Something Old, Something New

2 Samuel 7:1-14a; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Religion is a wonderful thing. In fact, one's religion can be very liberating and enabling, the source of strength for a person's life. But, on the other hand, one's religion can also be just the opposite. It can be a very dreadful thing. Far from being liberating, it can be most confining and limiting, the very source of a person's weakness and inevitable doom.

Of course, you might wonder why I would say something like this, being that I'm a minister of the United Methodist Church, an organization that you would think would defend religious practices. You might think that I would want everyone to be religious in every way. But, of course, this isn't true. For there is certainly a big difference between being "religious" and being a "Christian." For not all religious practices are necessarily Christian. And not everything that God calls a Christian to do are particularly religious. Piety, for instance is not necessarily Christian. For there are some very pious Moslems, Jews, and Hindus, as well as atheists in the world. In fact, some of the best Christians are not pious, at all! For piety can actually limit a person from loving his or her neighbor. Piety can be used as a convenient excuse for a person to refrain from venturing out from the safety of a protective cocoon-like existence. Piety, one's attempt at religious-ness, can actually keep a person from doing the work of Jesus Christ.

Our Old Testament lesson for this morning points this out fairly well in the story of how the prophet Nathan advised King David regarding the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. Most of us know that King David wanted more than anything to build a great Temple in Jerusalem where the people would come from all over Israel and Judah to worship the Lord. Back then it was even believed that God lived in the Ark of the Covenant, a large box that the people of God had carried around with them as they wandered in the Wilderness and as they went into battle against their enemies. They believed that God sat on top of the box and protected them from harm. So, now that the people of Israel were settled in the Promised Land, the ark was kept in a large tent, much like a circus tent. But, now, David felt that it was high time for the ark to be moved into a house of worship. And he certainly believed that he was the one who should build the house – a huge and beautiful temple at the very center of the city of Jerusalem.

And so, he went to his trusted friend – the prophet Nathan – for advice about this. For Nathan was an important religious leader of the city of Jerusalem. Nathan had the ear of the people. And, to be sure, Nathan was even a bit proud of the trust the people and the king had in him. And so, King David told Nathan that he would like to build a great temple in the heart of Jerusalem. And, perhaps because Nathan knew how important this was to the king, and perhaps because Nathan didn't want to say or do anything that would jeopardize such a nice relationship with the king, he replied, "Go ahead and do anything you have in mind, for the Lord is with you."

You know, it is tough being called upon by God to be a minister, or a priest, or a prophet. You might think it would be great to have God call you for such important work. But let me tell you that in spite of what you might think, being a prophet – especially one who wants nothing more than to be faithful to God – can be one of the most difficult and lonely things in the world. Of course, it is natural for a person to want to get along with people. Nobody wants to have conflict with someone else. Even a prophet would like to allow people to do their own thing just to make life easier and less stressful. And that's what Nathan wanted to do when he heard the plans of King David for building a temple for God. Certainly, building a temple sounded like the pious thing to do. It sounded like the religious thing to do. And, so, Nathan's reply to David was a simple and quick one: "Go ahead and do what you want, for the Lord is with you."

Now, it would have been easier for Nathan to have just gone back to his home and forget about King David's request. It would have been easier for him to have gone on a long vacation out of the country. But, he hadn't been called by God to be forgetful or to stay at home or to go on vacations. He had been called by God to be a prophet. So, instead of going home and forgetting about it, Nathan went home and went to bed. And while he was lying there God's Holy Spirit came to him and started to wrestle with him. And while he was lying there in the dark he realized that God didn't want David to build him a house. For the time had not come for such a thing. Instead, God wanted to build up Israel and especially build up the house of David.

And, so, with perhaps a bit of fear and trembling, Nathan went back to King David and told him what God had revealed to him. And fortunately and perhaps even to Nathan's surprise, King David listened carefully to what he said and believed him and then used the occasion to worship God. But, it wouldn't always be the case. For in the future hundreds and thousands of prophets would come to God's people in the future with the message of God's word only to be rejected, shunned and ostracized, imprisoned and even put to death.

Certainly, there is a lesson in this for us. At least I know there is a lesson in it for me. For as your pastor there are times when I must be a prophet – when I must share some truths from the Word of God that may not be pleasing for you to hear. There may be times when, like Nathan, I may be called upon to challenge some deep convictions or pious beliefs. And when that happens don't think for a moment that I won't be tempted to leave well enough alone. But if a prophet is going to have integrity and be faithful to God, leaving well enough alone just won't cut it. For God's Word to us is a word of life. God's word to us is one that leads us into vitality. God's word leads us into active discipleship. God's word is full of grace and gifts and strength and empowerment for growth. So to leave well enough alone at the expense of the life-giving word of God can be nothing more than a sin.

So, there will be times in the future when I may bring God's word to you. And it may be a surprising word, something that you didn't expect, something that you hadn't counted on, something that may even go against your sense of piety. And the question is what your response will be at that moment. Will it be one of acceptance, as in the case of King David when he heard what the Prophet Nathan had to say?

Our gospel lesson for this morning talks about the situation just before Jesus fed the multitudes of people who had come to hear him teach. As we consider this scripture lesson, it is important that we understand what the disciples must have been thinking. Here the twelve of them were, thinking that they would be able to spend some time alone with Jesus, in order to hear the secret teachings and mysteries of the universe. They believed that what they would hear from Jesus would give them power. So they certainly didn't want a whole bunch of non- disciples to hear what Jesus had to say. But that isn't what happened. No matter how hard they tried to get Jesus into a place of seclusion, to get him all to themselves, there always seemed to be a crowd of common, unclean, unwashed, people ready to sit down and listen to him. And it was beginning to be a little disgusting.

So, our gospel lesson tells us that it was getting to be supper time and the people were getting hungry. At last, the disciples figured it was their chance to get Jesus to themselves. So, they went to him and suggested to Jesus that he send all those people away so that they could find food in some surrounding villages and maybe even a place to stay for the night. But, Jesus wouldn't have any of it. He knew what his mission on earth was, and it wasn't to be the personal chaplain or guru for 12 disciples. Rather, Jesus' mission was to save the world and to teach 12 somewhat selfish young men how to take his good news of salvation into the world. And so he look these disciples squarely in the eye and said, "Why don't you disciples give them something to eat?" And, of course, this response flabbergasted the disciples. They didn't know what to make of it. They didn't have money to buy anything. And there wasn't much food around to buy, anyway – except five loaves of bread and two fish that some kid's mother had put into a sack lunch. And, yet, it was from that sack lunch that Jesus fed the multitudes all they needed to eat.

Sometimes our piety, or our wish to please God, or our wish to be the greatest in God's kingdom, or whatever, can cause us to claim God as our own so that our fellowship and religion and faith turns inward. Jesus saw that that was happening with his disciples. And so he told them to start feeding the very people they wanted to send away.

What would Jesus say to us? Not too long ago I served a church that had a yearly Christmas cookie bake-a-thon. For one whole week in early December they would get together bake and decorate thousands of Christmas cookies which they would then sell for around $5 a dozen. One day early in the week, while they were all gathered together decorating Christmas cookies, three eager 13 year-old neighborhood boys came to the church and asked if they could help. They were immediately turned away. Later that same day another neighborhood boy came to the church and started to help decorate cookies. After he made only five cookies he was asked to leave the church because he didn't know how to make cookies.

What would Jesus have said to those people in that church? Indeed, what would Jesus say to us, today, in any of our church functions and activities? Wouldn't he say something like, "Teach them to make cookies!"? Wouldn't he say, "Feed my people!"? Wouldn't he say, "Invite them all to your next potluck dinner!"? Wouldn't he say, "You never can have me all to yourself!"? Wouldn't he say, "Go out and share me if you want to keep me!"?

How obvious this is! But, then, how difficult it is for so many of us to accept! Our epistle lesson from Ephesians reminds us that even we were once outside of the faith. In fact, except by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, just about everyone sitting in this room is an outsider. We're all Gentiles. And, yet, we are able to claim Abraham as our father in the faith as though we were descendants of Abraham, himself. To be certain, there are those who would have kept God and Jesus to themselves. But Jesus wouldn't hear of it. And he told them to go and feed the world with the Good News – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You have at your disposal a great feast. Unbelievable riches have been laid before us. Jesus has given us the privilege to share these gifts. And what a marvelous opportunity it is!

Amen.