A Reflection for VII Pentecost (proper 10) All Saints’ Church, Southern
Shores, NC July 12, 2015 Thomas
E. Wilson, Rector
King
David’s Saga
Years ago when Pat and I were on a pilgrimage
following the steps of St. Francis in Italy, we were in Florence for several
days and, one day, we saw two different statues of David - one by Donatello, dating
from approximately 1430, and the other done by Michelangelo around 1500. They
were both nudes but they were very different.
In the Bargello Palace Gallery, Donatello’s life-sized
and freestanding bronze David is standing at rest after the battle with
Goliath, holding a sword which he has used to saw off Goliath’s head which lies
on the ground under David’s left foot. David’s slim body, while a
well-developed warrior, assumes an almost feminine stance, underscored by long
flowing hair with a hat encircled with laurel leaves jauntily placed on his
head like a crown. The laurel wreath crown is an ancient symbol of the favor of
the Gods, and David is looking down at his trophy, the head, with pride at what
he and God had been able to do together.
Over at the Academia Gallery, the six ton, 14 foot
high marble statue by Michelangelo of David before the battle has a masculine
stance, with David seemingly looking forward to what is still to be done. There
is no hint of waiting for God’s help as that muscular body and keen mind can
take care of themselves. David’s eyes are filled with the desire to project his
mark wherever he goes. Two different Davids, made 70 years apart, at different
times in Florentine history. So, which is the real David? The answer, of course,
is “yes”; David is one who knows he needs God, but he is also one who goes his
own way.
We have been looking at the King David Saga for the
last several weeks. Sagas are stories of families - sometimes historical,
sometimes mythological - telling of the family’s struggle to find its way to a
life of integrity. Sagas are told all over the world and in every culture and
in many religions as a way of teaching what is important. We find Sagas in
Norse myths, in Hindu Epics, Greek Tragedies, Medieval Poetic Lays,
Shakespearean plays, long novels, movie blockbusters, Saturday morning
cartoons, soap operas, Bible stories, and our nightly dreams. Some of us will
have the opportunity during the summer to gather with members of extended families
and, if we are lucky and pay attention, we might hear part of our family sagas. They usually take the format of what Joseph
Campbell calls a “Hero’s Journey”, where a young innocent begins a journey into
an unknown future, facing difficulties, challenges of character, strong
friendships, erotic love, help from wise
old men or women, new beginnings, and final arrival at peace or death. In these
sagas, the character of “Wise Old Woman” or “Wise Old Man” is a person who has
special powers of union with the numinous, the deeper wisdom of the universe.
This week we are about half way through the David
Saga. He, leaving his life of tending sheep, stumbles into an ongoing war. There
he defeats a giant and grows in fame and honor, receiving help and
encouragement from the Wise Old Man Samuel. He forms a strong relationship with
Jonathan, the King’s son. In his battles for Saul, he brings a bride price of
100 Philistine foreskins to marry the King’s daughter, Michal. However, the
Wise Old Man, Samuel, dies and David is left to his own cunning and ego. David
is then driven into exile by the King and forced to begin anew as a leader of
an outlaw band operating out of Hebron in Judah. His wife, Michal, had been
taken from him by her father, King Saul, and married off to someone in her
father’s employ. Her father dies in battle and her brother, Ishbaal, becomes
King. David grows stronger as the House of Saul grows weaker, and David becomes
King of Judah while Ishbaal is King of Israel. David works out an arrangement
for peace with one of Ishbaal’s generals, Abner, asking that Michal be returned
to him. She is sent back, but her husband weeps over his loss as he walks
behind the guard taking her to David, and we can assume that she has grown to
love that husband. David, in the meantime over the six years he was gone, has
six more wives, with children from each wife. Michal’s homecoming with David
can only be imagined, having to share her husband with six other women. Joab,
David’s right-hand man and player of dirty tricks, assassinates Abner while two
of Ishbaal’s captains assassinate Ishbaal and bring his head to David. David
has them killed by Joab and then accepts the Kingdom of Israel. David then
conquers the fortress of Jerusalem from the Jebusites and renames it the “City
of David”. When in Jerusalem, David
takes a few more wives and concubines to show off his power. It is a monumental
rise to prominence, but David feels the need for more authorization.
In today’s installment of the saga, David works to
cement his power and takes the religious artifact, the Ark of the Covenant, away from its shrine where it had been for
over 20 years and places it as the religious center of the City of David. David
presides over the dedication and feeds the people at a big feast. While he is
leading the procession, David dressed only in an apron, leaps and dances,
flashing the people and showing his power, and that act of advertising is the
final straw for Michal. God has moved
from the light in David’s soul to the role of fashion accessory.
David has come very far from his innocent days. He now has power, but the wise old man who
counseled him, Samuel, has died years before and his closest advisor is Joab,
whose specialty is carrying out dirty work while David tries to look innocent.
How about that for a summary for the Hero’s Journey so far? In the next three
weeks, another wise man will come, his name is Nathan, and he is a prophet whose
role is to confront the King about David’s lechery, his arrogance of power, and
the need to return to a power greater than oneself.
The Gospel story for today from ten centuries later relates
that, in Israel, there is another King of a much smaller Kingdom and a puppet
of the Romans, but Herod Antipas is the equal of David in his journey of abuse
of power. He has been confronted by John the Baptizer who calls Herod Antipas
to repent of his lechery and arrogance of power. Herod is afraid of losing face
and locks John up. At a deeper level he knows that John is right, and the
writer of Mark tells how Herold Antipas is trapped into protecting John from
his Herod’s wife’s anger while Herod himself is under a sort of compulsion to
listen to the Baptist and has some insight into his brokenness. However insight
and $3.25 can buy you a cup of coffee, but he does not change and, as the old
phrase goes, “No change equals no change.”
Later in a bout of lechery, he is again confronted with a “loss of face”
and, in his fear, he has John’s head presented on a platter as a demonstration
of the arrogance of power to the object of his lust.
These are two different Kings with so much in
common. They are both filled with ego,
striving to claim their place in the world, and they have made a habit of
seeing people as objects to be used or abused in order to reach the goal they
have set. There is nothing wrong with ego because that is how we get our needs
met in order to define ourselves. Instead of entering into a deeper
relationship with the ultimate power of the universe, these kings tend to use
religion as a prop to consolidate their own personal power. They have moved
from listening to God to talking at an image of God.
There comes a point in life, however, when we search
for a deeper definition of our true selves underneath the accomplishments or
possessions we accumulate. The writer of the Letter to the Ephesians passage
for today reminds us that our identity is being the adopted children of God, as
God’s defining spirit comes into us and makes us one with the wisdom of the
universe, as the reading says: “God has made known to us the mystery of God’s
will . . . to gather up all things in God, things in heaven
and things on earth.” In this view, the “Wise Old Men” or “Wise Old Women” are
not just out there but, by grace, inside of ourselves, as all the missteps on
our journey, all the things that we have done in the past, are put behind us as
we live into becoming our own authority of our relationship with the divine.
Sagas are not just for heroes of long ago; I would
suggest to you that each of us is on a Hero’s Journey to find the deeper
wisdom. What does your saga look like? Where are you on the journey?
King
David’s Saga (poem)
In
my saga, the hero is in innocent awe
For
all that the divine was doing in me
or
through me. I would look at my hands
and mind as instruments to find wonder.
Soon
sly Joab replaced Samuel as soul,
as
faithful Jonathan fades to the Hittite
wife
who by dread I order her into bed
allowing
me to play to my own applause.
I
decided it was all up to me for eyes
to
set on prizes of mine own making.
Cost-benefit
utility trumps old wonder
relationships
degenerate into contracts.
Sounds
of inner wisdoms drowned out
by own sage pronouncements of value.
Gradually,
so very gradually, slowly
And
unexpected like a pregnant virgin,
a
dawning of unearned life growing,
Pushing
back noise of ego’s carnage
The
names of the shattered:
Goliath,
Nabal,
Saul,
Jonathan,
Michal,
Abner,
Ishbaal,
Uriah,
Bathsheba,
Tamar,
Amnon,
Absolom,
Amasa.
Sheba,
Adonijah,
Abishag and
Joab
Clutter
and clatter my memories as
parts
of my soul ripped apart like the
hundred
Philistine foreskins traded to
leap
as advertisement for a ticker-tape
parade to my breath taking glory.
Names,
events and places do change
but
sagas within us continue as when
walking
through our Valleys of Elah
before in Abishag’s arms finding rest.
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