The Ven. Richard I. Cluett
August 20, 2006
Proper 15 ~ 1Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, John 6:51-58
Do you remember when we first met David? King Saul had gone astray. Samuel, the prophet of the Lord had been sent to the home of Jesse the Bethlehemite to see if there was there one who had the potential to lead the House of Israel.
1 Samuel 16. 11 Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ 12He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’ 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.
And today we encounter the time some 40 years later when David sleeps with his ancestors and the boy Solomon now sits on the throne of his father David.
Of all that he could ask of God, he asks this: And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?"
And God grants Solomon a wise and discerning mind, and so much more; that today we speak wishfully and wistfully, sometimes wantingly of the Wisdom of Solomon.
We can remember that David did walk faithfully with his God – some of the time. We remember, too, that there were serious lapses in his decorum, in his behavior, and in his deeds – murder, adultery, and more. But he always, always, always returned to the Lord in repentance, attempting once again to walk before God in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart.
And we know the story of Solomon as well. Marrying multiple wives to secure military alliances, he sacrificed on those high places less and less to the God of Israel and more and more to the gods of his wives; he walked less and less with his God, turning more often to the lesser gods of his wives. Until the days came when Jehovah finally would no longer walk with Solomon.
We can treat this history, these stories as if they were a “Days of Their Lives” soap opera, or some ancient Greek drama, or a more modern drama like the ”Perils of Pauline”, or we can learn from them.
It is important to remember that the great men and women of the Bible were just ordinary people like you and me; flesh and blood, fallible, mortal. Yet God could and would and did use them. If God could work in the world through a murderer like David, or an idolater like Solomon, then perhaps, in some way, he can use us.
So the question becomes how do we make it through this life walking in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart? How do we make it though the day? How do we make the right decision? How do we build a just society? How do we make peace in the world, in our community, in our homes, in our own hearts? How do we stay faithful?
We stay as close as possible to the Source of our strength, the Source of our Salvation, to the One who shows us the that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Jesus said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Just as David and Solomon and all the others were real flesh and blood, fallible, mortal human beings, so is this faith we ascribe to a flesh and blood faith; real life meeting real life. A real price was paid by Jesus of Nazareth, a blood price was paid for the soul of the world and for the souls of Rick and Mary and Sue and George and Trevor and William and each and every one of us.
Sarah Dylan Breuer writes: Flesh and blood are the seat of life -- life belonging only to God, life that can be claimed rightly only by God. And yet in Jesus, God has willingly poured out that life for the sake of the world -- not just the good people, the people who try hard to do the right thing, the people who praise and encourage the saints, but as much or more for the people who hate, and who act on their hatred...
He is… the Source of our eternal salvation and the Source of our daily strength. "Eternal God you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ and you have fed us with spiritual food in the sacrament of his Body and Blood."
The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven. The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.
The best chance we have for living grace-filled lives is to accept this incomparable gift of the body broken and the blood shed for us, and to accept it often and regularly so that as it strengthens our bodies and souls and minds and hearts, we can know that Christ dwells in us and we in him.
Time and again we can receive this holy food and drink of new and unending life. It is given for you. Take it and feed on him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.
A Baptismal Coda
As God selected David and Solomon as his chosen people, today God brings Trevor and William into His divine life, with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of being a child of God. It is imperative that parents and Godparents keep them close to the source of strength that will empower their lives each and every day and beyond, so they may walk in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart before their God all the days of their lives.
It is an awesome responsibility and this community is here to support you in it.
Amen.
