DECISIONS! DECISIONS! DECISIONS!
1 Samuel 8:1-20; Mark 3:20-35
2nd Sunday after Pentecost — June 6, 2021
Pastor Ritva H Williams
How do you make decisions and choices in your every day life? Do you flip a coin? Rely on a nifty folded paper decision maker? Maybe you prefer a rational decision making process that begins with identifying the problem, gathering information, identifying possible options —- only to find yourself back at square one facing not two but five options?
Some decisions are relatively easy to make. Eggs or cereal for breakfast? Other decisions require more thought. When is the right time to retire? Where should we live? Collective decision-making is the most difficult. Does every voice count? Why or why not? How do we reconcile differing interests and values? Where is God in our decision making processes?
Today’s scripture readings challenge us to consider that very question. Where is God in our decision making process? To whom will we give our allegiance — God or some other power? (1)
Our first reading takes us back 3000 years. The Israelites have been living in the Promised Land for about 200 years. Each of the 12 tribes is ruled by a council of elders made up of the male heads of families and clans. Hereditary male priests provide spiritual guidance. Whenever the tribes face military threats from their neighbors God raises up charismatic leaders called “judges” to unite and lead the tribes. Samuel is the last of these judges.
This morning we learn that an aging Samuel in his old age has appointed his sons as judges to provide some continuity of leadership. But Joel and Abijah take bribes and pervert justice. The tribal elders demand that Samuel appoint a king. They want to be like other nations, ruled by a king who will fight their battles for them.
Samuel is displeased, saddened, crushed. Not only has he failed as a father — his sons are self-serving and corrupt — he feels the people have rejected him. He turns to God in prayer, who tells him not to take it personally. It’s not Samuel who is being rejected but God.
God affirms the tribal elders freedom to choose, but insists they make an informed decision. God has Samuel describe in detail the oppression ordinary people experience under the rule of a king: drafted to fight in the king’s armies; forced to labor on the king’s estates; fields, produce, livestock and possessions taxed and confiscated for the benefit of the king’s officers and courtiers; and permanent slavery.
I wonder why the elders don’t just ask Samuel to appoint better qualified judges. Why do they think a king would be a better ruler than a judge? Have they considered any other options? What are their priorities? In demanding to be like other nations, have they noticed how kings consolidate power and resources in the hands of their favorites. Are they motivated by hopes of personal gain? We’ll never know for sure, but God seems to have played no part in their decision-making process. Yet God affirms their freedom to make good and bad decisions, even as God insists that their freedom to choose comes with the responsibility of accepting the consequences. (2) As the biblical story unfolds, it becomes clear that this was a bad decision.
In our gospel reading we meet Jesus literally caught in the middle. He’s at home but is surrounded by a crowd of hungry, sick, tired people all wanting to be nourished, healed, re-energized, forgiven, blessed. There is no time, no room for Jesus and his disciples to even sit down to eat. Jesus’ family comes out to restrain him when they hear people saying “He has gone out of his mind.” Did Jesus’ snap under the pressure? Or was Jesus casting out a demon? The scribes from Jerusalem conclude that Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons who gives him the power to cast out demons. These religious officials witness and acknowledge Jesus’ healing work but insist that the devil makes him do it.
And there is Jesus in the midst of all that noise: the crowd demanding his time and energy, his family trying to restrain their crazy member, the scribes demonizing him. In the midst of all that noise Jesus remains curiously and cleverly focused. He responds first to the scribes. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asks, “Seriously? You all know kingdoms and houses divided against themselves cannot stand? The same goes for Satan. Don’t you get it? In order to plunder a strong man’s property you have to tie him up first.”
It’s a parable, a riddle. Who’s the strong man in this story? Satan. Is there anyone stronger than Satan? Jesus! How does Jesus plunder Satan’s property? By healing and casting out demons, by preaching and teaching the good news of God’s love, grace and mercy for the least, the last and the lost. By liberating people from the power of sin, death and the devil, as Luther would say. Jesus concludes with a warning: to give Satan credit for the Holy Spirit’s work in my ministry is unforgivable blasphemy.
Jesus’ commitment to God’s mission is unwavering. If the religious authorities think he’s demon possessed, that’s their mistake and they will bear the consequences. If his own mother and brothers think he’s crazy, Jesus welcomes anyone who does God’s will as sibling and nurturing parent, and they will reap the benefits. As Professor David Schnasa Jacobsen writes, The good news in this story is that God in Christ “is not pleased that people are in bondage, subject to illness, mired in something less than life. [We can and should] take comfort from that. Even when good institutions like family and religious order are arrayed against the thriving of human beings … the good news invites us into the central gospel struggle which has already begun with Jesus and his persistent ministry of healing, exorcism and forgiveness.”
The challenge presented to us in today’s scripture readings is to ask ourselves where is God in our decision-making processes — to whom do we give our allegiance? As Pastor John van de Laar reminds us:
In our neighborhoods, it is tempting to avoid the struggles of learning to understand and listen to each other by grouping together with those who think like us, look like us and hold the same values, while separating ourselves from those who are different. Even in our faith communities, we easily turn away from the tough inclusivity and love that the Gospel demands in favor of exclusivity, legalism, hypocrisy and judgment of others … This week we face the call to examine our hearts, get honest about where we place our allegiance, and ensure that we turn soundly back to God in any and every area where our allegiance may be faltering.
This call to examine our allegiance to Christ’s mission is especially important as we celebrate Pride Month, remember the Emanuel Nine, celebrate Juneteenth, and make decisions about our building renovation project. As we consider where God is in our decision making let us turn to Jesus in this prayer by Pastor John van de Laar:
Jesus, we like our agendas, we like to set priorities and plan outcomes; and we want the world to follow. But, too often our agendas are not yours; and that can’t be good for us or for our world.
So we pray, that your agenda would prevail in our hearts, in our words, in our priorities, in our relationships, in our actions.
May our world be captured by the beauty and grace that flow from your Kingdom purposes; wherever there is violence, wherever there is division, wherever there is disease, wherever there is need, wherever there is grief, wherever there is despair, may human experience be shaped by your awesome, creative reign.
And may all our choices reflect our hopes, not our fears.
Amen.
John van de Laar, “Proper 5 B,” June 6 2021, www.sacredise.com
Roger Nam, “Commentary on 1 Samuel 8: 4-11[12-15]16-20; [11:14-15]. www.workingpreacher.org
