Rev. Graham Crawford’s Sermon for Sunday 07 June 2015:

At the school my brother attended, one of the sports options in the Summer term was cricket. It was the option he chose.

After about a week or so, he came home from school and announced that he needed a pair of cricket gloves: the gloves that batsmen wear to protect their hands. According to my brother, everyone else had their own gloves, so he needed a pair.

Of course, when my parents investigated, it was a load of rubbish. Yes, there were one or two boys who had their own pair, but most just used a pair out of the school kit bag.

This proved very unfortunate for me because, as the younger brother, whenever I really needed something when I was growing up, my folks would look at me and just say: “Cricket gloves”.

There is always a desire among young people to have what everyone else has, or what they perceive everyone else has. Whether it is a particular pair of shoes, rucksack for school, make of boot for football. There is the desire to fit in.

But it does not just happen to young people; it happens to nations and even churches. Countries look at what other countries have got and decide they want it too, which often starts a war. Even churches can look enviously at other churches and say “We want that” – even if it is entirely inappropriate.

Judges and Kings

That was certainly the case with the young nation of Israel.

They had been ruled by judges under the authority of God. It had gone well at times; at other times, not so well.

The hereditary nature of the judge had obviously been an issue. Eli had been a great judge but we know his sons were corrupt and so the mantle passed to Samuel. Samuel had been a great judge but his sons took bribes so often they could have worked for FIFA. So the people looked around and saw other nations ruled by kings and thought: “Everyone else has one, so we want one”.

The story is told in 1 Samuel 8: 4 – 20:

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.5 They said to him, ‘You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.’ 6 But when they said, ‘Give us a king to lead us,’ this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.’ 10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, ‘This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: he will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plough his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.’ 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We want a king over us. 20 Then we shall be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.’

This chapter really reminds me of this time last year.

The pro-independence campaigners saw only good in a future where Scotland was in control of its own destiny; the pro-union campaigners, on the other hand, saw only bad things from the same decision.

Here, Samuel sees only bad things in the idea of a King ruling Israel; the elders, however, saw only good. Of course, the truth was bound to lie somewhere in-between (both in Scotland’s case and in Israel’s case) but, as each campaigns to get their own way, the middle ground (which is actually the most likely) is never going to be mentioned as a possibility.

Samuel could see only the negative side of kingship, but the elders refused to hear anything but the positive aspects.

Temptation in action

This is the way temptation works.

When we are tempted to reject God’s way for our way, we focus on all the reasons we should do it our way—why we should spend extravagant amounts of money on ourselves, or participate in some questionable behaviour, or devote our Sundays to physical fitness and family time that does not involve participation in a family of faith.

Somehow, we manage to ignore the consequences, so that we can adopt lifestyles that are selfish to the core, without any awareness that we have rejected God entirely.

The Bible speaks clearly about the dangers of living in ways that promote personal selfishness and have little regard for the needs of others. Amos, perhaps more clearly than any other prophet, emphasised the danger of self-importance at the expense of the poor and the downtrodden, or the danger of substituting ritual forms for a real relationship with God (e.g., Amos 5). Yet, people through the ages have demonstrated a strong and continuing ability to ignore good advice in the face of strong temptation.

Israel was always supposed to be different. It was supposed to be a light to the nations: an example of an alternative framework for nationhood governed and guided by God. However, as was so often the case, this governance is only as good as the people who act as God’s representatives, whether as judges or elders, as we see here.

Samuel had been a good and effective judge. He was loved and respected, he was faithful to God. His sons, however, were only interested in founding a dynasty, and others saw through their schemes and their plans, and therefore there was the call to anoint a king so that they could be like everybody else – ignoring the fact that a king with even more power was open to even greater temptation than the judges.

This desire, however, to ignore the authority of God, just so that we can be like everybody else, is not unique to ancient Israel and becomes particularly damaging in religious circles because, if someone dares to challenge what everyone else is doing, particularly if it challenges the lifestyle of the others, they are not popular.

We see this in our Gospel reading for this morning when Jesus gets confronted by the scribes because he dares to be different (Mark 3: 20-35):

20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family[a] heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’ 22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.’ 23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables:‘How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.’ 30 He said this because they were saying, ‘He has an impure spirit.’ 31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting round him, and they told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.’ 33 ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ he asked. 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle round him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’

The Jewish authorities questioned Jesus’ authority to do the works he did, because he challenged the status quo. Jesus’ warning to the scribes about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit should be understood first in its particular historical context. The religious authorities of their day failed to perceive that God was acting in a new way in Jesus. Instead of assisting in his ministry, they were an obstacle to it.

Through Jesus, God was breaking down the social barriers that religious tradition had established between Jews and Gentiles, the religious and the “people of the land,” men and women. Jesus was forgiving sins and restoring persons to wholeness. The sin of the scribes was not merely uttering forbidden words. They were threatening to prevent Jesus from fulfilling his kingdom-bringing mission.

If one is looking for analogous actions today, one might look to the pronouncements of religious, denominational, and church leaders who are so out of touch with the movement of God’s spirit in our time that they champion sectarian causes and as a result polarize religious communities and stir up fear, hatred, and divisiveness. In our time as in Jesus’ time, it is misguided religious leaders who are most in danger of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ words about his family should not be taken to justify breaking ties to one’s family over family issues or strained relationships. Jesus was setting in sharp relief the ultimate call of God upon the life of an individual and making the family the model for the experience of the Christian community.

The family as a paradigm for the church

Rather than devaluing the family, Jesus made it the paradigm for the church.

The love and sustained commitment of siblings, parents, and children should characterize the relationships between disciples in the company of Jesus, between members of the church. And just as you cannot chose your family, so, in some ways, you cannot chose your fellow pilgrims on the Christian way.

Jesus has called us all to be here. He has called this worshiping community into existence. Our job is to respond to that call by being the people he calls us to be, even if we do not necessarily like one another or want to have certain ones even in our house.

God has called you here, not because of what you can gain, but for what you can contribute.

In our mobile and fragmented society, in which many do not have family around them, the church can become an important “kin group,” offering support, mutual accountability, and sustained, stable relationships.

The nation of Israel was set apart to be a lamp, an example, a blessing to the nations, because it was under God’s authority and not the authority of a king or other ruler. Jesus’ authority came from God and, as a result, he came into conflict with those who sought their own comfort rather than to submit to that authority.

We too can become distracted, by society seeking to impose its transient values on our community, by people within our own community seeking their own desires over the call of God. Like Israel – like Jesus – we are called to be different. We are called to have a transforming vision of what and whom the world values.

As the psalmist wrote, “The Lord is great, he cares for the humble but he keeps his distance from the proud.”

The inclusiveness of Jesus’ accepting word (“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”) should challenge every devout person to enter into community with others who are sincerely seeking God’s will. Seeking to live, not under their own authority, not under the authority of whatever society deems to be politically correct for that age, but under the authority of the sovereign God and Lord of us all.

For that, and that alone, will bring us the joy such that we can join the psalmist (Psalm 138) in singing:

I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart; I will sing your praises before the gods. 2 I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name. 3 As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength. 8 The Lord will work out his plans for my life— for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Amen.