let's take these chances

no more amnesty

A sermon on information about kingdom consolidation:

I suppose the only thing to say about today’s Scripture is, what am I going to do with it?!?! I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s not really anything happening in this passage! There’s no action! Nothing of significance is taking place, not really!

Oh sure, David is crowned king of all of Israel. And yes, there’s the no holds barred rejoicing as they take the ark to Jerusalem. But that’s not really all that spicy! It’d be like saying there’s a war brewing in the Holy Land. It’d be like noting that we’re really going to belt it out when we get to sing, “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.”

Sure, there’s information in those two sentences, but there isn’t much drama to them! Is there? On their own, they’re just facts. And that’s fine and all, but the trouble is, I’ve got to preach an entire sermon here! What am I supposed to do with today’s passage?!?

It’s not hard to summarize the gist. After all the twists and turns since God called Abraham, at long last, it appears as if all God’s promises are finally coming to pass! And yeah, that’s quite a thing! But on its own, that sentence just doesn’t really have the juice. Does it?

Sure, I could chart the circuitous path God’s people traveled to get to this point. And there might be some interesting trivia and details you forgot about or never knew of in the first place. But who wants to hear a book report?!? Plus, if you’re interested in that, and it is interesting, there are a million other places to go! 

More importantly, though, is me! A list of facts isn’t entertaining. Is it? And I’ve got to hold your attention here! And that brings us back to my original question: what am I going to do with this passage? 

…Usually, at this point, I’d be tempted to turn to some illustration from TV or film. And that could work. Lately, though, I’ve come to wonder if that’s not worse.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love movies and this golden age of television we’re living in. So it’s not like I’m going to quit turning there in sermons from time to time. But the thing is, I’ve come to wonder if TV and movies don’t give the wrong impression. Lately, I’ve begun to worry that TV and movies send the message that all the real action is happening out there, somewhere else. 

In fact, you might be harboring this very same prejudice yourself. Quick, let me ask you, what were you thinking about just now? Or what did I say thirty seconds ago?

Don’t worry. I’m not going to make us share or anything. But you take my meaning. So often, our minds and our hearts are somewhere else. Aren’t they? So often, our body might be here, but our attention and aspiration is in another time or a different place. Aren’t they?

In fact, that’s part and parcel of the pressure I feel to perform! What’s taking place right now isn’t enough for us. Is it? Somehow, we want the miracle of existence dressed up with entertaining anecdotes and larger-than-life illustrations.

Meanwhile, though, life itself is actually happening right underneath our noses! And I don’t just mean the passing of time, either. No, I’m talking about the meaning of it! I’m talking about the very making of it!

I’m not referring to the series of chance events that comprise the catalog of a life’s story. No, I’m speaking of the essence of those proceedings. I’m talking about the thread that weaves the very warp of woof of who you really are deep down.

And that means I’m not just talking about personal history. No, I’m talking about nothing less than divine providence itself! I’m talking about the immutable will of God! I’m talking about that holy fire by which all things live, and move, and have their being. In other words, I’m talking about The one True God, full stop. I’m talking about the God who really IS God, period.

…But we don’t tend to think of our day-to-day on that kind of a scale. Do we? No, more often than not, we’re just trying to get to the next thing. 

And sure, life can be like that sometimes. It’s easy to feel snowed when the unexpected diagnosis pulls the rug out from under you, the tough breaks pile up on top of you, and the very world itself seems to teeter on the brink of disaster. Isn’t it?

In times like that, and let’s face it, that’s a lot of our times; but anyway, in times like that, it’s hard not to wonder if there isn’t any greater significance out there. And if there is, what, if anything, our measly little lives have to do with it? Doesn’t it?

But yet, here we are. Aren’t we? And somehow, existence itself makes its own case. Doesn’t it? True, reality offers no explanations. But then again, it doesn’t really have to, does it? Somehow, existence itself crackles with its own veracity.

I don’t think this is pie-in-the-sky, either. There was a time, I suppose, when I might have misgivings about that. But ministry has done a couple of things for me. First of all, it’s worn down my pretensions. And secondly, it’s held my hand to the fire that smolders just barely beneath the surface of all that is seen and unseen.

I don’t know if experience, by itself, would have put me on this. I seriously doubt it. What I do know, though, is that I can’t imagine coming to this sublime suspicion if it hadn’t been for the church. 

And I’m not talking about the church as a proposition, either. No, I’m talking about the real church in real life. In fact, I’m talking about this church! I’m talking about y’all! I’m talking about us. I’m talking about our life together here in this place in all its messy and humdrum instances.

…But, you know what? It’s not just the moments themselves that have led me to this holy hunch. No, there’s also the holy writ itself! The Bible is full of passages that support the conjecture that the little moments are full of God-given consequence.

In fact, one of the curious things about the Bible is that it’s loaded with all these seemingly insignificant details, the kind of stuff a good editor would cut. Scripture, though, doesn’t seem all that worried about that. Instead of trying to hold our attention, the Bible appears to be much more interested in witnessing to and cracking our hearts, and our minds, and our imaginations open to the conviction that the all-powerful God really is intimately involved in the smallest and simplest incidents of existence. 

I’m talking about, if you haven’t already guessed, passages like today’s. Isn’t that what this passage presumes? In fact, isn’t that what the entire Bible declares?

Scripture begins with literally nothing! And as far as God’s concerned, all that nothing is an ideal starting point! And then, when God wants to really get involved, God chooses Abraham. So insignificant is Abraham that we don’t even know anything about him prior to God’s calling. 

And that’s not all! The tribe God makes out of Abraham’s offspring is of no account! Sure, they come to be numerous. But they are so powerless that the pharaoh doesn’t even think twice about enslaving them. 

And then, when God does free them, this people never amount to much of anything. Sure, they enjoy some halcyon days. But they never manage to become a real player on the global scene! Israel fails to become anything more than a second-tier empire.

Instead of taking the hint, though, God doubles down! In a fit of divine foolishness, God throws all caution to the wind. In Christ, God Thyself, bereft of any mediation, steps into history itself. And then, God fails to fare any better!

Christ is of no account himself! Christ is born to a peasant couple in the backwaters of the backwaters of the Roman Empire! And then, this Jesus calls a small band of unimportant people doing nothing more than trying to make ends meet, working dead-end jobs! Jesus amounts to so little that Pilate sentences him to crucifixion despite knowing full well he’s innocent! That’s how expendable he is!

And finally, when Christ is resurrected, he doesn’t turn up in halls of power! No, instead, he goes back to the same band of losers who failed to amount to anything during his earthly life! And instead of giving them a tongue lashing for deserting him or a lecture about how to be more successful, he just hands over to them the forgiveness of sins!

The forgiveness of sins?!? Who needs the forgiveness of sin? I’ll tell you who, sinners! And who are sinners? Simply put, sinners are failures! Sinners are people who’ve failed to lead righteous, faithful, or holy lives. That’s who sinners are.

This fiddle-faddle is what the one who set the stars in their courses has seen fit to concern Thyself with?!?

…You follow what that means, though. Right? It means, if that’s you, you’re God’s cup of tea! Or, “cuppa.” If life has you feeling small or sin has you feeling defeated, you're utterly brimming with absolutely everything God needs for God’s greatest achievement!

God is farsighted that way! The further you feel from God, the better God sees you! Small is sacred. Humble is holy. And the little things are a big deal in the eyes of God.

Let me say that again: Small is sacred. Humble is holy. And the little things are a big deal in the eyes of God.

Now listen, I know it doesn’t seem that way. It never does. At least, not in the moment. In the moment, life is confusing and overwhelming. 

Do you think the elders who came to King David in today’s Scripture knew what they were doing? Not a chance! In fact, they admit as much! They’re coming to crown David king because, unbeknownst to them, David had been king all along! They’re just trying to play catch up to what God has already done. 

And that’s how it always goes, too! This holy vision I described, the one of smallness, humility, and littleness, is a vision of faith. And for now, faith is not sight. No, faith is what St. Paul described. Faith is looking through the mirror dimly. 

And what does a mirror show you? That’s right, what’s behind you. Faith considers the past. But even at our very best, insists St. Paul, the perception is still dim. It’s impressions and holy hunches. It’s catching a whiff of the Holy Ghost nearer than you realized in the moment. 

So, two things: first of all, I meant it when I said you’re utterly brimming with absolutely everything God needs for God’s greatest achievement if life has you feeling small or if sin has you feeling defeated! And secondly, it’s ok if you don’t feel that yourself right now. That’s not how it works! And anyway, how could you? That wouldn’t be real, and it wouldn’t be faith!

But hindsight? Well, that’s another matter! And if you’re getting the impulse to take a second look at your circumstances, that’s the Holy Spirit! And so is it if scenes from the past are coming up to you right now!

But that’s not all. It’s not all because God has so much more for you! Do you want to really apprehend your past rightly? Well, hear this: In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all your sins are forgiven! Including even, especially even, those sins of the past!

Sins of the past are the most vexing. And that means they’re Satan’s favorites to throw in your face. But that just means Christ loves nothing better than to forgive them all over again! Christ’s mercy isn’t like leftover pizza! It only gets better as it’s reheated all over again! So let me say it again: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, all your sins are forgiven.

…Small is sacred. Humble is holy. And the little things are a big deal in the eyes of God.

And that includes you. That includes now! We are, at this very moment, entertaining angels unaware! The past and the future are all unspooled as Christ, the eternal Word, gets loose! You are, at this very instant, being ushered into Christ’s everlasting kingdom that’s been prepared for you from the very foundation of the world!

In this sacred instant, heaven and earth embrace! Peace and righteousness kiss! And you, well, you are swept up into all of this, too! 

And yes, I know it doesn’t feel that way. In fact, it might even feel dull. But that is so often a sort of sacred sign in and of itself! Especially when it happens in the house of the Lord!

But enough of trying to convince you of this. Far better is simply to inform you that it’s true. Because, in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit and at the command of God, it is. It is! It’s all true! Capital-t True.

All that’s left is simply to welcome you into all of it! To let your joy have no end. As you, like David and all the rest of the chosen band of Israel, start rejoicing!

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, ELW 858