Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost – October 20, 2024

Posted on October 21, 2024, Pastor: Pastor Lara Forbes

Sermons are preached within the context of a particular worship service, and are most meaningful when experienced in that way. We encourage you to view or listen to the entire worship service. 


October 20, 2024

Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost

2 Samuel 7:1-17
Luke 1:30-33

Worship Service Video Sermon Video Sermon  Audio

Sermon Text:

Grace to you and peace from God, our Creator, and from our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

When I take a Sunday off, I try to listen to the sermon that was preached in my absence in case there are any connections that can or need to be made to what I will preach when I’m back. When I listened to Pastor Kruse’s sermon from last week, he accurately described that we’ve been skipping through Old Testament readings for the last several weeks.

That image of skipping made me think of skipping a rock on a body of still water. The places where the rock hits are the stories we’ve read in here, and the ripples in between are the events that connect one story with the next.

And there are a lot of events between Hannah’s story, which we read last week, and today’s story about King David wanting to build a house for God. The high points are…

[1]At this point in the story of ancient Israel, the people have transitioned out of the period of judges and into the period of the kings. Their first king, Saul, failed in his rule and was rejected by God. It was bad enough that God sent Samuel to anoint the next king while Saul still wore the crown.

That next king was David – and Samuel anointed him when he was still just a boy taking care of the family’s sheep. But in time, David became the fundamental, foundational figure of the kingship of Israel.

After Saul was killed in battle, David united the tribes under his rule and moved the capital of ancient Israel to Jerusalem – bringing the Ark of the Covenant with him.

At this time in his reign, as God’s chosen and anointed one, David was powerful and charismatic. It was a high point in his monarchy, and he was at the top of his game. And as the story tells us, after he was settled in his own palace, he suggested building a house for God.

[2]And for us, this suggestion doesn’t seem to be out of place. We’re used to having a house for God – a place where we come to worship God. And in the ancient Near East, it was common for kings to build houses (temples) to honor their deities.

But in the centuries leading up to King David, the people of ancient Israel had been worshiping God in a tabernacle – a tent that is moveable. The Ark went where they did, and that arrangement seemed to be working well especially for God.

So, there are varying thoughts on why David wanted to build a permanent place for God. One is that he thought of himself as a benefactor to God – like, “I have a house, so God should have one, too.”

And there’s another thought that David wanted to build a house for God so that he could control who had access to worship God. Connected to that is the thought that David wanted to use God to validate his reign as king – saying that God was on his side. Which is what the prophet Nathan affirmed.

But in each of those scenarios, David puts himself in the “power position” in his relationship with God. And for as great a king as David was at this point in his reign, God was greater. And always would be.

And so, in response to David’s suggestion, God reminded David that God chose him. God lifted him up and made him great. God was committed to David since before David had any idea what God was capable of.

 God is the one who will make David’s kingdom legitimate, not the other way around because God is not to be used by kings. God is the one who will protect Israel and make David’s name great.

 In other words, as theologian Patricia Tull puts it, “It will not be David who establishes God, but God who establishes David.”

 And that distinction is important. Because later on in the story when God talks about building David a house, God’s talking about a dynasty that will last forever.

And when God made this promise to David, God didn’t do it for David’s sake but for the sake of the people. So that David’s house, David’s dynasty, would be a blessing for God’s people. It echoes the promise God made to Abraham – blessed to be a blessing.

That was to be what guided David and the people forward in their life together.

This story, this history, is a significant text for both Jewish and Christian ideologies because the idea of the Messiah is rooted here. Centuries after this was written, after Judah and the temple were destroyed, this promise was understood to be pointing toward a future descendant of David that would rule.

People in the Jewish faith are still waiting for a messiah to fulfill that promise. As Christians, we believe Jesus is that messiah. These interpretations don’t mean anyone is right or wrong. They’re just differences in how the story is understood.

Because all of it is centered in God’s unending faithfulness to the promise. All of it is centered in God.

We’ve talked a lot about God’s presence and faithfulness and promise as we’ve skipped through these stories over the last several weeks. Everything God has done in these stories, the promises made and kept, has been for the wellbeing of the people – not just one individual.

God often works through one person, but it’s always for the sake of the people – the community. Where this becomes slippery, is when one person claims that God is working through them, or is on their side, all the time. We experience that most often in our political leaders, especially in election years.

Leaders and candidates and supporters claiming that God is on their side. That their proposals and leadership are “of God” and what God wants. In a two-party system, like what we have in the U.S., that happens on both sides. Some people are louder than others, but overly exaggerated claims about God have been made by both sides.

When those claims are made, the people making them put themselves in the “power position” in their relationship with God. And no matter how great a leader or candidate anyone might be, God is always greater.

And to remember what that greatness means, we turn to the stories that teach us about who God is and has been from the beginning. The stories that teach us about the commitment God has made to humanity, the promises God has made and kept.

And they teach us that God’s intentions and hopes for the world are that it is a place where creation is honored, where everyone has enough, no one lives in fear, and each person knows their worth as a human being created by God. That God’s intention and hope is that the world is as God created it to be – which is a place where every living thing is valued and thrives.

Regardless of your political affiliation, that is the side God is on. It’s the world Jesus revealed in his life and teachings and calls us to embody. When we do, we experience the commitment God has made to the wellbeing of the world.

We recognize our place in God’s story, and share our experiences of it. We share our experiences of God’s faithfulness to us and how it has shaped our lives and deepened our faith, not out of a sense of control, but so that others might experience it, too.

When we remember who God is – the world as God created it to be, the world that Jesus revealed, we experience God’s true greatness. That God has been, and always will be, faithful to the wellbeing of humanity.

Thanks be to God! Amen.

[1] https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-608-ill-113482077

[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-608-ill-113482077