Introduction
A word on how I
construct my sermons: I look for a common thread that runs through each
passage, and then develop the sermon around that idea. So we look this morning
at the three texts, and then work with the common thread.
1 Samuel 16
The anointing of David
to replace Saul draws our attention to the contrast between Israel’s first
king, Saul, and Israel’s greatest king, David. Saul represents for us kingship in
its human and failed form, and David represents kingship for us as “the man
after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). When the Israelites first asked for a King
(1 Samuel 8), God told Samuel that their request was not rejecting him (Samuel,
the prophet of God), but they were rejecting God himself. One can read this
statement as saying that kingship itself was wrong, but the book of Judges
suggests that the kingship had the potential to be good: “In
those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit” (21: 25).
One
basic point that emerges from the kingship narratives is that human
institutions can be good and they can be bad. Almost any form of government can
be good or bad. As Canadians we are convinced that democracy is the best form
of government, but democracy also can be misused by sinful people.
One
notes also that David was the youngest. This has happened before—God chose
Jacob over Esau; God chose Joseph, the eleventh of the twelve brothers.
Although David is a good-looking young man, his age and status were against
him. This leads to our second basic point—found in God’s response to Samuel’s
desire to anoint David’s older brothers: “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The
Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” There is the human perspective on
life that we all share, and there is God’s perspective, which God wants us to
have.
John 9
So we turn to the
gospel reading. Chapter 9 follows the controversies Jesus appears to stir up
deliberately in the previous chapter, ending with his most controversial claim:
“Before Abraham was, I am.” The story is full of intrigue and currents flowing
beneath the surface. The Pharisees are worried about this new teaching under
the travelling rabbi, Jesus. They follow his preaching and his miracles with
concern.
Jesus and his
disciples meet a man who was blind from birth. The disciples begin with trying
to understand his situation. Jesus begins with acting to heal his blindness. In
the aftermath, the Pharisees also try to understand what has happened. They
grill the man who was blind. They grill his parents. They more concerned with
Jesus’ orthodoxy than his actions, seen here in their annoyance that he had
healed the blind man on the Sabbath (verse 14).
We can see the
undercurrents of factions struggling for influence in the way that the man and
his parents reply. They do their best to avoid being pulled into those currents
while noting the reality of what they have experienced. Finally Jesus draws the
parallel—intended for the Pharisees, as they quickly see—between the man’s
physical blindness and spiritual blindness. The point is clear and
straightforward: God wants us to see with Jesus’ eyes. God wants us to see
Jesus, and to see all of life with Jesus.
This theme of light
and seeing what is in the light is one of John’s favourites. In the opening
chapter of his gospel he calls Jesus the light of the world (1:4,5 and 9-11). People
avoid the light because they are afraid that their secrets will be revealed to
others around them. This theme then moves us into Paul’s letter.
Ephesians 5
In the passage from
Ephesians Paul observes that the way that we see life determines the way that
we live life. If we see life in the light of God’s presence, we then walk in
that light living the way that Jesus lived. If we see life without the light of
God in us, we then walk in darkness. Of us John said, “People love darkness
rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” Of us Paul says, “Live as
children of the light.”
Integrating the Passages
This has been a brief
look at the passages. There is much more in them than this overview, but a
basic theme emerges. There are always more ways than one of looking at any
situation, and our perspective determines how we act in these situations. There
is God’s way to see life, which leads to actions that fit with God (“Live as
children of the light”). There are human ways to see life, which leads to
actions that do not fit with God. We can be like David, or we can be like Saul.
We can be like the man born blind (who believed, when Jesus called him), or we
can be like the Pharisees.
This doesn’t mean that
there is one right way to see every situation—God’s way. There may be a variety
of perspectives that fit with God’s heart and mind. But it does mean that God
wants us to see with the eyes of Jesus and to act with the heart of Jesus, to
walk in the light. This also does not mean that we will be perfect. David was
far from perfect. If anything, his recorded sins were (to our eyes at least)
worse than Saul’s! But David’s repentance was real, and Saul’s was not. God
wants people who really do want to grow into him, to be filled with the Spirit
of Jesus.
You know of course
that perspective is important. A friend from South Africa sent me the following
comparison of Russian and American attitudes, written as advice to Russians
visiting the United States.
·
Showing up
at a business associate’s home uninvited in the United States is not
acceptable. You may be invited to a picnic—if you’ve known each other for
several years and are social outside the office. As a rule, the invitation will
be only on a weekend, and you don’t have to prepare for something extravagant.
Everything is the same as ours, only with far less booze. Bring something
sporty—ball, badminton, Americans are certainly fervent fans of these things.
·
Americans
generally do not like long intros and prefer to go directly to the subject
matter, especially if it’s a phone conversation. In Russia we talk about
general topics before moving on to the reason for the call. Conversely,
Americans are often surprised by the Russian habit of quickly breaking off a
conversation and hanging up. Phone etiquette in America usually involves the
gradual end of the conversation, confirmation agreements and standard closing
remarks. By the way, “see you later” should not be taken literally. That is a
courtesy, and no more.
·
Russian
conversational patterns often sound harsh to Americans. Statements such as,
“You’re wrong,” can be offensive. This can be interpreted as “You are telling
lies!” Therefore it is better to say, “I do not think I can agree with this.”
·
When
Americans are talking, they might put their foot on a nearby chair, or even a
table. They might cross their legs so that one foot rests on the opposite knee.
In American culture, it is considered an acceptable norm, but often causes
irritation in other countries.
Perspective is
important! Another example from the website my friend sent me compared the way
that Russian men greet women with the way that American men greet women. As the
website put it: “It’s weird how one nation’s flirting is another nation’s
motivation to use pepper spray.”
A more serious example
contrasts the way that we see the situation in the Middle East. If we see with
Palestinian eyes, we tell one story; if we see with Israeli eyes, we tell
another. Even more important than cultural differences and political
differences is the decisive difference between seeing with human eyes and
seeing with God’s eyes. God wants us to learn to see the world with his eyes
and to act on that seeing.
The Upside-Down Kingdom
The way that Jesus
embodied that difference has been called “the upside-down kingdom” (Don Kraybill).
Just as God directed Samuel to the one who seemed least likely to be the future
king, God routinely directs us to act on behalf of the less fortunate following
God’s way of the kingdom
In the political world
I have wondered what our world would look like with American and Canadian
leaders seeing with God’s eyes. What would have happened if George Bush had
prayed aloud the Lord’s Prayer—“Forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of
those who sin against us—before deciding to invade Afghanistan? We could have
sought justice through the International Court in The Hague, while putting our
wealth and our influence to work to benefit the oppressed of Afghanistan. Instead
we invaded.
What would it look
like if Barack Obama would see his political opponents with God’s eyes as one
Catholic Hospital after another is forced to provide abortions in order to
remain open? Or if Steven Harper would look at the future of Circles of
Accountability with God’s eyes before cutting funding to keep them operating?
Often we think that
these questions belong especially in political circles, but they are part of
every area of life. I think of life in the church. Many years ago—in the late
1800s—people in my church (the Brethren in Christ) met in homes and in barns to
worship. One group, followers of a man named Martin Brinser in Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, built a simple meeting house on the edge of Brinser’s
farm, since their homes were too small for the growing group.
The larger group of
Brethren in Christ warned the Brinser group to return to meeting in their
homes, but the group refused. So we expelled them, and they became a church
known today as “The United Zion”. What if we had seen them with the eyes of
God—brothers and sisters who had come to a different conclusion than we had
concerning the shape simplicity should take in our lives? We could have
dialogued and worked more intentionally. Instead we kicked them out, and within
10 years we too were meeting in simple church buildings.
Even a group such as
the Amish, known for the way that they practice love and reconciliation, are
not immune to acting on the basis of their own human convictions. You may
recall a story from three years ago about a group of Amish in Ohio, who
forcibly cut the hair and beards of ex-members who had come to disagree on the
precise outer appearance the men had to have. If they could have stopped and
looked at what they were doing, if they could have seen themselves with the
eyes of God, what difference might that have made?
Of course, all of
these examples come in the end back to each believer. We live and think and act
in community, but especially in our culture we each make the choice of how we
will see life around us. The passages we read suggest that we seek God’s
presence—alone and in community—and test our perspectives with each other and
with God, and then act on the basis of God’s love and desire for reconciliation
in the world.
Some Basic Principles
Some basic principles
to guide us in seeing the way God sees:
·
Don’t
trust the “outward appearance” too much. Learn to hear and see what’s going on
inside of the people around us. This suggests that we should be slow to judge others.
As the NLT puts Eph 5:10, “Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.” Take the
time to listen and understand and finally hear God’s voice within the
situations of our lives.
·
Internalize
the way that Jesus saw the world. As Paul tells us, “He is the image of the
invisible God, the exact representation of his being.” If you wonder how God
sees the world, look at Jesus. This is I believe a particular strength of
Mennonite theology—that we centre our ethic and teaching on the person of Jesus
Christ. Not that we live up to that theology, but we know where to look!
·
Spend your
time in prayer and in reading the Bible. The reason that Samuel could look at
Eliab and Shammah and realize they were not the chosen ones, was that he spent
his time before God constantly. He knew what God wanted, because he listened
for God’s voice always in every moment. From his experience as a small boy in
the tabernacle, hearing God all him and thinking it was Eli calling, Samuel
listened for God’s voice. His very name might mean “He heard God.” (Actually: either God's name, or God heard—but I wonder ....) Spend your time
listening for God, and follow whenever you hear him speak.
There
is the saying that perspective is everything. “What you see depends on where
you stand.” I remember a story that Ron Sider used to tell of his Uncle
(perhaps Jacob—I don’t remember his Uncle’s name). His Aunt was
institutionalized most of her life (many years ago, when we did not know as
much as we do now about the mental and emotional processes of the human body),
and his Uncle visited her faithfully throughout her life. Once when Ron asked
him why he kept visiting over the years, he replied, “When you see _____, you
see an old woman who doesn’t know what is going on around her, but when I look
at her I see the young woman I courted and married.” What you see depends on where
you stand, and God wants you to stand with him and see with God’s eyes. Then
you can walk in God light following Jesus until he returns.
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