2024 07 07PROPER 9 (14) Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Year B
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 and Psalm 48 • 2
Corinthians 12:2-10 • Mark 6:1-13
Our
story about David picks up after the time when King Saul and his son Jonathon,
had been killed in battle. Many years
earlier, the prophet Samuel, had anointed David as king, but David waited
patiently and respectfully for the time when this promise would come into
effect and he refused to take part in any treachery toward the current king. At
every turn, David sought to serve God and also King Saul honourably. Yet David had been anointed by the Prophet
Samuel many years earlier as God’s anointed King. This death of King Saul and his off-spring
left the throne open, and the people then united to anoint David as king.
We
are told that at the original anointing of David, these words were proclaimed
from God, “It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall
be ruler over Israel." You might
remember that at the time of this anointing, David was very young and his job
was as shepherd of his father’s sheep.
David understood what it meant to be a shepherd, and the difference
between that job description and the understanding of the role of King, was
significant.
The
shepherd cares for the sheep and protects them.
Does a King do this? Or is a king
more likely to be the one protected by the people? A king is protected by his people, but the
shepherd serves the sheep and places himself between them and danger, and
maintains their well-being of the sheep.
David
was anointed and chosen by God to be a different kind of leader – a kind that
fore-shadowed the leadership and Kingship of Christ. We are told that David became greater and
greater for the LORD of hosts was with him.
Many great leaders have come and gone, but the reason that David was great
was not because of his fighting ability, good looks, his wisdom, his charisma
or anything else, but he was great due to this very important aspect; GOD
was with him.
King
David was the kind of King who was like a shepherd over the people, and his
King was God. David lived in
submission to God and God was with him.
King David relied on God and knew by heart that the victory was won, not
by might, nor by power, but the Spirit of God.
And it is this same understanding which is clearly in the mind of Saint
Paul, as we read of him speaking about his weakness.
Saint
Paul could have boasted about many things.
In one of his letters, he explains how much he had achieved in both
society, position, and religion prior to his supernatural meeting with
Christ. He was faultless and admirable
in so many ways and yet he sought to kill the Christians, not realizing that in
this, he was fighting against God. Later, after his encounter with Christ, we witness
Paul declare that he will not boast in anything in himself, but he proclaims
that it is in his weakness the power of God is evident.
What
message of glorious hope is there in this for us? Greatness and victory is not in might or
power, but by God being with us. And, in
our weakness the power of God is evident.
In our modern society the weak are often overlooked. None of us desires to have weakness and
neither did Paul. When he prayed to God
about it, he received this very important answer: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is
made perfect in weakness."
In
our own lives, do we see our weaknesses as larger than the power of God? Sometimes we might feel that we need to have
everything in order and be “stronger”… whatever we might imagine that to entail…,
before we can be of any use to God. But
here we find that this is NOT the case.
When Saint Paul thought he was strong and capable, was when he had
everything wrong…. But in his weakness, God’s power was perfect.
We
might naturally consider that before being any use to God, we need to be better….
have a good grasp of theology and eloquent
apologetic arguments all perfected and committed to memory, but this is simply not
the truth. The disciples of Jesus
didn’t understand so, so many things and yet Jesus gave them authority over
demons and sent them on a journey of outreach.
They were to proclaim that all should repent, and this is what else
happened on that journey…. they anointed the sick with oil and they were cured!
There
are some principles in this sending out that I really love. Firstly, no one went alone. They went in twos. There was an understanding in the culture of
Jesus, that two witnesses are more reliable than one. So, when two of Jesus'
disciples proclaimed the presence of the kingdom, they would be more likely to be
taken seriously. Also, the scriptures
tell us that two are better than one… if one falls down the other can help them
up. We need each other. I wonder how much better the church might
have fared if we had continued with this understanding. Instead of having one person in charge of an
area of ministry we always had two, working side by side. Saint Paul spoke to his friend Timothy about
being abandoned at one point of his ministry; he said, “At my first defense, no
one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against
them. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the
message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was
delivered from the mouth of the lion.…” Rest
assured that if all else fails, we are never actually alone. God is with us.
In
Street Chaplaincy, we have a team of four on each night and the team breaks
into twos. We don’t preach or proclaim
the message of God in words -however, we actually do – just not in words, but
with our actions – and our message is God loves you and cares about you. So often we might be faced with things that
are daunting, but having a second person with us means we have access to a
whole different skill set and a reassurance that we are working together… we
are not alone and together we can face whatever comes our way – More than this,
we believe that God will equip us for whatever we face, but he equips us
through the gift of each other. The
implication here is that all of us are needed and need to step up and be part
of the team working with God.
The
message the disciples proclaimed was to repent.
It is a word we hear and we think we know what it means, but do we
understand it the same way as those who heard it from the mouths of those
disciples? It literally means to change
your mind and go back the other way. In
other words, turn from following your own way and go in the direction of God’s
way. To turn back to God. This is actually a very simple message…. Acknowledge or remember that God is God and
knows so much more than us. Trust in
God….
King
David trusted in God and relied on God rather than putting his hope in anything
earthly. God was with him – this is why
he achieved so much. To urge people to
repent is simply to remind them that God can make the difference. It was God who mightily rescued and delivered
Israel, so many times, and God rescues and delivers us, but we, like them,
forget so quickly. We need to be
constantly reminded to turn our mind back to trusting in God.
The
disciples were given authority over unclean spirits and also anointed the sick
with oil and cured them. This wasn’t
something that they could do in themselves.
They were obedient and did what they were called to do, but God was with
them, and so people were cured.
When
we turn our minds back to God and trust God, we are reminded that God is with
us. He is the one that makes the
difference – not us. We don’t
have the power to make ourselves great, nor the power make our church great. We can strive and try, and we can put on
programs and use fancy technology, but nothing will work in and of ourselves,
but God who is with us, makes the difference…. When we repent – That is,
acknowledge that all is in God’s hands, and obediently step out do that to
which we are called to do, then God’s purposes will be achieved.
What
we are called to do is not beyond any of our abilities. We are called to remind each other to turn our
minds back to God, trusting in him and his call to us. As a church, he has called us to continue the
work that was given to the disciples and to go into all the world and make
disciples.
King
David was anointed by God. We too, were
anointed by God at our baptism. We have
been sealed as belonging to God and set apart as a holy people. This is who you and I are… Like David, we are
the anointed of God. Let’s take a moment
to talk to God… thanking him that he has chosen us, anointed us and called
us. Let us remember that He is God… and
we belong to him. We acknowledge that we
can do nothing by ourselves , but he can do everything… and he is with us.
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