The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany

7 Pentecost, July 5, 2009

Loving God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what You would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Kings, weather they are good or not, are role models. The leaders of a people are role models for good or ill. There are three kings represented in our Scripture readings for today. They were all role models. The most important thing they modeled was the manner in which they understood, listened to, and responded to God and how that influenced what they did in their leadership.

Let's begin with David and Herod. They were both imperfect men. They both sought power and did things from political motivation. They both at times placed their own preferences and desires before God's will. They both acted impetuously. But they were different. What made them different?

Our story in Samuel is about David seeking to take the Ark of God from Baalah of Judah, where it had been in save keeping, to Jerusalem. However, God never told David to do this. He merely assumes that this is the right thing to do. The ark was the symbol that God graciously gave the Israelites to assure them of His presence among His people. God knows we need symbols such as these. So God told the Israelites exactly how to build the ark and exactly how to carry it, because the ark was to be a reflection of God's power and presence.

David takes it for granted that the capital city is the place the ark should be. And that certainly makes a certain kind of sense. David also devised a new royal cart to transport the ark. But in doing this he did not adhere to God's direction on how the ark was to be transported. God's direction was that it was to always be carried on the shoulders of appointed Levites, the priestly tribe. They were the only ones who had permission to deal with the things of the ark. The ark was retrieved with great pomp and ceremony. That the symbol of God's presence should occur with great ceremony and splendor seems appropriate, but the story gives no indication that God was consulted in any of this. David was using the ark for his own political purposes. David wanted the ark to be in the capital city to assure the people that God was behind his kingship and that decisions made by him would be understood as inspired by God and therefore God's will. But David was to be shown, over and over again, that God will not be manipulated in such a manner. This came through in the part of today's reading that was omitted by the lectionary.

I always find these omitted sections the most interesting. They are usually sections that are very curious, ones that may be confusing and often offend us. Here is the omitted section: "When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his had to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God. David was angry because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah. . . . David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, 'How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?'"

We don't like to think of God acting in this way. We don't like to think God would ever do anything that we might not like. We want a God who is more tame than this, and so this passage becomes very difficult to make sense of. One bible commentary had this to say: "God in his great mercy often did not strike down the Israelites and does not strike us down, but passages like this force us to take seriously how strongly God feels about placing our preferences before his revealed will.

Many of us have a tendency to judge the validity of a particular worship service by how much we have enjoyed it. This indicates that sometimes our understanding of the awesome nature of God does not go too far beyond the songs we sing."? In other words, what this commentary is saying is, our conception of God often remains too small, too tame, to ineffectual. David had not consulted God before moving the ark; he had not followed the instructions of God in how the ark was to be transported, and he was really trying to manipulate God for his own political agenda. That was what motivated him. Finally, Uzzah's action gave the impression that God needed to be protected by his people rather than the other way around.

At first David was angry, but then he was more appropriately afraid. His understanding of God had been too small. So David in his fear left the ark with Obed-edom. The story picks up with David realizing his need to change his thinking and behavior. He moved the ark in the appropriate manner when he saw how the household of Obed-edom was blessed by having the presence of God among them. David finally showed proper awe and respect, and his praise and exuberance were real instead of manipulating. The greatness of David was this: Even though at first David had presumed to know the will of God and acted impetuously by going ahead with his plans without consulting God, he was later able to stop and reflect on his behavior and by doing so he gained tremendous insight. David didn't justify his actions and ignore God. He was able to see how his motivation for doing what he did was not altogether good, and then he changed. He gained the knowledge that God will not be manipulated. God's power and will were what had to be respected, not human power and not human will. He was able to gain insight into himself and his own motivations, and he gained greater knowledge about the awesome nature of God. He came to understand God's holiness and all that holiness means. David was teachable! When David brought the ark into Jerusalem, his celebration was a true expression of worship. He was not concerned that his appearance be dignified. In place of royal dignity was the unabashed humility of David in his expression of praise.

That's what happens when one gains true knowledge of the awesome holiness of God, and realizes the blessing of the presence and love of God. Exuberant praise is the response. And coming to realize the incalculable blessings of God, David poured out his blessing on those he ruled. Herod was also a king with political ambitions. His ambition was to have the Jewish people recognize him as their true king. He sought to complete his father's project of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. So John the Baptist's criticism of his marriage to his brother's wife was disruptive to his ambition. That is why Herod had John arrested. However, Herod didn't want to kill John, because, after all, the Jewish people revered him. And Herod recognized that John was a holy man and he was intrigued by what John said. He had experienced John's powerful personality and was drawn to John.

But when it came to the decision of whether or not to do what he knew was the wrong thing to do, he gave into his own power and lust, and most of all his pride. Unlike David, Herod was not teachable; he was unwilling to reflect on his behavior and make the necessary changes. He had no conception of what the holiness of God really meant. That is why, there was no way he could recognize God's presence in the man Jesus, despite all the reports about Jesus' acts of healing, mercy and goodness. He only heard those reports as a threat to his own agenda. Herod's choices had taken him to a place where he had no way of identifying with the kind of love that the actions of Jesus conveyed. He had no understanding of God at all; it was so limited that the magnitude and holiness of God was not something that made any difference to him.

Herod's response to the presence of God or the holiness of God was to take evasive action. He did what he wanted to do with no thought to the consequences. Herod certainly didn't fear God; he certainly had no desire to praise and worship God. His own pride and ambition were the things he worshiped and they were his masters. He turned his back on God and so was a curse to those he ruled. The holiness of God is best revealed in the man who was crucified with a sign over his head that read, "King of the Jews." This King never was motivated by his own self-interest and never acted without first being directed by God.

This King showed us who God really is; to see the face of this King was to see the face of God. He showed humanity how God loves us by giving His very life for us. We come to a full knowledge of the holiness of God when we follow this King. Paul tells us that by following this King we come to the knowledge that we are God's adopted children. Unlike natural born children, Roman law held that adopted children could never be disinherited. In other words, we come to know through this King that God will never abandon us. We can absolutely trust God's faithfulness, as God trusted this One's faithfulness.

We are giving the assurance of God's abiding presence in the gift of the Holy Spirit who gives us the power and comfort to accomplish the transformation God wills for us. And we are promised an inheritance beyond our wildest expectations. When we follow Jesus we come to the knowledge of God's unconditional love backed by God's holy and awesome power. Exuberant praise and worship can only follow naturally from acquiring this amazing knowledge.

Our worship and praise as Christians involves "telling the story of what God has done in and through this King, Jesus."? Amen.