2 Samuel 1:1-27
Mark 5:21-43
If Marcion wasn't right, he was at least onto something. Don't get me wrong, I am in agreement with patristic thought that the seeming dichotomy between Old and New Testaments does not denote two different Gods, but let's at least tip our hats to old Marcion. If we are honest, we must confess that we can't read the appointed texts this week and not wonder if we are talking about the same God, here.
2 Samuel has a heartbreaking start; one that calls to mind the great tragedies of old. Our characters are just as royal, just as majestic as those of the ancient plays: Kings, warriors and princes. David has been trying for years now to settle the dispute between him and his son, Absalom. David's best friend, Jonathan has somehow wound up in the middle of this ongoing, horrific family feud. David has already, for all intents and purposes, lost his son and his best friend, both of whom have tried to kill David along the way. But David refuses to give up, he refuses to allow his son and his best friend to be anything less than that, so he continues to try and keep peace in Israel while also regaining his son and his best friend. Hope for those reunion is lost in this first chapter, as David finds out that his best friend has died. Blood seems to run off of the pages in these opening verses of 2 Samuel. David, God's anointed one, listens to the story of his best friends death and then, in true Old Testament fashion, kills the messenger, who happens to double as the one who eventually finished off mortally wounded Jonathan. More blood spilled, more love lost, all in the name of God.
The chapter closes with David and his army eating a solemn dinner, singing a blood filled, mournful song while the messenger is slain in the background. "Oh how the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war perished."
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God?
Without as much as a breath, we then turn our attention this week to the Gospel lesson. Mark 5. Blood and death yet again fill the stage. But the players this time are much different. Instead of war heroes, kings and princes dominating the drama, we get a hemorrhaging woman and a dead girl. We don't even get their names; just bleeding woman and "Talitha", "girl". Much less majestic, much less classically appealing. The closest thing we get to power is Jairus, the father of the dead girl, who is the leader of the synagogue. But let's be honest, he's not really that powerful, he's just a leader of a bunch of Jews in the backwoods of the Roman empire. No real power there. So on the stage set with a crowd by the sea, blood and death rear their heads again.
But this time, there seems to be a different God at work. This time, Jesus walks through the crowd, and just by being touched by the bleeding woman, the blood stops, and healing takes place. When he finally makes his way to side of the dead girl, and those around her are weeping and sobbing, just like David in 2 Samuel, Jesus speaks to the girl, "Talitha Cum" and she is raised.
In the Old Testament we see a God who is seemingly absent, or maybe even implicated in the bloody violence and in the death ridden plot. Yet when Jesus comes around, the bleeding stops, death is broken. Maybe Marcion had a point.
Or maybe Jesus was the point all along. More pointedly, maybe Jesus was God's counterpoint to our violence. After all, 2 Samuel follows 1 Samuel, where God begged Israel not to get a king. They wanted a king to find security, to find peace on their terms, to stop the terrorism from the Assyrians. Violence had risen exponentially, they were up to a code red, so they sought a king. God asked them not to, tried to get them to trust in him for safety, for peace, but God's people decided instead to trust in military might. They continue to ask God for a king until, finally, God does one of the most frightening things recorded in scripture. God hands Israel over to their hearts desires. They get a king, Saul, Jonathan's father, and the bloodiest period in Israel's history as recorded in the Old Testament ensures. The heartbreaking opening to 2 Samuel is the result of the
Blood and death pretty much continue
