NO PLACE LIKE HOME

July 18, 2021
8^th Sunday after Pentecost
2 Sam. 7:1-14a; Ps. 89:20-37; Eph.2:11-22: Mk.6:30- 34, 53-56
Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

The lectionary readings have devoted many weeks to the story of David. This is not surprising given that David is the focus of more of the biblical text than any figure other than Jesus. David is a dramatic and complex character, but when we take away the grandness of his life circumstances, we find a person much like us. David navigated between good and evil impulses; he was noble and brave at times and self-indulgent and cowardly at others. He was a persecuted king before Saul was defeated in battle, but after he was anointed king over the newly unified Israel, he treated leaders of the Northern kingdom unfairly. Sometimes he was grateful and trusting of God, but other times he forgot God’s interventions and blessings and trusted no one but himself. Though the most powerful man in Israel, David could be vulnerable and anxious, just like us.

Last week we read that God had made David victorious over his enemies. He brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, the new capital of Israel. He shared his joy by hosting a great feast for all the people and he danced in the street. In our Old Testament reading for today, David is at a place in his life that one would expect him to feel peace and contentment. But David wanted more.

David was finally secure on the throne; God has “given him rest.” “Rest”—it’s one of the most important words in the whole Bible. It is the total peace God longs for us to have. One could say that all of the tragedy that marks David’s reign was caused by his failure to let himself rest in God. What fearful and restless folk we humans are! Once we have enough money to supply our needs, we worry about keeping what we have and want more to assuage our fears of not having enough. Once we are fortunate enough to have what we want, we worry about keeping it. So, we bind ourselves to a continual cycle of production, consumption, and accumulation. This fear of not having enough makes us less generous in sharing with others, and the fear of someone taking what we have makes enemies out of our neighbors.

Like political leaders past and present, David was not satisfied with the power he had, and he worried about keeping it. His lofty ideas of being a shepherd king who ruled his people in obedience to God’s directives began to wane after he experienced the intoxicating taste of the power and the glory. Likewise, today we see more and more world leaders moving away from more democratic forms of government to become autocrats and oligarchs. In our own country, we see our legislators more concerned with keeping and consolidating power than serving their constituents.

As is typical of the restless, David had a plan to make himself more secure, and like all pious ambitious people, he includes God in his plan. Having established his kingship over all of the tribes of Israel and having made Jerusalem the capital and center of worship, David then wanted God to be his next-door neighbor. David had a grand house of cedar. Cedar was a symbol of power and wealth in ancient Israel. To obtain cedar, one had to travel over a hundred miles to the mountain region of Lebanon. It would have taken a lot of manpower to chop the giant trees into logs and bring them to Jerusalem.  David’s plan was to make God’s house like his – they would be equally costly and grand. David wanted God contained in a house nearby so he would always have easy access to his benefactor.

But, of course, God sees through David. Delivering his message through the prophet Nathan, God reminds David that he and David are not equal. God swiftly disabuses David of the notion that God’s power can be harnessed. God goes where God wants and does what God wants. To emphasize the superiority of God’s power, God reminds David of all the things God, not David, has done to bring David to power over Israel. Then, as if to give further evidence of God’s power and mystery, God uses a play on words to set David straight. God will build a house for David, but this time the meaning of the word house is a family dynasty. God understands and values the importance of place, of belonging. To feel that pull of connection, of place, is part of being human. God saw the direction David was headed and reminded him that God transcends time and place. God will allow the temple to be built, but at a time God deems is right. A descendant of David’s “house” will build God’s temple.

Our gospel reading begins with Jesus encouraging his disciples to relax and take a rest. ‘Stop fretting about production, how many people are listening, how many miles you have traveled, or if you fulfilled your quota of converts for the day. Rest from your worries and seek peace. The lectionary leaves out the next part in which Jesus’ rest is interrupted by a great crowd of people who have come to hear him preach. When it was getting late in the day, Jesus realized the people would be hungry and told his disciples to feed them. The disciples did not follow Jesus to become caterers! Where would they find enough food to feed 5000. From the scarcity of a simple lunch of fish and bread, Jesus miraculously feeds 5000 people, with abundant leftovers.

This was the pattern of Jesus’ ministry and the pattern he would have us learn so that we may be free enough to let God’s power flow through us: first, rest in God; then, serve God’s people; then again, rest in God. For the disciples, as with us, this was a hard lesson to learn. After the impromptu feast, Jesus tells his disciples to take their boat to the next stop on the Jesus tour while he continues with his prayer time. Jesus went up to the mountaintop, the bible’s code word for being close to God.

In our epistle reading, the author of Ephesians understood the need for a spiritual home. The author, perhaps Paul, ends the passage with the proclamation that Christ has made us into one temple. That means he makes us the place of encounter with those who long to meet and be reconciled with God. As the church, we serve as the body of Christ in the world. And, we are also served by the church, as a place of rest, a place of peace, a place to be fed, a place to call home.

God did not ask David to be a mighty king, God asked David to be a shepherd for God’s people.  God did not ask David to be a victorious king, he asked David to be a faithful king. The kingdom of Israel did not last, but the house of David did. The Roman Empire that crucified our Lord Jesus did not last, but the Christian church has.

By the grace of God, David’s story is not the whole story of God’s faithfulness to the house of David. The best was yet to come.  A thousand years later, Jesus, born to the house of David, reopened this story in a way the world had never known. David’s house of cedar is long gone.  Like his famous ancestor, Jesus continues to build a house, a kingdom that will endure forever in God’s sight. But, unlike David, Jesus stays close to God and commands us to do the same. Our relationship with God and one another as members of God’s family gives us a sense of belonging and well-being. In gratitude to God, we are compelled to provide that sense of belonging to others. Throughout the restrictions necessitated by the Covid pandemic, Westminster has continued to be a place of worship, study, and mission. Just as David did not live to see his son Solomon build a temple for God, we have continued to reach people we may never see in person through our virtual worship and bible study. As the fourth-century bishop, philosopher and theologian, St. Augustine observed:

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

Wherever we are, God is with us, and we are home.

Amen. May it be so!

© Rev. Denise Clark-Jones, 2021, All Rights Reserved
Westminster Presbyterian Church | 1420 W. Moss Ave. | Peoria, Illinois 61606
WestminsterPeoria.org | 309.673.8501

“Why am I a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church?  Two words keep  floating up in a rather persistent way  –  “home” and  “family” – and I realized that it is an inescapable fact that is what this church means to me. During my 40 years here, so many life events have happened and Westminster has been there for me through all those times – good and bad.    It has been my home and family.  They say “home is where the heart is” and I’ve found the heart of Westminster to be as open and warm as a family’s!”