2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
A friend once said to me, “It’s always the third generation that runs the family business into the ground.” Well, in the case of Judges of Israel, it seems to have been the second generation. We saw it with Eli and his sons. Now we see it with Samuel and his sons.
“You are old, and your sons do not follow in your ways,” they tell Samuel bluntly. They might not have been so blunt, except for the fact that they have seen this picture before and they know how it ends. Samuel’s predecessor, Eli, appointed his lousy sons as judges over Israel and it was a disaster. They were corrupt and greedy, lacking wisdom and integrity. Under their leadership Israel lost the ark of God to the Philistines and were devastated. Samuel rose up to be a good moral leader of Israel. But now we see history repeating.
It is clear to the people of Israel that it will not go well to have Samuel’s sons in charge. They see what they see, they know what they know, they have been hear before. So they speak bluntly to him about what they don’t want – and also what they do want. They want to have a king. They have seen it work for other nations. Why should it not be good for Israel?
This thing they were asking displeased Samuel, so says the text. To put it bluntly: Samuel hates the idea. He is frustrated, exasperated, and detests the direction they are going. And it is not just because the people have pointed out his flaws and rejected his sons. There is that, but it’s not only personal; there is something. Samuel knows Israel does not need a king. Israel already has a king.
So when they say to Samuel, “Give us a king,” Samuel goes to God, like, “Oy, these people! You know what I’m saying?” and God says, “I know, I know. You better tell them what it’s gonna be like.”
So, of course, he does. You want to know what a king will do? He will take and take and take from you. And then he will take some more. You think my sons are bad? You know nothing … yet.
Even after Samuel’s speech they continued to insist on a king even after Samuel warned them about the realities of monarchy. It was like they didn’t hear him. It was like they were too afraid to hear him. And they were.
There were times in Israel’s life when they felt that God had wandered away from them, that God had left them alone. Those were terrible times. They felt abandoned, forsaken, helpless. They didn’t want to ever feel that way again.
It reminds me of the ads I used to see in the back of the comic books I read as a kid. The skinny guy at the beach who gets sand kicked in his face; he goes home and sends away for some mail-order miracle cure that will make him big and strong, just like the bullies. It works, he fights back against the bullies, and as an added bonus, he gets the girls, too.
Israel wanted some of that miracle cure. They wanted to be strong in the midst of the other nations. They never again wanted to feel vulnerable, and they thought they could make sure it never happened again. They could have a king.
They could have a ruler here on earth, one who fought their wars, protected them from enemies, safeguarded their property. They could have a strongman, and a strongman is what they wanted.
So, God said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Soon, they had their king. Samuel anointed the first king of Israel,Saul, who was apparently very handsome. But he never did sit easily on the throne.
Monarchy was not a terribly good fit for Israel. But that is not to say that the kings were all rotten. The Bible sings the praises of King David, even while acknowledging his flaws. King Solomon built the first temple of God. King Josiah reestablished the law of God long after it had been abandoned by a string of bad kings. Sometimes the kings did good things, but in between there was a lot of corruption – a lot of kings who fought the wars for their own gain, who safeguarded the property for their own use. Being a good king of Israel was hard because being a good king meant being a righteous man, a servant leader, and effectively pointing the people away from themselves and toward their true king – God.
Eventually, the kingdom collapsed. Israel was overrun by other strongmen and their armies. They got to know what it was like to be under the thumb of foreign occupiers, other greedy men who sought to enlarge their power and possessions. Some never stopped wanting a king, never stopped wanting to fight the same battles with the same weapons that had failed them before.
Some never did understand what Jesus meant when he said “my kingdom is not of this world.”
Some are still fighting these same battles with the same old weapons, thinking there will be a different outcome this time.
We want the miracle cure so we can go back out on the beach and beat the bully at his own game. Yes, I think we are still fighting these battles.
However, right now all around us a different kind of battle is going on.
This battle is being fought with different weapons. It is not a fight for self-enrichment, it is a fight that pushes aside fear and greed – because fear never did make a wise decision and greed never made a moral one. It is a fight that turns away from these baser instincts and takes up the cause of the least, the lost, and the last. It is called the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. And we are right in the middle of it.
For six weeks, churches of all denominations, along with other faith communities, are focusing energy on the needs of the poor in this land.
Why?
Because fifty years ago, another King, the Rev. Martin Luther King, said we have come to the point where the problem is really bigger than race. It is bigger than civil rights, it is about human rights. It is about the unacceptable truth that too many people live and die in poverty in a land of abundance. Reverend King called for a Poor People’s Campaign in 1968. And fifty years later, we look around and see that the same challenges are still with us. Some voices in the church have decided it is time for another one – a new revival.
Perhaps some of us worry that it might not be appropriate for the church to get involved in public policy. Perhaps we don’t think that it is the church’s place to tell us how we should organize our society. Perhaps we want to respond to the biblical stories by saying, “That was different – a different time, a different place, a different world.” Yes, it was different. But it was also much the same.
When we read the stories about ancient Israel and their shortcomings and failures, it would serve us well to see how we share these same shortcomings and failures. It would be good for us to remember that God’s law was designed with the needs of the least, the lost and the last in mind. And even though we don’t pine after kings – although we do have a fascination with the goings-on of the royals abroad – we continue to seek power and security at the expense of others. We continue to allow our leaders to exploit the vulnerable, ignoring their cries.
We need a moral revival in our land. Because those in power try to blame the poorest among us for our budget shortfalls. Because tens of thousands of Americans are still denied basic healthcare. Because the city of Flint still does not have clean water. There are systemic problems in our society that only good public policy can fix. Just like the kings of Israel, our leadership has the choice to work on behalf of the people they govern, or just for their own benefit. Is there a right and a wrong in this?
Think about it: Eli’s sons were bad priests because they exploited the people they were meant to serve. Samuel’s sons were bad judges because they exploited the people they were meant to serve. God does not smile on leaders who exploit the ones they are meant to serve.
What kind of leadership will we ask for? What will we demand of our leaders? The scriptures demand over and over again that we try to keep our eyes fixed on the needs of this world God loves, caring for it and calling on our leaders to care for it. And if we can do that, I think we will find, as Paul says to the Corinthians, that our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
All glory and honor, power and love, be to our true king – creator, redeemer, and sustainer of our life. Amen.
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