Fellow Travelers: Wandering at Home

So in the season of Lent, which I'm not terribly

liturgical, at Naples Community Church, we of

course recognize Advent and Lent, but otherwise

we're all over the place. But Lent is that time

where we commemorate the 40 days of Jesus in

the wilderness, suffering temptation. And as

has been said, he knows temptation unlike any

of us because he withstood it for 40 days, where

we cave in after 40 days. Minutes or four minutes.

And so we know only a little bit of what he knows

about being tempted. But then also, it is that

period of time when we acknowledge that Jesus

set his face for Jerusalem and the cross. So

Jesus, with his disciples, as he was approaching

that time, took them up to, of all places, Caesarea

Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was in the way northern

region of Galilee, and it had shrines to every

conceivable God in that entire region. And in

the temple, they partook of some of the most

vile behaviors and practices. And so Jesus takes

them there. It's kind of the Las Vegas of the

ancient world. I remember at UC Santa Barbara,

some of the guys talking, hey, we're going to

go to Las Vegas. And I never went with them because

I was like Brian. I didn't want to submit to

that kind of those bad influences. But Jesus

takes them to Caesarea Philippi. And it's in

that setting, after they have seen all of this,

Canaanite, Greek, Roman gods, that he says, who

do people say the Son of Man is? You know what

they say about those gods. What do you say about

who I am? And it was at that time, one of them

got it right. The apostle Peter said, you are

the Christ, the son of the living God. On the

basis of one confession of faith, Jesus goes

to the cross. If it were not for that confession,

Jesus could very well have perhaps taken one

step further north and stepped off the stage

of history. But instead, he goes and begins his

walk to the cross. Now, the anticipation was

that they would have a king like David, and there

were all kinds of messianic figures that were

claiming to be the son of David. that they would

be the next king like David. And all of these

so -called messiahs were political messiahs.

They were going to throw out the Roman government,

set up a first century state of Israel. But all

of them, one after another, claimed to be the

reincarnation of that kingship that David had.

When we think about David, what do we remember?

David was no perfect person. In what way was

David a man after God's own heart? It's often

difficult for us to discern what that really

meant. Hear the word of God as it comes to us

from 2 Samuel. In the spring of the year, when

kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab

and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites.

And they destroyed the Ammonite army and laid

siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed

home in Bethlehem. Late one afternoon, after

his midday rest, David got out of bed and was

walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked

out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual

beauty. taking a bath. He sent someone to find

out who she was and was told she is Bathsheba,

the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the

Hittite. Then David sent messengers to get her,

and when she came to the palace, he slept with

her. David. King like David? That's David. Up

to this point, David had had a remarkable career.

When Samuel was looking for the next king because

Saul failed, David was out working, watching

the sheep. All of the other boys were paraded

by Samuel, and Samuel said, is there anyone else?

David was out doing what he was supposed to do.

He was taking care of the sheep. They brought

him in and Samuel anointed him at that point

to be the next king. But that didn't really affect

him. Saul wanted him to come in and start playing

for him and writing poetry for him. But when

he wasn't there in the palace of the king, he

was back out watching the sheep. He was doing

what he was supposed to do. And then he was called

forth to the, field of battle where this awful

guy, Goliath, was taunting the people of God,

and David did what he did there. Then he went

back. Time after time, David was not affected

by what he had accomplished, and yet I begin

to wonder, when he killed Goliath, I wonder if

he really gave God all the credit, or he thought,

you know, I really am good with the slang. I

really am good at writing music and writing poetry.

I wonder what happened. At what point was there

a shift? And David then succeeds Saul, and he

starts gathering all kinds of things to himself.

He builds a huge harem to himself. He started

gathering money to himself. Now, he was still

going out and fighting the battles with the men

of Israel. But what happened that he stayed home?

What on earth was he so full of himself? What

had happened? Did he become prideful? Was it

all about him? Did he get to the point that because

he was the, we'll baptize that one again too.

Did he get to the point where he began to think

that because he was the king and because he was

so successful, he had the right to define reality?

Something happened. And then the men go off to

war again, and he says to Joab, his commander,

you know, I'm going to sit this one out. He stays

home, takes a nap, goes out onto his porch. and

stands as the Mediterranean air comes off the

sea. And then he sees this woman. And she is

beautiful. And he sends someone to get her. And

you know what happened. She comes to the house,

to the palace, and one thing leads to another.

Sometime later, two Hebrew words are carried

to the king. I'm pregnant. This set in motion

David's effort at covering up. Certainly it had

to be her fault. So often is the case. The men

blame the women. Always a way to squirm out of

this kind of a situation. So he calls, he sends

message to Joab to call Uriah back from the front.

Believing that Uriah, all he had to do is get

Uriah to come home exhausted from fighting that

war and go home and spend the night at his home.

And then when he's gone, everything will be...

above any kind of consideration or gossip. But

Uriah was a man of great honor. He was a man

of valor, a man who understood his relationship

with his men, and he would not enjoy such a time

when his men were out in the field. And so he

chose on his own to sleep just outside the palace

door. So David tried again. Next night, got him

pregnant. Got him drunk. And thought that maybe

then with his compromised state that he would

go home, but he didn't. Once again, he stayed

outside the palace door and then went back to

the field of battle. And so David prepared a

note. gave it to Uriah to carry back to Joab.

That note that he gave to Joab was Uriah's own

death warrant. And that was that he was to be

put in the harshest place of battle, right under

the wall, where he would most certainly be killed,

and he was. Sometime later, David, acting honorably,

brought this woman into his home to become his

wife. And certainly the people would think, oh,

what a good man he took this dear woman in. And

she gave birth to a little boy. And David loved

that little boy. He adored that little boy. But

then on the very day before that little boy was

to be circumcised into the people of God, he

died. And David's own conscience, world, sense

of self began to cave in upon itself. He realized

that what he had done was so wrong and so bad.

And I believe it was in that time that he wrote

those words that were shared with us earlier.

When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted

away. And I groomed all day long, day and night.

Your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength

evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally,

I confessed all my sins to you. and stop trying

to hide my guilt. You forgave me, and my guilt

is gone. But that was preceded by a visit from

the prophet Nathan. Nathan came in and told David

a story about a man, a poor man who had a little

lamb, and he loved that little lamb. And then

some rich, powerful guy came and took that lamb

from him and took that lamb for himself. And

David said, that man needs to die. And then with

two terse Hebrew words, Nathan pointed at him

and said, you are the man. You are the man. David

was convicted of his action. David isolated.

He wrote the 51st Psalm. He wrote the 32nd Psalm.

He tried to incorporate what he had done. He

had no way of dealing with what he had done except

that he be forgiven. And in the midst of it all,

the Lord God had communicated to him in some

manner that yes, he was indeed forgiven. But

still the consequences of his choice unfolded

and his family began to fracture and fall apart.

One of his sons raped the son's half -sister,

one of his stepdaughters. And then another son

tried to kill and ultimately did kill that boy.

And then the boy who killed that boy was killed

in battle by Joab the commander. And David saw

all of this, and he had no way of incorporating

it into his own sense of self. And the man became

profoundly, deeply humble. He became humble.

C .S. Lewis says, the essential vice, the utmost

evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness,

and all... and all that are mere flea bites in

comparison. It was through pride that the devil

became the devil. Pride leads every other vice.

It is the complete anti -God state of mind. And

so the question is, the Messiah was to be a king

like David. David pre -Bathsheba or post -Bathsheba?

All of those false messiahs were claiming to

be David the victor. But Jesus came as a king

like David, the humble king, the king that would

lay down his life, the king that would endure

much suffering on behalf of his people. A king

that I believe when that woman was dragged and

front of a crowd of people because she was caught

in the very act of adultery. And it was those

denominational officials that did this to her.

And there she is on the dust. And Jesus, I believe,

was in the dust with her, weeping with her, and

said to them, if you're without sin, throw a

stone. Get in touch with the reality of who you

are. The real you. If you're without sin, throw

a stone. And then Jesus said to that woman, is

there no one here to condemn you? Well, neither

do I. Go and sin no more. Was that Jesus who

was willing there with that woman to bear the

stones himself? G .K. Chesterton says that nothing

great happens without humility. We tend to think

the opposite, just humanly thinking. And when

we achieve much, when we rise to the highest

positions, etc., then we can do great things

and accomplish great things. Not if we're self

-satisfied. Not if we're happy with ourselves.

Just a quick account. I work at St. Matthew's

House as a, I'm on the board and it's a huge

nonprofit in Naples. And we were looking for

a new CEO and I was one on the search committee.

And the chairman of the group, as we were interviewing

with search firms, chairman of the group introduced

himself after I had and a couple of other people

had. And he said, yes, my wife and I split our

time between Naples and Bentonville, Arkansas.

And we love both communities. And I had done

some greeting at Walmart. He was a former CEO.

But that was his humility. That was a man, a

truly great man of faith, of humility, who was

the CEO of the largest retailer in the world.

But he didn't lead with that. He lead with that

which meant most to him, and that was the people

on the floor and the staff. He loved to go incognito

into the stores and greet people and just talk

to them. That's after the example of Christ.

So the example of Christ is an example of humility

that leads us to the truly great things of life.

Interestingly, he took then the disciples to

the Mount of Transfiguration. And there was Moses

and Elijah transfigured with Jesus. They were

there with a magnificent heavenly glow. And somebody

had asked me if that was the reincarnation of

Moses and Elijah. And the reality is, no, it

was the... pre -incarnation of what awaits us.

They got a glimpse of glory. They got a glimpse

of what God has in store for us. But that was

accomplished for us by Jesus going to the cross.

But that glorified consequence comes when we

put our trust and our faith in Jesus Christ who

gave himself up for us. So I went down to St.

Matthew's House a couple weeks ago. And St. Matthew's

House is known for its recovery programs, drug

and alcohol rehabilitation. And we just had a

graduation this week, about 60 men and about

12 women graduating after a full year of rehabilitation

and restoration from drugs and alcohol. And when

they enter this, they think that they are going

into exile of some sort. When in fact, when they

go in and after a while, they realize they had

been in exile all this time and now they're finding

their way home. And so I stopped, I cleared out

the garage of some stuff and stopped at St. Matthew's

house to donate it for their thrift stores. And

when the man came to my car window, I put it

down and I said, so are you going to the graduation

next week? And he said, I'm a graduate of the

program. And he was so happy. He was so thrilled.

And he was there working then for St. Matthew's

house as a man whose life had been made new.

And he said, I met God there. And I met myself

there. And I'm so happy. He was smiling from

here to here. And I was so impressed, I wrote

a note down to myself as soon as I got in my

car. That was the transformation. When we have

that one who was the king, like the real David.

Not a king like the prideful David, but a king

like the real David. The king who found himself

because he was confronted with the reality of

his brokenness and his sin. and came to realize

that the only way he could be made whole was

by putting his faith and trust in God. And so

it is for us. And when we have eyes to see, we

see the glory in the faces of our neighbors,

in the faces of one another. C .S. Lewis says,

you have never met an ordinary individual. next

to the Blessed Sacrament, nothing is more sacred

presented to your senses in all of life. Nothing

is more sacred than your neighbor for whom Christ

died. Will you join me in prayer? And so, Lord,

you came in a manner that we did not expect.

You came in a way that nobody was looking for.

You came not as a king to conquest and set up

a first century state of Israel. You came to

conquer the reality of sin in our hearts that

you might set up a kingdom that will last forever.

We give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name.