This morning is one of those days when the readings in the Missal are not the same as the C of E readings. The only reading, in fact, that is the same is the Gospel, and even that, only in part. The Gospel reading in the Missal today is about the great commandments to love God and love our neighbour, but in the C of E readings, we have another 6 verses of the Gospel in which Jesus speaks about the relationship between the Messiah and king David. And so this morning I’ve decided to use the longer Gospel reading at both St Mark’s and St Gabriel’s because I think what Jesus says in those extra verses is a useful commentary on what it means to live out the two great commandments.
There’s no doubt that one of the greatest heroes of ancient Israel was king David. We know that David wasn’t the first king that Israel had, that was Saul, but he was certainly seen as the greatest king they’d ever had. According to the Scriptures, David was the first king of Israel to rule in Jerusalem. He was a great warrior who defeated and subjugated many of Israel’s enemies. And he was a skilled musician, the “sweet singer of Israel” as he’s called in 2 Samuel, who wrote many of the Psalms that we still read and that are loved by so many people today. As well as that, it was prophesied that David’s line, his family, would reign forever and so it was believed that the Messiah would be a descendant of David.
And so, as David’s reign was looked on as a ‘golden age’ of ancient Israel, it’s no surprise that the common belief among the Jews was that the coming of the Messiah would mark the beginning of a new golden age for Israel, and that the Messiah would be just like David. He’d be a warrior king who’d defeat Israel’s enemies, restore the kingdom of Israel and rule over it from Jerusalem, just as David had done. So the Messiah would be the Son of David in more ways than one; he’d be of David’s line biologically speaking, and he’d be a chip off the old block too.
Once we understand that this was the common belief amongst the Jews of Jesus’ day, we can perhaps begin to understand how radical, how disturbing perhaps, Jesus’ words were when he argued that the Messiah couldn’t be David’s son but rather, the Messiah was David’s Lord.
What Jesus was saying was that, far from the Messiah being just like David, a chip off the old block, he was superior to David.
The implication of that is that, contrary to popular belief and understanding, the coming of the Messiah wasn’t going to mark the beginning of a new golden age, that was going to be like the golden age of king David, but the beginning of something different under a king who wasn’t like David; the beginning of something better because it would be ruled over by a king who was greater than David. And the fact that Jesus said this immediately after his conversation about the greatest commandments, suggests that the two things are linked. That the superiority of the Messiah over David, has something to do with these two great commandments.
Jesus links the commandments by saying that they are alike. So, to love God with all your heart and soul and mind, is like loving your neighbour as yourself, and in fact we believe that one of the very best ways to show our love of God is to do as he asks and love our neighbours too, and ideally, to love them as much as we love ourselves. And this is one way in which we see that the Messiah is greater than David, and the Messiah’s kingdom is greater than David’s kingdom.
As we read David’s story in the Scriptures, there’s no reason to doubt David’s love for God, and we see his love for God expressed in the words of the psalms David wrote. But something else that becomes quite clear as we read and think about David’s story, is that he didn’t love his neighbours anywhere near as much as he loved himself.
Much of what we read about David in the Scriptures is written in an apologetic style ; it’s written as though David’s actions were being defended, and you don’t usually write in that way unless there’s something in a persons actions that needs to be defended. And there is quite a lot in David’s story that needs defending.
We read that David fell out of favour with king Saul because Saul was jealous of David, and afraid that he wanted the throne for himself. The story denies this of course, but the fact that David managed to get an oath of loyalty from the king’s own son, Jonathan, while the king was still living, suggests that Saul’s fears weren’t totally without foundation. We read about David’s time in exile from Jerusalem and we find that he served Israel’s enemies. The story tells us that David never actually raised his hand against Saul and Israel during this time, but he certainly used it for political, and financial manoeuvring on his own behalf. He was possibly a mercenary and certainly led what we might call a band of armed terrorists during this time. The story tells us that David took no part in the battle at Mount Gilboa when Saul and three of his sons, including David’s beloved friend Jonathan, were killed and so he’s absolved of any involvement in their deaths; but he didn’t do anything to help or to try and prevent their deaths either, and he certainly exploited the situation for his own benefit because within a few days he became king of Judah. The story also tells us that David had no involvement in the assassinations of Abner and Ish-bosheth that cleared his path to the throne of Israel, but the apologetic nature of the story suggests that there was at least a suspicion that he had. And perhaps the most shameful of all his antics are found in the story of David and Bathsheba. For those who aren’t familiar with the story, David watches a married woman, Bathsheba, bathing and he likes what he sees. So he has her brought to him and duly impregnates her. Then, to cover up what he’s done, he calls Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, home from battle in the hope that Uriah will sleep with his wife and think the child is his own. But then, when that doesn’t work out in the way David wants and expects, he arranges for Uriah to be killed in battle and then marries the now widowed, Bathsheba, so that no one will be any the wiser about his shenanigans.
David may well have been one of the greatest heroes of ancient Israel. He may well have been regarded as Israel’s greatest king. The time he ruled over may well have been regarded as a golden age for ancient Israel. He may well have had a great love for God, and the psalms suggest that he did. But one area in which David did appear to be sadly lacking, was in love of his neighbour and his story, even in the apologetic way it’s written in the Scriptures, is ample testimony to that.
And so, whilst Jesus, the Messiah, may well have been related to David biologically speaking, he was certainly no son of David in terms of character or behaviour: he was in no way a chip off the old block. He was better than David, greater than David and he was David’s Lord. And, of course, Jesus, the Messiah, is our Lord too.
The question we have to ask ourselves is whose sons and daughters are we going to be? As Christians, we call God our Father and so we must regard ourselves as God’s sons and daughters. But having said that, do we take after God our Father, are we chips off the old block in that respect? We can’t see God, of course, but Jesus said that to have seen him is to have seen the Father and so we know what we have to do to take after him, to be chips off that old block; we have to be like Jesus. That means we have to love God will all our hearts and souls and minds, and we have to love our neighbours as much as we love ourselves.
I’m sure that none of us fail in that respect to the extent that David seems to have done. But I’m also sure that none of us are as good at loving our neighbours as we should be as sons and daughters of God. We don’t, and probably never will, get the opportunity to indulge in the same plots and schemes that David did. But we can fail to love our neighbour in the same kinds of ways that David did. We will probably never be able to plot and scheme against a king, or queen, or government, to usurp their position and authority; but do we try to elevate ourselves over others in other ways, and plot and scheme to bring that about? We will probably never be in a position to exploit political turmoil and problems to our own advantage; but do we try to exploit other situations to our own advantage, regardless of the consequences for others who may be involved? I’m sure none of us would ever think of letting someone die so that we could benefit from their death in some way; but do we always do what we can to help others when helping them might mean that we have to put what we want on hold for a while? I’m sure none of us would ever want to be involved in assassinations; but do we ever assassinate people’s character through our words against or about them? Do we ever deliberately kill their hopes and aspirations because we don’t agree with what they want, regardless of the rights and wrongs of the situation?
Do we ever assassinate and kill people in these ways for no other reason than that we simply don’t like them, or because we like someone else more? I hope none of us have ever been or will ever be in a situation like the triangle of David, Bathsheba and Uriah; but how many times have we all done things we know we shouldn’t have and then lied and schemed or tried to blame someone else, to cover up what we’ve done?
If we really want to be sons and daughters of God our Father, we have to love God with all our hearts and souls and minds, but we can’t truly do that unless we can love our neighbours as much as we love ourselves. It’s not easy because it means we can’t do what often comes so naturally to us and put ourselves first, but we have to at least try to do it.
Jesus said that he couldn’t be the son of David because he was David’s Lord, and he was certainly no son of David’s in terms of his character and behaviour. Jesus is though, God’s Son, and in terms of character and action, he is just like God, his Father and ours. And he is our Lord too. So if we’re going to be chips off anyone’s old block, let’s at least try to make it his.
Amen.
You will find the Propers for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Trinity 20) here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 