According
to industrialist Henry Ford, “History is bunk.” And at times it is difficult to
dispute Mr. Ford.
More eloquently, the English historian Edward Gibbon said
that, “History is the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of
mankind.”
The story of David and his family appears to give us more
than enough evidence to prove that Gibbon and Ford were correct. It is a story
more sordid and corrupt than anything that you could watch on HBO or in a
summer blockbuster.
First, David overthrows King Saul. David, then, unites the
quarreling tribes of Israel in a single kingdom; establishes peace; centralizes
both Israel’s government and its religion in the capital of Jerusalem. David
has arrived; he has it made. But at the summit of his power and success, in a
move that makes Bill Clinton look like a choirboy, David takes Bathsheba as his
concubine and arranges for the murder of her husband, Uriah, who is also one of
his most loyal soldiers.
And when David is old and weak, his son Absalom leads a rebellion
against his father. But while fleeing from his father, the handsome Absalom is
undone by his long, flowing locks of hair, and while hanging from a tree, he is
slain by David’s men.
“Avshalom, beni; Avshalom beni…” “Absalom, my son;
Absalom, my son. Would that I had died instead of you…”
David’s lament is one of the most piercing and poignant in
all of scripture. And it makes us question: Is there any point to history? Do
all the “crimes, follies, and misfortunes” of the human race have any meaning, or
was Henry Ford right when he declared it to be “bunk”?
I’m sure you can guess how I answer that question, but
before I do, I want to share something that the columnist George Will said in
Ken Burns’ wonderful documentary about Thomas Jefferson.
One of the most remarkable features of the life of Jefferson
was his relationship with John Adams. The word “frenemies” could have been
invented to describe their relationship. Adams and Jefferson became friends
during the meetings of the Continental Congress. It was Adams who persuaded
Jefferson that he was the right man to compose the Declaration of Independence,
but their friendship soured and they became bitter enemies when Jefferson ran
against Adams for presidence of the United States in 1800 and unseated him.
Then some years after Jefferson left office, they became friends once again.
The dozens of letters that they exchanged are one of the treasures of American
history.
However, perhaps the most interesting fact about their
friendship is that they died on the same day – July 4, 1826 –50 years to the
day after the Continental Congress voted to approve the Declaration of
Independence. John Adams last words were, “Thomas Jefferson survives.”
In Ken Burns’ documentary, George Will says, “There are many
magic moments in American history that convince you that there is something
miraculous about the American experience. And one of them is the simultaneous
death 50 years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence
of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.”
When we read the story of David and Absalom and when we look
at the darker moments of America’s own history, it is tempting to believe that
history is bunk, that it is nothing but a “register of follies, crimes, and
misfortunes.” But I believe it is more than that.
David’s own history illustrates the point. One of the
central convictions of the Bible is that David had a special relationship with
God, that God chose David to accomplish an important task, or in the vocabulary
of the Bible, that God established a covenant with David.
God chose David and established a covenant with David not
because David was good and worthy. The story of David as recorded in the Bible
makes it abundantly clear that David was as flawed and sinful as any person can
be.
God chose David not because David was good but because God
is good. God chose David like he chose Mary. The angel said to Mary, “Hail, O
favored one…” What counts is God’s favor towards us, not our favor toward God.
The violent story we heard today of Absalom’s revolt, and
the sordid stories we have heard the last two weeks of David and Bathsheba’s
adultery and the murder of her husband Uriah, make us question God’s choice of
David, to say the least. But history plays out on a large scale.
We can select many individual moments in history that make
us wonder whether or not there is any direction or meaning in it – Absalom’s
revolt; the Roman persecution of Christians; the torture of heretics by the
Inquisition; the judicial murder of English Catholics by Elizabeth I; the Nazi
murder of 6 million Jews; or Stalin’s policy of starving to death millions of
his own countrymen. When I look at these events, I feel despair. Life and
history seem pointless.
But then I back up and look at the larger picture. The death
of Absalom led to Solomon’s kingship; Solomon’s kingship led to the building of
the first temple in Jerusalem. And eventually the line of David produces Jesus.
History is a vast mosaic. If we look at any individual tile
in the mosaic, it is meaningless. Even if we look at 2 or 3 or a dozen of the
tiles, they may appear to be a random collection of colors and shapes. But as
the artist adds tiles, they began to take shape. Now a foot appears; then a
hand. A face emerges from the chaos. Two figures emerge from the swirl, and
then more. The story starts to take shape.
And so it is with history. To be sure, there are “follies,
crimes, and misfortunes” but there is also courage and faith and leadership. A
man trained as a surveyor becomes a soldier and rises through the ranks to
become leader of the army assembled by the Continental Congress, and against
all odds Washington defeats the world’s most powerful military. A country
lawyer is elected president of the United States, and Lincoln brings together the
divided states of the Union and brings and end to the buying and selling of
human beings in this country. A journalist who has failed in politics becomes
prime minister of Great Britain and Churchill and his country withstand the
relentless assult of the Third Reich.
This is not the time or place to consider the meaning of
American history, but I think there is something to George Will’s comment that
there are enough “magic moments in American history to convince you that there
is something miraculous about the American experience.” To be sure, America
often gets it wrong, and slavery is only the most obvious example of that. And
we must never believe that that our country needs no correction or criticism.
But a remarkable pattern does seem to emerge from America’s short history.
Britain and Germany and Israel are countries founded upon
nationality, upon a common language and culture and history and even religion.
But America, as Lincoln said, is a country founded upon a proposition – “All
men are created equal.” All too often we do not live up to that proposition,
but it remains central to our history. And it may not be too much of a stretch
to believe that America may, in some sense, have a divine commission to promote
that proposition in human history.
But you may be wondering what meaning this has for you. It
is all very well to say that history has meaning, but what about my life. Does
my life have meaning or purpose? Does God have a plan for my life? Am I just a
tile in the mosaic, a cog in the machinery of history? Or do I have some
important role to play?
Just as history has meaning, just as God has a plan for
David or Solomon or Mary, so I believe that God has a plan for each and
everyone of us. Each of us has a role to play. Each of us is can be a hero or
heroine in the drama of our lives.
Our role may not seem heroic, but I believe it is just as
heroic and important to be a faithful husband or wife, mother or father.
Sometimes the most courageous thing we can do is to be an honest businessman or
woman.
In the midst of the Civil War, America’s darkest moment,
poet James Lowell penned these words that used to be in our hymnal.
Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light..
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light..
Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.
Your life has meaning. You are important. God has a plan for
your life. And when you doubt that, remember Lowell’s words: “Behind the dim
unknown / Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.”
