[Propertalk] Proper 10b 2018 - part 1

[Robert P Morrison]

This has been edited several times already and I'll probably will
continue to do so...
Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER
PENTECOST

	2 SAMUEL 6:1-5, 12b-19 PROPER 10 b

	EPHESIANS 1:3-14 15th JULY, 2018

	MARK 6:14-29 PSALM 24

	 Dancing can be so much fun! But it can also get one into SO much
trouble!

	 That’s probably why it was frowned upon by some branches of the
Church, especially in traditional-conservative denominations.

	 I remember a Scottish Presbyterian minister, a friend of my father,
describing how etiquette and clothing for dancing developed. It used
to be that, in addition to wearing a suit, the men, just like the
women, all wore gloves. My father’s friend said that this custom
died out, for the men, in the early 1900s, at which point the fathers
of the young women who’d been to the dance had the back of their
dresses tested for fingerprints to see with whom they’d been dancing
and where the fingers had been placed.

	 That’s possibly a slight exaggeration, but a not totally useless
idea! Dancing can inflame the senses and emotions, especially if one
is predisposed to think in one way or another.

	 Take Michal, Saul’s daughter, for instance. David had killed her
father in the civil war. One strike against David. But David was
really wrapped up in expressing his love of God and his devotion.
He’d been dancing up a storm, and everyone seemed to feel that that
was OK, even if the king WAS naked at the time, all perfectly
appropriate. Everyone except Michal, that is. She was really ticked
off. Just like today, you can’t please everyone.

	 Think about the relationship of David and Michal, though. She’d
fallen in love with him while he was at the court of her father. David
had paid the bride-price to Saul by killing two hundred Philistines,
double the number he’d been asked to kill.

	 Aren’t you glad things are a little different today, at least in
some circles?

	 When Saul and David became antagonists, Michal hid her husband and
arranged for his escape. As one writer pointed out, although she
risked her life by helping him, after he left the court he made no
attempt to contact her – not even a Tweet! 1 Two strikes!

	 Not particularly loving, nor grateful! Following that episode, Saul
gave Michal to another member of the military and David, still in
hiding, took several other wives. Later on, when David came to power
as king over the entire country, he demanded and got Michal back,
presumably to reinforce his right to be king.

	 So it may not be at all surprising that Michal despised David in his
enthusiasm of worship. The verses following the ones we heard this
morning, however, indicate that she felt humiliated. Her pride was
hurt and she stood on that, even over the entry of the Ark of God.
Like her father, Michal had no time for the Ark. Family pride, status
among the people, especially among the nobility in power, that’s
what was important to her. “Michal had missed the essential
significance of David’s career, that in spite of his failures, he
was a man after God’s own heart.”, and had been chosen over over
everyone else in Saul’s family.

	 “What can we learn from this story of Michal and David?
Misunderstanding arose in their relationship because of a clash of
temperament, outlook and purpose. _Had Michal shared David’s
(enthusiasm in worshipping God, or at least his acknowledgement of his
devotion to God), how different life (might) have been for both of
them. But Michal made no effort to understand her husband’s Godward
desires and so passed a wrong judgment upon him. … HOW CERTAIN WE
SHOULD BE OF A PERSON’S MOTIVE FOR HIS ACTS OR ATTITUDES BEFORE WE
CONDEMN HIM. (It’s strange, Michal was committed to David and so
much in love with him) when he was poor and unknown and now that he is
King ‘he despised him in her heart’” One writer suggested that
“... David realized they could never love the same God. Therefore he
cut her from his heart.’”_ 2

	 It’s sad how this relationship floundered over ingratitude and a
lack of compassion on David’s part and insensitivity and
self-absorbing pride on Michal’s.

	 We have another dance encounter to consider today, though.
Interestingly enough, a major factor in the story revolves around
marriage also. Herod wanted Herodias and Herodias wanted Herod. There
was just the matter that Herodias was married to Herod’s
half-brother. You can, perhaps, imagine some of the tension in THAT
household. Throw one of God’s prophets into the mix and you can see
how explosive the situation was.

	 Neither Herod nor Herodias would have made my guest list for a
dance, though. Because of their power, their conniving, their total
lack of concern for anyone or anything beyond themselves and their
immediate friends, I’d have run a mile from them, if I could. Still,
some people DID accept invitations to their palace and, to give him
his due, Herod did manage to rule and keep some semblance of peace
with the Roman emperor. Whoever was there for dinner that night, they
were the sort of folk whom Herod must have wished to impress. Nothing
was too good for him and his would-be friends, so he arraigned for
what may be characterised as a salacious, over-the-top dance by his
step-daughter. Apparently she’d been well brought up by her mother,
and Herod’s step-daughter had some hold over him, so she seized on
the opportunity as a way to put Herod deeper in debt to her. She
danced, and danced, and wrapped the whole company around her fingers.

	 Somehow, though, when it came time for her to name her reward, she
had to check with her mother, who saw this as a golden opportunity to
get rid of the principle person who was threatening both Herod and
Herodias’ security.

	 No matter that he was widely regarded as a man of God, a powerful
prophet, Herodias knew that she could overcome Herod’s reluctance to
do anything to silence John.

	
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