Need Versus Want
Commentary
There’s all this cool stuff and most times we can get exactly what we want, when we want it. During the pandemic there were shortages, however, which we took with ill grace.
David has abused his position as king to murder a man and steal his wife. His greatest concern seems to have been keeping up appearances. Even he can see the injustice, however, when confronted by the prophet Nathan’s parable. Nathan reminds David of all God has done for him, but he has not lived a life worthy of his calling
The apostles ask us to focus on what is essential to live a life worthy of the calling. Our appetites don’t take precedence over those of another because we are one body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, etc.
What the people who encounter the Bread of Life want is more bread. What they are offered is more Life. Real life. Real life is what they need.
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Nathan’s tale is a parable, from the Greek word parabola, which describes the arc of a boomerang, flying way the heck out there, only to fly back straight and true and knock us head over heels with the shocking realization that this far-fetched story is really about us.
Or about David, in this instance. This reading begins with Bathsheba’s stylized grieving. She “keened,” as Robert Alter puts it in his translation, referring to the stylized wailing expected in this culture.
Throughout this drama David does not leave his house. He does not go out with the troops. He sends for Bathsheba. He sends for Uriah. He sends a letter to Joab to arrange for the murder of Uriah. In all this he has plausible deniability before the world, but not before God.
Now God sends Nathan, who tells a riveting tale that keeps David’s attention, gets him involved, angers him to the point where he cries out for the blood of the rich man who took advantage of the poor man. Nathan’s turnabout, when he shouts, “You are the man!” has all the electricity of the final scene of the murder mystery, when we think we know the culprit, but now the evildoer’s identity is revealed in a dramatic twist.
As is often the case, a sin which breaks down the boundaries of society results in harm for many people. David will not die directly as a result of his sin. Instead, death will hang over his house. Death will hound his story, beginning with the innocent infant born of his sexual relationship with Bathsheba, and ending with the death of Absalom. “Would to God I had died instead of you, Absalom my son..”
Ephesians 4:1-6
It’s not Paul’s choice to be a captive, and neither is it our choice to be captives to the more difficult aspects of the good news of Jesus Christ. We have no problem with declaring Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We do have a problem turning the other cheek, loving our enemies, and praying for those who persecute us. We, like the Ephesians, are fellow captives with Paul. We, and they, are prisoners of unity and prisoners of peace!
What does that mean? It means we have a calling and should live a life worthy of that calling. The bond of peace — referring to the Hebrew word shalom — means more than just hiding our conflicts, sweeping them under the rug. We must achieve wellness, wholeness, with each other. Their benefit is our benefit, no matter how much we dislike our fellow believers. and now the Ephesians are captives in their bond together. This is very difficult. They have a calling and should live a life worthy of it. A bond of peace. Shalom, being well with each other, not just hiding everything under the rug.
This bond, this chain, of unity, another aspect of being a prisoner in the Lord, has seven (ah, that biblical number) affirmations. We are one body, in one Spirit, sharing one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, given by one God and Father of all.
Paul quotes Psalm 68:18 (“You ascended the high mount, leading captives in your train and receiving gifts from people.”) when he writes in Ephesians 4:8 (“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.”), using the language of an imperial conqueror to make the astounding claim that a nobody who died a slave’s death in an outer province, at the hands of Roman authorities, is despite all appearances, the conqueror, the emperor, the King of kings. This is wonderfully subversive language.
And to achieve these things this conqueror gave different kinds of gifts to the people. These are what we need, not what we want. We want celebrities, flash, power. God’s purpose is to keep us from straying from one fad to another.
John 6:24-35
When you know what the scriptures say you’ve only done half the job. Interpretation is required as well. In this passage there are dueling interpretations. Both Jesus and the representatives of the multitudes are arguing about what it meant when the manna fell from heaven.
This scene is part of the extended story of the feeding of the multitudes. In John’s version, the people follow Jesus because they want more free bread. Emperors, and conquering generals who had an eye on becoming emperors, provided bread and circuses for the masses. In John’s gospel the miracles are called signs because they point us to Jesus. They’re not simply wonders for their own sake. Now in an earlier story, the Samaritan woman, alienated from the people in her village, wants this living water Jesus is talking about because she’ll never have to come back to the well by herself at the time of day when no one’s around, ever again. However, when she figures out what Jesus is talking about, she’s ready to look beyond a never-ending bucket of water to see what Jesus is really getting out. In this passage the people aren’t able to look beyond the sign of the bread to know what Jesus means when he says, “I am the Bread of Life.” They point to the manna that Moses gave him and suggest that this is what they expect from Jesus, again and again and again. Jesus reminds them that a more correct interpretation states that God gave the manna, no Moses, and that the real bread which it pointed to comes from the Father in heaven. That would be Jesus. But they’re not able to hear this. The dialogue is going to deteriorate even further in lectionary sections, because the people, unlike the Samaritan woman, can look beyond what they admittedly want to what they truly need — real life.
David has abused his position as king to murder a man and steal his wife. His greatest concern seems to have been keeping up appearances. Even he can see the injustice, however, when confronted by the prophet Nathan’s parable. Nathan reminds David of all God has done for him, but he has not lived a life worthy of his calling
The apostles ask us to focus on what is essential to live a life worthy of the calling. Our appetites don’t take precedence over those of another because we are one body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, etc.
What the people who encounter the Bread of Life want is more bread. What they are offered is more Life. Real life. Real life is what they need.
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Nathan’s tale is a parable, from the Greek word parabola, which describes the arc of a boomerang, flying way the heck out there, only to fly back straight and true and knock us head over heels with the shocking realization that this far-fetched story is really about us.
Or about David, in this instance. This reading begins with Bathsheba’s stylized grieving. She “keened,” as Robert Alter puts it in his translation, referring to the stylized wailing expected in this culture.
Throughout this drama David does not leave his house. He does not go out with the troops. He sends for Bathsheba. He sends for Uriah. He sends a letter to Joab to arrange for the murder of Uriah. In all this he has plausible deniability before the world, but not before God.
Now God sends Nathan, who tells a riveting tale that keeps David’s attention, gets him involved, angers him to the point where he cries out for the blood of the rich man who took advantage of the poor man. Nathan’s turnabout, when he shouts, “You are the man!” has all the electricity of the final scene of the murder mystery, when we think we know the culprit, but now the evildoer’s identity is revealed in a dramatic twist.
As is often the case, a sin which breaks down the boundaries of society results in harm for many people. David will not die directly as a result of his sin. Instead, death will hang over his house. Death will hound his story, beginning with the innocent infant born of his sexual relationship with Bathsheba, and ending with the death of Absalom. “Would to God I had died instead of you, Absalom my son..”
Ephesians 4:1-6
It’s not Paul’s choice to be a captive, and neither is it our choice to be captives to the more difficult aspects of the good news of Jesus Christ. We have no problem with declaring Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We do have a problem turning the other cheek, loving our enemies, and praying for those who persecute us. We, like the Ephesians, are fellow captives with Paul. We, and they, are prisoners of unity and prisoners of peace!
What does that mean? It means we have a calling and should live a life worthy of that calling. The bond of peace — referring to the Hebrew word shalom — means more than just hiding our conflicts, sweeping them under the rug. We must achieve wellness, wholeness, with each other. Their benefit is our benefit, no matter how much we dislike our fellow believers. and now the Ephesians are captives in their bond together. This is very difficult. They have a calling and should live a life worthy of it. A bond of peace. Shalom, being well with each other, not just hiding everything under the rug.
This bond, this chain, of unity, another aspect of being a prisoner in the Lord, has seven (ah, that biblical number) affirmations. We are one body, in one Spirit, sharing one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, given by one God and Father of all.
Paul quotes Psalm 68:18 (“You ascended the high mount, leading captives in your train and receiving gifts from people.”) when he writes in Ephesians 4:8 (“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.”), using the language of an imperial conqueror to make the astounding claim that a nobody who died a slave’s death in an outer province, at the hands of Roman authorities, is despite all appearances, the conqueror, the emperor, the King of kings. This is wonderfully subversive language.
And to achieve these things this conqueror gave different kinds of gifts to the people. These are what we need, not what we want. We want celebrities, flash, power. God’s purpose is to keep us from straying from one fad to another.
John 6:24-35
When you know what the scriptures say you’ve only done half the job. Interpretation is required as well. In this passage there are dueling interpretations. Both Jesus and the representatives of the multitudes are arguing about what it meant when the manna fell from heaven.
This scene is part of the extended story of the feeding of the multitudes. In John’s version, the people follow Jesus because they want more free bread. Emperors, and conquering generals who had an eye on becoming emperors, provided bread and circuses for the masses. In John’s gospel the miracles are called signs because they point us to Jesus. They’re not simply wonders for their own sake. Now in an earlier story, the Samaritan woman, alienated from the people in her village, wants this living water Jesus is talking about because she’ll never have to come back to the well by herself at the time of day when no one’s around, ever again. However, when she figures out what Jesus is talking about, she’s ready to look beyond a never-ending bucket of water to see what Jesus is really getting out. In this passage the people aren’t able to look beyond the sign of the bread to know what Jesus means when he says, “I am the Bread of Life.” They point to the manna that Moses gave him and suggest that this is what they expect from Jesus, again and again and again. Jesus reminds them that a more correct interpretation states that God gave the manna, no Moses, and that the real bread which it pointed to comes from the Father in heaven. That would be Jesus. But they’re not able to hear this. The dialogue is going to deteriorate even further in lectionary sections, because the people, unlike the Samaritan woman, can look beyond what they admittedly want to what they truly need — real life.
