Our Sunday Message

The Danger of Holiness: 2 Samuel 6:1-15
Rev. Dr. Kenneth A. Corr
July 16, 2006
Sixth Sunday of Kingdomtide

  Jeremy and Derrick were having coffee at the local coffee shop when the conversation turned to religion. Jeremy said, “I went to church last Sunday and the preacher read this story from the Old Testament about some guy who touched the ark and God killed him on the spot. It made no sense to me at all. I tell you Derrick, it’s stories like that that turn people off to the Bible. It’s no wonder that so many people that we know think that the Bible is irrelevant. I was sitting in church with some guests who are pretty sharp and to be honest, I felt a little embarrassed. I really wish the preacher would stay with New Testament stuff that makes sense.
  Derrick just listened, nodded, and sipped his triple mocha latte with caramel and two shots of espresso. After a while he said, “What was that story again about the man who was struck down by God? Are you sure that is in the Bible?”
  “Yeah it’s in the Bible,” Jeremy said. “It’s somewhere in the Old Testament. It is the most bizarre thing you have ever read.”
  Derrick looked surprised and said, “That’s really weird. I’m sorry I missed it. What did the preacher say?”
  What did the preacher say? Aren’t you glad that you didn’t miss it? Stories like this text confound us. What do we do with stories like this that seem so bizarre? Do we just ignore them and stick with New Testament stuff that we understand? Do we dismiss them as irrelevant and hope to goodness that they are not the sermon text on the day that we bring our friends to church? Or do we dare to believe that even these strange stories hold profound meanings for us today? I will go ahead and tell you my personal and pastoral conviction that this is a text that is vitally needed today. Is it possible that just as Uzzah’s belief in holiness put him in danger, our lack of belief in holiness puts us in danger?
  Let’s look at this text together. During these weeks of summer, we are studying the life of David. In our last lesson, the Children of Israel were in a period of national crisis. The idea of monarchy was a new experiment for Israel and the first king and all his heirs had been killed in battle. Would the idea of monarchy survive? Would the nation survive the threat of the invading army? Was there a leader who could take charge and restore order?
  After an appropriate period of grief, David moved quickly to mobilize the army, consolidate his power, restore the people’s confidence, and defeat the enemy. His abilities were readily recognized and he was crowned king.
  After seven years in Hebron, David decided to move the capital city to Jerusalem. It was then that David decided to make a bold symbolic move. In his commentary on this text, Tony Cartledge says, “(David) cast about for some strong symbol of Yahweh’s presence that could make Jerusalem not only David’s city, but Yahweh’s city. He found it in the ancient cultic emblem that embodied for Israel the very presence and power of Yahweh: the hallowed ark of the covenant.”1
The ark was the sacred box containing the Ten Commandments. It was sacred because it was believed to be the very throne of God, the visible and tangible presence of God on earth. In other words, it was not just an elaborate box containing religious relics with a fascinating history. It was a “holy” object.
  What do we mean today when we call something “holy”? How do you suppose Jeremy and Derrick, the coffee shop friends, would answer that question? When we call something “holy,” we often think of some kind of moral or spiritual perfection. We might call someone like Mother Teresa, “holy,” but that is about the limit of our understanding of holiness.
  In the ancient world, holiness was something very different. Holiness represented everything associated with God who is above and beyond us. To experience the holy held both fascination and horror. A genuine encounter with God resulted in the terror of being consumed.
  · Jacob’s experience wrestling with the angel at the river Jabbok was terrifying.
  · Isaiah’s vision of God in the temple left him saying, “Woe is me.”
  · Zacharias’ encounter with the angel in the temple left him speechless.
  · The first words of the angel to Mary were, “Greetings.” It was immediately followed by, “Don’t be afraid.”
  In order to protect the human from being consumed by God, boundaries were necessary. And so, one important idea of holiness was distance. “Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”2 To violate the sacred space, to come too close, to treat the holy with contempt was dangerous.
  For twenty years, the ark had been in a resting in a border town fourteen miles northwest of Jerusalem. One reason that the ark had not been moved was because for these twenty years the Philistines had controlled this area. But now that David had reestablished Israel’s military and political hegemony in the area, he could reclaim the ark and consolidate political and religious power in one place. The movement of the ark was both a political and religious event.
  The ark slowly made its way to Jerusalem with the sons of Abinadab, Ahio and Uzzah, driving the oxen and attending the ark. Suddenly, something happened and the ark tipped. Maybe the oxen got spooked by all the celebrating. Maybe the cart hit a bump in the road. Maybe the oxen suddenly stopped and the ark slipped. We don’t know, but the ark tipped and when Uzzah reached out his hand to steady it, “God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark.” What did Uzzah do? He encroached upon sacred space. He crossed the boundary of human limits. The holy became dangerous.
  This seems strange to us because we have lost this sense of holiness. We prefer to think of the holy as “familiar.” For example, I found this announcement for worship at the First Congregational Church of Kittery at Kittery Point, Maine. It read, “Come dressed for the beach or dressed for the boat.” I also found this announcement from the New Faith Community Church, Pooler, GA. It read, “Where church is casual and worship is sincere - sincere is worship and casual is church.”
  These are examples that the idea of holiness are very different than the idea of holiness for the ancients. It is too bad that Uzzah did not live today where there is little danger of being struck dead by the holy. Or is it?
  Paul Tillich, one of the most prolific and profound theologians of the 20th century, suggests that our loss of a sense of holiness has put us at great risk. He writes, “The human heart seeks the infinite because that is where the finite wants to rest. . . .”3 He then points out that where there is no experience of the holy, where there is no sense of ultimate meaning beyond ourselves, where there is nothing to give oneself to beyond one’s self, life begins to break down.4
James Hollis, the psychologist and author, agrees. Hollis insists that our contemporary culture has replaced a sense of holiness and mystery with the three ideologies of materialism, hedonism, and narcissism. Because these can never satisfy the human search for connection with the infinite, Hollis says, “We see the private neuroses of individuals who are indentured to ideologies that are no longer consonant with the desires and character of their souls.”5
When we become soul-less, when we lose our connection to holiness and mystery, or as Walter Brueggemann, the biblical scholar, says, “When people are no longer awed, respectful, or fearful of God’s holiness, the community is put at risk.”6
  There was a little church in the country that years ago had been a vital place of worship and ministry. Many of the old people could remember when that little church was the hub of the community. Social activities were held there. High School Baccalaureate services were held there. People married their children and buried their fathers there. It was a place around which the society seemed to revolve. And yet things had changed. The children had grown up and moved away. Activities in the neighborhood shifted away from the church to the community center. The life of the community went on and the congregation grew older and older. But these were faithful people. These were praying people. These were believing people.   These were godly people.
  Over time, the neighborhood changed in other ways. The city began to encroach on the neighborhood. Developers bought the land that used to be farm land and now there were developments nearby with many new people.
  But these new people didn’t find their way into the life of the country church. Some had been raised in the church, but they had left church behind when they moved out to the country and the congregation continued to grow smaller and smaller.
  In subtle, but significant ways, life in the neighborhood shifted. Activity increased in the neighborhood. The increased activity brought excitement, except for those in that small congregation. Some of them sensed that, in spite of the prosperity, things weren’t good. But no one else seemed to be too concerned. They were proud of the development that was going on around them. In fact, tax money brought a new school and provided for new roads. Everyone was pleased about the changes, except those in the church. But they continued to pray and some wept.
  It wasn’t long before most in the congregation had died and services were no longer held on a regular basis. Nobody really noticed until an entrepreneur bought that church building. He put a restaurant where the old church was. It was a restaurant of renown in that part of the community. People gathered there and the old church building was filled with people again. But they were no longer feeding their souls. Now they were feeding their bodies. Some sensed that maybe this was symbolic of the change that was happening in the community. The soul of the community had withered from a lack of spiritual nourishment.
  It wasn’t long before the influence of that church was lost completely and few remembered the old church. But they did notice that the community wasn’t the same anymore. All the success brought problems and confusion. The morals among the young people weren’t very good. Those taking leadership positions in the community were not godly people. The community no longer had anything that held them together. Some sensed that the community was falling apart at the edges and the community leaders didn’t know what to do.
  One day, in a community council meeting, when these problems were being discussed, a wise old man stood up and said, “Just maybe what this community needs, more than anything else, is the church.” And so it was.
  Derrick sipped his coffee and thought a long time about what Jeremy had said. Finally, he said, “You know, I wish I knew the Bible better. I think I will go with you next Sunday to church.” And so it was.

1 Tony Cartledge, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary, “1 & 2 Samuel,” p. 432.
2 Exodus 20:21.
3 Paul Tillich, ed. F. Forrester Church, The Essential Tillich, p. 20.
4 Ibid., p. 22.
5 James Hollis, Tracking the Gods, p. 25.
6 Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation, p. 249.