The Vision Exam
A Lenten Sermon by
Brent J. Eelman
Abington
Presbyterian Church
March 2, 2008
I Samuel 16: 1-13
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.’ 2Samuel
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.”
3Invite 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.’ 4Samuel 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?’ 5He
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.
6 When
they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s
anointed is now before the Lord.’
7But 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.’ 8Then Jesse called Abinadab,
and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the Lord
chosen this one.’ 9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by.
And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord
chosen this one.’ 10Jesse made seven of his sons
pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord
has not chosen any of these.’ 11Samuel 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.’ 12He 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.’ 13Then
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.*
I
enjoy a good mystery. There is something wonderfully neat about them.
In the end evil is exposed. Good triumphs, truth is revealed, and
the detective, whose judgment is usually questioned, is right. A good
mystery keeps us interested because the appearances don’t
always correspond with reality. One is reminded of the words of
Sherlock Holmes: "My dear Watson, you see, but you do not
observe." We, too, see, but we do not often observe. Our
vision fails us, because it is deceived by outward appearances.
The story of the anointing of David has the quality of a good mystery. Someone was about to be chosen as the king. We only know that it was one of Jesse’s sons. Samuel was charged by God to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king of Israel. The account is both intriguing and somewhat comical. On the one hand, we observe the events through the eyes of Samuel, Jesse and his sons, and on the other hand, we get a glimpse into the vision of God and what God sees. Think about it. If Samuel made the choice by himself, who would he have chosen? I doubt that they would ever get to David. Two points: First: what we see and what we choose. Second: what God sees and chooses. Then I will conclude with 3 brief comments.
I
What
we see and choose: We are in the midst of an intense
presidential election year. Our nation will make a choice. What are
the criteria that we will use? Usually what we see and hear.
Knowing this, the candidates work very hard to control these things
so that we will see and hear what we want in the candidate.
Samuel, 3,000 years ago, also made a choice about the next ruler. This was not a democratic election, but it was an election nonetheless. How would Samuel make his choice? From the text we can conclude that there were two factors that counted in this choice. The first was appearance, and the second was age or maturity. God told Samuel not to be swayed by the stature and appearance of the seven sons. Presumably, Samuel would be inclined to pick the tallest, strongest, and best looking. Ironically, that is what happened with the first king of Israel. Saul was taller and stronger than everyone else, but he was a failure.
The second factor was age. David, the youngest, didn’t even count. Jesse did not bring him in from the fields, because certainly he would not be chosen. He was too young and too inexperienced. Compared to his older brothers, he was, perhaps a bit soft. He was a shepherd and a musician, not a warrior, (at least not in the conventional sense). From a human perspective, David was not even under consideration. Neither Samuel nor Jesse saw leadership potential in him.
II
What God sees and chooses: We have a clue in the conversation that God has with Jesse in this selection process. God does not merely see externals, God sees into the human heart. There is also a great deal of evidence that God often goes against the tide of popular opinion, so to speak, to choose surprising individuals to do some amazing work. God chose David. We have no evidence, heretofore, that David was particularly exemplary. We only know that he was a shepherd, albeit ruddy and handsome. Yet, David, this humble shepherd, the least of Jesse’s children, will become the greatest ruler in the history of Israel.
The Bible is filled with this “counter-logic” of God’s choices. Peter declared that the “stone which the builder rejected, has become the cornerstone.” Jesus chose a most motley crew of disciples from fisherman, tax collectors, and other ordinary professions. They were chosen to do a most extraordinary work. The Hebrew Bible continually tells the story of second sons, and younger siblings who rise to prominence in a culture that favors the first born. Jesus declared this divine logic in the paradox, “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.”
These are God’s amazing choices: Jacob over Esau, the younger prodigal, over the older brother, a tax collector, the devout Mary over the industrious Martha, Jesus over Caesar.
Moving back to the East after spending a great deal of my ministry in the west, I have often run into people who knew me “back when”. I have heard some form of this comment at least three times. “I knew that one of the Eelman boys became a ministry, but we always thought it would Dean… not you.” God’s amazing choices.
III
3 brief comments: We don’t always see things completely. Our vision is flawed. How do we respond to this limitation? First, with some humility. We are not always right. None of us are. We think we see things the way they are, but as time passes and reveals the mystery behind history, we are often wrong.
Second, others often fail to see what God sees in us. Often we are not the ones chosen by the others. One of the most humiliating things for a child is to be the last person picked in playground game. Often we sense a feeling of rejection by others, left in the fields to watch sheep, while the real action occurs elsewhere. It is the rejects, the overlooked, the imperfect, the small, and the quiet, whom God chooses for an amazing work.
Third, we need to be open to God’s call. Sometimes we are afflicted with a false humility. We believe that we are no good, that we can’t do a job, and when we are asked, either through the church, a nominating committee, or through another of God’s agencies, we respond: “O no, I can’t do that. I am just a humble shepherd. I am just a fisherman… I am just a…..” The truth is we are children of God, and when God calls upon us, wherever we are, we need to respond, “Here I am.. Yes.”
I enjoy mysteries and have discovered that more often than not, I am wrong in my perceptions. “I see, but fail to observe.” Thank God, that God sees with different eyes and observes and examines the human heart. This is the good news. Amen.
*The New Revised Standard
Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.
Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania, www.apcusa.org