This morning's lectionary readings show us two very different aspects of life: the public and the personal. The Second Samuel reading is about the coronation, or anointing, of David as king of Israel and Judah. The Second Corinthians reading is about the spiritual journey of the man we know as Paul, or the Apostle Paul.
On a weekend when we celebrate the founding of our nation, I am aware of the extent to which the news media are focusing on the personal rather than the public aspect of life. And while it is fashionable to blame the news media for obsessing about personalities rather than policies, we have to admit they know what sells, what the public wants.
There are still thousands of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unemployment is at nine-and-a-half percent and climbing. Medical costs are skyrocketing while millions of people, children and adults, have no health insurance. The State of California is bankrupt, and several other states are teetering on the brink of financial disaster. Global warming continues to eat away at glaciers and raise the level of the world's oceans. But the majority of time given to news broadcasts on radio, television, and the internet is spent on Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, and, of course, Michael Jackson, "the king of pop."
I am not saying that this intense focus on individuals and their private lives is wrong. The events of the past couple of weeks remind all of us of our humanity and the humanity of the people who govern and entertain. They remind me also of the vast power we have given to the instruments of mass communication and mass entertainment. What bothers me about that is that we have given the instruments of mass communication and mass entertainment not just the power to inform us and entertain us, but a lot of people have allowed them to think for them and shape their values.
This morning's readings challenge us to think for ourselves and develop our own value systems. My reflection on them is intended to stimulate your own pursuit of truth. As usual, take what you like, and leave the rest.
If you have the time, or when you have the time, I hope you will get to know the Biblical story of King David, the man who is the subject of this morning's first reading. We hear a lot about David in the Advent and Christmas season. Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel both give genealogies of Jesus, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. Both genealogies trace Jesus' lineage back to King David, who lived about a thousand years before the birth of Jesus. They do so because David was regarded as the ideal ruler, the king who governed with power and wisdom, the king who embodied the best of what God intended for a nation called to be witness to God's purposes, the nation Israel. There was expectation that Jesus would re-establish David's throne and rule as messiah/king.
On this warm Sunday morning it may be hard to think about Christmas carols (but it might be pleasant also). In the carol "The First Noel," we sing "Born is the King of Israel." And the throne we have in mind is David's. In the carol "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night" we sing "To you, in David's town this day is born of David's line the Savior who is Christ the Lord." We also sing, "Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed...." Royal David's city is the little town of Bethlehem, because that was King David's home town where he tended sheep for his father Jesse before being chosen to be king. David is the only person in the Bible described as "a man after God's own heart."
Any Biblical scholar can tell you King David's personal life was anything but perfect. Those same scholars will tell you he was good at governing. He had a gift for organization or administration, and he could inspire loyalty in the people who worked for him. His personal magnetism was such that his soldiers would have laid down their lives for him. He was a deeply spiritual man, a poet and musician as well as a warrior.
But what leaps off the page in this morning's first reading is the sentence that says, "David then perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingship for the sake of his people Israel." (Italics added) David had the self-awareness and the humility to realize God had given him special gifts and talents for the well-being of the nation—not for David's personal aggrandizement. I suspect that is the challenge for all gifted and talented people: to keep things in perspective and not fall into a trap of selfishness, greed, and indifference to the plight of others less gifted. I know that is the challenge for all who govern: to remember they have been empowered to work for the well-being of the whole population, not just the special interests of a few, to work especially, in Biblical perspective, on behalf of "the least" among us—the poor, the troubled, the marginalized, and the powerless.
Last year in this church on the Sunday nearest the fourth of July we prayed in the prayer of confession to be open to change in our personal lives and in the politics of the nation. We got change in the political landscape of our nation, and I continue to be hopeful about what President Obama can accomplish. But I am utterly dismayed at the farce being acted out in Albany, where state senators seem to have no sense that they were elected to serve the needs of the people they represent. You don't have to look very far to find politicians and commentators who smear and criticize but have absolutely nothing to offer in the way of constructive programs.
It all makes me think about an article in one of those publications that get stuffed into our mail boxes without our asking for them. The lead article was about the man who makes about two hundred dollars an hour strutting around Times Square in his underwear—the Naked Cowboy, as he is called. (Nancy and I have a neighbor in New Jersey who walks around in his underwear, but he doesn't get paid for doing so.) The article was making the point that the Naked Cowboy exemplifies the narcissism that has become a major sickness in our culture. Narcissistic people are unable to see things through the eyes of anyone but themselves. They lack the capacity to empathize, that is, to feel with other people. Narcissism is relatively common among people who become celebrities, whether in the fields of entertainment or politics. Fortunately, there are people in those fields who are not narcissistic, and we all know some of them.
King David, while acting selfishly on more than one occasion, was not narcissistic. He was able to feel remorse and express it—something narcissistic people are unable to do. Psalm 51, the great psalm of confession, is attributed to King David, who may well have written it after he had an extra-marital affair.
Have mercy on me, O God,
According to your steadfast love,
According to your abundant mercy,
Blot out my transgressions.
For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
And done what is evil in your sight,
So that you are justified in your sentence,
and blameless when you pass judgment.
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
If I were to give a burnt offering,
You would not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
King David, the man after God's own heart, was seen as Israel's ideal ruler, not because his personal life was blameless, but because he could listen to people who dared to speak truth to him, and because he kept things in perspective: his power was to be used for the common good, not for his own benefit.
Our second reading shows us the soul of another man in a confessional mode, this time a man who lacked David's personal magnetism but possessed unusual spiritual insight. Paul's "thorn in the flesh" narrative has connected with people facing their own brokenness over years and centuries. I know it has connected with me. Fifty years ago I chose it as the text for my senior Greek exegesis paper at Princeton Seminary.
The Apostle Paul founded the Christian church in Corinth and spent considerable time there. After he moved on to establish other congregations, the people of Corinth became divided in their loyalty to Paul. Other competing teachers sought to undermine Paul's credibility and authority with the church he had founded. The verses we heard from II Corinthians contain Paul's laying out of his credentials. He describes a part of his spiritual journey he had not mentioned before. He had an ecstatic experience, something more common in contemporary Pentecostal Christianity than in main line churches. Paul says he was caught up to the third heaven and saw and heard things not ordinarily revealed to mortals.
He goes on to say that for the purpose of keeping him humble, "a thorn was given [him] in the flesh, a messenger of Satan...." Nowhere does he say what that thorn was, and commentators have offered all kinds of possibilities. There is no way to know what it was, but it is clear it was something that tormented Paul for his entire life. At least three times he pleaded with God about the source of his torment, that it would leave him. God's answer was probably not what Paul wanted to hear. But that answer is the bedrock of the spiritual life. "God's grace is all you need." Or in another translation, "God's grace is sufficient." God's answer went on, "for strength is made complete in weakness."
What Paul heard God say is "My grace is all you need, for strength is perfected in weakness."
What are you and I, and people in public places, to make of that? It is a simple but profound reminder that we are all human beings, human beings with needs and feelings. No amount of political power, no amount of money, no amount of public adulation can shield us from the exhilarations and the heartbreaks of life—and both kinds of experiences come to everyone at one time or another. To be human is to feel. Some people expend huge amounts of energy suppressing or denying their feelings, and other people, more and more people it seems, try to medicate their feelings with alcohol or drugs.
What Paul's words suggest to us is that we feel the feelings, recognize their importance, and accept the truth that they only have power to cripple us if we let them. God's grace comes to us in the support and full acceptance of those to whom we entrust our well-being—the families we create, healthy groups we become part of. God's grace comes to us in the realization that not getting our prayers answered in the way we want can be the doorway to inner strength. God's grace comes to us as we develop the capacity to empathize with other people and give love as well as receive it.
King David and the Apostle Paul—teachers of political and personal wisdom. Thanks be to God.