Stand and be counted - We are the people of God. 14th July 2024 Pentecost 8B Proper 10B

 2024  04  14  PROPER 10 Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 and Psalm 24  •  Ephesians 1:1-14  •  Mark 6:14-29

 

The Gospel reading today reminds me of that show on the ABC, “Horrible Histories”.  We read that King Herod joins in the conversation of those who are trying to figure out where Jesus fits in the story of their life.  Was he John the Baptist come back to life?  Was he Elijah or another of the prophets?  King Herod was voting for him being John the Baptist, perhaps to ease his conscience for having had John beheaded, but I’m not sure that he actually had much going on in the way of a conscience.

 

King Herod had Jesus beheaded because John spoke out about the King being married to his brother’s wife.  John told him that it wasn’t right.  John was free to voice his opinion and King Herod actually didn’t mind those opinions, as much as his wife did.  It was the wife who put the daughter up to asking for John’s head.  King Herod had offered her anything… up to half the kingdom! Unfortunately, he did this in front of his guests.  The king didn’t think she’d ask for John’s head, and then he didn’t want to lose face in front of his guests by refusing her. 

 

To some extent, the readings today are about this; the opinions of others and whether we will make what is the right action and God’s will, a priority or whether we will instead, make people’s opinions of us the priority over what is right.   People’s opinions give power to bully’s who use weak people who care about what people think of them, to gather power over others.  It isn’t always an easy thing to reject as it sneaks in as subtle as a serpent in a garden.  We all want to be accepted and belong.  It is great to be part of the “In” crowd…. But at what cost?

 

In our Gospel reading we notice that there was a buzz about Jesus.  Who is he?  And what gives him the power to perform miracles?  The Jews believed in resurrection and, in particular, they believed that it would happen when the Messiah came.  They had asked John if he was the messiah and John clearly declared that he wasn’t.  However, not everyone got the memo, so they naturally thought that Jesus could be, John resurrected, and that this resurrected status was what gave Jesus the power to perform miracles.  

 

This buzz about Jesus, gave rise to many opinions.  Everyone had an opinion about who Jesus was, and whether who he was, and what he was doing was “as it should be” or not.  From last week, you might recall, his home town largely rejected him, saying, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?”   As people who had grown up with him and his parents, they formed an assumption about who he was based on themselves, their town and the role that Jesus family played as the local carpenter.   

 

These assumptions are the same beliefs that can keep us all from reaching our potential.  For example; I’ve heard more than one person telling me that they didn’t follow a career path because they grew up with gifted older siblings who told them that they were stupid – and they believed them.  It reminds me of an S club 7 song, “Reach for the Stars” in the bridge are these words; “Don’t believe in all that you’ve been told… the sky’s the limit, you can reach your goal.  No one knows just what the future holds.  There ain’t nothing you can’t be, there’s a whole world at your feet.”

 

Jesus was aware of what people were saying about him.  He didn’t stop his ministry because people had an opinion about him being a carpenter’s son.  Jesus also didn’t stop his ministry for fear of Herod or the many other opinions about him.  He knew who he was in God and that was his real identity.

 

King David was also one who didn’t back down because of public opinion.  King David was an extraordinary king.  In our first reading, did you notice that little sentence in the middle about his wife Michal, she despised the king.  Michal was the daughter of King Saul.  She knew how a King was supposed to behave with dignity…. Or at least, that was her understanding of how a king should be.  Her experience of the king was one who was a bit of a tyrant… King Saul gave her in marriage to David as a prize when he defeated Goliath… and then gave her to someone else when David fell out of favour with the king.  Michal didn’t understand King David at all.

 

Our story about King David is a chapter where the ark of the covenant was being brought up into the city of David.  There is a whole huge back story here about the ark being taken in battle, but causing havoc at that place and so it was given back, but only got so far, because a priest reached out to stop it from falling and was killed by the power from it.   Then David left the ark there because he was afraid of God and his power.  Our story is full of rejoicing before God, but with sacrifices and reverence. 

 

Throughout history there has been a tension between reverence and rejoicing.  Even now, some churches would perceive others as being irreverent due to their use of drums in church.   Surely the pipe organ is the only God ordained instrument!  (I jest – please excuse).   David danced with all his might before the Lord and he was girded with a linen ephod.   Later his wife declared this as being undignified, dancing in his underwear in front of his people.  It begs the question; is the anything that we consider undignified or improper that God actually delights in?

 

A little research on the linen ephod and David’s wearing it, reveals that David was making a declaration.  Only priests were supposed to wear the ephod… which is pretty much the Alb that priests wear today.  David was king.  He was of higher standing than the priests, but David, in his act of wearing the epod and dancing before God, was declaring that he was in submission to God and at the mercy of God.  It was also a declaring of commitment to God first… and it was an act of humility before God.

 

David declared his priority; God was king and David was his servant.  This should cause us to reflect; who is most important and who do we need to please?  Can we make that same declaration as David?  Do we live to please people around us, or do we live to please God?  It can be scary to stand as a Christian, living for the approval of God alone, and we may be rejected by some because of it, but Psalm 24 reassures us: “Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.  They will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of their salvation”

 

More than this, our letter to the Ephesians tells us that God … “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.  He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,”.

 

In these last few weeks, our readings have picked up different aspects of being called by God.  Today, as we notice the question about Jesus’ identity, and his steadfastness and knowing his own identity, we are reminded of our identity;  We belong to God and he has chosen us, blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and sealed us with his Holy Spirit.  We are his and we have a purpose.  We mustn’t become side tracked by the opinions of people and we must not become discouraged by those who might put us down for this faith.   Where would the kingdom of Israel have been if King David listened to his bitter wife who discouraged him from putting God first?  Where would we all be if Jesus accepted the opinions of those in his home town, that he was just a carpenter’s son?

 

Are we living in ignorance, or a false reality where we have been accepting these kinds of negative statements about ourselves and who we are in Christ, rather than the truth of what God has declared to us?  God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  Just what does that imply about our lives?  For me, I believe that I have accepted a whole lot of limitations that God didn’t put there, and I’m betting that this is the same for every one of us.  Today, let’s commit to change that.  Let’s be brave and open to being the person that God has declared us to be and walk… not in a mere identity as a Christian… but in the reality that we are born of God!  We are born of the spirit of God and belong to him.  We will walk in this world bringing his blessings, because we are blessed with every spiritual blessing.  There is a whole destiny ahead of us that is bigger than any of us has imagined.  Let’s now thank God that we are His, and ask Him to help us remember and live in this reality.