Matthew tells us, in his Gospel, that Jesus was a descendant of David and gives a genealogy to demonstrate this. He says that there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the Exile, and a further 14 from the Exile to the birth of Jesus. Luke tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem
In these kinds of ways, the Gospels constantly make reference to the Old Testament in order to show that Jesus was fulfilling earlier prophecy and precedent and therefore genuinely was the Messiah that the early Church proclaimed him to be. We can see some parallels in today’s Old Testament reading. So, for example, the age at which David became King was 30, the same age at which Jesus began his ministry. In this story, we hear of David entering Jerusalem Jerusalem derives, an image that we remember each Palm Sunday as we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem
But, as well as there being parallels and synergies between the Gospels and Old Testament heroes such as David or Moses or Elijah, there are also differences and discontinuities. David was a war hero to Israel and rode into Jerusalem as a victorious military commander but Jesus rode into Jerusalem
That difference between the two becomes more apparent as we think about the strange exchange which comes in the middle of today’s reading. The Jebusites taunt David because they think their fortress is impregnable – “even the blind and crippled could keep you out,” they said, revealing their low opinion of those who are disabled. Then, when David gives his men a pep talk before the battle, he also reveals his own low opinion of those who are disabled by characterising the Jebusites as “poor blind cripples” who will easily be defeated by the Israelites.
Out of this exchange comes a proverb, ‘The blind and crippled cannot enter the Lord’s house.’ Notice that the original exchange wasn’t actually about those who were blind and crippled. Instead, it was an exchange of insults between enemies. Nevertheless, this saying appears to have come into common usage amongst the Israelites and to have led, together with other factors, to the practice of excluding those with disabilities and illnesses from worship in the Temple at Jerusalem
Jesus, as the new David, the expected Messiah, does the exact opposite of what happened in the exchange which led to the creation of that proverb or saying. In his ministry we see Jesus expressly going to those who are excluded from Temple worship, including those that were blind and crippled, and including them both by accepting them (and teaching that they will enter the kingdom of God ahead of the religious leaders) and by healing them so they can actively return to the Temple worship. In addition, instead of the hatred for enemies that we saw in David, Jesus teaches love for our enemies. So, in both respects, Jesus, as the new David, the expected Messiah, does the exact opposite of what David himself did and said.
We know how to understand the similarities between the Gospels and the Old Testament – they reveal that Jesus is the Messiah that the people of Israel
The key difference between the Old and the New Testament for Christians is that we believe that in the Old Testament God was revealing himself to and through fallible human beings – meaning that his revelation is imperfectly made and imperfectly received - while in the Gospel stories of Jesus, God is able to fully reveal himself in the humanity of Jesus. So, there is in scripture a developing revelation of God which culminates in the person, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. This means that where we see a difference between the revelation of God found in the Old Testament and that found in the Gospels we have to resolve that difference in favour of what we find in Gospels, because it is the only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father’s side, that has made God known.
Our Old Testament reading today gives us a picture of God as being on the side of the Israelites against their enemies and as being implicated in the practice of excluding those with disabilities and illnesses from worship in the Temple at Jerusalem
That is not always popular, as is apparent from our Gospel reading today where Jesus’ teaching was questioned and rejected by those among whom he had grown up and where he taught his disciples to anticipate opposition. Jesus’ revelation of the nature and character of God challenges responses to God based on our own self-interest – what we get out of faith – because we are constantly challenged to consider others before ourselves. Naturally, we resist doing that and prefer to view God, as David and his people did, as our Saviour, protector and comforter rather than, as Jesus taught, the Saviour, protector and comforter of all.
When preaching on love for enemies, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told this story: "sometime ago my brother and I were driving one evening to Chattanooga, Tennessee, from Atlanta. He was driving the car. And for some reason the drivers were very discourteous that night. They didn’t dim their lights; hardly any driver that passed by dimmed his lights. And I remember very vividly, my brother A. D. looked over and in a tone of anger said: "I know what I’m going to do. The next car that comes along here and refuses to dim the lights, I’m going to fail to dim mine and pour them on in all of their power." And I looked at him right quick and said: "Oh no, don’t do that. There’d be too much light on this highway, and it will end up in mutual destruction for all. Somebody got to have some sense on this highway."
Somebody must have sense enough to dim the lights, and that is the trouble, isn’t it? That as all of the civilizations of the world move up the highway of history, so many civilizations, having looked at other civilizations that refused to dim the lights, and they decided to refuse to dim theirs. And [the historian Arnold J.] Toynbee tells that out of the twenty-two civilizations that have risen up, all but about seven have found themselves in the junkheap of destruction. It is because civilizations fail to have sense enough to dim the lights. And if somebody doesn’t have sense enough to turn on the dim and beautiful and powerful lights of love in this world, the whole of our civilization will be plunged into the abyss of destruction. And we will all end up destroyed because nobody had any sense on the highway of history. Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love."
That is the difference between the revelation of Jesus and that of David. As followers of Christ, then, we are called to be those who live for the sake of others – or as William Temple put it “the Church is the only society on earth that exists for the benefit of non-members” - and as we do so we find that, in that focus on others is the true meaning and the true satisfaction of life itself. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Victoria Williams - Love.
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