SHAZAM! July 16, 2006 John W. Vest Associate Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church Psalm 24 2 Samuel 6:1–19 Our scripture lesson this evening comes from the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 6. It takes place not long after King David captured Jerusalem from a Canaanite people called the Jebusites. David made Jerusalem the capital city of the newly united Kingdom of Israel, and in order to solidify Jerusalem’s status as both the political and religious center of Israel, he made plans to bring into the city the holiest artifact of Israel’s religion: the Ark of the Covenant. Listen now for God’s Word as we hear the story of David and the Ark. David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the LORD with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. . . . So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord. When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes. (2 Samuel 6:1–5, 12b–19) Now, if this were all there were to this story, it would be a rather happy tale of a triumphant king and a national celebration. But what I’ve just read is the sanitized, edited scripture lesson that we find in the Revised Common Lectionary. Our lectionary editors have decided to bypass a rather shocking part of the story that takes place before the Ark actually makes it into Jerusalem. So now, as Paul Harvey would say, is the “rest of the story.” When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God. David was angry because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah; so that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?” So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord into his care in the city of David; instead David took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. It was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6:6–12a) You can perhaps understand why those responsible for selecting the lectionary texts might want to spare you this troubling story. On the one hand, it portrays the power of God in a way that we are not very comfortable with today. What kind of God lashes out in anger and kills someone who simply tries to steady Israel’s holiest religious object when the cart that is carrying it is shaken? Such violent attributes associated with God are particularly disturbing on a day like today, in which the so-called Holy Land is once again being ravaged by war. Not only do we find a God that we are not comfortable with, we find that King David, Israel’s greatest hero, doesn’t come off as especially heroic. After Uzzah is fried by the Ark, a wishy-washy David is scared and sends it away to another man’s house and only decides to retrieve it after he discovers that it has apparently brought blessings to that man and his household. It is a difficult story for us to encounter, yet here it is, and we can’t—or shouldn’t—avoid it so easily. Now I must admit that, in part, this story appeals to me because it involves the mysterious Ark of the Covenant. Like many people my age, I have been captivated by the Ark since first learning about it, not in a Sunday School class, but in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first and probably best of the Indiana Jones movies. Perhaps you remember the story. Indy gets embroiled in a harrowing race against the Nazis to locate the Ark, which Hitler thinks will make his army invincible. The adventure takes Indy across the globe and introduces viewers to a piece of religious history that they were probably not so familiar with. When it comes to the Ark, the movie is remarkably true to biblical descriptions. According to the Bible, the Ark was constructed at the same time as the Tabernacle, the portable tent-like sanctuary in which the Israelites worshiped God until the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. The Ark was a chest, covered in gold and enclosed by a golden lid on which sat statues of two angels called cherubim, facing each other with outstretched wings. The wings came together and formed what was considered to be the throne of God, and the Ark was called God’s footstool. Some Israelite traditions maintained that the presence of God actually rested on the Ark when it sat in the Holy of Holies, the innermost and holiest chamber of the Jerusalem temple. Inside the Ark were kept the stone tablets on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments. If you don’t know what those are, I have another movie I can suggest after this service. Because it was a conduit for the presence of God, the Ark was considered extremely sacred but also extremely dangerous. The Israelites conceived of the glory and power of God as a field of immense energy that would strike someone dead if they came into contact with it. So sacred was the Ark that it was approached by only one person, the high priest, on only one day of the year, Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and only then with extreme caution. If someone who had not taken the proper precautions were to touch the Ark, they would instantly be zapped, as was poor Uzzah in our story this evening. The violent unleashing of the power of God at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark provides a stunning image not all that far from the biblical portrayal. One can therefore understand the Hitler’s fascination with the Ark in the movie and his desire to gain control of it. Imagine being able to harness such incredible power. The Israelites themselves brought the Ark into battle as a visible reminder of God’s presence and perhaps as a channel of God’s power. After all, who wouldn’t want to have the powers of a god on their side? Or better yet, who wouldn’t want to have the powers of a god themselves? With a new Superman movie in theaters now and with movies based on comic book heroes more popular today than they’ve ever been, it seems that just such a desire is rather widespread. A major part of the appeal of comic books for children—and adults—is the imaginative fantasy of having superpowers, of being superhuman. When you enter into the world of a comic book, you vicariously participate in the adventures of superheroes with abilities that we can only dream of. When we identify with a hero like Superman, we reveal our desire to have those remarkable powers ourselves—essentially, the powers of a god. This desire for divine power is perhaps best illustrated by another classic superhero, one who is probably not as well known. One of Superman’s early competitors for comic book dominance was a character named Captain Marvel. Unlike Superman, who is an alien from another planet and therefore completely unlike us, Captain Marvel represents the ultimate childhood fantasy. You see, Captain Marvel is the alter ego of Billy Batson, an ordinary teenager who is entrusted with an extraordinary gift. Whenever Billy speaks the magic word “Shazam!” he is struck by a lightening bolt and is transformed into an adult with the powers of seven mythological heroes and gods—the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury, the first letter of each name spelling out the magic word “Shazam.” As Captain Marvel, Billy Batson literally possesses the power of the gods. It’s a dream come true. But it’s just a story. And most of us know that we can’t really hope to possess the powers of God. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t continually aspire to what power we can attain, to wealth and affluence, to authority and importance. That doesn’t mean that our priorities are not driven by an unquenchable thirst for success and recognition. That doesn’t mean that our nations don’t struggle for dominance and control. And as the world is once again facing the horrors of unchecked nuclear aggression, with those hungry for power hoping to hold within their possession the ability to split atoms and unleash destruction of biblical proportions, I’m not so sure that the desire for godlike powers isn’t what we’re talking about after all. But friends, in this place, a sanctuary in the midst of great power, we find a different teaching. We find an understanding of power—even an understanding of God’s power—that turns everything we know and expect on its head. You see, 2,000 years ago, after centuries of demonstrating God’s power through thunder and lightning and military might, God chose a different path. This time, when God chose to demonstrate the greatness of God’s power, God didn’t choose to do it through a king or a nation. God didn’t choose a politician. God didn’t choose a warrior. God didn’t choose a wealthy business mogul. God didn’t choose a celebrity or a rock star. God didn’t choose a superhero. Instead, God chose a simple peasant, a carpenter from a tiny, unimportant village called Nazareth. God chose to visit us as a man named Jesus. And through Jesus, God did what no one expected. Now don’t get me wrong. If there was ever a man who possessed the power of God, it was Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels are full of stories in which Jesus demonstrates his nature and purpose through signs and wonders that can only be attributed to the power of God. But this doesn’t seem to be what Jesus was most interested in sharing with the world. He repeatedly told people not to speak about those signs and wonders. But he did tell people to love each other, even their enemies. He did tell people to treat others as they would want to be treated themselves. He did tell people to turn the other cheek. And when he was pressed to fight, pressed to unleash the vengeance of God on those who opposed him, he chose a different way to achieve victory. He gave his life for others. He did, in fact, allow himself to be proclaimed the King of Israel, but his crown was made of thorns and his throne was a wooden cross. This, friends, is the power of God. And how do you harness the power of God? You do it by loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. You do it not by building yourself up, but by emptying yourself of everything but God’s love. You do it through selflessness and self-sacrifice. You do it by helping those who are in need. You do it by freeing the oppressed. You do it by choosing peace instead of war. You do it by ending violence and hatred. You do it by speaking truth to the powers that be. You do it by following the way of Jesus Christ, the only human who has ever completely embodied the power of God. It doesn’t take a golden box. It doesn’t take a magic word. It doesn’t take the biggest weapon. It doesn’t take a lot of money. All it takes is faith and a willingness to follow a way that seems completely absurd to most of the world. As the Apostle Paul once wrote to the church of Corinth, “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Amen.