Abstract
The Evolution of an Idea
Ideas evolve! The idea of democracy has evolved since King John acknowledged the political rights of medieval barons. The great Reform Acts widened the political franchise in the nineteenth century and in the early twentieth, through the protest and bravery of the suffragettes democracy evolved to include voting rights for women. Thus, often by sudden changes, the idea of a democratic state has evolved. In many spheres ideas evolve, not least in religion.
In our lesson from 2 Samuel we find an idea that began somewhat straight-forwardly and then evolved into something quite different. David, after a long period of bloody wars, came to a place of victorious peace. His thoughts turn to God, perhaps in gratitude for mercies granted and for victories given. He has an idea: he will build God a house. It is only right. There he is, King, in a house of cedar built to the highest standards, whilst the Ark of God, the sacrament of God’s holy presence, is housed in a tent! Nathan the prophet appears and speaks a confirmatory word: “Go do all that you have in mind, for the Lord is with you” (v.2). Good pastoral support!
But, that same night the Lord speaks to Nathan in a dream (vv. 5-6). God says: since I brought the people of Israel out of Egypt I have never lived in a house. I never asked for one, I never needed one. It never was a priority and it isn’t now. The people still have to find peace and security in their new land. That is my priority. Tell David to scuttle his grand idea of a big house for me. In fact, I will build a house for him.
I will build a house for him! What does the Lord mean? The Hebrew manuscript bears the hand of many editors and there is word play in the text. Does God intend a ‘house’ as in Buckingham Palace, the residence of the Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, a great big building!? Or has God a different meaning when he speaks of building a house? We speak of the House of Windsor, not meaning bricks and mortar, but the Queen, her heirs and descendants. This appears nearer to God’s intention. God will establish royal dynasty forever. This is his promise to David and to those who occupy his throne for posterity. God has changed the idea of a house into the promise of a dynasty. The idea of ‘the house of David’ will be played out in the history of Israel in generations to come. The Lord says: “I will be father to him and he shall be a son to me” (v. 14).The idea of a royal dynasty stretching throughout the ages has cast a shadow over history, leaving a legacy of divine right, a favoured people, a promised-land. This is a promise with dangerous ramifications, right up to the present.
The idea moved from house to household, from bricks and mortar to dynasty. The idea was to undergo further evolution in the years of exile and return. Eventually we come to the gospels: in the teaching of our Lord the idea develops further.
Even before Jesus’ birth the angel Gabriel disclosed that: “his name shall be great, and will be called the son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1.32-33). An earthly dynasty seems still to be on the cards. But read on! We find that the idea of divine rule is changed forever in the teaching of Jesus and in his lifestyle. He is gentle and humble of heart. He washes his disciples’ feet, he eats with publicans and sinners. Supremely, the idea of divine rule is transformed on the Cross. Dynasty evolves into the power of love, not the love of power. The ancient idea of earthly rule is stretched to breaking point, to death. It is buried with Jesus in a tomb. It is not lost; it is transfigured into a spiritual rule of forgiveness and love.
Christian forgiveness and love two years ago shone in a courageous act of reconciliation when Queen Elizabeth laid a wreath, in the garden of Remembrance in Dublin, honouring those who fought the British for Irish freedom in the War of Independence between 1919 and 1921. And the power of love was evident when the President of the Irish Republic, Mary McAleese, each year invited Protestant Orangemen to celebrate the Twelfth of July on the lawns of the Mansion House, her presidential residence, in Dublin. God’s reconciling love has many manifestations.
What began as a ‘simple’ notion of building a house for God has undergone multiple mutations. This fact illuminates the Christian pattern of faith and life. Faith is a continual repentance, a turning to God in trust and hope, ever relying on his love. Life is an unfolding experience of sudden deaths and surprising resurrections. The centre of it all is the love that gives itself to others. Love divine surpasses all earthly loves but it never leaves the earth behind. Christ, in the sacrament of his body and blood - in the tangible reality of bread and wine -, gives us the concentrated essence of love. Like ripples on the Great Lakes, the love of Christ reaches the distant shores of human experience, to the dark places of innocent suffering and the common places of sin. Love is not about the survival of the fittest. Love embraces the inadequate, has solidarity with the lowest, befriends the lonely and embraces the loveless. Love is the power that enables everything to evolve into the image and beauty of Christ. In Christ crucified, suffering is transfigured, pain and death become instruments of love. In Christ risen, we glimpse the beauty of creation redeemed, restored.
The evolution of an idea: in this season of celebration we lift our hearts in gratitude for the promises given to David and for the fulfilment of those promises in Christ. We celebrate the love of heaven – present in the stable-love, the no-room-at-the-inn-love, the baby-in-the-manager love – that came down at Christmas and still does. “Love all lovely, love Divine.” Love is above and beyond our wildest dreams and yet love is at the heart of our human struggles. The story of God’s ‘house’ is a long narrative with messy chapters, with parentheses that we wish were never part of the story, and passages that are sublime and inspiring. The idea of ‘house of God’ finds radical transformation and final definition in the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord. At this special season of the Christian year it is our joy to celebrate his birth.