Where is Home?

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10   Mark 6:1-13

Home!  Home can have many locations, and though some homes might hold sad memories, for the most part, “home” is a place of happiness.  I can remember on one of my trips to Butte to visit my mother and my sister, as I got into my sister’s car at the airport, my mother, who was sitting in the passenger seat, said happily, “You’re home!”.  She knew I had a home of my own here in Massachusetts, but she was still correct.  While our mothers are still with us, for most of us, where they are is also, inevitably, “home”.  “Home” – what does that word mean?  Well, it means many different things to different people.

All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron.

Before our first reading this morning picks up David’s story, in the passages that precede it, we learn that, on directions from God, David has settled at Hebron.  This must have been, the place he called home.

In today’s reading we learn he is publicly anointed by the council of tribal heads to rule over Judah.  But there is a back story that is missing from today’s reading.  What we don’t hear today is that while David is settled in Hebron, in the north, Abner, once Saul’s military commander, makes Ishbaal, Saul’s son, puppet king over the northern tribes.  Both tribal coalitions plan to annex Gibeon. 

At first, they try to settle the dispute by a tournament, but when this attempt fails, they go to war:  David’s troops win, and Abner, recognizing a lost cause, switches to David’s side.  But, Abner is killed; Ishbaal’s courage fails and he is murdered by two of his own, who are then killed on David’s orders, for killing “a righteous man”.  Despite the bloodiness and violence of this wartime scene, we are reminded that David is a wise and holy man.  He has Abner and Ishbaal buried at Hebron, an action which demonstrates respect for both of the deceased men.

But a dilemma has arisen.  With the deaths of Abner and Ishbaal there is now no acceptable successor to Saul.  David, however, has a right to be king for he is an Israelite and was army commander under Saul, so the “tribes of Israel”, i.e. the north, seek David’s consent to becoming their king too.  When he accepts, the council of the north anoints him as their king.  Thus both north and south, Israel and Judah, are joined in one person, King David.

This is a marvelous story.  In today’s reading, as we connect with the young King at the very beginning of his great reign, he is full of strength and courage and holiness.  But first, he faces a dilemma – where to put his capitol city, where to make his home.  His solution is partly the act of a man of God and partly the act of a wise diplomat and soldier.  To set up his capitol, David chooses a city belonging to neither the northern nor the southern kingdom, but to the “Jebusites”, who are local Canaanites.

The defenders of the city scoff at David’s attempt at conquest, but God is on David’s side, and David’s army prevails.  David takes the city and renames it.  It becomes known as the City of David.  We know it today as Jerusalem, which in Hebrew is Yerushalayim (yay-roo’-sha-lime), City of Peace.

David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David.  David built the city all around from the Millo [which is probably the earthwork to the north of the city] inward. And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.

This was the Peace of David, what the people longed for. David moved from Hebron to his capitol city, to Jerusalem.  And there, he built a house of very expensive cedar wood, a dwelling, a new home, from which he would serve God and rule as king.

Jesus came to his hometown, and His disciples followed Him.

Despite many fictional attempts to tell His story, we don’t really know much about the historic Jesus.  We have the birth narratives and the brief story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple, but other than that – we’re left with the known historic information about the time in which He lived, and we tend to fill in the gaps from that.

We know His parents, Joseph, his adoptive father, a carpenter, and Mary, a very young woman, must have been devout Jews.  Thus, Jesus would have been raised in a devout family, learned scripture and worshipped according to Jewish Law and custom.  But His life isn’t going to mirror that of the faithful Joseph, who accepted Him as a son and no doubt raised Him to be, like himself, a carpenter.  Did Jesus work for a time at this profession?  We don’t know, and in the Divine Order of things, it doesn’t matter.

At about age thirty He begins His ministry, assembles a ragtag bunch of disciples, and begins to do the work of His Heavenly Father.  But like all of us, there were times when He returned home to visit His family.  We know what such visits are like – what it means to go home for a little while.  We understand returning to familiar places, seeing old friends, responding to sights and even smells that are familiar.

Under good circumstances, for us, going home means vacation, a happy homecoming, but though He is home, Jesus does not interrupt His ministry. On the Sabbath Jesus began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him?”  And that was it for “happy homecoming” for our Lord. 

The reaction of the local population sounds cruel.  Why are they not filled with admiration and applause for this celebrated prophet from their town?  Perhaps His visit began with some sort of celebratory welcome, we aren’t told, but now the local population is responding to what Jesus is saying in the synagogue, and the words of our Lord are almost always unsettling.  When we are at home, the last thing we want is for someone to come along and start telling us what’s wrong with our lifestyle, our beliefs, our way of living, and as they listened to Jesus speak, the people in His hometown felt the same.

Coming home is often a trip filled with nostalgia.  We have happy memories and we wish to relive some of the “good old days”.  But Jesus does not return home to relive His past, He returns home to do the will of God, and that’s where the conflict arises.

The locals did not acknowledge Jesus’ authority.  They took offense at the things He said, at any power He displayed.  The Truth He spoke was uncomfortable for them to hear, as it is often uncomfortable for us today.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus comes to his earthly home only to meet with skepticism and rebuke – and He speaks those words we all know so well. 

He said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And He could do no deed of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and cured them.  And He attributes this to a lack of faith on the part of the locals.  And He was amazed at their unbelief.

Since we believe and do not question His authority, we instead sometimes try to rationalize what He commands us to do.  Surely we aren’t meant to welcome everyone as if they were Christ?  Surely He doesn’t expect us to give to every beggar we meet, and to care in our hearts for each person we meet and to pray for them.  But we know better, for that is exactly what He tells us to do. To honour Him we are asked to set aside what feels comfortable.

What is home?  Is it a place of warm memories where we can revisit our past?  Is it a house that reflects our worldly wealth and standing?  Perhaps it is two places, our current residence, and also the place where our parents live or lived, where we grew up.   Is home a place on earth – or a place where we have fixed our hearts? 

The answer is, home is where our truest and deepest affections lie.  As important as is our earthly home, as Jesus followers we, like Him, have work to do, work that does not rely on the world.  Though our feelings for home, past and present, will always be important to us, we are called to give our deepest love to our Lord.  In the end, the choice of “home” that Jesus requires of us isn’t between one earthly place and another.  The choice Jesus wants from us is between this world and Him.  Where our heart is – there is our treasure also!

The Beatles actually summed it up well, in a love song we could all sing to Jesus.

Tho' I know I'll never lose affection

For people and things that went before,

I know I'll often stop and think about them,

In my life I love You more.

Let us pray in the words of Psalm 51:

Create in us clean hearts, O God; and renew a right Spirit within us.

Cast us not away from Your presence; and take not Your Holy Spirit from us.

Restore to us the joy of Your salvation; and uphold us with your bountiful Spirit.

Then shall we teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be converted unto You. In Jesus Name, Amen.