June 15, 2003
|
|
|
|
I
am going to begin with some statements that I know are absolutely obvious, few
things are big and great at their beginnings. LA Lakers center Shaquille
O’Neal was once an infant. The Mississippi River begins its journey south to
the Gulf of Mexico from the state of Minnesota as a stream that can be crossed
by foot. When Bill Gates and Steven Jobs were college students, they had an idea
about making computers small enough to sit on a desktop. A father holds his
infant, his toddler, his 5 year-old child and sees in his baby a great big
future. Jesus
talked about little things like seeds and made huge points about the eternal and
gracious realm of God. God sent a single prophet Samuel, to the little town of
Bethlehem to find a new king of Israel. Today,
Shaquille O’Neal is seven feet and an inch tall, he weighs about 340 pounds,
wears a size 20 shoe and is known by basketball fans all over the world. That
little stream whose native name means Big River, is one of the great waterways
of the United States and the world. And in addition to the goods and people who
have moved along its waters, as the river flowed at the edges of Chicago, St.
Louis, and New Orleans American jazz sprang from its shores. In
ways that cause us great rejoicing and great frustration, Microsoft and Apple
computers have changed the way we work, communicate, do research, and conduct
business. And there is no limit to the positive impact a father can have on his
children just by showing up and being actively involved in their lives. Jesus
says that the Kingdom of God, the realm of heaven is like a seed that is planted
and grows in ways we cannot see. And it is like a tiny mustard seed that grows
into a mighty bush. God holds our future, and in God’s hands that future is secure. From such small things, great and big
things will come. Indeed
the church itself began with an itinerant rabbi who gathered about himself
several men and women from whom he picked twelve to be in his circle. Of this
small group, one of them betrayed him, one denied him, most were outcasts in
religious and civic society, and they scattered in fear. Yet they were able to
re-gather in hope and faith and this small group of followers changed the world.
And remember, Jesus in his earthly heritage traces his ancestry to one small
young man who became the greatest king in Israel’s history. Today’s
reading from First Samuel begins telling of the story of David. We meet him
today at the end of the story in which the prophet Samuel is sent by God to find
a replacement for Saul, the first king of Israel. Why would God instigate the
treasonous act of replacing a sitting king? You may remember that God had
established things so that Israel would depend only on God for their needs. But
as the people looked around, they began to obsess on the fact that all the
surrounding nations had a king, so why couldn’t they? After all Samuel’s
sons, the ones who were appointed to be judges over the people had proved to be
corrupt. They took bribes, they did not rule justly. They were more like
politicians than wise judges. The
saying, “be careful what you ask for, you may get it” proves true in this
case. The people asked for a king, Samuel prayed about it and received a word
from God that even though their clamoring for a king was a rejection not of
Samuel, but of God, they would have their king. “But warn them”, says God,
“This king will take the best of all that the people have, not for their good,
but for his own. He will use the resources and people of Israel for his own
ends, and the day will come when they will regret that they ever asked for a
king” (I Samuel 8.11-17). It was as Samuel prophesied and the day came when
God and Samuel and the people all regretted that Saul was their king. Samuel
grieved over Saul, but now the time for grieving is over. But now, God says,
“it is time to let go of the pain of the past and grasp a new future”.
Notice that Samuel is never told that his grief is invalid. It certainly is. He
reminds us that we will grieve. In fact, there will be times when our best hopes
are crushed and we are left with bitter disappointment. We will feel it, but
there will come a time when we have to get up and move on. Now
is that time for Samuel. He is in Bethlehem, sent there by God with a cow and a
cover story in case people wondered why he was there. “Just say that you have
come to make a sacrifice and you want Jesse and his sons to join you”. We know
that Samuel has come to choose a new king from among these sons of Jesse. When
Samuel arrives he invites Jesse and his sons to worship and sacrifice with him.
When he sees the oldest son of Jesse, Eliab, and says to himself, “here is the
next king of Israel. He just looks right for the job. He is a soldier, he is big
and strong, and he looks good.” Now, we do not know what Eliab looked like,
but we can imagine that he looked regal.
Maybe he had that Denzel
Washington, Gary Grant, Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Vin Diesel, Josh
Hartnett thing about him. However
good he looked, Eliab was not the one. Nor are the nest six of his brothers.
They each look the part, but they are not the one. “Samuel, look deeper. I
don’t get caught up in appearances, I look on the heart. Look on the heart of
the ones who stand before you, you will know him when you can see his heart.” Even
in those days the temptation to choose leaders based on how they look was
strong. It is not much different today. A small thing like how one looks can
become a big thing. Of course we want to look good and dress well, but we should
never confuse such things with ability and character. How often have we been
stunned when a person we think is of as having no consequence does something
good and great, or someone who looks right does something awful, and our
response is – “you just cannot tell by looking can you?” No we cannot
always. But we insist on doing it anyway. And when we do we forget that God sees
into our hearts and not only on our outward appearance. We
may give way too much weight to color and gender, to income, the labels on our
clothes, our zip codes, and the vehicle in our driveways. It may be important to
us, it may make us feel good, but none of it is the source of our salvation. So,
when we are tempted to look only at what we can see, and at what we deem too
important or too small, hear God say, “Look deeper. Look beyond the surface,
beyond the paycheck, to what has deep beauty and lasting significance (Adapted
from Lavon Bayler, Led by Love). “Jesse,
are all of your sons here?” ”Samuel, there is one more, my youngest son who
is the family shepherd and is out in the field somewhere.” “Bring him here,
please.” David
comes and Samuel hears the voice of God say, “he is the one. Get up and take
your horn of oil and pour it over his head. Anoint David the next king of Israel
in the presence of everyone.” The
choice of David is filled with irony. First,
“scholars agree that David’s identity as a shepherd foreshadows his role as
king. Shepherd was a common title for kings both in Israel and in the ancient
Near East. It is also significant that David is the eighth son. This means that
he is far down in the line of succession. God, once again reaches out to take a
younger son, an unlikely prospect for success and finds in him the hope of the
future” (The
New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 2, Abingdon, Nashville, 1988, p. 1099). Second,
not only is David not the most prominent son, but he is not from a prominent
family. Jesse has no wealth or power, his family is not distinguished. His
grandmother is Ruth, a Moabite woman. His grandfather is Boaz, whose ancestors
are from Canaan. They will be ancestors of Jesus, and we will look back and see
how special they were, but in that moment, on that day, there was nothing
special about them that anyone except God and Samuel could see. But
the third and greatest irony is that for all of the warnings about looking on
the heart and not on the outward appearance, David is described as a handsome
young man with glowing skin and beautiful eyes. What is going on? Does God pay
careful attention to appearances after all? One writer explains, “this text
does not argue against our efforts to make ourselves, our communities, our
programs attractive. It is a question of priorities. Appearance alone is no
substitute for matters of the heart, but if we tend faithfully to matters of the
heart, the grace of God within will often show an attractive face to the
world” (New
Interpreter’s Bible, p. 1100).
What
gifts and graces did Samuel see in David? I believe he saw courage, he saw
vision, he saw an artist and musician. He saw someone who was not perfect (as we
will see in other lessons about David), but he was a man after God’s own
heart, in fact his name means, “beloved”. I pray those same gifts and graces
are in us. I
believe that our names can be David because like him we are beloved of God. Like
him, we are chosen by God even when others think or we think we are too small to
be included. We each have gifts to offer, lives to share, faith to develop, hope
to proclaim, even when we think we are insignificant. God has breathed life into us and from that life and Spirit
we can move from this place and we can do great things. Like David, the Spirit
of God can move mightily upon us so that we see into the heart of things and God
looks into our hearts. When
it does, what seems small in us can rise up and become great. We can open up and
let God see into our hearts and we can know God’s heart and make a commitment
to be God’s people in the world. This
Father’s Day is a good time for us to praise and thank God for the ability to
look deep at the gifts that help us appreciate and recognize when someone is
attractive, but to see beyond physical attractiveness to spiritual
attractiveness. A spiritually attractive man or woman is a joy to behold. There
is a grace, a peace, a presence about them. They are filled with the confidence
that comes from knowing that one is chosen by God and that the Spirit of God
will fall upon them, upon us in a mighty way. David
will be described as a man after God’s own heart.
He is not alone. Look around. Aren’t you glad that we have in this
church men who seek the heart of God for themselves and their families? We are
blessed to have men of faith, men of integrity, and of service. I am eager to
support them as they gather together for tasks that need doing, for study, for
play, for brotherhood, for mutual encouragement, for mentoring younger men for
leadership that helps nourish them and helps nourish us. They are men after
God’s own heart. Today
is a good day for us to remember those spiritually attractive fathers who
understand that from such small things as playing with their kids, teaching
them, being with them and sharing their lives can come great things like big
relationships, big memories, and big role models. Last Wednesday’s now section
to the newspaper was devoted to children who wrote notes explaining why their
father’s were the best. I was especially struck by three of them. “Thank you very much for all you have done for me. You taught me how to ride a bike. You taught me how to cook. You taught me how to draw and color inside the lines. Dad, you’ve taught me many things, like to respect others and my responsibilities. But most of all, Dad, you taught me how to be myself. And I love you for that” (Rita Mitchell, age 12). “My
day is special to me in more ways than ever. Here are some ideas: he loves me,
he takes care of me, he takes me places with him, he is the best dad, he puts a
roof over my head, he gives me things I like, he has food for me, but most of
all we love each other” (Nicole Dunst, age 14). My
favorite is a poem called, “An Icy Cool Dad”: “My
dad is nice. He’s cool like ice. He’s a star. He’ll go far. With no dad,
I’d be sad. I love him a ton. He’s so fun” (Sarah Richards, age
14). From such small things as being there, a smile, a tear, a hand that holds a child’s hand, a bit of hope, a prayer as loud as a roar or as deep as a sigh, from faith the size of a mustard seed, great things can come. People are strengthened, a family grows, a church rises up, the good news of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, and we are able to do soul feeding, life sustaining ministry. From such small things, comes the stuff of our lives. Thanks be to God. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
|
Broad
Street Christian Church
|
