2023-02-19 Which King, Whose Kingdom

Psalm 2, 1 Samuel 8 2023 Epiphany

Sermon from Jer Swigart

• Recap from last week: Scriptures, according to Jesus, are: Story, Inspired, Authoritative, Human & divine, Interpreted
  • authoritative: Jesus is our authority. Scripture points to Him.
  • interpreted: We should be humble and cautious with regards to interpretation.
• Psalm 2: Three voices:
  • Global rulers, vv 1-3. Liberation from God's rule, overthrow God's king.
  • God: Laughs, points to messiah
  • Messiah: The messiah claims to be son of God
    • Threaten of violence
    • Seeks submission
• Psalm 2 in summary:
  • Our enemies seek our destruction
  • God is angry at them
  • Our king is God's annointed and our savior
  • Our enemies will be destroyed
  • They will be saved if they submit to God
• Is this a problematic reading of Ps 2?
  • In Israels's worldview, God was exclusively for them.
  • But God wanted Israel to be an example of enemy love and God wanted to use Israel to enter the world Himself as a savior for all peoples.
  • The presence of a human coronation in scripture isn't always a cause for celebration. God is our King.
• Genesis 1 - God creates world and humanity. Commissions us to steward creation and to co-created. By Genesis 3, this had failed
  • Over time, God did not abandon us but drew near.
• 1 Samuel 8 - Samuel is trying to remind Israel to accept God as king.
  • vv 10-18 - God says: "You think your way is better? OK go for it"
  • Reference: Amos laments what happens when human kings rule
• When the kingdom of God is at hand:
  • Wrong made right
  • Restoration through self-sacrifice instead of domination through violence
  • The cross and resurrection coronates Jesus as King - not only of the jews but of the world. Ephesians 1
• Back to Psalm 2:
  • In scripture, there is space for the visceral longing of humans. To be honest, we wouldn't mind the elimination of our enemies. But this doesn't make it good theology and doesn't mean this is in God's heart.
  • This gives us permission to be in process as Christians.
  • When we read Ps 2, we see it through the lens of our background. It may affirm what we want to believe.
  • Repent of any theology that endorses violence. Jesus took us beyond neighbor love to enemy love.
  • Embrace the truth of Ps. 2. When we submit to Jesus and embrace self-sacrifice, then broken stuff is fixed in us by God.