En Gedi is a small oasis on the shore of the Dead Sea, in one of the lowest geographical points on the earth. Just off the coast of the sea are some cliffs with caves, where David used to hide over three thousand years ago. David was running away from the King of Israel, because the King wanted to kill him.
The story of King David rivals that of Jesus in its size and complexity. The life of David is described in such detail, with whole books of the Bible devoted to his person. And David's life was fascinating. It was like a soap opera, with intrigue and suffering, death and desire. Jesus was not ashamed to be called Son of David. Through almost all of his life, David's primary relationship was with God and no other.
It was God who directed the prophet Samuel to anoint David as the future King of Israel. It was God who gave David the strength and wisdom to fight the giant Phillistine Goliath and it was God who protected David when his idol and master, King Saul, began to go mad with jealousy.
David would play the harp for Saul, to quell his moods. David led Saul's armies into battle, but when David began to become more renowned than his master, Saul's spirit began to change. Soon Saul was hunting for David, eager to kill him.
So David moves from being beloved of the King to being hunted. And while he is running, he stops to hide in the caves of En-Gedi. David and his men go deep into the cave, where it is dark and cool, to rest. And who should come to the cave to relieve himself while they are resting, but Saul himself. Saul stands with his back to them, his front facing the opening of the cave, relieving himself. David's men make to kill the King but David quickly motions for them to stop. Quietly, he goes up to Saul's cloak and cuts a hole in it. When Saul is finished, he walks out of the cave. David waits until he has gone out a few yards and then he yells to Saul, "Don't you see that I am not out to murder you? I could have killed you just now. See, how I cut a piece out of your cloak? Please, I am on your side." But Saul will hear none of it and David once more must flee for his life.
When Saul and his son Jonathan are killed in battle with the Philistines, you would think that David would breathe a sigh of relief and take up his place as king. But he does not rejoice. He grieves. In today's passage, David weeps and sings a lament, for he loved both Saul and Jonathan and he will miss them dearly.
There is no real victor in war. I think we know this after so many years. No matter how justified a war is, no matter what kind of genocide we are trying to prevent or threat to peace has been set before us, the men and women who fight in battle come home grieving, for you cannot kill another human being without feeling a deep loss. There is no war without wounds. David felt those wounds even as he became king of all Israel.
David was a wounded warrior. He was not wounded physically, but mentally, as he lost his idol and his best friend to battle. And in that moment, when he cried out to God in pain, that was the moment that he became king. I think part of the reason why we love David so much is because his love was so great and he suffered terribly because of it. David writes a lament, a song of pain and sadness, as he pours his heart out to God. And strangely enough, David's moment of grief is one of the greatest moments of his life.
All of you will experience loss. Maybe you already have. Maybe the love of your life has died, maybe you cannot run or be active the way you once were. Maybe your children are leaving home. All of us will grieve something in this world. All of us will be wounded. And this moment of great weakness, when we realize that we were not strong enough to prevent death or tragedy, you will be faced with a choice. Will you feel sorry for yourself and be lost in self-pity? Will you suffer alone and diminish? Or will you go searching for Jesus? Will you share your pain with God like David did? David became greater in his weakness. Will you?
Jairus was the ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum. He was a man of prestige and wealth, a man who normally would have nothing to do with Jesus, a dirty itinerant preacher. But when Jairus' daughter was about to die, he became desperate. In his pain, he came to Jesus and begged for his daughters life. In his moment of greatest weakness, Jairus did the best thing of his life- he asked for help.
And Jesus came to him, because he asked from the bottom of his heart, from his poverty and his humility. Jairus came to Jesus as a wounded man.
I believe that this country is in a subtle state of mourning. We are divided along party lines in a way that we never have been before and this division, this hatred of ourselves is driven by grief. Because the security of our world was destroyed on 9/11 and we are wounded. Like someone who has lost a loved one, we have to say good-bye to the America that we once knew. Things will never be the same.
Today, let us remind ourselves that the greatest moments of life come when you acknowledge your weakness. Let us turn to Christ for help. We are in pain. We are afraid. Jesus, raise us to new life.
The church that I served in Kansas really began on the battlefield of France in World War One. A chaplain from Kansas named Otis Gray saw a soldier who had been shot and could not walk. The chaplain ran into the no mans land to grab the soldier. But the man asked for communion before he was carried to safety. So there, in the middle of that bloody field, Otis gave the man Christ's body and blood. And then he carried the man to safety.
The man survived and when the war was over, the two of them decided to plant a church. To this day, there is a glass case at St. James. In it is the small portable altar that the chaplain carried on the field, along with the flag, still stained with blood. The greatest moment of their lives, the place where a church began, was on that field. So don't you believe that God can do some of the greatest work with you at precisely that moment when you feel most wounded? Don't you believe that?
