Proper 7-b; June
24, 2012
1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23
Psalm
9:9-20
Mark 4: 35-41
During the summer, the lectionary takes us on two different
train rides, on two different tracks. We travel along at the same speed on each
of them, so there is the possibility that we can talk across the rails time and
again. It may make for some interesting conversation, but you might just be
interested in where one lesson-thread is going, and not pay that much attention
to the other one.
So the lectionary gives us highlights from the life of King
David for most of the summer, and today, we have this extraordinary story of
David and Goliath. I am glad the lectionary gives us this opportunity to catch
up with these old Bible stories – for the last time some of us read this story,
we were small children ourselves. The characters in this story look very
different to children – isn’t David like us, we used to think. Ruddy and
handsome. A superhero at a young age. Confident and assured not only of his
abilities, but that he is loved by God.
But think of Saul and Goliath, warriors in mid-life, at the
height of their powers – men of power and ability, brought down – in different
ways -- by this young whipper-snapper. By
changing times and circumstances. By someone whose star is rising while theirs
is falling. Do we, people “of a certain age” think differently of Goliath’s
experience than we did when we were children? Are we now perhaps not so ready
to toss aside Saul as little more than yesterday’s news? Are we not able to see
more shades of gray in such tales of triumphant heroes? David may be perfect
now, but later, as we shall see, he gets into a lot of trouble.
At whatever age, to be called by God to take on some task
can be difficult. It seems to be God’s aim to get us to put it all on the line,
to put even our lives at risk. The disciples cannot even go sailing – they
cannot even ply their trade as fishermen – without Jesus leading them into
treacherous waters.
“Let’s go over to the other side,” Jesus says. “The other
side” in Gospel of Mark talk means the other side of human experience – the
gentiles instead of the Jews, the foreign instead of the familiar, the unknown
and alien. Mark’s Jesus preaches a critique of the established order. His Good
News is that there is a way to live that is not dominated by Roman oppression
or life-less religious observance. He breaks down that old order as he seeks to
build a new one – and to understand what he has in mind perhaps we have to get
over to the other side and look back on what we could leave behind forever.
But where does Jesus take us? Into the whirlwind, into chaos
and danger. “Jesus, wake up! Don’t you see we are dying here. We don’t want to
know about the other side if this is the price we have to pay. Let’s go back –
to the familiar shore, to the way things used to be, to the way things are
supposed to be.
Change is never easy – unless you are young. Think about all
those graduates at this time of year – commencing on to the next phase in their
lives. Legions of young Davids ready to replace those outmoded Sauls and take
down the Goliaths in their paths. Change is all around us, upsetting every
imaginable apple cart. Our boats seem to be riding on endlessly stormy seas,
and not even Jesus seems to care. Jesus has even called us into this turmoil – taking
us to “the other side,” to see who is on the other shore. People are there,
people we do not yet know, waiting to hear some smidgen of good news, astounded
to see the storm subside, and the seas grow calm, wondering just who could be
in that boat.