Psalm 48
2 Samuel 5:1-5 , 9-10
2 Cor. 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13
Homilist: Paul Mallery

Happy Independence Day. Happy 4th of July, when we celebrate the birth of the most powerful nation on earth. On this day when we celebrate United States hegemony, our texts provide us a treatise on power.

Psalm 48 describes the God of holy war:

Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.
48:3 Within its citadels God has shown himself a sure defense.

48:4 Then the kings assembled, they came on together.
48:5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded; they were in panic, they took to flight;
…
48:10 Your name, O God, like your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with victory.
…
48:12 Walk about Zion, go all around it, count its towers,
48:13 consider well its ramparts; go through its citadels, that you may tell the next generation

Power politics often require compromise, though. The phrase “it’s just politics”—often used to excuse otherwise uncivil or immoral behavior—is an example of this. It is possible that the very name Jerusalem exemplifies this, as a concatenation of Yah, the abbreviation for Yahweh, and Shalem, the local diety—“City of God, City of Shalem” (see http://www.piut.org/ordinarytime14b.htm). And more ordinary compromises follow: In the verses immediately following our reading today, David builds a palace and takes many wives and concubines.

Although Paul, the author of our New Testament reading, was far from perfect, he does come across as relatively humble for being one of the key architects of Christianity. He certainly directs people’s attention towards Jesus, and says that people should be followers of Jesus instead of him. The passage today gives us a clue of how he sees the root of his humility:

…on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.
12:6 But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me,
12:7 even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.
12:8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me,
12:9 but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
12:10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

We don’t know what this thorn was that was in Paul’s side, but many believe it to have been some sort of physical disability. Which brings us back to David’s coronation, and the “missing verses” from the lectionary today. (Let me say that I appreciate the reasons the verses were left out—they should be, unless one is willing to deal with them in depth as I will attempt to do here.)

The reading today is from 2 Samuel 5:1-5 and 9-10. So what happens in versus 6-8? Let me read verses 5-10 so you can see how the “missing verses” fit into the context of the narrative:

5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, even the blind and the lame will turn you back” —thinking, “David cannot come in here.” 7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David. 8 David had said on that day, “Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” 9 David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inwards. 10 And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

“to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates.” Ouch!

(The next section of my homily draws from Jeremy Schipper’s analysis of imagery of disability in 2 Samuel 5 .)

In the context the first several chapters of 2 Samuel, we must remember that David was becoming more powerful as Saul was becoming weaker. Images of strength and weakness occur throughout the early chapters, for example (3:1): “There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. David grew increasingly stronger and Saul grew increasingly weaker.” David’s strength is consistent with the stereotype of a good King. And although Saul was originally described in 1 Samuel as tall and strong, in 2 Samuel he comes to be associated more and more with weakness.

This narrative also occurs as David is trying to justify himself as the right King, after a series of suspiciously convenient deaths of his opponents (“Nabal, Saul, Jonathan, Ishbosheth, Abner, and Saul’s seven sons”; Schipper, p. 425)…if this was a Shakespearean tragedy, there would be no doubt how so many opponents had died. Compromises must be made.

So, to help create his image of strength, images of disability are given to David’s enemies. “David curses Joab’s house with perpetual disabilities” (p. 425). Before he died, Ishbosheth is said to have had “enfeebled hands.” Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, was crippled. Saul’s house is weak. David’s house is strong. The reading today ends ironically: The Jebusites said that David couldn’t come in, he was too weak. But he did take the city, and now the weak are cast out.

There are many stigmatized groups. Handicaps comprise are only one stigma. But a particular characteristic of that group are its (usually one-way) permeable boundaries. To say that again without the jargon: It’s a group that anyone can join at any time.

And few political leaders are handicapped: It doesn’t fit the stereotype of power. Franklin D. Roosevelt avoided being photographed in a wheelchair, and maintained that he was getting better from his illness.
So now, let’s glance ahead to David’s life a few years later. In 2 Samuel 9 , we learn that Mephibosheth is now living in Jerusalem. Another irony…David said that the lame could not live in Jerusalem, but now they apparently can. David assigns Ziba and his family to work for Mephibosheth.

In 2 Samuel 11 , David has his affair with Bathsheba. Things go downhill quickly for him now.

In 2 Samuel 14 , Absolam is described as the most handsome man in the kingdom.

By chapter 15, he has staged a coup and forced David into exile.

In chapter 16, we learn another irony: Mephibosheth is still in Jerusalem. Ziba, Mephibosheth’s caretaker, helps David and describes him and his army as “faint ones in the wilderness.”

In chapter 17 David is described as “weary and feeble-handed,” and he is consistently described as faint or weak in the next several chapters. By the end of his life, David is described as feeble and impotent.

And by the end of David’s line, at the end of 2 Kings, Zedekiah, the last King of the Davidic line, is blinded, and taken in chains to Babylon.

So how does God relate to power? What should be our one foundation?

6:1 [Jesus] left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.
6:2 On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!
6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
6:4 Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house."
6:5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.

Notice that Jesus is called the son of Mary. “We know who his mother is, but we’re not sure about his father.” Jesus is living on the margins. He isn’t a popular ruler—he doesn’t have the strength-non-handicap-status-political-record for that. “We have seen this time and again in the gospels. What he brings is not to be found at the…center, where power, glory, wealth and fame reside with their consorts law, order[,] justice and violence.” (http://www.preachingpeace.org/yearb/proper9.htm).

Notice that before Jesus is called a worker by the people in the synagogue, people were amazed by his wisdom and deeds of power. They took notice of this. And they didn’t like it. They were unwilling to participate in any sort of new regime, so they did not recognize Jesus…and as a result, he couldn’t do much with them. The choice was theirs.

I leave with you two exercises. First, for the coming weeks, as the lectionary moves through Mark’s narrative, notice the narrative structure:

1. Jesus heals people, and/or feeds people, and/or tells challenging stories.
2. The powers—Herod, the Pharisees, or here the leaders in Jesus’ home town get mad.
3. Repeat until Jesus is crucified.

As a second exercise for the listener, I encourage you to spend some time this afternoon—before tonight’s festivities—thinking exactly what you’re asking for when you pray, “God bless America.”