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Pentecost 6 -- Page 201, July 23, 2000
Surprised By God's Promise
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Ps. 89:20-37
Ephesians 2:11-22 br>Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
God makes an generous promise to David. "When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom... I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me." (2 Samuel 7:12, 14a)
The Psalmist hears a more exuberant promise, outrageous when you stop to think about. "I will establish his line forever, and his throne as long as the heavens endure." (Psalm 89:29)
The outrageousness of the promise in Psalm 89 goes with the outrageousness of the cross. It won't be King Solomon who lays an eternal foundation for David's line. He built a magnificent house for God in Jerusalem, but he missed the mark. He built a temple made by human hands. It would take a different son of David to make good on the promise in the Psalm, one who replaced the temple with his risen body. Only he can lay claim to God's promise: "I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." (Psalm 89:27) He is highest of the kings for all time because he transcends time. The kings of the earth can't compete with him because they can't get their hands on him.
Paul celebrates the new transcendence of David's descendent: "...in his flesh he has made both groups [Jew and Gentile] into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us." (Ephesians 2: 14) This is how Christ rises above the kings of the earth. He unifies their subjects under his heavenly reign. When our borders disappear, so does the power of the local king. The reign of Christ is like the rise of the Internet in that it dissolves national boundaries and challenges provincial rule.
The subjects of this heavenly king flock to him. "...they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd..." (Mark 6:33-34) Earthly leaders push. Jesus pulls. He draws all people to himself, as John puts it. The risen Lord is the only plausible fulfillment of the promise of God in Psalm 89, the only way the line of David can be eternal and transcendent.
David set out to build God a house. But God had a better idea. He would build David a house, not a house made by human hands but a house that over-arches history. No Babylonian army can conquer this house and raze it to the ground. Instead it stands forever in the midst of human history drawing its subjects home. "Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. (Luke 2:4-5)
Thus the promise that the Psalmist heard and proclaimed came true in a way he couldn't have anticipated. Likewise God's promises to us will come true, not as we anticipate, confirming our designs, but rather as God designs, confirming God's glorious creativity.
Roland McGregor
United Methodist Preacher
(Comments to Roland at RMAC.PARTI@ECUNET.ORG)
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