josephholubsermons


 

August 2, 2009  -  Pentecost 9

  I Can See Clearly Now...   

...not only a song written in the 70's and rehashed many times since by various voices, but also the title of this sermon.

In the Old Testament passage for today Nathan said to David, “You are the man!" 
In Marks gospel for today, "Jesus laid his hands on (the man’s) eyes…  and he saw everything clearly."

To understand this encounter between Nathan the prophet and David the King, we must look at events that preceded it beginning a generation before, a time when the Israelites had no king at all, and Samuel was the prophet in the land; that is "spokesperson for God."  When Samuel had reached retirement age, the traditional thing would have been for him to turn things over to his sons, and they would have become the prophets for God in the land. But they were hardly suited for the job being nothing more than a bunch of crooks.  So, the Israelites told Samuel what they needed was a king.  "We need a king!"  They had never had a king before, but other nations had kings, why couldn't they?  Samuel didn't like the idea at all!  He was offended and repulsed by the idea of a king. 

He said there was only one king worth the time of day, and that was God.  Samuel told them that kings were nothing but trouble from the get-go.  He said kings would draft their sons into their armies,  force them to take care of their farms and vineyards, take their daughters to work in their kitchens and perfume factories.  He said that kings would fill up their barns with their livestock and tax them into poverty.  A king? No way!  In fact Samuel warned them, "In that day when you have a king, you shall cry out (in great grief) because of the king you have chosen."[i]  But they wouldn't listen; they insisted and old Samuel, running out of life, caved in and anointed them a king. Saul was his name.

We fast forward a few years.  Saul has died and David is the king.  The name David means "beloved", and believe me when I say, David was beloved!  The Israelites adored him like no other king they ever had.   Achieving great military victories, David established Jerusalem as the capital. The "City of David" they called it.   David paraded the Ark of the Covenant into the city, right down main street; that holy box made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, that contained who knows what (supposedly the tablets of stone engraved with the Ten Commandments) - a representation in space and time of their God who dwelt in eternity.  Loading it on a custom built cart, David processed it into town and made a circus parade out it, complete with horns, and harps, and cymbals and songs, not to mention himself leading the whole gig, high-stepping out in front on the whole procession like a drum major leading a band.  He set up a big tent for the ark and provided refreshments for everyone.

And if that wasn't enough, when the party was reaching a fever pitch, with trumpets blaring and drums beating, David stripped down to his skivvies and danced an unforgettable dance.  Like a prelude to Camelot, there was David whirling around before ark in a state of ecstasy with a captivated nation drawn in to the whole drama.  It is no wonder that Israel lost its heart to David.

But David also had feet of clay, a dark side: a self-serving, deceitful, lustful, vain, murderous dark side.  The warning of the prophet Samuel a generation before on the dangers of a king seemed to be coming true even with their beloved David.

You know the story.  David was in his palace.  All was quiet. He was alone. No prophet was around to remind him that he was God's anointed one, called to embody all that God desired for the people.  He walked out onto the terrace that over-looked the grounds, and he saw her for the first time.  Beyond the wall, a young woman stood naked bathing in a shallow pool, and at that moment David decided he had to have her - at any cost!  He inquired and learned that Bathsheba was her name, and she was married to one of his own military officers, Uriah the Hittite.  No matter!  He summoned her, and the bottom line was Bathsheba became pregnant with David's child. 

The story gets complex at this point - as if it wasn't already - unfaithfulness always leads to sordid turns and tactics that almost always get violent, if not physically, then emotionally and mentally.  In the end David contacted Uriah's commanding officer, and told him to make sure that in the next battle Uriah was placed right at the front of the most intense fighting.  Of course, Uriah was killed in battle, (surprise, surprise) and after the traditional time of grieving David married Bathsheba - and they lived happily ever after?  Hardly.  You can read all about it 2 Samuel.

And that takes us to today's passage. There was new prophet in the land, Nathan was his name.  Nathan got a sniff of the stench of David's deed.  So, he confronted David, but he didn't do it outright.  He didn't get in David's face right away.  He sort of snuck up on him.  He simply came to David and told him a story.  I’m sure that David loved a good story as much as anybody, so he listened. 

You have the story before you: a story about a rich man and poor man.  The rich man had great wealth of many flocks and herds; and the poor man had but one little lamb that was endeared by him and his family - more like a pet than anything.  A traveler came one day to the rich man's door, and hospitality demanded that the rich man provide for the traveler.  But instead of taking from one his own abundant flocks, he took this poor man's one little pet lamb. 

Upon hearing that, David was incensed!  He announced that this rich man deserved to die - at minimum pay the poor man back four-fold.  Then the hammer finally fell when Nathan said, "David, you are the man."   Nathan was clever.  He didn't come at David with condemnation and judgment.  He simply told a story and allowed David to do the rest.  By his own words, David was convicted of his arrogance and violence that an environment of power often fosters and breeds. 

I look at this story differently that I used to.  I used to think this story was all about David; about David's failure as the anointed one of Israel; about his failure to act justly; about being intoxicated by his lust and then using his absolute power to violently advance his own self-serving agenda.  And of course, it is about that and there are a plethora of contemporary parallels to which I could call our attention, but you are fully capable of doing that yourself - because there are so many!

But this story is also about something else; something of which it is easy to lose sight.  This story is also about the prophetic voice, in this case Nathan. In the bible the prophetic voice always brings things into focus.  The biblical prophets were a little like these glasses I wear on my face.  If I take them off, my severe near-sightedness takes over and everything is a blur. I can only see close up.   When I put them on, everything is brought into focus.  Blinded by his own near-sighted lust and  absolute power, it was Nathan's voice that brought into focus, for David, the grievous nature of his deeds; of how he had failed to live up to the expectations of his calling as God's anointed one.

If it were not for the prophetic voice of Nathan, speaking truth to power, David may well have gotten away with his grievous deed.  As it is, Nathan brought it into focus; made him see more clearly. 

To me, it seems like the ultimate irony that Jesus, who in the gospels is identified as the Son of David, acts, behaves and looks far more like one of the prophets than he ever looked like David. 

In today's gospel from Mark Jesus restores the sight of a blind man in two steps.  But this is not just an isolated story that Mark told for kicks.  This story serves a very unique function in Mark's gospel.  In fact, there are two stories in Mark's gospel where Jesus restores sight to the blind; this one in chapter 8 and another in chapter 10. *  Sandwiched between these two stories Jesus three times * tells his disciples that they are headed for Jerusalem, and when they get there things are going to go from bad to worse: he will suffer violence at the hands of the powers that be and be killed.  All three times the disciples don't get it. They disagree and don't understand what Jesus is saying. In other words, they are blind.

Also, between these two stories of restoring sight to the blind, Jesus twice * has intense conversations with his disciples about who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God.  On both occasions the disciples were defining greatness the way the world usually defines greatness: in terms of being #1; being the strongest; having the most influence, status and power.  Both times Jesus corrects the disciples, and he turns their thinking inside-out and upside-down by asserting that in the Kingdom of God everything is opposite: in the Kingdom of God the servant is first, the last are first, and servant-hood is the way.

It is also in this same section of Mark's gospel, between the two bookend stories of restoring sight to the blind, that Jesus gathers the children * unto himself and holds children up as models of living in the kingdom of God - children mind you, who were considered among the last and least in that culture. 

It is also in this same section of Mark's gospel that a rich man comes to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. * Actually his question was rhetorical since he thought he had already done it by following all the commandments, and he was looking for an affirmation.  Jesus wasn't impressed, and he popped the man’s self-righteous balloon when he said, "Sell everything you own, give it to the poor and come and follow me."

Finally, it is also in this same short section of Mark's gospel, bookended by these two stories blindness and restored sight, that Jesus issues the challenge, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me."   

Excuse the pun, but do you see?  (or are you like the blind man who could sort of see, but not quite) Mark intentionally and cleverly structured his gospel so that his readers (that being you and me today) might see clearly that the way of following Jesus is in stark and absolute contrast to the usually way of the world.  Realizing that and then beginning to build your life around it is like seeing clearly for the first time; it's like the difference between blindness and sight!

David was blinded to his calling as the anointed one of God; blinded by his lust and absolute power.  And he used his power in the way the world almost always ends up using power; to dehumanize, to minimize; to coerce; to manipulate; to gain leverage; to inflict violence.  Nathan helped David see clearly how he had abused power. 

Mark, in this short section of his gospel bookended by two these two stories of blindness and restored sight, is proclaiming that in Jesus and in the kingdom of God, power is being redefined and turned inside-out.  What the world considers sight, the kingdom of God considers blindness.

Jesus calls upon his disciples to make the most radical shift in thinking and trusting that a person could ever be called to make.  It is a totally transformational shift.  Mark is declaring that in the kingdom of God, as embodied by Jesus, power as the world understands it is no longer applicable.  The operative power in the kingdom of God for the disciple of Jesus is the power of sacrificial love; the power of self-giving love; the power of self-emptying love that ultimately took Jesus to the cross; a journey that he invites us to take him with him. 

Nathan confronted David so that David might clearly see how he abused power.  Jesus went far beyond that by redefining power so that his disciples might clearly see the kind of life Jesus called upon them (us) to live. 

When the world declares that the greatest are the strongest and the most powerful; in contrast the Kingdom of God declares the greatest are the last, the least, the weakest. 

Where the world says assert yourself over others; in contrast the Kingdom of God says "love neighbor as self"

Where the world says the only power you can trust is coercion and force; in contrast the kingdom of God defines power as compassion and a quest for justice that empowers the powerless.

Where the world says peace through might; in contrast the Kingdom of God says peace through justice.

Where the world says, take up the cause of self aggrandizement; in contrast Jesus says "take up your cross and follow me."

And if we ever do, follow him that is, into his kind life, the good news is we will be turned inside out and upside down; transformed; an experience that can only be likened to being blind and then finally being able to see; when we might joyously declare: “I see can see clearly now.”