Out of the Depths
Rev. Barry W. Szymanski, J.D.
First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa
August 9, 2009

When we listen to or read the words of the Bible it is important to remember that the essentials of what is disclosed is either a revelation of Who God is, or of how God works through individuals.

In the biblical stories we learn about people. And we are shown their personalities and how, during their lives, they are reaching toward God, or because of their sinning, moving away from God. In those stores we often learn the results of their choices and actions.

You may remember that two weeks ago the book of 2 Samuel recounted the adultery of David, which resulted in David’s arranging for the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. A man was murdered because of David’s actions. And not only Uriah, but we learned that other of David’s soldiers were killed also! A number of men died because David wanted to hide his sins.

Last week, as the story continued, we heard the prophet Nathan point out David’s sin to him. Nathan, speaking for God, told David that he was King over Israel, that God had rescued David from Saul, that God gave him a house and, more than that, a Kingdom! Nathan asked David why he despised God. Nathan then told David that “the sword shall never depart from your house.” 2 Sam 12:10, And he added these strong words: “Thus says the lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house. . .” 2 Sam 12:11.

With that background we arrive at today’s reading. Absalom, who is one of the two main characters in the passage, was one of the sons of David.

In the 2nd book of Samuel, it is pretty clear that David liked his son, Absalom, because the son was like his father: He was handsome. 2 Sam 14:25. He was charming and people were attracted to him. 2 Sam 15:1-6. He was a just avenger because he wanted justice done to his sister. 2 Sam 13. However, by trying to achieve justice, Absolom caused the murder of one his brothers, named Amnon. Because of this murder, Absalom went into hiding from his father, David, and his family.

Later, because Absalom was outcast and alienated from his father, he traveled around Israel convincing the villagers that he was, or should be, the King. Simply stating it, Absalom wanted to be king and have his father, David, dethroned. Absalom started a revolution, an uprising, and appointed himself King. During this violent revolution,

David fled Jerusalem.

That takes us to today’s reading. When it was clear that there would be a battle between King David’s army and Absalom’s followers, David told his army to “Deal gently with Absalom.” 2 Sam 18:5. His statement was understandable because Absalom was his son! However, as we heard, Absalom was surrounded and killed by the sword.

We recall the words of Nathan, the Prophet, when he told David that “the sword shall never depart from your house.” 2 Sam 12:10, Nathan added those strong words: “Thus says the lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house. . .” 2 Sam 12:11. The last lines of that passage tell us that King David was deeply moved over hearing of the death of his son; he wept, and said: Absalom, my son, . . . why didn’t I die instead of you my son! 2 Sam 18:33.

Because of David’s grief over his son’s death, David’s army officers and the troops did not know how to react. They had just won the battle, but their King, David, was mourning the death of his son, who had just tried to take the Kingdom of Israel for himself, by a violent revolution and tried to banish or kill his own father, David.

Finally Joab went to David and told him that his grieving over his son and his failure to praise his soldiers was giving a clear message to his officers and soldiers that they meant nothing to him. He reminded David that if Absalom were alive, they would all be dead. David took his advice and came out and the army rallied around him. See 2 Sam 19:5-8.

What is this story of David all about? We have a man, David, who was given so many blessings by God, so many advantages. I recall the movie, History of the World, Part One, where King Louis XVI played by Mel Brooks, announced that “It’s good to be king!” For David, it was good to be king. Then he really messed up.

All we have to do is listen to the news, or read the newspapers to hear about other political figures involved in adultery and intrigue. But these kinds of actions are not confined to politicians – I only mention them because King David was a politician, and the news media reports on well-known people.

It doesn’t make a lot of news if someone on Maple, Elm or Oak Streets does something, but it is big news if a well-known person, such as an entertainer, does something interesting to us.

Let’s get back to David. After the murders of Uriah and other soldiers, and all of the other problems he caused to so many people, including Bathsheba, and the baby, he repented. But Nathan was prophetic in telling David that because David used the sword, that he and his family will suffer the effects of swords.

In plain language, we are told that once any of us begin a series of events, what we cause may go on and on for years, and we don’t know where the effects will lead. What Nathan said was: Because you treated God with such contempt, killing and murder will continually plague your family. “. . . therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, . . . “ See 2 Sam 12:9-10a. This is not a surprise to us today.

Say a woman gambles excessively. Her debts accumulate. To help herself she takes some

money from a club’s funds – or from her employer. Eventually she is found out. She is charged with a crime. She is fired from her job. Her husband is upset and files for divorce. Bills keep mounting. The sword of addiction takes over her life.

Or let’s take a man who feels that he needs to relax more. And alcohol is not enough. So he moves toward hard drugs. Eventually the drugs start to control him. Family life suffers. He has little to do with his friends. He may lose his job. Bills keep mounting. The sword of addiction takes over his life.

David certainly did not expect that once he called Bathsheba to his house that he would murder Uriah and other soldiers. David never expected that once he showed his anger at his son Absalom that his alienated son would lead a revolution against him, and that his son would die. Before his son’s death David did not want to forgive his son, or even make amends with him. So for years David did not seek out his son to talk to him. David’s anger took hold of him. His anger toward his son was like an addiction. The sword of addictive anger took over his life. Instead, he realized, only after his son was killed, that it was too late. He would never talk to Absalom again. He missed his chance.

When we look at a man like David, we see a complex individual. That’s why this Bible story endures for generation after generation. And we see God disclosing a lot about us, and God, in this long story of only one man, and some of his relationships. David was a man: - at once proud yet humble, - at once a king, and yet a exceptionally human, sinning man, - at once a man of God, and a man who was accused of despising God, - at once a man who wrote prayerful Psalms, and promoted the writing of prayerful Psalms, yet a man who closed the Book of Psalms when he decided to commit adultery - at once a man who was uniting some very independent villages and areas, into a kingdom; and yet was disliked for that, as well as for taxing those villages to bring about the kingdom of Israel - at once a man liked, yet a revolt led by his son, Absalom was so popular that it almost dethroned him as king - at once a stoic king, yet a father who wept because his son was killed - at once a political figure yet a man who grieved over the loss of his alienated son - at once a man chosen by God to assemble God’s people and begin the building of the Temple, yet a man who was tragically human.

So, we have the person of David, who was a person who stretched his personality and his emotions and his virtues -- and his vices. From his reign as king, we learn that God’s earthly kingdom, at least at that stage, some 1,000 years before Jesus was born, was beginning to solidify from a loose grouping of villages into a kingship under God. It was from this incredibly human, and very tragic figure, that Israel began to take shape.

This morning, when we prayed Psalm 130, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”

We prayed the same psalm that David prayed. And, like David, we trust in the last lines in the psalm: “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.” Ps 130:7. Now we know a bit more about the story of David.

And today in Worship the Psalms are prayed in this and other Christian churches, as well as in Jewish synagogues. And we heard Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Remember that Paul was Jewish. And, not just Jewish, but a Pharisee. Paul knew the story of King David better than we will probably ever know it. And he, like most people of his time, probably memorized all of the Psalms, just as the early Christian monks did.

Therefore, when Paul was writing to the Ephesians, he had, as part of his background, his knowledge of the Psalms. He also knew the story of David, and, because of that story, the complexity of human devotion to God mixed with our unique ability to sin -- regardless of our desire to be close to God. Consequently, when Paul tells us to ‘put away falsehood,’ and to ‘speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another,’ Eph 4:25, he had a wealth of personal and scriptural history that he relied on.

I think that we can make an educated guess that Paul was writing about problems in the Ephesian communities, as well as difficulties with people he had dealt with in his life, and knowing the story of David, and, perhaps, reflecting back upon his own life -- all the while addressing a very human trait, and that is, to be deceitful, to lie.

For we can lie at an early age. We can lie to other people. And, perhaps even more significantly, we can lie to ourselves. It is this last lie, when we lie to ourselves, that we really twist our personalities into pretzels.

Even the fathers of psychiatry and psychotherapy, like Freund and Jung, addressed our human propensity for self-deception. They knew what lurks in the depths of each of us. They knew that there is a great churning of emotions within our very beings. Between love and hate there is apathy. And between tenderness and hatred, and acceptance and anger, are compassion and indifference. What lies deep in each of us is very powerful -- and can lead us to great spirituality -- or to great sin.

Paul knew himself - and human nature – as we here this morning know ourselves and human nature. Paul knew that we, at times, can be tempted to bitterness and wrath and anger. In our dealings with people we are tempted to wrangling and slander ‘together with all malice.’ Eph 4:31-32.

We know how easy it is to be bitter. Bitter about another’s promotion. Bitter about another’s good luck. Bitter about another’s new car. Bitter about another, simply because our lives are not what we think they should be. And we know how easy it is to get angry. Angry because we are cut off in traffic. Angry because we are not making the money we should be earning in spite of our skills and education. Angry because we feel that our families don’t love us enough. Angry, often, because it just feels good to be angry.

Yet, Paul, brought to Christ by a singular experience, repented of his sinful persecutions, and worked tirelessly to build up the Body of Christ. Paul asked his friends in Ephesus, to “. . . be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven [them].”Eph 4:32.

Paul did not base his plea that they be kind, or forgive, or even that they be tenderhearted on their human condition alone. For he knew that if we rely only on ourselves, it is too easy to blame others and hold grudges, and to be callous, and to be unsympathetic.

Rather, Paul asks us to avoid all backbiting and cutting talk and behavior. But to be gentle with one another, and sensitive. And to forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave us. Eph 4:32.

Paul looked at our human condition. Then Paul looked to Christ. And he realized that the answer is Christ Jesus. We are not the answer. God’s loving grace is the answer. That is why Paul’s letters still are read in Christian churches every Sunday.

Paul was aware that King David who had lived 1,000 years before Paul was born was a very human person. Paul was aware of his own sinfulness. Remember his comment, in Romans 7.15, when he wrote: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

That is what we do: we often do the very thing we do not want to do; we very often think the very thing we do not want to think; we very often do not really understand our motives. We dislike others with traits that we dislike in ourselves.

That’s the raw stuff that psychiatrists and psychologists deal with: People who do not understand their own actions. People who do not understand their own motives. People who do not understand their own feelings. People who do not understand their own thought processes. People who do not understand why they are angry, or bitter, or full of malice.

What causes a person to walk into a gym and kill people he does not know? What causes a person to walk across a parking lot to a person they do not know and punch that person in the head as hard as they can and cause death? What causes a person to join a club and then start to gossip - and backbite - and create dissention? What causes a person to pretend to be someone else while they are dating a person and then as soon as they marry to become a vicious and controlling spouse?

Paul asked the people who lived in Ephesus at that time to put away all falsehood. Paul would have stood in Prophet Nathan’s shoes when he told David to put away all falsehood and recognize that he sinned. Paul would have stood in Joab’s sandals when he told David to put away the bitterness of the death of his son, and forgive himself for not reaching out to his son while he was alive, but instead to give praise and welcome to his friends in the army who fought on his behalf – and saved the Kingdom of Israel.

Paul would sit next to us in our cars when we become angry with another driver and tell us “. . . and do not make room for the devil.” Paul would stand next to us when our families or friends seemingly let us down and we feel angry. For that is when Paul recognized that we may feel anger, but we must not sin. And when Paul reminds us not to go to bed angry. We know, at the very least, that going to bed angry makes for an uncomfortable night’s sleep. Remember Paul’s words: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.” Eph 4:26-27.

Paul’s words are words of good living. For good morality is usually good psychology.

And the good morality which Paul writes about when he tells us that what we say should be “. . . only what is useful for building up . . . so that your words may give grace to those who hear.” Eph 4:29b. Paul’s good morality is more than good social grace. Paul’s morality leads to team building; it builds up a family; it develops friendships; it binds the members of companies; it forms organizations; and increases the love within a church.

Paul asks us to “. . . be imitators of God, . . . and [to] live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Eph 5:1-2 In close, Paul gives us an indication of one of the worst of sins, and that is to “. . . grieve the Holy Spirit of God . . . “ Eph 4:30. The context is that the Holy Spirit of God is here for us. We should not hurt that spirit. We should not cause God’s Holy Spirit to be upset, or to be distressed, or to be saddened by our actions.

Paul was telling us not to break God’s heart for His Holy Spirit is moving and breathing in us, in the most intimate parts of our lives, making us fit for Himself. Paul’s prayer is that we do not take such a gift for granted. I believe that when Paul wrote that the people of the church of Ephesus “. . . were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.” Eph 4:30b. He was also well speaking about himself.

For Paul, the sinful persecutor, was, by Jesus, “. . .marked with a seal for the day of redemption. . . “ and he deeply appreciated the grace that he freely received from God. Paul could easily pray one of the lines from the same Psalms which we prayed today about the “. . . steadfast love. . .” of God. Psalm 130:7

Let us pray.

Lord,

We cry to you, our Lord. Lord, hear our voices. If you, O Lord, should mark our sins, who of us could stand? So, Lord, help us to put away our falsehood. Help us, we pray, to be honest with ourselves. Let us continue to hope in you, and the redemption of your son, Jesus.

Lord, let us realize that your son is the bread of life, and that by partaking of his bread we will live forever.

We pray for the grace to accept, and not to complain and walk away from the bread of life. Rather, we pray that we rejoice in your Holy Spirit, and rejoice that we have been marked with your seal for the day of redemption. Amen.

THE READINGS

John 6:35, 41-51

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said,

‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’

They were saying,

‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’

Jesus answered them,

‘Do not complain among yourselves.

No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.

It is written in the prophets,

“And they shall all be taught by God.”

Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.

Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

So then, putting away falsehood,

let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours,

for we are members of one another.

Be angry but do not sin;

do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.

Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.

Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need,

so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath

and anger and wrangling

and slander,

together with all malice,

and be kind to one another, tender-hearted,

forgiving one another,

as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,

as Christ loved us

and gave himself up for us,

a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

2 Samuel 18

The king gave orders to Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying,

‘Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.’

And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders concerning Absalom.

So the army went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim.

The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David,

and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men.

The battle spread over the face of all the country;

and the forest claimed more victims that day than the sword.

Absalom happened to meet the servants of David.

Absalom was riding on his mule,

and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak.

His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.

And ten young men, Joab’s armour-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him, and killed him.

Then the Cushite came; and the Cushite said,

‘Good tidings for my lord the king! For the Lord has vindicated you this day, delivering you from the power of all who rose up against you.’

The king said to the Cushite, ‘Is it well with the young man Absalom?’

The Cushite answered, ‘May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up to do you harm, be like that young man.’

The king was deeply moved [over his son’s death], and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, ‘Omy son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, OAbsalom, my son, my son!’

Psalm130

A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, OLord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

If you, OLord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.

OIsrael, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.