"Dirt Between Our Toes" July 5, 2015

2nd Samuel 5:1-10 Mark 6:1-12 In Wednesday evening Bible Study after reading the sermons of Peter and Paul in Acts, we named the difference between what has been described as preaching and “Really Good Preaching.” That Good Preaching is not just a Bible Study, or Motivational Speaking, but listening to the needs of the world and this community, and the Scriptures, and making apparent the threads running through. Tracing God's plan and interventions back throughout human history, that preaching is not disposable words spouted this day, but transformative, gut-wrenching, resurrection, from the hard places we have been. One of my favorite things about July and August is going barefoot, which has a decidedly different thrill in January. In the backyard, in the water, along the shore, to feel the world through the nerves in the bottom of your soles. And this summer, with all the rain we have had to feel the mud gush between your toes, is extremely human, sensual; as the connection between our being formed from the dirt of the earth into creatures of God, where the point of contact between us and creation is our soles/souls. In this morning's Scripture passages both King David and Jesus are recognized as “Anointed Of God.” In David's case, he was Anointed as King. Jesus “the Messiah” means that he is the Anointed One. Anointing is creation of a sacred covenant, that you are never alone, God is with you, and the needs of the Nation are with you. In the tradition of Scotland, when a King was chosen, each of the Lairds of the Clans brought a boot full of soil from their ancestral home, called a Scone. Each Laird dumped the contents of the dirt from their home, the dirt in their boot into a mound on which the King was to kneel for Anointing, as means of identifying the King's commitment to their Common Ground. The practice of anointing goes back even before there were kings, to a practice of Shepherds. Lice and Fleas would get into the wool of sheep and work their way down to the skin causing irritation and possible infection, and if they got into the ears, even death. The Shepherds poured oil over the heads and rubbed Olive Oil into the wool of their sheep, so that the Fleas and Lice could not get hold. With oil the wool was thicker and the mites could not put the bite on the sheep. In the same way, we baptize, covering the believer with an anointing of grace and love and forgiveness, that sin cannot put the bite upon the person, cannot cause this irritation, infection or death to your life. There is irony in both these passages, in that the ones being Anointed of God, David and Jesus, were rejected by people who knew them. Insult and shame are intended to demean the person, to undermine their abilities both by attack and a lack of trust. But while insulted, and limited by the reaction of people who know them, both King David and Jesus point to the opposite end from your head, getting your feet dirty, getting mud between your toes in work, as the means of overcoming their rejection. The importance of all of this, began back in the 8-12th Chapters of the First book of Samuel. Remember that Eli's sons were corrupt, so God gave the role of Priest and Judge to the boy Samuel instead of Eli's sons, God calling in the night “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel became the last of the Judges following the tradition of Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samson. Samuel was the last, because the people wanted to choose a King for themselves. This was not only a rejection of Samuel as Judge, but of God as King; in response, a great storm came upon Creation and their wheat crop was threatened, in order that the people might repent of insulting God. In the past, when the people insulted God, they were called to pray for repentance and for a Deliverer, a warrior, a savior. In demanding a King, the people came to worship, but did not repent of their desire for a King. It is as if they want to be saved without cost, without repentance, a Champion to lead them into battle without ever considering change themselves. So God allows them to elect a king, Saul, who leads the people, but like the people is not following God. As Saul becomes more and more convinced of his own power, and the people become convinced of their following Saul instead of God, there is a breach of trust in God. And God finally chooses a King for the people, David, instead of the people choosing their King to rule and lead. Here in the 5th Chapter, David is put before the people as the Anointed of God, the King and Savior, which after 8 years of Civil War, the other tribes of Israel begrudgingly accept. The Israelites come to Hebron, The Tribe of Judah's former Capital, affirming: “We are your bone and flesh,” not “You are one of Us” but rather “We, are your people.” They affirm, “Even when Saul was King, David was the leader of Armies who brought Israel Victory.” But if David is to unite the 12 Tribes of Israel, he needs a new Capital, a place that is not ancestral to any one Tribe, Benjamin or Judah, Republican or Democrat, in essence Common Ground without the ground having allegiance. Identification of the Blind and Lame is not a curse upon these people, but rather that the least able to fight, the weakest of the Jebusites could protect their city because of its walls and defenses. In the Book of Judges, the tribe of Benjamin had settled in the place appointed for their tribe, but instead of destroying the Jebusites, the Canaanite people in their land, the Tribe of Benjamin chose to co-exist with the Jebusites. Now Saul had been a Benjaminite and David was of the tribe of Judah, with the Jebusite city on the border between. So, much like creating Washington DC as a separate District, not part of any one State, David chooses the city of the Jebusites to become his new Capital: Jerusalem. Jerusalem is atop a high hill, surrounded by lush valleys. The City had concentric walls like a bullseye, which more than layers of fortification, meant that if an opposer broke through one wall, they would then be trapped between Jebusites on both walls. So if you cannot go through the doors or windows, you cannot attack by breaking down a wall or barrier, how do you take a castle? “Up the Water Spouts” means that David and his supporters came up through the sewers. And Jerusalem became the City of David, the Capital City of Israel. That “dirt between our toes” we need not talk about. Except that it is not about the kneeling on common ground that makes one a king, but doing the work of leading. The Mark passage is more problematic in that Jesus is described as going to his boyhood home of Nazareth, to the Synagogue where people knew him as a child, and instead of crowds of followers, they greet him as “Where did he get this knowledge?” “Is this not Mary's boy, the Carpenter?” Not identifying him with the strength of his father, but as Mary's little boy. Which at the least would be identification that Jesus, as the eldest son had abandoned his widowed mother, and could be a shaming of whether his parents were married, whether he was illegitimate. And the narrator explains that he could accomplish nothing except cure a few people who were sick. Is that not the way of things? When we come home, among our sisters and brothers, identification is not on: what you have accomplished, what you have done with your life, but “Remember the time you got spanked?” “Is this not the one who broke Grandma's vase?” “Remember the time he painted the house in mud, getting dirt all over!” And no matter who you are and what you have done, we are reduced to being 3 years old again. In an Ancient Middle-eastern culture there was perception of “Honor” and “Prestige” as being limited quantities. So when Jesus returned, his power would be perceived as threatening the authority of another. What is odd about this is that in other places, Jesus was able to overcome people's unbelief, but here their shaming of Jesus, the lack of trust from those who knew him is described as effecting Jesus abilities. The twist on this according to Mark, is that Jesus had chosen the Twelve in Chapter 3 not to be his followers, but that they would go out into the world in service. In the 4th Chapter he taught them in parables and explained these to them; in the 5th Chapter he demonstrated the power of faith to accomplish the miraculous. And here just before sending them out, Jesus also demonstrates that some places you will not be accepted. Even before Jesus death and resurrection, the disciples were sent out as apostles, their specific purpose being “repentance” turning people around from doing their own thing, to trusting God. Even more, Mark is the only one of the Gospels who describes the twelve went out casting out demons and anointing the heads of those who were sick with oil to heal them. Is that not what we do in Baptism, to anoint the believer from the death of shame, to trust God?