Lead Us Not Into Temptation

2 Samuel 11:1-15    John 6:1-21

In today’s first reading we again pick up David’s story, and this time it is the story of a spectacular scandal – one that never reached the ears of the Israelites of David’s time, yet one that, thanks to the second scroll of Samuel, has been known for centuries among those who read the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

No one stays young and strong forever, and David has reached what we call middle age.   As much as he might have wanted to go with the troops to face the Ammonites, he is no longer really up to the job.  Instead, he has stayed home, wishing the troops well, but having had to let them go off to fight without him.

David is a warrior king.  Unlike modern monarchs he doesn’t just reign, he rules – his power is absolute.  He has lived according to God’s word and Law, he has obeyed when told not to build a house of cedar for the Ark of the Covenant, but now, trying to deal with the limits of ageing, he comes face to face with temptation.  And so, probably not by accident on the part of Bathsheba,

Late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.  Oh dear!

As he struggles with the challenges of midlife crises, David, who has always had a close relationship with God, falls from grace.  What we are told is shocking.  Upon seeing Bathsheba, David breaks the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet’, followed quickly by his decision to break the seventh, “You shall not commit adultery”.  And, no surprise, there is a price to pay.  The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” 

Not one to panic, David comes up with the perfect plan.  Bring Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, home, have him sleep with his wife – and he will think the child is his.  But Uriah has high standards he will not break – and they involve not sleeping with Bathsheba at this time.  David solves this problem by plotting to break yet another commandment.  “You shall do no murder.”  This situation, with all of its nuances, all his flaunting of the Law of God, is definitely scandalous.  Not only that, it is the beginning of David’s undoing.

Unlike David, we rarely if ever find ourselves in a dilemma of such dreadful proportions, are not involved in scandalous behavior, but we do succumb to temptations, and when that happens, we still, like David, struggle to find a way out, a way to exonerate ourselves.  Thus, we deny the importance of the sin and rationalize our response. 

What sort of sins are we looking at?  You know – those “little” ones.  We curse!  We skip church and do not remember to keep the Sabbath day holy.  We lose our temper and are unkind, unloving to friend, family, and stranger alike.  And we say to ourselves - what will it matter?  We’re only human. Surely such “little” sins are not scandalous, and no one need know.  No one will care.  Everyone will “get over it”.

But God knows, and cares, and does not just “get over it”. 

Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.

Jesus and the disciples have found themselves in a new and not overly comfortable position in that they have become celebrities.  No longer do small groups come to hear Jesus and ask for His help.  In place of these manageable gatherings, it is now huge groups of folks that flock to see the Rabbi Jesus and His followers, and as is the case with any very large gathering, such situations tend to be fraught with problems.  This particular crowd is huge and everyone is hungry.

This is one of those times when, were it up to us, our worldly minds would tell us that perhaps it would be better not to engage the crowd today.  What would it matter, really, to take the day off?  We can so easily imagine the “superstar” of the group, the Rabbi Jesus, asking one of His disciples if they can find an easy way to get Him out of this situation, rush Him to a waiting limo, take Him to a safe hotel.  But instead, when Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” 

Phillip is no help, but one of the disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Jesus, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?"  Our Gospel writer, John, lets us know the boy has barley loaves, because barley loaves were the food of the poor. 

Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.

The crowd in today’s Gospel is composed of poor people who want a Messiah who will give them their fill of bread, and they see Jesus as that person.  They are so excited by having had their bellies filled, they want to make Jesus their king.  Faced with this temptation, yes, a temptation, Jesus does not pause to rationalize, to wonder if it would really matter so much if He accepted and became a worldly king.  He does not stop to think of the power He would have, of the army He could raise, of the good works He could do, and how useful it might be to have bodyguards to keep the crowds at bay.  He considers none of these things.

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.

How unlike us this is – to flee from the opportunity to have power and wealth, worldly recognition and accolades.  Jesus flees from the opportunity to become a king like David, to have power and dominion on earth.  This is what it is to choose not to be “of this world”. 

As evening came, Jesus must have sought out a quiet place to converse with His Heavenly Father, while His disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.

Where do we find ourselves in these readings?  We know that like David we often give in to temptation, or commit sins we tell ourselves are small and should have no consequences.  Like David, we often disappoint God.

We are also, in many ways, like the hungry crowd, turning to the superstar Rabbi for sustenance.  And Jesus does not disappoint.  He always feeds us.  And then, too, we may see ourselves in the disciples in that small boat, tossed on a stormy sea.  The wind comes up and blows us about mercilessly, temptations beckon, and we struggle all the harder for control.  As we struggle, as we are tempted like David, hungry like the crowd, frightened like the disciples, the King of Kings comes walking toward us, on the water, through the storm.

 And this often scares us, because we’re so mired in our own thinking and way of doing things, in our sins, in our lives, we don’t at first recognize Him.

Jesus said [to his frightened disciples, as He says to us], “It is I; do not be afraid.”   Then they wanted to take Him into the boat…

How do we get right with God?  We apologize and make amends.  After that, all that is needed is for us to want Jesus, to choose Jesus, as He has already chosen us, and to take Him into our boat. 

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, You know that there are often times when we long to be free to do as we please, times when we think we are in charge, times when we rely on our own power and will.  Help us to understand that this is not really freedom, but bondage, and that the world offers us nothing that is important or eternal.  Help us to repent, and grant us grace to surrender to Your will and in You to find that perfect freedom and fullness of joy, that You promise to all Your faithful friends.  All this we ask, for Your love and mercy’s sake, Amen.