“Enough!

”
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Bellingham, WA
July 29, 2018

Scripture: John 6:1-21 (and referring to 2 Samuel 11:1-15)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live your life without
regard to the welfare of others? What if you could just do what you wanted,
when you wanted, without any compunction about hurting anyone or
negative consequences?
Today’s lectionary scriptures bring us an example of someone who
basically lived his life in just such a manner. Or, at least, a good portion of
his life. Good King David is our cautionary tale. He was a man of insatiable
appetites for power, wealth, war, and women. Today’s passage from the
Hebrew Scriptures [which I did not have Melissa read], is found in 2
Samuel 11, and it tells a story with which you are probably very familiar —
and that is the story of David and Bathsheba.
To be precise, it tells the tale of a man of power who decided that he
would do whatever he had to to take what he wanted.
Our gospel lesson tells the familiar story of Jesus feeding the
multitudes. Here we find someone who is a complete, polar opposite to
King David. Jesus’s priority is the welfare of the people, rather than fulfilling
his own desires.
In this story, we also see the disciples, who probably fall somewhere
in the middle of that self-serving / selfless spectrum.
I don’t know where you would place yourself on that spectrum, but I
do know that since most of us aren’t power hungry hedonists or sociopaths,
we may land somewhere between the disciples and Jesus. Or, at least, I
hope we do.
Rare is the soul who can claim to be just like Jesus, but we keep
aiming for that. All the while, we’re practicing our boundaries and learning
from the examples set by others.

So, let’s start with David. David was a man who was not well
practiced with proper boundaries. He’s more an example of boundaries
tossed to the wind, I want what I want when I want it, and curses be upon
anyone who gets in my way.

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 If we use today’s examples as a way to establish boundaries, we
might say Boundary #1 is: “respect the boundaries of others.” Be aware
of your own power and privilege and the potential to use it to do harm.
No longer do we see David as a sweet, innocent shepherd boy who
had to battle a giant and work to find favor with a king. Now, we see David
as a strategist, a warrior, a man with a complicated relationship to his God
and his people. By this point in his life, David already had at least three
wives, each of whom were selected for rather calculating reasons.
Two of them, Michal and Ahinoam, were the daughter and a former
wife of King Saul. David’s marriages to them had given him legitimacy and
brought him closer to the throne. And one of the wives, Abigail, was a
woman whose husband had conveniently died, leaving her a wealthy
widow in possession of great land and assets — which David had already
been using.
We may want to paint David in glossy colors and heroic narrative, but
this is a man who made some poor choices in life. In this instance, he was
secretly watching a woman, as she performed the purification ritual of the
mikveh. It was a private and sacred moment and the only person who
should have witnessed it was the mikveh attendant, whose job it was to
assist her and make certain she was completely immersed in the water.
But, David not only watched, he sent his men to retrieve Bathsheba
— as if she were an object to be acquired as his whims dictated.
The Hebrew word used in this text indicates that when David had
Bathsheba brought to him, it was a forceful act. And, while readers may
debate over whether he wooed her or raped her, but we know that this was
a man of power exerting his will over a woman with no power.
David’s actions were self-serving, inexcusable, unconscionable. And
they had devastating consequences for Bathsheba and her husband, all
because David was completely driven by his passions and his
unwillingness to draw the line.

Each day, we hear more and more stories, like this one. Stories in
which the rich and powerful or those with privilege take what they want with
little to no regard for those they are harming. And our souls cry out in
despair at the pain that is caused, at our inability to make it all stop. And we
wonder when these insatiable people will realize that they have enough.
They’ve done enough. It’s time for healing.
It seems to be human nature to want MORE; to think that the grass is

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always greener somewhere else; and to be so easily dissatisfied with all
that we have.
Psychologists tell us that we don’t desire what we already have, so
desire is predicated on a sense of lack; it’s a condition of wanting and
emptiness. Desire is restless, and when we desire it’s hard to focus on
much else1 — as evidenced by the story of David when he set his sights on
Bathsheba.
So, how do we make sure we’re not living our lives the same way —
just taking what we want, whenever we want it, despite the consequences?
We may not be heartless, but sometimes we’re oblivious. We may not go to
the extremes that David did, but we can still cause damage with our daily
choices. So, the challenge is to not be driven by our passions and constant
need for more. The challenge is to be willing to say, “Enough is enough.”

This leads us to Boundary #2: beware of false boundaries.

We tend to guard that which we have acquired, because there’s that
ever pervasive fear that if we share or if someone takes what is ours, we
might not have enough.
Today’s gospel lesson tells us that Jesus stood on that hillside,
teaching thousands of people. As the day grew longer, the people grew
hungry. And Jesus said, “We need to feed everyone.”
The disciples, however, had a completely different set of boundaries
and ideals. They surveyed that crowd, checked out their own pockets, and
said, “No. It can’t be done. We’re not responsible for these people. We
have a hard enough time feeding ourselves. Besides, this kid is the only
one who even thought to bring his lunch. It’s just not enough.”
We are surrounded by a world that is hungry. Hungry for food, shelter,
medical care, a secure and peaceful existence. We are surrounded by
crowds of people in real need. And, if we want to take the teachings of
Jesus seriously, we need to take a good look at where Jesus draws the
line. Or, the great, big, inclusive circle.
Like the disciples, we may look around at the enormity of need
surrounding us and we may say, “Nope. There’s not enough for everyone.”
But, when those doubts wash over us, leaving us feeling helpless, hopeless
in the face of the world’s need, we need to stop. Regroup. Have a little talk
with Jesus, who took the food that was there, the loaves and the fish, he
gave thanks, and he fed everyone.
No matter what life demands, we must remember that God has

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created us to be resourceful, hospitable, generous people. Jesus has
taught us to take a good look at the need, a good look at the possibilities,
and then solve the problem.

This brings us to Guideline #3: know and respect your personal

boundaries. There will be times when we realize we’re not doing nearly
enough. We may see others suffering because of our apathy or inaction.
Those are the moments when we need to embrace Jesus’s can do attitude
and say, “We can do more. We can make it work.”
There will also be times we realize we’ve expended too much of
ourselves, our resources, our energies, and we need to pull back and
restore. We need to encourage and enable others to step up and serve,
using their gifts and abilities. But, for ourselves, we’ll have to say, “Okay,
that’s enough. Maybe not forever, but it’s enough for now.”
In those moments, we also need to remember that Jesus retreated to
a boat and other safe, quiet spaces to find respite and healing for his body
and his soul.
Like Jesus, we will respect our boundaries and find our Sabbath.
Then, when we next find ourselves surrounded by a hungry crowd, and
Jesus tells us to feed everyone, we’ll check our pockets and the other
available resources and say, “Let’s do this!”

1 https://www.psychologies.co.uk/self/why-do-we-want-more-than-we-need.html

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