Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
David’s dancing is part of the celebration and ritual involved with bringing the covenant chest into the city, part of a sacred party where in addition to ritual sacrifice and shouts of joy and playing the trumpet, all of the people feast. As the anointed king of Israel, David could behave with reserve and dignity—which his wife, Saul’s daughter Michal, apparently thinks most fitting in a king—but perhaps it is more fitting for the king God has placed on the throne to join in the worship and celebration welcoming God into their city and into their lives. David tells Michal that he doesn’t care how other people react to his worship and praise of God, for in his own eyes—and in the eyes of the faithful—he has done what is right.
7 Now when the king was settled in his house and the Eternal had given him rest from battling all his enemies, 2 he spoke to the prophet Nathan.
David: Look at this: I live in a beautiful palace made of cedar, but the covenant chest of the True God rests in a tent made of curtains.
Nathan: 3 Go do whatever you’re planning to do, for the Eternal One is with you.
4 But that same night, the Eternal spoke to Nathan.
Eternal One: 5 Go and tell My servant David this message is from the Eternal One: “Are you the person who will build a house for Me to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since I brought My people Israel up from Egypt, but have moved around all this time in a tent, even in the congregation tent. 7 Wherever My travels with the people of Israel have taken Me, did I ever go to one of the tribal leaders who were the shepherds for My sheep and ask, ‘Why haven’t you made Me a house of cedar to live in?’”
8 So now you shall tell David, My servant this message is from the Eternal One, the Commander of heavenly armies: “I took you from the pastures where you followed sheep and made you king of all My people Israel so you now lead My sheep. 9 I have been with you wherever you journeyed and have given you victory over your enemies; and I will make you highly respected, with a name as great as any who live on earth. 10-11 And I will select a place for My people Israel and plant them firmly in that place, a land they can call their own, a land of peace. The wicked will not bother them again as they did from the time I appointed the judges to govern My people, and I will give you rest from fighting your enemies.
More importantly, I, the Eternal swear to you that I will raise up a dynasty from your family. 12 When you come to the end of your days, and you leave this life to lie down with your fathers, I will raise up from you a descendant, your own flesh and blood, and I will make his kingdom and family sure. 13 He will be the one to build a temple honoring My name, and I will establish the leadership of his kingdom for all time. 14 I will be to him a father, and he will be to Me a son.[a] When he crosses the line and acts badly, I will teach him with a rod used by people for correction and a lash for discipline.
20 I have found David, My servant.
With My holy oil, I have anointed him king.
21 My strong hand will stay with him and sustain him, regardless of trial or foe.
My mighty arm will be his strength and shield.
22 The deceit of his enemies will not outwit him.
The wicked will not defeat him.
23 I will pound his enemies right in front of him.
I will strike down all those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and unfailing love will never leave him;
through My name, strength and power will be his.
25 I will extend his rule over the oceans,
his right hand will control the rivers.
26 He will cry out to Me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation!’
27 I will make him My firstborn;
no earthly king shall be greater.
28 My unfailing love will always be with him, protecting him;
My covenant with him will never be broken.
29 I will ensure his family’s future forever;
his dynasty will last as long as the heavens.
30 If his children turn away from Me and forsake My law,
if they refuse to walk according to My judgments,
31 If they disobey My instructions
and ignore My commandments,
32 Then I will use the rod to punish their sins
and stripes to deal with their iniquity.
33 And yet My unfailing love of him will remain steadfast and strong.
I will not be unfaithful to My promise.
34 I will not violate My covenant,
nor will I alter even one word of what My lips have spoken.
35 These words I have pledged in My holiness once and for all,
and I will not lie to David.
36 As long as the sun lights the day before Me, his descendants will continue to rule.
His kingdom will last forever.
37 His dynasty will stand firm for all time like the moon,
the faithful witness that stands watch in the night sky.”
[pause]
The relationship between faith and works is often misunderstood. Some think that salvation is God’s reward for good deeds. If that’s true, then it can’t possibly be a gift. If it were a reward, then heaven would be a place where people might compare notes on what they did to make it through the gates. But Paul is confident in the truth of the gospel. The truth is that salvation is God’s gift through Jesus. Grace and faith make salvation real in us. When we are transformed by grace, then we become His new creation and begin to live out the good works He has planned for us. Works, then, aren’t the cause of salvation; they are its result. To put it another way, works aren’t the means of salvation; they are its presence.
11 So never forget how you used to be. Those of you born as outsiders to Israel were outcasts, branded “the uncircumcised” by those who bore the sign of the covenant in their flesh, a sign made with human hands. 12 You had absolutely no connection to the Anointed; you were strangers, separated from God’s people. You were aliens to the covenant they had with God; you were hopelessly stranded without God in a fractured world. 13 But now, because of Jesus the Anointed and His sacrifice, all of that has changed. God gathered you who were so far away and brought you near to Him by the royal blood of the Anointed, our Liberating King.
14 He is the embodiment of our peace, sent once and for all to take down the great barrier of hatred and hostility that has divided us so that we can be one. 15 He offered His body on the sacrificial altar to bring an end to the law’s ordinances and dictations that separated Jews from the outside nations. His desire was to create in His body one new humanity from the two opposing groups, thus creating peace. 16 Effectively the cross becomes God’s means to kill off the hostility once and for all so that He is able to reconcile them both to God in this one new body.
17 The Great Preacher of peace and love came for you, and His voice found those of you who were near and those who were far away. 18 By Him both have access to the Father in one Spirit. 19 And so you are no longer called outcasts and wanderers but citizens with God’s people, members of God’s holy family, and residents of His household. 20 You are being built on a solid foundation: the message of the prophets and the voices of God’s chosen emissaries[a] with Jesus, the Anointed Himself, the precious cornerstone. 21 The building is joined together stone by stone—all of us chosen and sealed in Him, rising up to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In Him you are being built together, creating a sacred dwelling place among you where God can live in the Spirit.
30 Now the twelve returned from their travels and told Him what they had done, whom they had seen, and how they had spread the news of God’s kingdom.
Jesus (to the disciples): 31 Let us go out into the wilderness for a while and rest ourselves.
The crowds gathered as always, and Jesus and the twelve couldn’t eat because so many people came and went. 32 They could get no peace until they boarded a boat and sailed toward a deserted place.
33 But the people would not be put off so easily. Those along the shore who recognized Jesus followed along the coast. People pushed out of all the cities and gathered ahead of Him 34 so that when Jesus came ashore and saw this crowd of people waiting for Him in a place that should have been relatively deserted, He was moved with compassion. They were like sheep without a shepherd.
He began to teach them many things
How can the disciples still be in doubt about Jesus after having been part of so many miracles? Like the Israelites in the Old Testament, the disciples are discovering the truth that miracles don’t produce faith. As Jesus so often points out, the process works the other way around: it’s faith that produces miracles. Miracles are only signs—evidence of truth that you have to know before the miracle. As long as the disciples are still in doubt about who Jesus is, they find their faith constantly challenged and frequently wavering. It will not be until after the resurrection, the greatest miracle of all, that they will come to recognize and believe in Jesus for who He is; and then their hearts will at last open.
53 When they finished their journey, they landed the boat in Gennesaret. 54 People at once recognized Jesus as the Healer. 55 Immediately they hurried to collect the sick and infirm—bringing them to Him in beds if they had to— 56 laying them out in the markets of any village, city, or field where He might pass.
Gennesarites: Just let us touch the fringe of Your robe.
Even the people who touched only it were made whole again.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.