HaMoshiach

Rise and anoint; for this is The One

Summer vacation is my favorite time of year — my own childhood memories of that last day of school until September, and especially in my parenting years loving having my children home from school. Plus, nowadays, with the church’s Revised Common Lectionary, we get a beloved old Sunday School Bible story from the Old Testament every Sunday morning all summer! This morning one of the best, the Lord choosing David, and David’s anointing as king. “Rise and anoint him,” the Lord said; “for this is The One.” He’s still a shepherd boy, and there are lots of adventures ahead. The story of David and Goliath. The adventures of David and his best friend Jonathan. The story of David and Bathsheba (another man’s wife), that so disappointed the Lord and brought shame to David and death to his household. The tragic story of David and his son Absalom. David’s beautiful song of lament on finding out about the deaths of Jonathan and Saul. Of all the heroes in the Bible up until Jesus himself, David is the Lord’s favorite, just as any man has favorites.

David, of course, is not perfect. If Jesus is perfectly sinless, David is the perfect sinner, whom the Lord loves just as he is, the way he is, cherishes as his very own. A perfect specimen of masculinity, David could not possibly be an angel, and he was not. But “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” David was faithful to the Lord, who loved him dearly.  Of all our Bible heroes, David was the one of whom every man could think, “I should have been more like him.” But there’s only one David the shepherd boy who became king and everlasting hero of his people -- until our veneration of David the shepherd king projected over generations and centuries in messianic expectation of God’s Christ. Not only “Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy,” but “Son of David, have mercy on us.” And the two are so adored and glorified that in holy history, David and Jesus seem to blend into One gentle Shepherd, God’s most beloved Son. That holy history begins in this morning’s Sunday School Story from the ancient Book of Samuel.

It is a story of Israel, a Jewish story that we have made our own. And like all Bible stories, this one becomes your own personal property at your Baptism into our history with God. We have enough stories to read them forever and never tire of them; and as Christians, we are always meant to draw something from each of the stories we hear, as guiding inspiration on our journey with Jesus Christ in the Way of the Cross. 

Just so today: God’s chosen one is least expected, the least and youngest out tending the sheep -- but anointed, he becomes HaMoshiach, God’s messiah. We have more than just “a tendency” to think that only Jesus is the Messiah, but messiah is the Old Testament word for “anointed.” God’s chosen ones are anointed with oil -- and Jesus is by far not God’s only anointed, today David, before him Saul, whom David himself revered as the Lord's anointed. In fact it gets surprising. The Old Testament is in Hebrew, where God’s chosen is messiah, which means “anointed.” Taking that into the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, and bringing it into the Greek New Testament, the word is Χριστός, in English, Christ, which still and all simply means “anointed.” So “Christ” is not Jesus‘ last name, it simply means the anointed one. The kings of Judah and Israel were anointed, HaMoshiach, the messiah, the christ. In the latter days of salvation history, God’s people are conquered and carried away into Babylonian exile (stick with me, I’m going somewhere with this, and it’s going to get very personal). And to bring the people out of exile the Bible says at Isaiah 45:1, “Thus says the Lord God to his moshiach, his Χριστός, his anointed, his messiah, his christ, Cyrus," the Persian king, whom God calls to save God’s people from captivity.

So, anointed, God’s messiah, God’s Χριστός is not only David, not only Jesus of Nazareth, but also Cyrus the Persian king, a Gentile savior -- though it is not clear that Cyrus ever realized he was called HaMoshiach, Χριστός, christ, messiah.

Do you realize that at your baptism the bishop or priest places a hand on your head, marking on your forehead the sign of the cross, using anointing oil, and says, “you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever” -- ?

Do you realize that you are just as anointed as David, God’s shepherd king, who at his anointing became HaMoshiach, God’s messiah, God’s Christ, the Lord's anointed -- ? 

Do you realize that we who are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus Messiah, Jesus the Anointed, are just as anointed as David the shepherd king of Israel, just as anointed as Jesus the carpenter of Nazareth -- ? And like David's anointing that day in this morning's Bible story, Baptism is our beginning. Our theology, clearly stated in our Baptism liturgy, our goal, our objective in Baptism is to grow into the full stature of God’s anointed. What does that mean?

Taking off from today’s gospel, in baptism we begin as God’s Little Seeds. We sprout and grow into whatever God has in mind for each of us. We are each different; but as Christians, as God’s anointed, we are in covenant with God to live life in a certain way. The Way of the Cross is the Way of aga’pe, of lovingkindness. Ultimately, it has to do with how you treat other people. Do you remember your vow?

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? You made that solemn vow to the Lord. How are you doing?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? You made that solemn vow to the Lord. How are you doing?

This, when all is said and done, is what the Lord requires of HaMoshiach, of his messiah, of his christ, of his anointed.

2nd Samuel chapter 16, verse 12. “Rise and anoint,” the Lord said when he saw you; “for this is the one.” 

You are the one. You are the Lord’s anointed. You are the one. HaMoshiach.

Sermon preached in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida on Sunday, June 14, 2015. Proper 6B. Text: 1Samuel 15:34-16:13 and Mark 4:26-34.