Wants & Needs

Reverend Philip Stringer

Genesis 18:1-10

Colossians 1:15-28

Luke 10:38-42

LET US PRAY: You, O Lord, are the author of life. Speak to our hearts and fill us with the breath of your Spirit, that we may live and move in your ways, all the days of our life. AMEN

Some of you know that I am a beekeeper. Part of that has to do with actually caring for the bees, and another part of it has to do with deciding what to do with the honey.

In the mid-1800’s a Congregational Pastor named Lorenzo Langstroth, created a box for bees that changed beekeeping forever. Until that time, the only way to get honey out of a beehive was to destroy the hive. The beekeeper would cut out the comb and crush it to squeeze out the honey.

All of that changed with Langstroth’s design. His hive consisted of boxes stacked on top of one another. Each box had removable frames that the bees would use for building a comb.

These frames were built with dimensions that allowed the bees to build up their wax combs to the depth they needed but still left ⅜” between the combs for them to move. With Langstroth’s hive, he could lift out an individual frame, remove the honey without destroying the comb, and then place it back into the hive for the bees to use again.

We use an extractor to remove the honey. It is a centrifuge that spins the frames and slings the honey against the wall of the containing so it can run down the sides into a bucket, underneath.

I have an extractor — it holds 3 frames. After loading it, you crank a handle to spin it . . . and spin it . . . and spin it. Honey is thick and sticky, as you know, so it takes a long time to get it out. After that, I have to flip the frames over and do it all over again to get the honey out of the other side. That’s for 3 frames. Each box holds 7-8 frames.

Earlier in the spring, I had 6 boxes of honeycomb. Two weeks ago, I had 9 more boxes. Altogether, that’s 105 frames of honey — spinning 3 at a time, TWICE — would mean cranking that thing 70 times . . .

My friend, Heath, is a better beekeeper than I, and he has better equipment, too. His extractor spins 6 frames at a time, and they only need to be spun once — and most importantly, his has a motor! So much better!

So I called him up the other day. “Hey, I need a favor….”

After I get the honey into buckets, I need to transfer it into bottles, and then I need to store the bottles. They usually go into a closet in boxes, but Patty — being a more organized person than I — said, “you need to build shelves in the closet . . . So that is what I’ll be doing this afternoon.

All of this talk about “needs” got me thinking about needs in general.

I need my friend’s extractor and I need shelves to store all of my honey. But recently I’ve heard about some other needs.

People in Gaza need water to drink and food to eat. They are starving to death, and over 900 people have been shot to death trying to get food from the little bit that there is at distribution centers.

People in Ukraine need western weapons — tanks and guns and missiles — but more than anything, they need Russia to stop attacking them.

There are parents along the border who need to find their children who were taken from them by US customs officials — years ago — who still cannot be accounted for . . . I need shelves to store all of my honey.

That sort of brings clarity to the situation, doesn’t it? And raises the question for us of how we draw the line between wants and needs. Do you know where that line is for you?

Before I get a little too preachy, let’s not be too harsh. Of course, some needs are more critical than others. And “wants” aren’t necessarily bad. They just need to be seen for what they are. What are your wants and needs? Material. Emotional. Spiritual.

Mary and Martha were having company -- which is something of an understatement. Jesus was coming to their house. Can you imagine?

Actually, we don’t know if it was Mary’s house -- the text tells us that a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. That’s not splitting hairs. Custom demanded that a host show her guest great respect through her hospitality. It’s just good manners.

Martha always gets a bum rap, and Mary always gets praised, but I have to admit that I would side with Martha in the matter -- at least, that’s the way it is in our house. When we’re getting ready for company, EVERYBODY needs to help. That’s the way it was when I was growing up, too. There were jobs for everyone to do -- and when the guests arrived, we knew that we were to be gracious hosts. You ask if they want something to drink -- you give them a comfortable seat and let them go first at dinner.

But things don’t go so smoothly in Mary’s house. Have you ever noticed that that’s the way it usually goes around Jesus? Jesus, as usual, gives an answer that is startling and a little uncomfortable. Martha’s already upset, and it seems that Jesus has just kicked her when she is down. The reason, of course, is that Jesus is making a point about what is at the center of life. “There is need,” he says, “of only one thing.”

In matters of faith, what needs do we have? What is it that you and I truly need, and does it get crowded out by our wants?

One of my favorite books is A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean. The story, set in the 1930’s, is the story of his own youth. On the first page, he tells that his father was, “a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman.”

He writes further, “...on Sunday afternoons we had to study The Westminster Shorter Catechism for an hour and then recite before we could walk the hills with him while he unwound between services. But he never asked us more than the first question in the catechism, ‘What is the chief end of man?’ And we answered together so one of us could carry on if the other forgot, ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.’ This always seemed to satisfy him, as indeed such a beautiful answer should have...”

“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” That is a statement that wraps the greatest of wants and needs together into one sentence.

“There is need of only one thing.”

When Jesus speaks to Martha, he is putting the brakes on confusion and bringing clarity to his presence among them.

It is true, of course, that Jesus had needs, like any human does. Food and water, shelter. Martha was trying to minister to him, serving those needs.

But Jesus did not come to her house only to eat. He came to teach. And even more than this -- if we will look at the larger meaning of his coming — his birth -- we see that he came, not to be served, but to serve, and offer his life as a ransom for us. Jesus came to satisfy OUR needs. Because we cannot do it ourselves.

Our greatest need is to be freed from the power of sin and death, so that we may accomplish our “chief end” of “glorifying God and enjoying him forever.”

“Forever,” of course, refers not only to eternity, but to now. Now is the time for joy -- because now is the time of our salvation. Now is the time for us to live lives that glorify God -- as godly citizens. Godly students. Godly employees. Godly parents. Godly neighbors. Godly musicians, and even Godly pastors.

You and I are sculptors and architects -- and WE determine how we will spend our days. There is need of only one thing. Are you shaping your life around it? To do so does not mean to choose a life of unhappiness.

What are your wants and needs? It’s OK to have both. The things that we WANT do not have to be opposed to our devotion to Christ. It is true that we may need to let go of some wants that may be destructive -- but other wants may simply be part of the joy of living.

The issue is not whether or not we have wants along with our needs. But as we sculpt the shape of our lives to include them, we must remember who it is that satisfies our first and greatest need.

To remember him is also to remember what gives life meaning and joy — Christ feeds us with grace and forgiveness and new life, so that we may glorify God and enjoy God forever.

That is what this meal is about -- and soon we will begin our celebration of it, which we have so appropriately called, “The Great Thanksgiving.”

There is need of only one thing -- and here, it is given freely and with love. We are given peace and reconciliation and new life. So let us glorify God, that we may enjoy God forever.

AMEN