1 Samuel 8: 1-11, 16-22, 11: 14-15
June 10, 2012
Ordinary
Time
First
United Church – Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood
A few weeks ago, I had the honor of providing
pastoral care for the family of Morris Chitwood after he passed away unexpectedly.
Morris was a longtime member of First United and his wife, Leona, is still a
member here, though she is rarely able to attend. Morris was 88 years old and
had lived in the Bloomington area nearly all of his life. I believe he only
moved away briefly to serve in the Army during World War II.
The Chitwood family is one with deep roots in
Bloomington. They have been in relationship with this community for well over a
century. This isn’t something you find too often these days – especially in a
town like Bloomington.
Every year we welcome new folks and we grieve
as we say goodbye to those who are moving along to their next adventure. David
and I have been here for seven years now, which practically makes us natives.
When I think about the possibility of leaving
Bloomington someday I start to get a little misty-eyed. It’s not just that I
love our town, it’s that I hate the idea of having to start all over again
somewhere else. I value the relationships I’ve formed in this place and I
grieve in advance when I think about leaving behind people that have become so
dear to me.
Being in relationship over a long period of
years is hard work! There are some folks – like our families – that we’re
pretty much stuck with for a lifetime. Even if I haven’t talked to my cousin
so-and-so in a decade, I know I could call her up and ask to spend the night at
her house and it would just work, right? Because we’re family and that’s how
family is. For better or for worse.
But friends? Co-workers? People from our book
club? The people that we’ve spent hours with in meetings at church? That’s a
different story.
Sometimes the ties that bind these kinds of
relationships aren’t strong enough to survive. Time and distance change us and
we often find that the relationships don’t pick up right where we left them.
Some of our friendships come and go. We walk
with people for only a short while. We are a part of just one or two snapshots
of their life stories. We aren’t there for the duration.
********
Sometimes when I sit down with the Biblical
texts for the week I have an exceedingly difficult time finding a bit of Gospel
to share. The good news evades me.
This was one of those weeks. We lectionary
preachers always get four texts to choose from. As I read, I found myself
gravitating towards the story from First Samuel. And the same thing happened to
me this week that always happens to me when I delve into a lection from the
History books of the First Testament – I got sucked in.
There are so many people and places to remember
in those stories that it often really takes me a while to get moving and
grooving when I start to read them. I find myself thinking, “Wait, was Samuel a
good leader? I think so, right? And I can’t remember, was Saul the one who met
David when he was a boy? Just why did the people want a King, again?”
Even though I do this work for a living, I
can’t ever remember all of it off the top of my head. I hope you’ll forgive me.
So what happened was I got sucked in to the
world of 1 Samuel. I started by reading a few chapters before and a few chapters
after today’s passage, but eventually I just sat down and read the whole book
from start to finish. It’s a good book, by the way. Highly recommend it.
And once I had read it all, I found myself
wrestling and wrestling to find the nugget of good news in today’s passage.
Because, really, on the surface, it’s not a very cheery story.
Samuel has been a judge and prophet in Israel
for a good long while. And he’s been an excellent leader. Wise, strong,
faithful. And then, out of the blue, the elders of the people decide that they
just don’t want him any more.
He hasn’t done anything wrong. They say it’s
because he’s old, but, really, that’s just an excuse. The truth is, they just
want to move on to something new. They’ve noticed that other nations have Kings.
And they decide they want one, too. They want a King who will lead them in
battle and protect them against their enemies. They want a King who will
destroy other nations in times of war and help keep lead them into prosperity
in times of peace.
So they bring Samuel in to the big board room
and said, “It’s been a good run, old friend, but we’re done now. We have to let
you go.”
Typically, leadership would have fallen to
Samuel’s sons, but, again the elders have an excellent excuse – Samuel’s sons
are not capable of leadership. They just aren’t cut out for it. So, they ask
for a King, like the other nations have.
And here we get a glimpse of what a good leader
Samuel is because before he even answers them, the text tells us that he prays
to the Lord.
And God says, “Listen to them. They’re not
rejecting you, anyway, they’re rejecting me. They’ve always been trying to get
rid of me. Ever since we started this relationship, they’ve been telling me to
take a hike and trying to find other gods to lead them. This King thing is no
different. So, go ahead and listen to them – but I also recommend that you make
certain to tell them just what a terrible idea this is.”
So Samuel goes back to the people and told them
what God said. And he really laid into them about just how terrible their idea
of a King was. He goes on and on about how a King will take advantage of them
and treat them poorly and take their children in service and take their money
in taxes and….worst of all: Samuel warns them that when they eventually get
sick of their King, they’ll ask God for help and God will ignore them.
Now here’s something I love about the Bible:
these people and these stories seem so distant from our daily lives, but,
really, at the end of the day we can understand these people because it turns
out that people haven’t changed all that much in the past few millennia.
This last part – the part about God abandoning
the people – is Samuel’s little embellishment. God doesn’t tell him to say this
part but he’s feeling pretty hurt and upset over the rejection – he’s taking it
personally – and he adds this last bit to really scare them.
Sounds like something I’d do if I was feeling
rejected and hurt.
But, no matter. They don’t listen to him. Even
though he’s always led them well, they just don’t care this time around.
They’re over it. They want a King. And they want him now.
And so Samuel talks to God about it. And God
says – I imagine with a sigh – “Give them their King, then.” And Samuel says to
the people, “Go home. Get out of here.”
And that’s the end of it – at least for a few chapters. Chapters 9-11 are
actually from a different source and we get a whole different take on how Saul
becomes king. There’s no rejection trauma in this other version of the story.
Instead, Samuel happily discovers Saul after
being directed to him by God. Samuel is pleased to anoint him King and everyone
– Samuel and God included – seemed pretty excited about his rise to power. And
then, at the end of chapter 11 we’re back to the cranky version of the story.
Samuel finally crowns Saul at Gilgal but he doesn’t give up power quietly.
Instead he gives a big long speech about how he’s been a great leader and how
God has always been good to them. It’s a pretty serious guilt trip. And at the
end of the speech in chapter 12 he says, essentially, “Don’t worry. You’re
making a big mistake here but as long as you continue to trust God with all you
heart, God will not leave you. You’ll be okay.”
So, having finished this whole great saga, I
was sitting there, Bible in my hands, searching and searching for the good
news.
And I just kept coming back to Samuel over and
over again.
He’s not a perfect leader, certainly, but he
just seems so real and he’s trying so hard in these stories. How painful to be
rejected for no good reason. How awful to have to choose your successor when
you’re convinced it’s a terrible idea. And he doesn’t stop there, either. He
continues on in relationships with Saul and the people of Israel. He hardly
seems retired to me. He shows up to chastise Saul; to warn the people; and to
basically continue to be a prophet and judge for them. He just refuses to
leave. Relationships come and go, but Samuel is in it for the long haul.
And that’s the good news, I think. Samuel
refuses to leave.
Rejected by the people he has loved, he refuses
to leave. Told by the God he serves that really, it’s okay – go ahead and hang
up your hat, he refuses to leave. He doesn’t obey orders. The relationship
means too much to him. He can’t quit.
Have you ever been loved by someone in that
way? Have you ever messed up big time only to discover that your friend won’t
let you stumble off aimlessly by yourself? Have you ever had a friend or a
leader say, “Look, this isn’t going to end well,” let you make your choice,
come back to say, “I told you so,” and then just stick around?
This is a good friend. This is a good leader.
The one who just refuses to go.
And here’s where I think Samuel learned it: Samuel
learned it from God.
Because even though Samuel gets a little pouty
and threatens the people that God will completely leave and forsake them for
their bad decision, he knows it’s not really true. And the people know it, too.
The people of Israel knew what the Apostle Paul
would say hundreds of years later, “Nothing can separate us from the love of
God.”
God won’t quit. God won’t leave. In a world
where relationships come and go, God is in it for the long haul.
And so, my friends, if you think you’ve never
been loved by someone that way, I have to tell you that you’re wrong. Because
you are loved that way each and every day by a Love that will not let you go.
The next time you’re certain you’ve messed up
beyond all repair and there’s no one left to love you, you’ll be wrong.
The next time you’ve failed to listen to a good
leader or a good friend and you’ve made the wrong choice and you think there’s
no way to fix it, you’ll be wrong.
The next time you’re certain you’re too far
gone, that you’re just too disgusting for anyone to care about, you’ll be
wrong.
You’ll be wrong every single time. And that’s
the Gospel truth.
