B, Post Pentecost 11 Proper 13 - John 6:27&29 "Eat your Cake and have it too"
Have you ever been shopping for groceries when you’re
hungry? Have you ever seen a fast-food
ad on television when you’re starving?
You can almost savour the flavour of the herbs and spices in your
mouth.
The eyes sharpen the mind, the desire intensifies, your
saliva glands prepare themselves, you want it, and you want it now. Food glorious food, hot food — chips,
burgers, chicken, a big juicy steak, with plenty of sauce or gravy! It makes your stomach churns with delight.
Perhaps every time you past the car yard, the motorcycle
centre, the bakery, the clothes shop, or the shoe store, your mind is filled
with visions of sitting high in the seat of a shiny new machine, the best in
the district. Or you picture yourself
stepping out in style with those new shoes or the latest outfit similar to what
the movie stars are wearing these days. Isn’t
it interesting how desire works its way within!
As you salivate over these things from afar, your mind
plots and your heart beats quicker, as you scheme how to make the imagination a
reality.
Similar occurs when one is attracted towards someone else. Most should
be able to remember the time the blood rushed on seeing that someone for the first
time! You become sweaty, desperately
seeking their attention! The thought of
separation causes you pain. You want
them, but for whatever reason you can’t have them! You lie on your bed at night and desire fills
your heart, you toss to and fro without satisfaction.
You fanaticise over them; perhaps even let your mind become
X-rated; you can get no satisfaction.
The fantasy only increases the desire, you burn with passion, and the
pain is almost too much to bear.
What we want, but for one reason or another cannot get,
plays on our mind. Have you ever noticed
sometimes that the less chance we have of getting it, the more we want it. The intense yearning debilitates our whole
being — mind, body, and spirit.
These strong feelings and desires make us do all kinds of
things with our minds, our mouths and our movements. From children throwing tantrums before their
parents, to teenagers manipulating things to suit themselves, to God’s adult
children growing more and more materialistic and self-centred, it’s all the
same thing in God’s eyes.
King David burned with desire over someone he shouldn’t
have been obsessing over. In fact, he
should never have let himself be in this position to do what he did.
As the saying goes, “Idle hands are the devil’s
playground.” And so, while David should
have been leading his armies in battle out in the field, he hangs about
Jerusalem not doing much.
He gets off his bed, probably aroused, but if not soon
finds himself that way as he leers over Bathsheba, fanaticising over her beauty
and her nakedness.
Instead of using his power to lead his fighting men, he
misuses his authority and takes Bathsheba, another man’s wife into his
bed. The sin cannot be concealed when
Bathsheba falls pregnant. And so, David
summons the husband, Uriah, and tries to cover his sin, but it doesn’t
work. So finally, he resorts to ordering
Uriah’s murder to cover his guilt.
Nathan, the prophet of God, goes to see David, and feeds
him a story which surely takes David in.
This is a story about a poor man who loves a lamb but when the rich
neighbour has visitors, butchers the poor man’s solitary lamb instead of
preparing one of the many lambs he owns.
David burns with anger against the rich man. But God had set David up, and Nathan says…
“You are the man!
You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your
own. …Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you
despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ …“Before your very eyes I will take your
wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives
in broad daylight.” …Then David said to
Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:7, 9, 10, 11, 13)
David had free choice, but like us all who have free
choice, the consequences are never free and so beginning with the death of the
child he and Bathsheba conceived, his whole family begins to unravel. And the ripple effect takes its toll on his
family’s kingship and on every member of the kingdom of Israel.
Have you ever heard of the saying, “You can’t eat your cake
and have it too.”? David’s desire led
him to eat his cake of desire, when he should never have had it in the first
place. He ate his cake in secret, but it
soon soured in the belly.
The unravelling of David’s kingdom continued with a
repetition of similar sorts when David’s son, Amnon, fell in love with his half-sister,
David’s daughter, Tamar. His desire led
him to deviously set up a situation where they would be alone in his
bedroom. She is sent to him with bread
as Amnon is apparently not well. But
once alone with Amnon he seeks to seduce her, but on her refusal, he rapes
her.
Amnon had his fill, then he treated Tamar as trash. After such great desire and yearning for her,
he ate his cake of desire and then he no longer had his idol of desire. Therefore, the idol of desire turned into one
of contempt and hatred.
These are the results of David’s desire to not fulfil his
kingship, leading Israel in battle, but rather, stay in Jerusalem. Desire drove David’s delusion on that afternoon
when he mused about Bathsheba; and desire continued to devastate in waves of
consequence after the wake of Amnon pining over his sister. Retribution came from Absalom, Tamar’s full
brother, who kills Amnon, and then pits himself against his father, King David,
for the kingdom of Israel. In the sight
of all Israel, he defiantly takes the concubines of his father into his bed.
Who would have known the twitch of David’s sexual desire
would have led to this tangled mess of death and destruction? We are always free to choose! But the other half is choice always has
consequences that are never free. It’s
why deception is a deception; because our desires delude and deceive us into
overlooking the other half of the free choice reality.
Have you ever noticed that after coveting the new car, the
new clothes, or whatever it is you just have to have? That on receiving it, it loses its sheen
extremely quick! The new car smell disappears,
and it gets dirty, the shoes and clothes end up wearing out and become rags, or
they date and become relics in the back of closet. This never seem a reality when we’re in the
midst of desire.
What about those food ads on television, or going to the
supermarket after you’ve had a big meal?
The smells don’t have the same effect as when you’re hungry. The burgers might be better, but you can’t
even bear to look at them! You can’t eat
your cake and have it too!
Or more to the point, “you can’t satisfy your desires and
have the desires too!” The feelings of
wanting, disappear the moment you devour what you’ve desired. But then the mirage of desire soon pops up
somewhere else, ready to deceive us all over again.
In the gospel of John chapter six, Jesus tells us, “Do not
work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his
seal.” (John 6:27 ESV)
Food that endures to eternal life! This food is unusual! We eat
it, yet we still have it. It’s the
food which satisfies, really satisfies with lasting effect. This food is unlike the food we crave one
moment then reject once we’ve had our fill.
This is the food that gives us the sense of joy, but once eaten the
sense of joy goes on and on and on, without ever becoming too much. This is the food once eaten we still have
it. You can eat this cake, and have it
too!
So, what must we do to eat and have this cake that endures into
eternal life? Jesus answers, “This is the work of
God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:29 ESV)
God calls you to taste and see that the Lord is good. Open your hearts and let God fill you with
satisfaction that lasts into eternity.
Jesus really satisfies!
So, what must we do to get the food that endures to eternal
life: Believe that Jesus is the Bread of
Life! He is the food of life; he is the only
bread of eternal satisfaction!
Jesus is the cake.
Come and eat, you can eat this cake and have it too. “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed are those who takes refuge in
him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!” (Psalm 34:8–9)
Amen.
