God's home
Commentary
Home is one of the basic human experiences and what one scholar has called the base metaphor by which we all live. When we ask about God's home, we are naturally confused, for -- unlike finite humans -- the divine does not occupy a "place" or a "space." God is beyond space and locale. Your authors were once pastors of an inner-city congregation trying as best it could to reach out to the changing neighborhood in which it was located. The church started an after-school program for the children of the neighborhood, many of whom were Hispanic and African-American. One afternoon, as we were welcoming the children into the church, a tiny African-American boy -- maybe four years old -- entered with an expression of awe all over his face. Wide-eyed, he looked up at us and asked, "Are you God?" Taken aback by the question, we managed something to the effect that we were just God's helpers. The little boy then wanted to know where God was. His mother had told him that the church building was God's house, and he had come expecting to meet God.
Where is God's home? Certainly not confined to a church building. Yet the Bible is not shy about speaking of where God dwells. In fact, one could write a history of biblical thought on the basis of belief about where it is that God resides. Today the question of God's home seems even more confusing. While the church through the centuries has made some kind of claim of being God's dwelling place, today that assumption is often challenged. We hear much about God's home within us, in our hearts, and within our spirits. Or, God abides in the natural world, in the beauties of the mountains and forests and in the quiet of the mountain streams or the golf course.
The lessons for this Sunday beg us to consider the question of where God dwells. Each reading has to do in some way with the question that is so important in our culture today.
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
As we have followed David's rise to power, we have seen him succeed in putting down the Philistine threat, taking Jerusalem as the political capital, and bringing the ark to the city to make it the religious capital of the nation. However, the ark was housed in a tent, and that begins to worry David. His desire to build a house for God may be a reflection of his guilt, as verse 2 of our reading suggests, or it may have been a further step in his solidification of his authority. Some scholars suggest that the First Lesson was devised as a way of explaining why it was that David did not build a temple and the project had to wait until Solomon had taken the throne. Whatever the reasons for David's intent to build God a home in Jerusalem, the introduction of the prophet Nathan and his declaration that David was not to build the temple is theologically a very important passage.
Nathan enters the picture and will figure prominently not only in this story but in the David and Bathsheba incident (2 Samuel 11:1--12:15) as well as in the ascension of Solomon to the throne as David neared his death (1 Kings 1:1-53). He is representative of the so-called "court prophets" who surrounded the king and whose duty it was to keep the king faithful to his covenant with God and the people. Israel's monarchy was not a pure one, for the king was always answerable to God. The prophets in the court were God's voices, advising and correcting the king, exactly as this story claims Nathan corrected David's plans.
David's contrast of his house and God's recalls 5:11, which tells us of the construction of David's house, and 6:17, which reports that the ark was placed within a tent David had put up for this purpose. The narrator gives us no reason to think David's motives are anything but pure -- he seeks to honor God. Nathan speaks confidently in verse 3 of God's support for David's plan, even though "that same night" God puts a stop to the whole project. God's words in verses 5-7 imply that God's migratory style of presence is preferable to a fixed dwelling. They appeal to Israel's history of God's presence among the people and claim that the Lord has never sought any dwelling except that of a tent, which could be easily moved. One wonders if these verses reflect a hesitancy on the part of some of the people to build God a temple because it might limit the Lord's freedom to move about. This is the sort of reluctance pastors sometimes encounter in those who don't like change in the church and who wish to keep things the way they have always been!
God wants no temple, but instead has another plan for David. Verses 8-9a rehearse what God has done for David in the past, while verses 9b-14 promise what the Lord will do in the future. The promises include these: David will become great. Israel will have a place to live in peace. David and the nation will be granted "rest" from hostilities with others. Then the shocker comes at verse 11b. David wants to build God a house, but God will make David himself a house. David will become a dynasty, and his offspring will establish a kingdom. That offspring will then build God's house, and God will see to it that his throne endures forever. This successor will have a special relationship with God that is like that of a parent and child. The lesson ends at verse 14a and omits the promise that God will punish Solomon when he sins but will never withdraw the divine love ("steadfast love," hesed) from him, as God had withdrawn it from Saul. The scene ends with Nathan's reporting the message to David.
The author plays with the two meanings of the word "house" -- a physical dwelling place and a dynasty of kings. A divine home is not necessarily a place, a locale, but may be found in people, even in a family. God is present, this story claims, in Israel's Davidic monarchy. That may sound a bit curious to us, that is, that God is present to a nation through political rule. However, the point is the establishment of the Davidic dynasty out of which will come all Israel's kings and eventually the messiah. Practically speaking, this promise assured Israel stability in its government. They would not have to go through a struggle for the throne each time a king died. Theologically speaking, the promise assures us that God's home in the world is through and with people, who serve God faithfully.
Ephesians 2:11-22
The theological meaning of God's promise to David lies behind the message of the second lesson. This passage follows 2:1-10 which, like verses 11-22, speaks of what God has accomplished in the world through Christ. The larger concern of this part of Ephesians is to argue what God's mysterious plan for humanity is and how Christians and the church arise as part of that plan. The movement of the assigned reading is something like this. First, the author urges readers to remember their past before faith (vv. 11-12, much as 2:1-3 does). Second, the author describes the readers' present state in verse 13, and then turns to two of the results of this radical transformation (vv. 14-22) which are the creation of a new and single humanity (vv. 14-18) and the construction of a community of faith, the church (vv. 19-22).
The first unit describes the conditions of the Gentiles, who were excluded from God's grace to Israel and consequently from Christ. This made them a hopeless people without the promise of the "covenant," alienated from God as well as from "the commonwealth of Israel." After taking two verses to describe the Gentiles before Christ, the author can summarize their present condition in Christ in one verse. They are now "near," meaning in relationship with God through Christ.
The results of this inclusion of the Gentiles is to decon-struct the old view of humanity as two separate and distinct groups -- Jews and Gentiles -- and to create a single humanity (vv. 14-18). Christ does this by "abolishing the law," so that Gentiles could be in relationship with God without embracing and obeying the covenant God made with Israel. In doing so, in Christ God put to an end the ancient hostility between the two groups and brought them together in peace. The essence of this single community is that all humanity has the possibility of "access" to God. The passage suggests the social importance of the gospel. Its message is not just for the salvation of individuals in the future but for the institution of a unified humanity.
The mention in verse 16 of "one body" provides a transition from the first result to the second, namely, the formation of a community of faith, the church (vv. 19-22). The author employs several metaphors to describe the relationship among those who believe. First, they are "citizens" and second "members of the household of God." The first of these suggests that the new humanity provides opportunity for another "commonwealth." It is, however, the second metaphor the author chooses to develop with still a third metaphor, namely, that of a building. The foundation of the building includes the "prophets" and the "apostles." The former may refer to the ancient prophets of Hebrew Scriptures and thus show how God's work with Israel is fundamental for the new building God constructs in Christ. Christ is, of course, the "cornerstone" of the building, an image that is rooted in the Old Testament and used of the people of Israel (e.g., Zechariah 10:4) before being applied to the church here and in 1 Peter 2:6 (see also Matthew 21:42).
Verses 21-22 confuse the metaphor a bit, but the point is clear enough. Christ glues the community together, and the structure "grows" into God's temple. (See Ephesians 4:15 where we grow into Christ, the head of the church.) Verse 22 seems to say the same thing as 21 except with a different image. Christ builds us into "a dwelling place for God." The Christian community is understood to be the locale of God's presence both by Paul (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 6:19) and in 1 Peter (2:4-5).
What a startling and humbling idea! In community as the church, we Christians have become a house for God in this world! This is not to say simply that each of us has God within her or himself, for that concept is far too individualistic to reflect the thought of this passage. It is to say that together, as a community -- individuals taken up into the group -- we are where God chooses to make the divine home. Nor is the community to be simply equated with the institutional church, although the institution surely arises from the community. Most important, is that the interrelationship of Christians in their faith and with the Holy Spirit in our midst comprises the habitation of the divine. That is sometimes hard to believe, given our squabbles and quarrels and all our weaknesses; but it is the promise God offers to us. However, God's promise that the community of faith is the dwelling place of the divine also comprises a challenge, for it defines the church's mission with the utmost clarity.
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
This Gospel Lesson defines what it is the church does as a result of being God's dwelling place. The two short passages are patched together with the obvious intent to stress Christ's compassion for the needy and how that compassion is expressed in concrete action. The first verses from chapter 6 (30-34) are actually Mark's introduction to the feeding of the 5,000. In Mark's version of this wonder story, Christ's compassion for the crowd spurs him to offer them food. The lesson skips over the feeding story (6:35-44) and the story of Jesus' walking on the water (6:45-52) probably because the Johannine versions of those stories are the lesson for Proper 12 (see our column page 39). As it is constructed, the lesson invites the congregation to think of the healings in Gennesaret as expressions of Jesus' compassion (v. 34) -- not a bad idea.
In 6:6b-13, the disciples are sent on their mission. Between the report that they drove "out many demons" and cured the sick (v. 12), on the one side, and the beginning of our lesson for today, on the other side, Mark inserted the tale of the Baptizer's death (vv. 14-29). For that reason the reading begins with the disciples' report to Jesus on their mission (v. 30). Jesus immediately suggests that they go on retreat for a time, since they are swamped with people. Presumably Mark wants us to understand that Jesus and his followers are in Galilee (see v. 45), but the retreat place is not named.
The plan fails, however, and the crowd actually beats Jesus and the disciples to the place they had hoped to get some rest (v. 33). Mark stresses the widespread popularity of Jesus and his ministry at this stage. However, Jesus sees the crowd as needy and lost. The image of the sheep without a shepherd is drawn from the Old Testament (e.g., Numbers 27:15-17 and 1 Kings 22:17), but the most extensive use of the image is found in Ezekiel 34:1-31. There Ezekiel declares that the people have been neglected by their leaders and God promises to become their shepherd. Although this Markan passage is the prelude to the feeding of the multitude, here Jesus responds to the needy crowd with teaching, suggesting that their plight is not only a physical one but is spiritual and intellectual as well.
The word translated "compassion" in verse 34 (and sometimes "pity" elsewhere) is the verbal form of a word that identifies the human entrails as the seat of emotions (splagchnon). Mark uses the verb four times, twice in reference to Jesus' concern for individuals (1:41 and 9:22) and twice of his compassion for the crowd (here and 8:2). What is important about this word is that it suggests the deepest of emotions, what we might call "gut-wrenching." Jesus is profoundly hurt by the needy crowd.
The healing of the sick in Gennesaret (vv. 53-56) is one of several summary statements about Jesus' ministry found in Mark (see also 1:21-22, 33-34). Gennesaret is on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee and makes Mark's geography a bit tough to follow, since in verse 45 Jesus sends the disciples to Bethsaida on the northeast shore. However, locale plays no part in this brief report; sickness is the same everywhere. The people immediately recognize Jesus, further suggesting how widespread his fame was. Now the need cannot be met with teaching (as in v. 34) but only with healing. From all around, the ill are brought to him, and they begged him for some relief from their pain. The touching of his cloak recalls the story of the woman with the hemorrhage in 5:25-34.
Where does God dwell? According to these fragments of Mark, the divine is found with the lost and confused, as well as with the ill and infirm. God identifies the divine self with those who are suffering (see Matthew 5:3-6 and 25:31-46). If Jesus reveals the heart of God, then God is found where that deep compassion for the needy and hurting is felt and acted on. God's dwelling place is not tucked away neatly in some shrine set apart from the world but with humans who are desperate for healing, whether physical or spiritual. Yes, God's home is in the community of faith. However, the divine presence is what leads us out of sanctuary into the world to minister to the needy. If the Ephesians passage, coupled with the First Lesson, suggests that God dwells with the believers, the Gospel Lesson clarifies that God's presence is found in the believers' service. God is at home where the community of faith reaches beyond itself in mission.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
This text forms one of the most important theological passages in the Old Testament. Just as the Lord broke into human history in the time of Abraham and made him a promise that shaped and moved forward all of the events in Israel's life that followed after, so now the Lord breaks into history once again to utter a new promise that will shape not only Israel's subsequent history, but that of the world.
We find David at ease in his palace in Jerusalem, which he has conquered (cf. 5:6-10) and which from this time on could be called "Davidsburg." He has subdued the Philistines, built up his royal court and harem like any other oriental monarch (cf. 5:13-16), and centered religious authority in his capital city by bringing the ark of the covenant to it. But David's reign is a conditional kingship, subject to the terms of the covenant, not only with the tribes of Israel, but with God. In order further to consolidate his power, David wishes to build a temple for the Lord, where the ark can be placed in the Holy of Holies and God's dwelling in the midst of his people can be guaranteed.
The prophet Nathan is introduced for the first time in the story, and he approves David's desire for a temple. Certainly it is a religious desire to be applauded. Noteworthy, however, is the fact that Nathan's approval is given in his own words, and not as a word of God (v. 3). In verse 4, God's authoritative word enters the picture in the form of a divine oracle that Nathan is to speak to David.
God will not allow David to build the temple, because God will not allow himself to be the servant of human desire for power. He contradicts every worldly attempt to use him for selfish purposes. Verses 5-7 point out that from the beginning, God has moved about, graciously accompanying his people, but has never been subject to being confined in a place of human choosing. God is the Lord and free. He acts as he will, and human beings, no matter how powerful, cannot command his obeisance. Thus, God delivers a resounding "No!" to David's scheme to domesticate him and keep him safely confined to one place -- a lesson we all should absorb in our religious life and churches.
After he says, "No," however, God also graciously says, "Yes." He points out that his has been the hand from the beginning that raised David to be prince over his people. And now God promises David an even greater future. He will make David's name "great" (v. 9; cf. Genesis 12:2). Under David's rule, he will guarantee Israel's land and security (v. 10). He will give David rest from every enemy (v. 11). And then this -- he will make David a "house" (v. 11). David cannot make a house for God, a temple; God will instead make him a house, i.e. a dynasty. After David dies, his successor will build the temple (v. 13). God will adopt the davidic king as his son (v. 14; cf. the royal Psalm 2:7). And above all, God will guarantee the davidic dynasty forever (v. 13). Indeed, in the following verses, God promises that even if the davidic king commits iniquity, God will not take his covenant love from him. The davidic kingship will be established forever (v. 16).
God has now made an unconditional promise. There will never be lacking a davidic king to sit upon the throne. A divine Word of God has now been uttered into human history, and that word will now work in history and shape events until it is fufilled.
Is it any wonder, then, that Isaiah promises that a shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse, the line of David, even when the davidic kingship seems to have been cut off in the exile of Israel (Isaiah 11:1)? Or is it any wonder that the only begotten Son of God is born in Bethlehem, the city of David? God keeps his promises. The kingship of Jesus Christ is indeed forever. And because he rules over your lives and mine, you and I can be assured that when he comes again to establish his kingdom over all the earth, he will make a place for those who trust him, a place of peace and permanence and joyful life forever.
Lutheran Option -- Jeremiah 23:1-6
Throughout the Bible, kings were known as the "shepherds" of their people. Verses 1-5 in this passage are therefore an indictment against the unfaithful and evil rulers of Judah who cared nothing for the people, their "flock," in the seventh century B.C. Especially is it a judgment pronounced on Jehoiakim, the davidic king who was placed on the Judean throne by the conquering Egyptians in 609 B.C., after the tragic death of good King Josiah and the deposing of his son Jehoahaz. In 605 B.C., Egypt was defeated by the Babylonians, however, and Jehoiakim became puppet to that empire. Jeremiah 22:13-19 is the devastating divine judgment spoken by Jeremiah against Jehoiakim, who has employed slave labor to build himself a sumptuous palace, who has corrupted the courts, and who has shed innocent blood through oppression and violence. Jehoiakim is succeeded on the Judean throne in 597 B.C. by the Babylonian puppet Zedekiah, whose rebellion against Babylonia finally led to the fall of Jerusalem and Judah and the exile of most of the populace to Babylonia in 587 B.C. The promise of verses 3-4 of our text is that God will gather his exiled people and multiply them, returning them to their land and setting over them faithful "shepherds" who will care for them and allow them to live in peace.
Verses 5-6 of our text form a separate oracle for "the days that are coming" -- a reference to that indeterminate eschatological time in the future when God will destroy all his enemies and set up his kingdom on earth.
In order to understand these verses fully, we must realize the role played by the davidic king in the Bible. From the time of the promise to David onward (see the exposition above), it was considered that Israel's righteousness in God's eyes was bound up with the righteousness of her davidic king. "Righteousness" throughout the Scriptures signifies the fulfillment of the demands of a relationship. The king was considered "righteous" if he did what a king was supposed to do -- namely, keep God's covenant commands and exercise justice and mercy and care toward his people (cf. 22:15-16; cf. the royal Psalm 72:2, 12-14). Then not only did the king live in God's favor, but his people too were considered right before God. The king was the people; the people were the king. And what the ruler did determined what the people did, and how both were seen by the Lord -- a truth that still pertains to our time.
The promise that God gives in 23:5-6, therefore, is that he will raise up a righteous davidic king, who will rule in wisdom and justice and faithfulness (cf. Isaiah 11:1-5), and who will therefore guarantee God's favor toward the people. The king's righteousness will be the people's righteousness in God's sight.
Few better descriptions are given of what Jesus Christ, the son of David, the Son of God, the final promised davidic king, has done for us than we find here in Jeremiah. For is it not our Lord Christ who has been fully righteous, fully faithful to God, fully caring and loving toward us, his people, who has also made us right with our God? Goodness knows, we can claim no faithfulness to our Lord. We are far too self-centered, far too interested in advancing our own cause, far too fearful sometimes and anxious and forgetful of the Lord's presence and working in our lives. We do not trust him always, but try to rely on our own feeble and passing resources and wisdom instead. But Jesus Christ is faithful when we are unfaithful. He is obedient when we are disobedient. He is loving when we are unloving. He is the one fully righteous One among us. And by trust in him, we participate in his righteousness and are counted right in the sight of our God. And we therefore can have that security and salvation that God promises through his prophet Jeremiah.
Where is God's home? Certainly not confined to a church building. Yet the Bible is not shy about speaking of where God dwells. In fact, one could write a history of biblical thought on the basis of belief about where it is that God resides. Today the question of God's home seems even more confusing. While the church through the centuries has made some kind of claim of being God's dwelling place, today that assumption is often challenged. We hear much about God's home within us, in our hearts, and within our spirits. Or, God abides in the natural world, in the beauties of the mountains and forests and in the quiet of the mountain streams or the golf course.
The lessons for this Sunday beg us to consider the question of where God dwells. Each reading has to do in some way with the question that is so important in our culture today.
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
As we have followed David's rise to power, we have seen him succeed in putting down the Philistine threat, taking Jerusalem as the political capital, and bringing the ark to the city to make it the religious capital of the nation. However, the ark was housed in a tent, and that begins to worry David. His desire to build a house for God may be a reflection of his guilt, as verse 2 of our reading suggests, or it may have been a further step in his solidification of his authority. Some scholars suggest that the First Lesson was devised as a way of explaining why it was that David did not build a temple and the project had to wait until Solomon had taken the throne. Whatever the reasons for David's intent to build God a home in Jerusalem, the introduction of the prophet Nathan and his declaration that David was not to build the temple is theologically a very important passage.
Nathan enters the picture and will figure prominently not only in this story but in the David and Bathsheba incident (2 Samuel 11:1--12:15) as well as in the ascension of Solomon to the throne as David neared his death (1 Kings 1:1-53). He is representative of the so-called "court prophets" who surrounded the king and whose duty it was to keep the king faithful to his covenant with God and the people. Israel's monarchy was not a pure one, for the king was always answerable to God. The prophets in the court were God's voices, advising and correcting the king, exactly as this story claims Nathan corrected David's plans.
David's contrast of his house and God's recalls 5:11, which tells us of the construction of David's house, and 6:17, which reports that the ark was placed within a tent David had put up for this purpose. The narrator gives us no reason to think David's motives are anything but pure -- he seeks to honor God. Nathan speaks confidently in verse 3 of God's support for David's plan, even though "that same night" God puts a stop to the whole project. God's words in verses 5-7 imply that God's migratory style of presence is preferable to a fixed dwelling. They appeal to Israel's history of God's presence among the people and claim that the Lord has never sought any dwelling except that of a tent, which could be easily moved. One wonders if these verses reflect a hesitancy on the part of some of the people to build God a temple because it might limit the Lord's freedom to move about. This is the sort of reluctance pastors sometimes encounter in those who don't like change in the church and who wish to keep things the way they have always been!
God wants no temple, but instead has another plan for David. Verses 8-9a rehearse what God has done for David in the past, while verses 9b-14 promise what the Lord will do in the future. The promises include these: David will become great. Israel will have a place to live in peace. David and the nation will be granted "rest" from hostilities with others. Then the shocker comes at verse 11b. David wants to build God a house, but God will make David himself a house. David will become a dynasty, and his offspring will establish a kingdom. That offspring will then build God's house, and God will see to it that his throne endures forever. This successor will have a special relationship with God that is like that of a parent and child. The lesson ends at verse 14a and omits the promise that God will punish Solomon when he sins but will never withdraw the divine love ("steadfast love," hesed) from him, as God had withdrawn it from Saul. The scene ends with Nathan's reporting the message to David.
The author plays with the two meanings of the word "house" -- a physical dwelling place and a dynasty of kings. A divine home is not necessarily a place, a locale, but may be found in people, even in a family. God is present, this story claims, in Israel's Davidic monarchy. That may sound a bit curious to us, that is, that God is present to a nation through political rule. However, the point is the establishment of the Davidic dynasty out of which will come all Israel's kings and eventually the messiah. Practically speaking, this promise assured Israel stability in its government. They would not have to go through a struggle for the throne each time a king died. Theologically speaking, the promise assures us that God's home in the world is through and with people, who serve God faithfully.
Ephesians 2:11-22
The theological meaning of God's promise to David lies behind the message of the second lesson. This passage follows 2:1-10 which, like verses 11-22, speaks of what God has accomplished in the world through Christ. The larger concern of this part of Ephesians is to argue what God's mysterious plan for humanity is and how Christians and the church arise as part of that plan. The movement of the assigned reading is something like this. First, the author urges readers to remember their past before faith (vv. 11-12, much as 2:1-3 does). Second, the author describes the readers' present state in verse 13, and then turns to two of the results of this radical transformation (vv. 14-22) which are the creation of a new and single humanity (vv. 14-18) and the construction of a community of faith, the church (vv. 19-22).
The first unit describes the conditions of the Gentiles, who were excluded from God's grace to Israel and consequently from Christ. This made them a hopeless people without the promise of the "covenant," alienated from God as well as from "the commonwealth of Israel." After taking two verses to describe the Gentiles before Christ, the author can summarize their present condition in Christ in one verse. They are now "near," meaning in relationship with God through Christ.
The results of this inclusion of the Gentiles is to decon-struct the old view of humanity as two separate and distinct groups -- Jews and Gentiles -- and to create a single humanity (vv. 14-18). Christ does this by "abolishing the law," so that Gentiles could be in relationship with God without embracing and obeying the covenant God made with Israel. In doing so, in Christ God put to an end the ancient hostility between the two groups and brought them together in peace. The essence of this single community is that all humanity has the possibility of "access" to God. The passage suggests the social importance of the gospel. Its message is not just for the salvation of individuals in the future but for the institution of a unified humanity.
The mention in verse 16 of "one body" provides a transition from the first result to the second, namely, the formation of a community of faith, the church (vv. 19-22). The author employs several metaphors to describe the relationship among those who believe. First, they are "citizens" and second "members of the household of God." The first of these suggests that the new humanity provides opportunity for another "commonwealth." It is, however, the second metaphor the author chooses to develop with still a third metaphor, namely, that of a building. The foundation of the building includes the "prophets" and the "apostles." The former may refer to the ancient prophets of Hebrew Scriptures and thus show how God's work with Israel is fundamental for the new building God constructs in Christ. Christ is, of course, the "cornerstone" of the building, an image that is rooted in the Old Testament and used of the people of Israel (e.g., Zechariah 10:4) before being applied to the church here and in 1 Peter 2:6 (see also Matthew 21:42).
Verses 21-22 confuse the metaphor a bit, but the point is clear enough. Christ glues the community together, and the structure "grows" into God's temple. (See Ephesians 4:15 where we grow into Christ, the head of the church.) Verse 22 seems to say the same thing as 21 except with a different image. Christ builds us into "a dwelling place for God." The Christian community is understood to be the locale of God's presence both by Paul (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 6:19) and in 1 Peter (2:4-5).
What a startling and humbling idea! In community as the church, we Christians have become a house for God in this world! This is not to say simply that each of us has God within her or himself, for that concept is far too individualistic to reflect the thought of this passage. It is to say that together, as a community -- individuals taken up into the group -- we are where God chooses to make the divine home. Nor is the community to be simply equated with the institutional church, although the institution surely arises from the community. Most important, is that the interrelationship of Christians in their faith and with the Holy Spirit in our midst comprises the habitation of the divine. That is sometimes hard to believe, given our squabbles and quarrels and all our weaknesses; but it is the promise God offers to us. However, God's promise that the community of faith is the dwelling place of the divine also comprises a challenge, for it defines the church's mission with the utmost clarity.
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
This Gospel Lesson defines what it is the church does as a result of being God's dwelling place. The two short passages are patched together with the obvious intent to stress Christ's compassion for the needy and how that compassion is expressed in concrete action. The first verses from chapter 6 (30-34) are actually Mark's introduction to the feeding of the 5,000. In Mark's version of this wonder story, Christ's compassion for the crowd spurs him to offer them food. The lesson skips over the feeding story (6:35-44) and the story of Jesus' walking on the water (6:45-52) probably because the Johannine versions of those stories are the lesson for Proper 12 (see our column page 39). As it is constructed, the lesson invites the congregation to think of the healings in Gennesaret as expressions of Jesus' compassion (v. 34) -- not a bad idea.
In 6:6b-13, the disciples are sent on their mission. Between the report that they drove "out many demons" and cured the sick (v. 12), on the one side, and the beginning of our lesson for today, on the other side, Mark inserted the tale of the Baptizer's death (vv. 14-29). For that reason the reading begins with the disciples' report to Jesus on their mission (v. 30). Jesus immediately suggests that they go on retreat for a time, since they are swamped with people. Presumably Mark wants us to understand that Jesus and his followers are in Galilee (see v. 45), but the retreat place is not named.
The plan fails, however, and the crowd actually beats Jesus and the disciples to the place they had hoped to get some rest (v. 33). Mark stresses the widespread popularity of Jesus and his ministry at this stage. However, Jesus sees the crowd as needy and lost. The image of the sheep without a shepherd is drawn from the Old Testament (e.g., Numbers 27:15-17 and 1 Kings 22:17), but the most extensive use of the image is found in Ezekiel 34:1-31. There Ezekiel declares that the people have been neglected by their leaders and God promises to become their shepherd. Although this Markan passage is the prelude to the feeding of the multitude, here Jesus responds to the needy crowd with teaching, suggesting that their plight is not only a physical one but is spiritual and intellectual as well.
The word translated "compassion" in verse 34 (and sometimes "pity" elsewhere) is the verbal form of a word that identifies the human entrails as the seat of emotions (splagchnon). Mark uses the verb four times, twice in reference to Jesus' concern for individuals (1:41 and 9:22) and twice of his compassion for the crowd (here and 8:2). What is important about this word is that it suggests the deepest of emotions, what we might call "gut-wrenching." Jesus is profoundly hurt by the needy crowd.
The healing of the sick in Gennesaret (vv. 53-56) is one of several summary statements about Jesus' ministry found in Mark (see also 1:21-22, 33-34). Gennesaret is on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee and makes Mark's geography a bit tough to follow, since in verse 45 Jesus sends the disciples to Bethsaida on the northeast shore. However, locale plays no part in this brief report; sickness is the same everywhere. The people immediately recognize Jesus, further suggesting how widespread his fame was. Now the need cannot be met with teaching (as in v. 34) but only with healing. From all around, the ill are brought to him, and they begged him for some relief from their pain. The touching of his cloak recalls the story of the woman with the hemorrhage in 5:25-34.
Where does God dwell? According to these fragments of Mark, the divine is found with the lost and confused, as well as with the ill and infirm. God identifies the divine self with those who are suffering (see Matthew 5:3-6 and 25:31-46). If Jesus reveals the heart of God, then God is found where that deep compassion for the needy and hurting is felt and acted on. God's dwelling place is not tucked away neatly in some shrine set apart from the world but with humans who are desperate for healing, whether physical or spiritual. Yes, God's home is in the community of faith. However, the divine presence is what leads us out of sanctuary into the world to minister to the needy. If the Ephesians passage, coupled with the First Lesson, suggests that God dwells with the believers, the Gospel Lesson clarifies that God's presence is found in the believers' service. God is at home where the community of faith reaches beyond itself in mission.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
This text forms one of the most important theological passages in the Old Testament. Just as the Lord broke into human history in the time of Abraham and made him a promise that shaped and moved forward all of the events in Israel's life that followed after, so now the Lord breaks into history once again to utter a new promise that will shape not only Israel's subsequent history, but that of the world.
We find David at ease in his palace in Jerusalem, which he has conquered (cf. 5:6-10) and which from this time on could be called "Davidsburg." He has subdued the Philistines, built up his royal court and harem like any other oriental monarch (cf. 5:13-16), and centered religious authority in his capital city by bringing the ark of the covenant to it. But David's reign is a conditional kingship, subject to the terms of the covenant, not only with the tribes of Israel, but with God. In order further to consolidate his power, David wishes to build a temple for the Lord, where the ark can be placed in the Holy of Holies and God's dwelling in the midst of his people can be guaranteed.
The prophet Nathan is introduced for the first time in the story, and he approves David's desire for a temple. Certainly it is a religious desire to be applauded. Noteworthy, however, is the fact that Nathan's approval is given in his own words, and not as a word of God (v. 3). In verse 4, God's authoritative word enters the picture in the form of a divine oracle that Nathan is to speak to David.
God will not allow David to build the temple, because God will not allow himself to be the servant of human desire for power. He contradicts every worldly attempt to use him for selfish purposes. Verses 5-7 point out that from the beginning, God has moved about, graciously accompanying his people, but has never been subject to being confined in a place of human choosing. God is the Lord and free. He acts as he will, and human beings, no matter how powerful, cannot command his obeisance. Thus, God delivers a resounding "No!" to David's scheme to domesticate him and keep him safely confined to one place -- a lesson we all should absorb in our religious life and churches.
After he says, "No," however, God also graciously says, "Yes." He points out that his has been the hand from the beginning that raised David to be prince over his people. And now God promises David an even greater future. He will make David's name "great" (v. 9; cf. Genesis 12:2). Under David's rule, he will guarantee Israel's land and security (v. 10). He will give David rest from every enemy (v. 11). And then this -- he will make David a "house" (v. 11). David cannot make a house for God, a temple; God will instead make him a house, i.e. a dynasty. After David dies, his successor will build the temple (v. 13). God will adopt the davidic king as his son (v. 14; cf. the royal Psalm 2:7). And above all, God will guarantee the davidic dynasty forever (v. 13). Indeed, in the following verses, God promises that even if the davidic king commits iniquity, God will not take his covenant love from him. The davidic kingship will be established forever (v. 16).
God has now made an unconditional promise. There will never be lacking a davidic king to sit upon the throne. A divine Word of God has now been uttered into human history, and that word will now work in history and shape events until it is fufilled.
Is it any wonder, then, that Isaiah promises that a shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse, the line of David, even when the davidic kingship seems to have been cut off in the exile of Israel (Isaiah 11:1)? Or is it any wonder that the only begotten Son of God is born in Bethlehem, the city of David? God keeps his promises. The kingship of Jesus Christ is indeed forever. And because he rules over your lives and mine, you and I can be assured that when he comes again to establish his kingdom over all the earth, he will make a place for those who trust him, a place of peace and permanence and joyful life forever.
Lutheran Option -- Jeremiah 23:1-6
Throughout the Bible, kings were known as the "shepherds" of their people. Verses 1-5 in this passage are therefore an indictment against the unfaithful and evil rulers of Judah who cared nothing for the people, their "flock," in the seventh century B.C. Especially is it a judgment pronounced on Jehoiakim, the davidic king who was placed on the Judean throne by the conquering Egyptians in 609 B.C., after the tragic death of good King Josiah and the deposing of his son Jehoahaz. In 605 B.C., Egypt was defeated by the Babylonians, however, and Jehoiakim became puppet to that empire. Jeremiah 22:13-19 is the devastating divine judgment spoken by Jeremiah against Jehoiakim, who has employed slave labor to build himself a sumptuous palace, who has corrupted the courts, and who has shed innocent blood through oppression and violence. Jehoiakim is succeeded on the Judean throne in 597 B.C. by the Babylonian puppet Zedekiah, whose rebellion against Babylonia finally led to the fall of Jerusalem and Judah and the exile of most of the populace to Babylonia in 587 B.C. The promise of verses 3-4 of our text is that God will gather his exiled people and multiply them, returning them to their land and setting over them faithful "shepherds" who will care for them and allow them to live in peace.
Verses 5-6 of our text form a separate oracle for "the days that are coming" -- a reference to that indeterminate eschatological time in the future when God will destroy all his enemies and set up his kingdom on earth.
In order to understand these verses fully, we must realize the role played by the davidic king in the Bible. From the time of the promise to David onward (see the exposition above), it was considered that Israel's righteousness in God's eyes was bound up with the righteousness of her davidic king. "Righteousness" throughout the Scriptures signifies the fulfillment of the demands of a relationship. The king was considered "righteous" if he did what a king was supposed to do -- namely, keep God's covenant commands and exercise justice and mercy and care toward his people (cf. 22:15-16; cf. the royal Psalm 72:2, 12-14). Then not only did the king live in God's favor, but his people too were considered right before God. The king was the people; the people were the king. And what the ruler did determined what the people did, and how both were seen by the Lord -- a truth that still pertains to our time.
The promise that God gives in 23:5-6, therefore, is that he will raise up a righteous davidic king, who will rule in wisdom and justice and faithfulness (cf. Isaiah 11:1-5), and who will therefore guarantee God's favor toward the people. The king's righteousness will be the people's righteousness in God's sight.
Few better descriptions are given of what Jesus Christ, the son of David, the Son of God, the final promised davidic king, has done for us than we find here in Jeremiah. For is it not our Lord Christ who has been fully righteous, fully faithful to God, fully caring and loving toward us, his people, who has also made us right with our God? Goodness knows, we can claim no faithfulness to our Lord. We are far too self-centered, far too interested in advancing our own cause, far too fearful sometimes and anxious and forgetful of the Lord's presence and working in our lives. We do not trust him always, but try to rely on our own feeble and passing resources and wisdom instead. But Jesus Christ is faithful when we are unfaithful. He is obedient when we are disobedient. He is loving when we are unloving. He is the one fully righteous One among us. And by trust in him, we participate in his righteousness and are counted right in the sight of our God. And we therefore can have that security and salvation that God promises through his prophet Jeremiah.
