2 Samuel 11 26ff

Pentecost 4

2 Samuel 11: 26 ff

June 27, 2004

"Applying The Word "

after R. Fairchild

For those who trust in God - those who are familiar with the Law of Moses and the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is a fairly easy thing to believe in the general principals of our faith - and in particular to the moral law that faith proposes to us.  It is easy to believe in the Word - and - most of all - it is easy to apply that word to other people.

            What is not so easy is to apply that word in its fullness to our own lives. Judging others is an easy game to play. But it is one that is fraught with peril. CS Lewis, one of the great lay theologians of the past century wrote this about our applying the word of God to the lives of other people. He writes, "Unfortunately, we enjoy thinking about other people's faults:  and in the proper sense of the word 'morbid,'  that is the most morbid pleasure in the world...  and while we are governed by this vice, there can be no Heaven for you, just as there can be no sweet smells for a man with a cold in the nose, and no music for a man who is deaf. It's not a question of God "sending" us to hell.  In each of us there is something growing up which will, of itself be Hell unless it is nipped in the bud."

All three of our readings today speak of this.

            In the first reading we see King David, a man who had a passion for justice and a great zeal for the Word of God, we see this David upon hearing the story that the prophet Nathan spun for him ready and willing to condemn the rich man who took a poor man's lamb   and yet apparently unable to see that the story was about him. David could apply the word of God to others - but could not recognize how that word spoke about him.

            In the second reading we see Peter - who felt free to live like a Gentile when in their presence, - free to eat with them and to socialize with them in the freedom of the Gospel. The Peter backed off from this freedom when faced with external pressure and to instead live in the old way of exclusion and isolation the old way of judging Gentiles as impure and in need of keeping the law of Moses. It is thus that Paul is forced to say to him, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?  We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Peter applied the word of the law of God to the lives of the Gentiles about him but did not do so to himself - rather he lived in the freedom of the Gospel.

            And in the Gospel Reading we see Simon the Pharisee - a man who had a zeal for God and a passion for the word of God open his home to welcome Jesus - and yet at the same time close his heart to the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus at his table and ministered to his needs. Simon named her as the sinner she most surely was, he judged her, - even as she did the works of love and of hospitality that the law and the traditions of the elders suggested that he ought to perform.

            We often judge others - we often apply the Word to them - but not to ourselves. We become intolerant and unloving - we act, as Jesus puts it to Simon, as if we are forgiven little,

and so we love little.

            I speak to all of us about this for men, women and children.

            Perhaps it would be good for us men to take the lead. Isn’t that what being a father is all about? Men often try to set the agenda for their wives, their kids, their jobs. They try to fix things according to their own standards of what is right and wrong, but they often fail to fix themselves, they often fail to apply the word of God to their own lives and to keep the promises they have made with Christ, and with their wives and families.

            Our children   our wives - our husbands - our brothers and sisters - don't need an analyses of what they are doing wrong or right, nor do they need orders barked out and suggestions made and judgments passed.  

            Rather what they need is for us to pray for ourselves and for them; and for us to apply the word of God - the word of Christ - to our own lives first and foremost.

They need to see us set an example by our own faithfulness; they need to see the word living in our lives. And we need it too - each one of us - for in the end - we are not answerable to God regarding the sins that other people commit, but for our own sins. Indeed, we need to apply the word to our own lives before we get into trouble - before we sin. We need to remember we are forgiven much... and love much. We need to develop a godly humility and faithfulness. We need to keep our promises - rather than to worry overmuch about how

other people keep theirs. And more than that, we need to remember that not only are we called to NOT judge others.  We are called to go beyond judgment and to allow God to work in us and through us for others.

            We are called to be ambassadors for Christ - ones who let God make his appeal through us, ones who are instruments of his reconciling love, - ones who reach out to sinners with compassion and who are not afraid to eat at God's table with them.

            You know a lot of what God had done throughout history hasn't seemed fair to people, especially it hasn't seemed fair to those who struggle day by day to keep the law of God.

            Think about it. Why was David not completely disowned by God for his disgraceful actions? Why was the adulteress not condemned by Jesus for her open disregard of the moral laws?  Why was Peter not disavowed by God after his blatant denial of Christ in the courtyard? Why was Paul not banished by God forever because of his persecution of the Christians early in his life? Why? 

            The answer is because there is nothing in the world so tenacious and resolute as the grace of God. The Gospel of John tells us:  "God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:17) The Word that God applies to our lives is the word of forgiveness and of love.   As we turn to God - we discover that God is turned towards us - calling us to be loved and to love.   May we apply that word to the lives of others - and live that word within our own lives.

            May we be ones who realize that we too,  - like Jacob, like David, like the woman caught in adultery, like Peter - and like Paul,  and like the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet are forgiven much.

            And may we be ones who apply that word to our lives and love much, even as we are much loved. It is God's will for us that we do so, the will of God - and of his son Jesus - who came and gave his life for us that though dead in our sins, we might live with him - and in living with him, He might open our lives completely to the gift of his Holy Spirit and so be given the power to love one another - even as he loves us.

            Thanks be to God - and to Christ Jesus our Lord - for his mercy and his grace, day by day - and world without end.  Amen