Fourth Sunday of Lent

People talking about what is biblical and not biblical, biblical authority and the Word of God, often drives me over the edge. It gets bantered about and selectively applied to various situations, even in the political arena.

I guess what I found most ironic is how here in America we so value that concept of being biblical, and yet it violates another value that we hold dear, the idea that a democratic form of government is the greatest, most perfect way to order our lives as a country. Democracy, a democratic government, you’ll have a hard time finding that in the Bible. Nothing really biblical about that, and yet we wouldn’t want to give it up for a more biblical form of government.

When it came to the people of God, their form of government went through quite an evolutionary process but it never got to democracy, not even in the New Testament. In the beginning, in the Old Testament, the form that God preferred was to speak to the people of Israel through a prophet, like Moses, or Elijah. And there’s this long succession of prophets until finally we have Samuel fulfilling the role of prophet. But by that time the people want a king like everyone else, which against his better prophetic judgment, Samuel provides them with in the person Saul.

And Saul really fit the bill; he was tall and handsome, kingly, but also humble, at least in the beginning. Often people who have power thrust upon them start out well in the beginning, but then it seems that power does corrupt and it did in Saul’s case. And so God tells Samuel that it’s time to move Saul on toward an early retirement and sends Samuel looking for a new candidate for King who would be waiting in the wings.

Now this whole business of pushing Saul out and annointing another as King is dangerous business. But sometimes, God calls us to do things that are in fact dangerous, things that look absolutely scary and insane. Well, pushing Saul to retire and move on is one thing, but to actually replace him, to go and anoint someone else in his place is not a rational, prudent action. To complicate matters and the potential danger, Saul is still on the job; for all practical purposes, he's still in power.

Prophets held a unique position in this innovative, evolved form of human government called monarchy. Prior to Saul and this monarchy, the system had been much cleaner and more direct. The people had a more direct relationship with God. They had the Law and they had a prophet who spoke for God, but that system just seemed a bit too fuzzy for folks. They wanted a king like everyone else. They wanted someone who they could see and touch and admire. They wanted someone who'd just issue an order without all the holy moly, praying and going up mountains, waiting on God to speak stuff. Up to that point having a King hadn’t been the way God did things, it wasn’t “biblical” so to speak, but God basically said, “Okay, you want a King you get a King, but I get to choose who the king is.”

So, now, God is ready to choose another King. So, Samuel goes to Bethlehem and Jesse brings out and lines up seven of his sons and starting with the eldest, one by one he presents them to Samuel as potential candidates for king, and one by one Samuels rejects them. It was brutal. Samuel was decisive and cold. Finally, Samuel says, “Is this all you've got?” And Jesse says, “Well, there is the runt, David. We left him watching the sheep. He's a good kid but he's really small, just a boy.” David’s nothing like Saul, who stands a head taller than most men.

But God is doing it differently this time around, God is looking on the inside.

Samuel says, “Bring me the boy.” And Samuel looks at David, this boy, and he takes his horn of oil and pours it over his head. He anoints this young boy, David, King of Israel. And scripture says that the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward and the little shepherd boy became the greatest King of Israel. God chose to do things differently. God gets to do that since God... is the Creator. And often when God chooses to do things differently, the Church has to play catch-up and it feels scary. It did with women’s ordination, it did when we ordained an openly gay person bishop, and it does when we face and deal with the truth of racism, not just out there in the world, but in the Church itself; and through it all, God is actually moving in our midst.

Too often in American Christianity, we think our mission is to protect God, or the institutional Church, or protect the Bible, the Word of God, but really our mission is to figure out what God is already doing in the world and then cooperate and support that. That is not selling out to the culture, that is listening too and responding to a living God.

David did not choose to be King, God chose David because God wanted to do something different than Saul. You see, we don’t choose God, God chooses us. That's a subtle and profound concept in our world of individualism. Each time we baptize someone we anoint you with oil just like Samuel anointed David. It is a sign that God chooses us, that God comes to us in Jesus Christ, that God is choosing to do a new thing. I make the sign of the cross with oil on your forehead and say, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ own, forever.” In that act in the baptismal rite you are chosen and set apart and sealed with the Holy Spirit to go and fully live out your purpose as a human being.

May God the creator who chooses to do new things all the time, give us the Grace to claim the power that comes with that anointing to become the fully alive human beings that God is calling us to be.

AMEN.

The Rev. Dr. Dennis Campbell