It’s About Heart

1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13 and Mark 4:26-34

Rockville United Church
The Rev. Suzanne Rudiselle

June 18, 2006

Today we celebrate Father’s Day, thanks to Mrs. John B. Dodds, who wished to thank and honor her father, William Smart, a civil war veteran and single father of six, for his strength and selflessness. Fathers are important people. It’s easy to create a baby but it takes much more to be a father. It’s a matter of commitment and obedience to a higher power and heart. Tim Russert has written a second book, Wisdom of our Fathers, following his successful book, Big Tim, filled with stories from people recounting the power of their own fathers. Most are people of ordinary means, with no special credentials, but with faith and commitment and heart.

Sociologists, counselors and prison officials tell us that not having a father present in one’s life is one of the principle causes for going astray. The male model and mentor is critical in development, and the absence of one leaves an enormous hole in self identity and self-esteem.

In his recent book, American Gospel, Jon Meacham recounts the stories of our founding Fathers and their reliance on divine guidance in pursuing unpopular courses, and their obedience to that guidance. And while our forefathers were adamant about religion being neither a requirement nor prohibition, they freely prayed for leading and protection, and thanked the Divine One for safe passage through stormy struggles. With all their foibles, contradictions and complications, they are models we can be proud of. They are our fathers too.

My Father may have been the only colonel with degrees in classic and electrical engineering who, in the end, chose to be a plumber. A fun-loving man, he was devout and active in church but sometimes at odds with its structures and rules. Raised in a strict Southern Methodist home where “you shall not” was the dominant word, he hated hypocrisy and said “show me don’t tell me”. It’s that show me your faith, your obedience, your heart. That leads us into this text from 1 Samuel.

Israel complained that it wanted to be like the nations and have a king. Yahweh is reluctant to allow that but the people prevail in spite of warnings. Saul has been anointed as king, for no apparent reason but that he stands head and shoulders above the others. However, the very idea of monarchy threatens the character of Israel’s covenantal relationship with God, and perhaps is even a repudiation of Yahweh’s kingship. Samuel is the great tribal covenantal leader who functions as seer, prophet, and judge, and who is entrusted with the word of God.

In the preceding chapters 13-15 we are introduced to Saul’s limited accomplishments - and decisive failures. Saul is indicted for usurping Samuel’s power as priest. He is authorized to act as judge and warrior but not priest who sacrifices. It sounds like a set-up with Samuel tantalizing Saul with what might have been, but will now never be. The battles continue with the Philistines but Saul’s son Jonathan is presented as daring in contrast to his father. Saul is shown as well-intentioned, pious man who emerges as a pitiful disappointment. In the end it is disobedience in not utterly destroying the Amalekites and their king that brings the harsh judgment and rejection. Saul does not listen. He is not obedient. He is pious and asks forgiveness but Yahweh has determined that he is not the one to lead Israel. It is Israel’s future that is at stake and Yahweh must choose another. Yahweh regrets that he chose Saul and orders Samuel to anoint the king of Yahweh’s heart.

What is this all about? There are so many twists and turns that we could focus on Holy - or unholy - War. We could look at the characteristics of leadership, or the forces behind our leaders. We could wonder whether God is arbitrary or just, or whether God makes mistakes and takes it out on an imperfect agent like Saul. But it is about obedience and heart. It’s always about obedience!

Samuel, who still grieves for Saul, is told to go to Bethlehem because God has chosen a new king. Going to Bethlehem when Saul is still king is an act of daring obedience. Samuel does not see clearly what is to be. Samuel once saw Saul as handsome and tall but appearance did not portend for great leadership, nor does it now justify a decision for a new king. He sees one after another of Jesse’s sons, but none is the one God has chosen. God sees the heart, the character, the will of a person. David is the man after God’s own heart: a shepherd boy and eighth son from a family with no obvious pedigree, and outsider, and unlikely vessel of God’s grace. God has found a possibility for Israel in this unexpected man who tends sheep. He will be called to be shepherd to Israel. He is as Mark’s parable puts it, like the smallest seed that will grow into a largest shrub.

Appearances can be deceiving. Our history is filled with those deemed unworthy because of their lack of power and position, their homely faces or limited financial resources. But God has raised up Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill and others with heart and commitment and vision to that which is unseen. That heart was demonstrated by Lincoln who once told a group of visiting ministers that he did not worry whether God was on his side or not, “for I know that the Lord is always on the side of right. It is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.” An unlikely leader, perhaps, but a man’s of God’s own heart.

This is also the 11th Sunday in Ordinary time, a curious designation in the Christian calendar for time between religious festivals. It is the 169th day of the year 2006. There are no special observances in this country but in France they celebrate the victory of the French army led by Joan of Arc, over the British, and the turning point of the 100 Years War. And in Brazil it is “Chemist’s Day”.

Today is an ordinary day for most of us ordinary people seeking to be faithful, working and living and loving to the best of our abilities, not anticipating the need to do extraordinary things. Like David we may be young and inexperienced in some ways and prepared in ways we do not yet discern. We may be called to be shepherds in our own spheres and visionaries as we speak out against abuses in business and government. We may be called to challenge the presuppositions that deny anyone a rightful place, like Susan B. Anthony who was fined $100 on this day in 1873, for attempting to vote in the presidential election of the previous year.

We may not be chosen as kings or queens but all of us are called to listen, really listen, to the pleas of those who are on the outside, those have no voice of advocacy but ours. We are called to listen to God’s call to commitment and obedience; to do those things which are righteous, even if unpopular; to stand for truth, to serve with joy, to show the love of Christ to all others, that all may live with dignity. Our beginnings may be small but like the mustard seed they will grow by God’s grace.

In fact we have been chosen by God to do that which God intends. We all have gifts, perhaps unseen by the prophets of the day, and they are waiting to be drawn out by the God who sees and knows our hearts. The oil of anointing is ours and the Spirit of God is all around us. And so let us move out in obedience with confidence and with heart.