Those Whom God Chooses
A Sermon by Brent J. Eelman
Abington Presbyterian Church
June 18, 2006

I Samuel 15:34- 16:13
    Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵ Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.
    The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” ² Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” ⁴ Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” ⁵ He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
    ⁶When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” ⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” ⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” ¹¹ Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” ¹² He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” ¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.* 

Older brothers rule! Literally!. Ask Prince Phillip of England. There is nothing that he can do, short of homicide, that will place him on the throne. Older brothers rule. It has been that way for centuries. It was that way in biblical times. Older brothers were privileged. They would receive the inheritance from the father. Property was not divided, the older brother got it all. We remember the story of Esau and Jacob. Esau, the older brother, was to receive the blessing and the birthright but Jacob conned him out of it. Such is the strange logic of the Bible. The Bible is not a respecter of tradition. In fact it seems to be just the opposite. It is the younger, usually bratty brother, who gets the cheese the Bible. We can begin with Jacob and Esau and it continues with the prodigal son and Andrew and Peter. The Bible advocates a social revolution in terms of property and power. The younger brother is often the one who is favored. (for the record, I am a younger brother.)

The text from Samuel is the story of another triumph for younger brothers. It is the story of David’s anointing. In the next few minutes I will first, look at this amazing narrative, because it reveals the strange logic of whom God chooses. Second, I want to examine the challenge that it offers to us. Third, on this Sunday when we introduce, commission and vote for church leaders, I will reflect on this day in the life of Abington Presbyterian Church.

I

If you enjoy good drama, I would encourage you to read the books of Samuel. There a person runs into intrigue, violence, and all types of interesting sin. But in the midst of that book we get a glimpse into the mind of God. What we discover is that God sees things differently than we do.

Let’s look at the story of Samuel, Jesse and Jesse’s sons. This is the story of a monarchy. It is a political story about how one was chosen to rule over Israel. But there is already a king! Saul was the king. Read the description of Saul… he was tall, strong, and respected. He was the ideal type for a king, and yet God has already rejected him. Samuel is to go to Bethlehem, (which doesn’t thrill him.) and anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king.

This is the biblical version of the Cinderella story. Picture if you will: the proud Jesse. He was a conventional father and so he brought out his oldest son and then the six other sons. The scene is almost comical: Samuel was looking at these ideal “king-types” being paraded in front him. But he was also listening to God. He was bewildered. “Surely this is the one God chooses.” But he heard the voice of God: “Don’t look at these men with the eyes of a human. Don’t be impressed by what you see. God sees into the soul.” All the sons that Jesse paraded in front of Samuel were rejected. They didn’t make the cut…. The slipper didn’t fit. Was there anyone else? There was David, in the field. Jesse, David’s father, couldn’t picture David as a king, and so he left him to keep the sheep when Samuel arrived. So they ran out to the field to get David and ironically, the one whom Jesse and Samuel didn’t even consider was the one that God chose. This is the strange logic of God. David, the one whom God chose was not considered by his own father!

II

Today marks my fifth anniversary of working among you as your pastor. This is near to the area where I grew up and I continually run into people who knew me when I was in High School and college. Eventually the conversation gets around to: “What are you doing now?” I reply that I am the minister at Abington Presbyterian Church, and the response is usually: (the mouth falls open, the eyes look up to heaven,) “You?” My favorite response to this came from someone who knew the family well when we were younger, and she said: “Well I heard that one of the Eelman boys became a minister, but we always thought it was Dean.” What can I say: “It is the strange logic of God’s choice.” The biggest struggle of my life has been wrestling with this call to ministry. But every time I tried to play with something else, the push and the pull to ministry became more powerful and more difficult to resist. And I have surely tried to resist it.

I am not trying to hold myself up as the great example. Most of the people who knew me as an adolescent could not imagine me in the ministry. But God did. We all need to be more open to hearing through the ears of God and seeing through the eyes of God. We see the person with all the warts and shortcomings. God sees the heart, and so he chooses the strangest people: Moses the murderer, David the shepherd, (later adulterer), Jacob the con artist, Paul the Pharisee, Matthew the tax collector, Ruth and Esther who rescued their people, Jeremiah the boy prophet, Mary the teenage mother, Peter the fisherman, and Thomas the skeptic. We should not be surprised by God’s choices.

Most of us know more about ourselves than we want to know. We know our failings and our shortcomings and God would never choose us for something. But God does! Maybe it is time that stop questioning and doubting the wisdom of God. When we are asked; when we are called, (usually through to voice of others), we should respond with the words of the hymn: “Here I am, Lord.”

III

Today we introduce the leadership team for the upcoming capital drive. Today, we commission the women and men from our youth choir who will be ministering to others with the transforming, life-changing gift of music. Today, we will be electing women and men as deacons, elders and to other positions in the church. Most of the time we see this through our own, all too human, eyes. God is seeing into the hearts….

We are beginning a very exciting time in the life of Abington Presbyterian Church. It is not going to be an easy time, but transformation and rebirth is never easy. I believe that it will be a time when the spirit of God will be working in our midst.. often through the voice and prayers of individuals and committees. In the next three months, God will be calling two hundred of you to do some seemingly ordinary things, that will add up to something extraordinary in the life of Abington Presbyterian Church. The call will be, “can you help with this?” or “Will you be a leader?” Your first response will be: “Are you kidding? Me? There are so many other people who could do a better job.” The one that I have used when I am asked to do something in the church, (or presbytery) is “I am so busy.” Behind that is a fear, that I can’t do what I am being asked to do. Sometimes God sees our heart, when all we can see is our own shortcomings.

David, the strange choice of God, for king of Israel was anointed with oil poured over his head. (I promise we won’t do that!) But I also believe that God is in our midst., identifying God’s leaders for the next generation, and calling them to serve. This is good news, but it might be troubling. If God is calling us can we respond: “Here I am… Here I am, Lord.” Amen.

 
*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org