and purchase food for all the people but if everyone, starting with the small boy with five barley loves and two fish, were encouraged to share with each other there would be plenty. 

Understanding this story as a miracle of sharing takes away the magic of the miracle. That may be seen as a challenge to our faith.  However, it fits the realism we find in the 2^nd Samuel reading and encourages us to consider and be challenged as the new people of God. We are challenged to both expect and create miracles.  We are called to expect miracles that disregard the market economy and bring people to live within the divine realm. 

But wait there’s more!  In John’s account of the feeding miracle there is more than the miracle of sharing and the allusion to Moses that also appears in the other Gospels.

The last supper, that tradition links to the communion service, is a meal shared with the disciples.  From those gospels that feature that last supper Church tradition has created the Eucharist as a sacrament for the faithful.  However, John replaces the ritual Passover sharing with his disciples with a long farewell speech.  Therefore, John’s Gospel associates the initial communion celebration with the feeding of the five thousand.  In so doing John opens the table of the risen Christ to all who are willing to take part.  John’s Jesus still performs the traditional liturgy.

In John 6 verse 11 we read ‘Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.’

Those are the words that structure the communion ritual. Take, give thanks, break and distribute. 

John does not mention breaking but to distribute loaves you have to break them.  The key point is that it is a sharing to all who are willing to come.  Even to those curious bystanders who just happen to be there. 

In both of today’s episodes the Biblical text is realistic and allows us to find God in the mundane, the violence, and everyday human fallibility.  These readings are a challenge to the way we do Church and a challenge to the way we function in our communities and nations. 

The power of story in these readings challenge us all to bring Christ back into the boat of our life journey.

Challenges us to share our resources so we may find the miracles in everyday activities.

“To Touch the Hem of His Garment”  (Mark 5:21-43, Psalm 130)

Our Psalm this morning shows us a person crying out for something that is needed, so deeply longed for, but is not yet there.  The Psalmist is waiting, watching, hoping for something, reaching for something, we’re not just sure what has put the writer “in the depths” of despair, but something is NOT right and the person is reaching out from their depths to God asking for help.   With the Psalm, we don’t know what happens next, but we do hear the hope that is there in the heart of the Psalmist.  He is watching for God’s steadfast love with the power to redeem.  “More than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.” 

Our New Testament passage shows us two people who were also call out from the depths of their despair, seeking something that money could not buy.  Mark shows us two people whose lives felt broken, and were touched and changed by Jesus. 

In our reading we meet Jairus, the leader of a local synagogue, and a woman– who had been suffering with bleeding for twelve years.  These two lived in the same area, but they certainly would not have run in the same circles, and surely they could not have been more different from one another.  What they do have in common is that they are in some way “not whole” and are in need of the healing touch of Jesus.  I’d like to consider these two, their approach to Jesus, and how Jesus meets each of them.

The leader of the synagogue, Jairus, would have been a man of influence within his town.  His position in the temple would make him a pillar of the community.  He had a lot riding on the status quo in society, he enjoyed a great number of privileges that came from his role as chief priest.  The priestly role was passed down in families, so his name would have been one of honor.  His family would be one of prestige and wealth.  Priests had a great deal of education.  He has everything, and yet it seems he is powerless to do anything for his precious daughter.

And the woman is not even named in our story.  We do know that she had spent all that she had on physicians, and with her condition of bleeding she would bear many shames of being “unclean” and an outcast in the culture.  She would be confined to her house and even from physical contact with her family.  Anyone who touches her also becomes unclean for a time.  Her problem is chronic, things look pretty desperate, in many ways she may feel that she has nothing to lose, for she has nothing.

Jairus he is part of the ruling class, those with prestige and authority, the very ones who have been harassing Jesus and belittling him for disobeying religious law.  But now, the leader is like the common folk.  He is a man in need, a father whose little girl is dying … a finite human being who grasps for divine power to heal and make his daughter whole.  He approached Jesus very directly and boldly.  He went right up to him on the street, stopped him and begged for assistance.  He risks his status, his way of life, his reputation by reaching out to Jesus and begging for help.  Such was the depth of his loss.  My little daughter is everything to me please help!  It would seem fitting and appropriate to those with Jesus that he would stop and respond to this leader.  He is the highest local religious authority, so it would be proper for the Christ to respond.  Jesus did not react to him because of his position, it was his faith and willingness to risk, that made the difference.

And the woman risks her very life by challenging the rules as she goes out in to the crowds and makes contact with Jesus.  The woman who has been hemorrhaging for twelve years is, in this story, a symbol of all the outcasts, all the marginal people who are outside the social and economic power structure of the day.  She is not even named in our story As a bleeding woman, she is-by Hebrew law-untouchable, and any man who touches her is himself rendered unclean.  She would be confined to her house and even from physical contact with her family.  But Jesus stops, receives her touch, healing her and restoring her to wholeness-both as an individual, and in relationship with those around her.

This woman risks her very life by challenging the rules as she goes out in to the crowds and makes contact with Jesus.  Notice how she approaches Jesus by coming up in the crowd, from behind and only desiring the chance to touch his garment, not talk to him, not even look him in the face, but simply touch his clothing.  That would be enough.  How many of us have suffered silently longing for a cure of the body or of the spirit, longing only to touch the garment of Jesus? 

I’d invite you to pick up the piece of fabric in the pews in front of you and simply hold it.  Feel the textures and notice theintricate weave.  Think about the complex threads of our own lives and the frayed edges, the places that feel like they are coming apart, as well as the places that are tightly holding together.  What areas of our lives long to be touched by the garment of Christ?  What do we wish could be cured?

The Greek word for cure means “the repair of a fractured soul.” In what ways are our souls fractured?  In order for there to be healing we must first recognize and acknowledge what’s not right.  Without the recognition of need, without knowing what takes us into the depths, there is no place for Grace.  As we become aware of our own areas of need, we then are open to the presence of God’s Grace, and can sing with the psalmist “rejoice in theLord, Praise the Lord, sing a new song!”

From this brief sketch, we see how these two were each different, but they do share in common, a real sense of loss.  Neither of them are confined by what is, to keep them from hoping for what may yet be.  They have open minds, and eyes of faith that, in the right moment, can see in Jesus possibilities that are radically new.  And they are willing to risk everything for the healing touch.  Without hesitation, Jesus responds, tending to the outcast, and the socially powerful with exactly the same healing and unconditional love.  This is the kind of response Jesus that gives to each one of us, no matter how “important’ or “unimportant” we might feel.  This is the kind of response Jesus gives to us, if we are able to name and own our need, if we are able to admit that we are dependent upon the grace of God.

For all of us, Jesus enters our world.  Our Savior finds a way to reach out and encounter us today, and we can reach out to God.  We are to take therisk of that encounter, to extend our selves toward Christ and to respond when we experience God’s presence and call in our lives.  Jesus shows us that the sufferings of others are not to be disregarded.  We are not insulated and isolated from the lives of others.  The temptation to turn away from other’s suffering is strong, the tendency to deny the reality of pain comes quickly.

While we can not bear the cross for others we can help them carry it.  When we spend time comforting someone with a broken heart, we are doing the work of Jesus.  We are part of the garment.  We may not have had the experience of pain we see in another but we can feel a part of the loss of others.  We help those in need by offering a sense of being connected to something larger than themselves and maintaining a sense of community. 

We offer healing when we hold a hand, wipe a tear, or share a hug.  We are part of the healing garment.  And others can be part of the garment for us.  May we have the strength to ask for help when we need it, give comfort when we are able, and trust that the steadfast love of God will make us all whole.   Amen.