Fifth Sunday After Pentecost Year B 2009

05 Pentecost B 09
July 5, 2009

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, "Look, we are your bone and flesh. 2 For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The LORD said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel." 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
9 David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inward. 10 And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.

Psalm 48
1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain,
2 beautiful in elevation,
is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
the city of the great King.
3 Within its citadels God
has shown himself a sure defense.
4 Then the kings assembled,
they came on together.
5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
they were in panic, they took to flight;
6 trembling took hold of them there,
pains as of a woman in labor,
7 as when an east wind shatters
the ships of Tarshish.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen
in the city of the LORD of hosts,
in the city of our God,
which God establishes forever.
9 We ponder your steadfast love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
10 Your name, O God, like your praise,
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with victory.
11 Let Mount Zion be glad,
let the towns of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, go all around it,
count its towers,
13 consider well its ramparts;
go through its citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
14 that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
He will be our guide forever.

2 Corinthians 12:2-10
2 I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. 3 And I know that such a person--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows-- 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. 5 On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. 6 But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, 7 even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. 8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, 9 but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Mark 6:1-13
1 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Striving for Weakness

We’re honored to have Dr. David Brown with us today, and part of our community celebration has been to remember the remarkable ministry he was able to do among the youth of Deltaville in the late sixties and early seventies. I can’t tell you how impressed I am by pastors with such gifts. I’ve done only a little youth ministry in my career and found it among the most draining and frustrating work I’ve done. Those who do it are able to form close relationships with a very difficult age group.

One member of the old CYU said that in the time when they were rebelling against their parents, Mr. Brown (as they called him in those days), became a kind of alternative parent. He was able to unite kids from all kinds of traditions into a coherent community of faith and service that accomplished great things. It amazed everyone then, and it amazes us today.

Well it happens that we have a story of Dr. Brown’s namesake, King David, this morning.

The story of David is rather repetitive. In one episode after another, David is given the opportunity to choose between trusting in God and trusting in himself or his armies or his wealth or his military technology. Consistently, David chooses to trust in God. He modeled himself on the patriarchs, who believed God’s promises no matter how impossible they seemed, and instead of taking things into their own hands, waited patiently for God to do what he had promised. There were exceptions of course. Every biblical hero but one, at one time or another, failed to trust in God and tried to manage things themselves, usually with bad or even disastrous consequences.

And at the end of the passage, the scripture gives us the reason why David would thereafter be considered Israel’s greatest king: “because God was with him.”

Because God was with him.

Jesus, David’s descendent, was also anointed by God to rule over God’s people. And clearly, God was with him also, because God’s power flowed through Jesus, freeing people from the many ways in which they suffered. If they were sick, God healed them. If they were possessed by demons, God cast them out. If they were hungry, God fed them. But all these miracles pointed to the greatest one of all: that through an ordinary human being, God was coming into the world to do what only God could do, to set people free from the spiritual forces that oppressed and destroyed them.

God was with Jesus. As Jesus said in another gospel, “Of myself I am nothing; the Father does the works.” Jesus opened himself willingly to be God’s conduit of grace.
Jesus never elevated himself above other people. He insisted that he was an ordinary person and he also insisted that anyone could do what he was doing or even greater things. I think a lot of Christians love to hear that Jesus was an ordinary man, but few of us are ready for his challenge to do greater things than he.

He called the twelve from among the lowest caste of society, just as he himself had been called from humble origins. He assembled an entourage of disciples out of outcasts and sinners. It was as if he wanted to send the message that if these losers could be messengers of God’s grace, so could anyone.

But of course, there were those who didn’t get it. Even the twelve themselves seemed to find this message hard to accept. In our story today, Jesus is rejected from his home town of Capernaum because everyone knew him there. They knew his family, they knew he came for poor working stock. “You’re just an ordinary person like us. Who do you think you are?”

Paul was one of those Jesus sent to carry his message in word and deed, but there were those in Corinth who were contesting his message and claiming they knew better. We’re not sure exactly what this other message was that he was teaching, but we think it was some kind of otherworldly thing, a denial of the real world in favor of the spiritual. I saw a bumper sticker that might sum up their message. “I love Jesus and to hell with everyone else.”

It appears also that these false apostles were a lot more charismatic than Paul was. They got along better with everyone, they were charming and bright. They had great speaking voices and they dressed well. Moreover their message was more congenial, more flattering. People tend not to care too much about people outside their own circles, and these teachers told them that was just fine with God. The false apostles affirmed the Corinthians in the beliefs they already had.

Paul on the other hand was annoying, egotistical, a troublemaker. He had poor people skills. He wasn’t a very smooth talker. His ideas were hard to understand and even harder to accept. He was pushy, always exhorting those he taught to a new and different and strange way of life. He stirred up conflict in the community, got himself and other people arrested. By the world’s standards, he was a weak leader.

God wants to do something amazing. He wants to heal his creation and draw it back to him. He wants to liberate his people and all creation from the forces that oppress and destroy them. And we have an answering desire, deep in all our hearts, to do the same thing.

But we can’t do what God wants done. Sure, we can do a lot of things. We can force people to do what we want. We can persuade people to different points of view, sometimes, though even that is pretty difficult. We can put band-aids on the social ills of the world, we can go to war and kill our opponents. We can argue and yell and fight and judge and cast out the people in our families or communities that don’t act the way God wants them to, or the way we want them to.

But we can’t do what God wants done.

David was the greatest king in the history of Israel not because of his great skill as a leader or because he was a great example or because he was strong or because he had superior numbers or superior military technology. He was the greatest king in Israel’s history because he made himself weak so that God could be strong. Jesus is Lord not because he had great moral fiber or religious genius or great people skills. He is Lord because he made himself weak so that God could be strong. Paul wasn’t able to found so many congregations throughout the world of his day because he was a great guy that everyone loved. He is our greatest apostle, whose writings comprise the majority of the New Testament, because he made himself weak so that God could be strong.

And I think I can get an amen from Dr. Brown when I say that he was able to united a bunch of rebellious young people into a Christian community of love and service not because he was or is any expert on human development or psychology or even because he was good with kids. He was able to do what he did because he made himself weak so that God could be strong.

It’s when we become weak that God comes alongside us with all his healing power. It’s when we give up fighting the forces that we have always thought we could beat, that God swoops in and wins the victory.

It’s when we admit this that the miracles can begin. It’s when we admit we have no power over the sin within us or the sin in other people that we become open to the one who does.

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak but he is strong.” Jesus said of children that such as these would inherit the kingdom of God, the ones without status, the ones without power, the most vulnerable ones.

Today we will bless a little child, Jack Disher. We Disciples don’t baptize infants because we believe that our decision is an important part of entrance into God’s church. But many churches do, not because they want to take the choice out of our hands, but to announce to the world how little our decisions has to do with the great things God wants to do through us. The story of God’s work in our lives is beautifully pictured in the image of a helpless baby being claimed by God.

The world doesn’t see weakness that way, however. Weakness is a fault and not to be trusted. In the world, we demand of our leaders personal righteousness, flawless character, perfect social skills, and a charismatic personality. An ordinary carpenter couldn’t really be the Messiah. A bunch of bumbling fishermen couldn’t really carry the authority of God. An obnoxious Jewish tentmaker couldn’t really have been sent by God. A little shepherd boy from the country couldn’t really be the anointed king. A small church in a sparsely populated rural community couldn’t really be a colony of God’s kingdom. A bunch of rebellious teenagers couldn’t really become the church.

Eight years ago I made a little decision. I decided to turn my will and my life over to the care of God. Only last year, I was baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit by a pastor in this room who is a wonderful example of one who has made himself weak so that God might be strong. I hope that I can be as weak as he when I grow up.

So many churches send the message to the world around them. “Don’t bother coming unless you have it all together. If you don’t already know how to be Christian, you won’t fit in here.” One of the things I love about Philippi is that we don’t send that message. “If you don’t know what to do, if you have been brought low, then we are here for you. We know how you feel, because we are weak, like you.”

And the weaker we get, the stronger God is among us.

Amen.