From the Pastor |
1 Samuel 8
Have you ever said something along the lines of “But everybody else is doing it!” As a parent I heard it many times over the years… at least in one variation or another… “But everyone else’s parents let them do…” whatever it is my children wanted to do. This is the issue Samuel was facing in our scripture reading this morning. After the people of Israel entered and settled in the Promised Land, Joshua served as the leader until his death. Then certain people were chosen by God and anointed with the Holy Spirit to serve as judges… leaders. The judges were called to serve… not only as the presider over legal disputes like our judges today… but they also served as military leaders and as someone who would lead the people back into a right relationship with God when they strayed as well. The judges were chosen by God to rescue the people from their enemies… establish justice, and restore the practice of the Mosaic Laws. Samuel was the last of these judges… However… Samuel was getting old and the people were nervous about who would succeed him. It seems like they did not like the idea of leaving it to “chance”… They did not want to wait until God decided who would be next. In fact, oddly enough… this included Samuel who had been grooming his own sons to take over… even appointing them as judges. “But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.” [1 Sam. 8:3] This is where our story picks up today. The elders all get together and go to speak with Samuel. They said “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” [vs. 5] There it is… did you catch that? “Appoint a king… like all the other nations…” Samuel is distressed by this demand so he turns to God in prayer. God… though… is not surprised by this. God has had to deal with the lack of trust and faith of the people many times before. I think God finally decided to give up (just a little bit.) Like God threw up his hands and said… “Fine! Do what you want!” God tells Samuel to go ahead and set them up with a king saying: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king… Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” So that is exactly what Samuel does… in fact he goes into great detail of what will happen once they establish a monarchy in Israel. “But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations.” And there it is again… “Then we will be like ALL the other nations!” They seemed to believe that a king would bring them the power and authority… the justice and community they desired. I can almost see them stomping their feet declaring “But everyone else is doing it… we want to be like everyone else.” Instead of living differently… they wanted to blend in… But that is the thing… they were not supposed to be like everyone else. They were God’s Chosen People… God was their king… their ruler… which is why God declared that their demand of an earthly king was a rejection of God. This call for a king is just another case of misplaced allegiance. They were putting their faith in the things of this world… willing to pledge allegiance to a king OTHER than God. Unfortunately… history has shown that Samuel’s predictions were pretty accurate. The reign of kings eventually led to ungodliness and the worship of idols as the people continued to strive to be like everyone else all of which nearly obliterated the nation of Israel. SO what does this ancient history have to do with us today? Well… we too are in dire need of this warning. We need to consider where our allegiances are. The Dictionary defines “Allegiance” as being devoted to or giving loyalty to a person, group, country or cause. And where our allegiance lies… our loyalty… our devotion… might just be part of the problem. Think about it… one of the reasons there is so much suffering and injustice in this world is because human beings… yes… even Christians… far too often find themselves pledging their loyalty to people and things that do not bring justice, peace, life and equity. We live in a world that provides more than enough resources for everybody, yet we tend to give our focus our lives around consumerism… materialism and greed. We devote more time, energy and money to shopping… than to serving God. We spend more time watching TV or scrolling through Social Media that we spend with Our Lord and King. We offer our allegiance to candidates, political parties and people in power… and instead of working together for peace and justice… taking care of one another, we offer our allegiance the people and ideas that bring divisiveness, exclusivity, self-protection, and power trips. Even in our faith communities… even in our churches… it is far too easy to turn away from the love and inclusiveness that the gospel demands… instead we exclude those who are different or “unworthy”… those not like us. We focus more on legalism and ritual… offering judgement and hypocrisy instead of love and compassion and grace. We focus so much on our “personal” relationship with Christ that our faith leads to selfishness instead of love for our neighbor. This is why Jesus teaches that we cannot serve two masters. It does not work, and the truth for us… the truth for those who proclaim Jesus is Lord… is that God is our King. The only master we are to serve is God! The things and the people of this world might appear to promise life, happiness, and security, but those are false promises. They steal life from us by moving us further and further away from the presence of God. Like the people of ancient Israel, we have been called to be different… set apart… to NOT be like everybody else! We have to determine where and to whom we have pledged our allegiance… where do our daily loyalties lie? Then we must shift our allegiance away from the “kingdoms” of the world and pledge our devotion… our loyalty to the kingdom of God… grasping onto the hope and love found in Christ in order to bring justice and life to all of creation. If we are to live as true citizens of the kingdom of God… if we are to pledge our allegiance to our Lord… we must strive to follow the laws of the ‘king’… we need to live as Jesus lived… loving and serving… teaching and healing… caring for the weak… the needy… the outcast… working tirelessly until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like and ever-flowing stream. Until the day… we… like Joshua can declare with a bold – loud voice: “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” [Joshua 24:15b]
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Yeon Shin
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