"Even those who are pure in heart"
Commentary
The preacher who chooses either the Old Testament or Gospel lesson as the basis for a sermon will want to consider staying with the choice through the coming Sundays. With the Old Testament passage we are still in a portion of scripture that has been called an example of true history. Lest anyone think the people of the Bible are plaster saints and not flesh and blood folk like us, the narratives in this section of 2 Samuel will set the record straight. Today's reading takes us right into the kind of story about scandal in high places that today provides copy for the tabloid press, raises issues of sexual harassment, and shows the dark side of our human potential and the terrible deeds of which we are capable. David, the singer of psalms and composer of prayers, the anointed who danced before the Lord, initiates a cover-up conspiracy that involves murder. Uriahgate goes far beyond Watergate. The Chronicler omitted the story in his record. Facing these facts about David are like facing the truth about the potential for evil in all of us. As the song of the Gypsy in the Werewolf legend puts it:
"Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers at night,
can become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms,
and the moon rides high and bright."
This tell-it-like-it-is kind of history we encounter in the lesson is not written with the bad intent so many "tell all" sort of books are written in these days. These are, after all, salvation stories. I think of the fellow who said, "I want a faith that can help me when I've been a real stinker." Well, here's for any of us who want a similar faith. Bearing in mind that the preacher will be dealing with this story over two Sundays in a time of year when those present one Sunday may not be there the next, a bulletin insert outlining the whole story might be a help.
The Gospel lesson leads us right into a pivotal chapter in the Fourth Gospel. The lessons through August 21 will be drawn from this chapter. The readings are John's extended commentary on the words of Jesus, "One does not live by bread alone" (Luke 4:4; Matthew 4:4). This opening scene of the chapter focusing on the feeding on the mountain and the command of Jesus over the waters raises a deliberate association with the exodus under Moses, begins to clue us to John's understanding of the deliverance Jesus brings, and safeguards the words of John from an unworldly spiritualization.
In the Epistle lesson reference to the strengthening of the inner being catches the eye. The phrase is highly suggestive. Pop psychology in recent years has prompted us to get in touch with our inner child. When is someone going to point us to the potential mature adult within? Forty years ago the Overstreets writing in The Mature Mind cited a major problem of the mid-century as the immature mind in the adult body. I wonder what they would say revisiting the national scene today. If this lesson is not used as the springboard for a sermon, a creative use would be to use it as the benediction.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
2 Samuel 11:1-15
It is instructive to take note of how the best of scholars can be influenced by traditional biases and stereotypes in discussing biblical narratives and texts. Here is a case in point that I came across in the excellent commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel by Hans Wilhelm Hertzberg in the Westminster Old Testament series. Commenting on Bathsheba's choice of time to bathe, he asks us to consider whether Bathsheba might not have counted on the possibility of being seen by the king. Then in commenting on verse four he rightly observes that we learn nothing about Bathsheba's feelings, yet he adds "her consciousness of the danger into which adultery was leading her must have been outweighed by her realization of the honor of having attracted the king." The text says absolutely nothing about Bathsheba's reason for bathing at that time nor her feelings about the summons from David. We have encountered here sheer conjecture rooted only in an inherited male bias and stereotype. And this bias is still around. In how many rape trials has the defense argued or at least insinuated that the female victim did something to invite the incident? This whole bias has ancient rootage in the interpretation of Eve (woman) as the temptress and seductress. A sermon on traditional male biases that shapes even reactions to scripture is not out of order. The conniver in this narrative is not Bathsheba but David who spins a web of treachery and deceit in arranging the death of Uriah.
When the film, The Last Temptation of Christ, made the rounds a few years ago some turned out to picket in protest to the portrayal of Jesus as having a sexual attraction. This is strange considering the way biblical writers have of regarding the attraction of man and woman as nothing out of the ordinary. In our lesson David is condemned for committing adultery and the crime of murder. The real offense in the Last Temptation of Christ was the casting of Mary Magdalene in the role of the temptress who seeks to deflect Jesus from his mission. This is an image of women built into our American legends of the old west. The cowboy, Shane, for example, is attracted to the woman, but in the end rides off into the sunset. For wider background study focusing on women in the Old Testament I would recommend the competent scholarship of John H. Otwell in his book, Sarah Laughed. (West Minster Press, 1977). See especially his chapter on sexual attraction.
Another path from the narrative leads into the subject of sexual responsibility. David is roundly condemned for his actions. There is an intriguing remark made by Job, "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a virgin?" (Job 31:1). How does this relate to the teaching of Jesus on adultery? (Matthew 5:27ff). We need to get into this whole area of sexual responsibility in this moral wilderness around us where the only word the adult community seems able to speak is, "Don't leave home without your condoms."
The Chronicler of the court history of Israel omitted this incident from his history. Did he find the story too shocking or out of line with the piety of David? I refer you to the gypsy's song. This is what the werewolf legend is all about, our human vulnerability. The National Rifle Association is always shouting at us that only criminals misuse guns, not honest citizens. They seem to forget that every criminal is an ex-honest citizen. The simple folk who passed on the werewolf legends to us had a much more solid theology. But perhaps this stepping stone should lead into a sermon on the lesson for next Sunday when we can probe the ways God can deal with us when we act as real stinkers.
Ephesians 3:14-21
It is important to keep in mind that these words are addressed to a congregation. It is in and through the worship, love, and mutual caring of the community of faith that we grow in the life of faith. It is also important to remember that the Ephesian letter is a summons to the church to engage the principalities and powers, to pursue the ministry of reconciliation and servanthood. We are a community open to the word from beyond. This is a quite different understanding of faith than the prevailing privatism so well described by Robert Bellah in his book, Habits of the Heart.
John 6:1-21
The time setting on the narrative is the approaching festival of Passover. The crowds, the Mountain, the feeding and the sea scene all provide Passover symbolism. The themes of John may well reflect themes familiar in the synagogue at Passover time. Moses and Jesus are linked together.
There is an intriguing passage in the book of Revelation that may help us take a new look at the link John makes between Moses and Jesus. Revelation may well have been written by an unknown Christian prophet identified with the Johanine community. In the 15th chapter of Revelation John, the seer, sees the victorious martyrs before the throne of God and notes: "And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (Revelation 15:3).
Does this give us a clue to interpreting this sixth chapter of John's gospel? Is John setting the stage for the discourses of Jesus to come and the ensuing story of the Lord who brings life transforming deliverance from the power of death? Is John speaking of one exodus that replaces another, or two essential sequences? Can there be a deliverance from the pharaoh without that does not include a deliverance from the Pharaoh within?
In 1958 Romaine Gary wrote an award-winning book, The Roots of Heaven. The story is set in Africa as the movements for liberation from colonial rule were gathering steam. One character, Peer Qvist, has this to say to an opportunistic leader of a liberation movement. "The tens of thousands who died building the Congo-Ocean railway are nothing in terms of human suffering compared to what you plan for Africa. You'll be one of the cruelest conquerers and colonizers.... The tribes have known the slave traders, cannibalism, disease and colonization, but that's nothing compared with what they'll be up against when you start building a new Africa, and my heart bleeds for the survivors" (Gary Romaine, The Roots of Heaven, Simon and Schuster, NY, 1958, page 293). In the light of the tyrants and exploitive leaders that since then have arisen in Uganda, Ethiopia, Zaire, the Sudan, Somalia and Guinea, for example, those words appear prophetic. Jesus never hesitated to feed the hungry. He knew that we live by bread or rice or potatoes or whatever it takes to sustain the body. He also knew that we live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.
"Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers at night,
can become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms,
and the moon rides high and bright."
This tell-it-like-it-is kind of history we encounter in the lesson is not written with the bad intent so many "tell all" sort of books are written in these days. These are, after all, salvation stories. I think of the fellow who said, "I want a faith that can help me when I've been a real stinker." Well, here's for any of us who want a similar faith. Bearing in mind that the preacher will be dealing with this story over two Sundays in a time of year when those present one Sunday may not be there the next, a bulletin insert outlining the whole story might be a help.
The Gospel lesson leads us right into a pivotal chapter in the Fourth Gospel. The lessons through August 21 will be drawn from this chapter. The readings are John's extended commentary on the words of Jesus, "One does not live by bread alone" (Luke 4:4; Matthew 4:4). This opening scene of the chapter focusing on the feeding on the mountain and the command of Jesus over the waters raises a deliberate association with the exodus under Moses, begins to clue us to John's understanding of the deliverance Jesus brings, and safeguards the words of John from an unworldly spiritualization.
In the Epistle lesson reference to the strengthening of the inner being catches the eye. The phrase is highly suggestive. Pop psychology in recent years has prompted us to get in touch with our inner child. When is someone going to point us to the potential mature adult within? Forty years ago the Overstreets writing in The Mature Mind cited a major problem of the mid-century as the immature mind in the adult body. I wonder what they would say revisiting the national scene today. If this lesson is not used as the springboard for a sermon, a creative use would be to use it as the benediction.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
2 Samuel 11:1-15
It is instructive to take note of how the best of scholars can be influenced by traditional biases and stereotypes in discussing biblical narratives and texts. Here is a case in point that I came across in the excellent commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel by Hans Wilhelm Hertzberg in the Westminster Old Testament series. Commenting on Bathsheba's choice of time to bathe, he asks us to consider whether Bathsheba might not have counted on the possibility of being seen by the king. Then in commenting on verse four he rightly observes that we learn nothing about Bathsheba's feelings, yet he adds "her consciousness of the danger into which adultery was leading her must have been outweighed by her realization of the honor of having attracted the king." The text says absolutely nothing about Bathsheba's reason for bathing at that time nor her feelings about the summons from David. We have encountered here sheer conjecture rooted only in an inherited male bias and stereotype. And this bias is still around. In how many rape trials has the defense argued or at least insinuated that the female victim did something to invite the incident? This whole bias has ancient rootage in the interpretation of Eve (woman) as the temptress and seductress. A sermon on traditional male biases that shapes even reactions to scripture is not out of order. The conniver in this narrative is not Bathsheba but David who spins a web of treachery and deceit in arranging the death of Uriah.
When the film, The Last Temptation of Christ, made the rounds a few years ago some turned out to picket in protest to the portrayal of Jesus as having a sexual attraction. This is strange considering the way biblical writers have of regarding the attraction of man and woman as nothing out of the ordinary. In our lesson David is condemned for committing adultery and the crime of murder. The real offense in the Last Temptation of Christ was the casting of Mary Magdalene in the role of the temptress who seeks to deflect Jesus from his mission. This is an image of women built into our American legends of the old west. The cowboy, Shane, for example, is attracted to the woman, but in the end rides off into the sunset. For wider background study focusing on women in the Old Testament I would recommend the competent scholarship of John H. Otwell in his book, Sarah Laughed. (West Minster Press, 1977). See especially his chapter on sexual attraction.
Another path from the narrative leads into the subject of sexual responsibility. David is roundly condemned for his actions. There is an intriguing remark made by Job, "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a virgin?" (Job 31:1). How does this relate to the teaching of Jesus on adultery? (Matthew 5:27ff). We need to get into this whole area of sexual responsibility in this moral wilderness around us where the only word the adult community seems able to speak is, "Don't leave home without your condoms."
The Chronicler of the court history of Israel omitted this incident from his history. Did he find the story too shocking or out of line with the piety of David? I refer you to the gypsy's song. This is what the werewolf legend is all about, our human vulnerability. The National Rifle Association is always shouting at us that only criminals misuse guns, not honest citizens. They seem to forget that every criminal is an ex-honest citizen. The simple folk who passed on the werewolf legends to us had a much more solid theology. But perhaps this stepping stone should lead into a sermon on the lesson for next Sunday when we can probe the ways God can deal with us when we act as real stinkers.
Ephesians 3:14-21
It is important to keep in mind that these words are addressed to a congregation. It is in and through the worship, love, and mutual caring of the community of faith that we grow in the life of faith. It is also important to remember that the Ephesian letter is a summons to the church to engage the principalities and powers, to pursue the ministry of reconciliation and servanthood. We are a community open to the word from beyond. This is a quite different understanding of faith than the prevailing privatism so well described by Robert Bellah in his book, Habits of the Heart.
John 6:1-21
The time setting on the narrative is the approaching festival of Passover. The crowds, the Mountain, the feeding and the sea scene all provide Passover symbolism. The themes of John may well reflect themes familiar in the synagogue at Passover time. Moses and Jesus are linked together.
There is an intriguing passage in the book of Revelation that may help us take a new look at the link John makes between Moses and Jesus. Revelation may well have been written by an unknown Christian prophet identified with the Johanine community. In the 15th chapter of Revelation John, the seer, sees the victorious martyrs before the throne of God and notes: "And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (Revelation 15:3).
Does this give us a clue to interpreting this sixth chapter of John's gospel? Is John setting the stage for the discourses of Jesus to come and the ensuing story of the Lord who brings life transforming deliverance from the power of death? Is John speaking of one exodus that replaces another, or two essential sequences? Can there be a deliverance from the pharaoh without that does not include a deliverance from the Pharaoh within?
In 1958 Romaine Gary wrote an award-winning book, The Roots of Heaven. The story is set in Africa as the movements for liberation from colonial rule were gathering steam. One character, Peer Qvist, has this to say to an opportunistic leader of a liberation movement. "The tens of thousands who died building the Congo-Ocean railway are nothing in terms of human suffering compared to what you plan for Africa. You'll be one of the cruelest conquerers and colonizers.... The tribes have known the slave traders, cannibalism, disease and colonization, but that's nothing compared with what they'll be up against when you start building a new Africa, and my heart bleeds for the survivors" (Gary Romaine, The Roots of Heaven, Simon and Schuster, NY, 1958, page 293). In the light of the tyrants and exploitive leaders that since then have arisen in Uganda, Ethiopia, Zaire, the Sudan, Somalia and Guinea, for example, those words appear prophetic. Jesus never hesitated to feed the hungry. He knew that we live by bread or rice or potatoes or whatever it takes to sustain the body. He also knew that we live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.
