Satisfaction
I don’t know a thing about advertising, but it is self-evident some of the principles involve customer satisfaction and word of mouth. A satisfied customer is a powerful influence because people seek satisfaction. If the testifier found it, the one listening might want to try too. The unforgettable line from the Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal movie, “When Harry Met Sally” is spoken by one with a brief cameo appearance: the mother of the director Rob Reiner, Estelle Reiner. The lady in the diner says, “I’ll have what she’s having.” Yes, the influence of the satisfied customer is great.
In the era of classic rock, the Rolling Stones put out a hit called “Satisfaction”. You know it. Despite the title, it is a song in which Mick Jagger lays out the lament that satisfaction just cannot be obtained. We hear expressed a disposition that can come over any of us: how life can seem absurd and pointless. It is about how stimulation in life can be what it is, and still leave us blue and despondent. Here are some of the “Satisfaction” lyrics:
When I’m drivin’ in my car, and a man comes on the radio;
He’s tellin’ me more and more about some useless information;
supposed to fire my imagination, I can’t get no…no satisfaction…
When I’m watchin’ my TV, and a man comes on and tells me
how white my shirts can be, but he can’t be a man ‘cause he doesn’t
smoke the same cigarettes as me. I can’t get no, oh, no no no…
When I’m ridin’ round the world and I’m doin’ this and I’m singin’ that.
And I’m tryin’ to [impress] some girl who tells me, “Baby better come back
maybe next week, ‘cause you see I’m on a losing streak.
I can’t get no, I can’t get no, no satisfaction. No satisfaction…
This kind of hopelessness is very real. In his first lecture in the Alpha series, English clergyman, Nicky Gumbel cites the testimony of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer in the rock group Queen. This rock legend had amassed a huge fortune and attracted millions of fans. But he admitted in an interview shortly before his death he was desperately lonely. He said this:
You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man. And that’s the most bitter type of loneliness. Success has brought me world idolization and millions of pounds, but it’s prevented me from having the one thing we all need: a loving, ongoing relationship.
Some would say when a human relationship is life-giving, nourishing, and satisfying, it certainly sings with the merits of that relationship itself, and also points to the goodness of God. I mean, it is also interwoven with, one’s relationship with the divine. In classic covenantal Judaism, the faithful one has a relationship with the law of God that generates a full relationship with God. Fr. Bob Wismer, in his preaching and teaching, has given us the tender picture of the rabbi in synagogue moving over to the ark, the cupboard, where the Torah scrolls are kept, taking the scrolls in his arms lovingly and dancing with them to the place where the reading will happen. It is a dance with his beloved. The Hebrew Scriptures are experienced as the blossoming of connection with God. So, Torah opens up a sweet relationship. Our psalm for this Sunday has a section that extolls the treasure that is the holy law:
Psalm 19
7 The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul; *
the testimony of the Lord is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent.
8 The statutes of the Lord are just and rejoice the heart; *
the commandment of the Lord is clear
and gives light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean and endures for ever; *
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, more than much fine gold, *
sweeter far than honey, than honey in the comb.
The one singing these verses is a satisfied customer. This devotee does get satisfaction, indeed. Look at how the one who recites the psalm piles up the qualities of the law. How valuable are its precepts? List them again—the One who created the splendor of all is also given the law, which: revives; gives wisdom; rejoices the heart; gives light; is clean, true and righteous; is desirable as a treasure, and is the sweetest element in our life. How utterly satisfying! For the Christian, this superlative element of fulfillment in life and happiness is the wisdom, the word, and the presence that is personified in Christ.
Later this week, I will want to explore how St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians delineates, the most powerful element of fulfillment comes paradoxically in what looks like defeat and weakness, namely in the cross of Christ Jesus. What the Greeks, seek, desire, and find in wisdom, what Paul’s fellow Jews seek and find in the signs of God’s powerful interaction in history, followers of Jesus find consummately in the love of the resurrected Messiah.
That love emanates from the Cross and moves us into the embrace of God. It makes you want to cross your arms over your heart where the Spirit ever resides and do a little dance about the room…”Oh, how I love Jesus! Oh, how I love Jesus! Oh how I love Jesus, because he first loved me!” Loneliness has gone, lethargy gone—what comes to us in God is more to be desired than much fine gold…sweeter far than honey in the comb.