Week 4

Psalm: Psalm 9:9-20

Old Testament: 1 Samuel 17-49
Gospel: Mark 4:35-41
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

If you can believe it, we are entering into the last week of June! And summer has definitely arrived in Kansas City.  Our church is doing VBS next week and Kelcey is running the games with me as her handsome assistant.  Our readings this week cover a wide range of topics.  To begin with, 1 Samuel 17 is the story of David and Goliath.  If your remember, two weeks ago was the story of the anointing of King Saul and last week was the story of Samuel anointing David as the next king of Israel.  The story of Goliath is exhibit A for why Saul is rejected as King.  He is willing to throw a young boy, who Samuel twice says, “he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance,” into a battle against the Philistine champion Goliath.  

The story is so full of irony and humor.  David shows up and is willing to fight, so Saul tries to put him in his armor.  One can imagine that Saul was probably a good size man; he was a king and a warrior, so how on earth could a young boy fit inside his armor or even handle his sword? Ultimately, the way Goliath is killed is even ironic.  He is killed by a pebble. A non-descript, run-of-the mill-rock.  For those Lord of the Rings fans you might remember Sting, Glamdring, or Aragorn’s sword Anduril.  Swords had names and were attached to myths.  I don’t think it is a stretch to assume a similar idea in the Bronze age in Israel.  So Goliath, with his bronze, state-of-the-art sword is killed by a shepherd and a rock…oh and then is decapitated with that sword.  Despite the irony and humor, the message is clear: David trusts the Lord whereas Saul does not.  David, in effect, becomes the leader if not yet in name or title.  God uses and calls the weak to shame the strong. (1 Cor. 1:27)

The reading from Mark is another miracle story, if you will. (I don’t know if David and Goliath is miraculous.  But if it is, the miracle is David’s bravery.)  In these six verses, Jesus and his disciples are in a boat and a storm comes up.  Jesus is asleep in the stern and the disciples are scared for their lives.  Again, the story is full of irony.  The storm must have been horrible, yet Jesus is asleep!  The disciples wake us Jesus and ask, “Don’t you care we’re about to die?!”  It’s interesting they say that you are about to die.  They are concerned about themselves and feel Jesus should be also.  We all know what happens next.  Jesus calms the storm and rebukes the disciples for their lack of faith.  The question might be lack of faith in what?  If you follow the narrative of Mark, up till now Jesus has only healed various people.  He hasn’t stopped storms nor has he called any storms.  What would make the disciples think Jesus could stop the storm? I don’t have an answer, but I just wonder.  But I do bet that after this, the disciples recognized that Jesus had more power than even they knew.  The passage ends with their exclamation, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”  They have the right question, even if they don’t yet know the answer.

As usual, I spend so much time on the first three passages that I run out of space to fully discuss the final passage in the New Testament.  I want to make two observations about Paul’s writing in 2 Cor.  First, if you think you have hardship, just look at Paul’s life.  He knew difficulties yet was always obedient to the Lord.  Most of these 13 verses are Paul explaining that in everything, both good and bad, Paul considers himself to be serving God.  Second, Paul says the “Day of Salvation” is now.  Redemption has come in and through Jesus.  This verse is a quote from Isaiah 49, one of the servant songs of Isaiah.  Israel was looking forward to when the Messiah would come and set things right.  For the Jews, the Day of Salvation was the culmination and restoration of Israel by the Messiah.  No one was looking for what Jesus brought, the time we now live in.  Scholars call it the time-between-times or the already-not-yet.  We live after the Messiah, but yet the world isn’t set right like the Jews expected.  We might look around and wonder that if Jesus was the Messiah, let alone God, why is the world so messed up?  This is the one of the great challenges of our faith.  It is known as the “problem of evil” and various answers have been offered. (In this way, we're like the disciples; we ask the questions even if we don't fully know all the answers) I think the most satisfactory answer is human free will.  Yet, to get back to the passage, Paul affirms that Salvation has come in Jesus.  In the midst of the pain, Salvation is here in Jesus.  This is the heart of the Gospel.  Nothing, and Paul means nothing, can separate us from the love of Christ.

P.S. I just finished Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright and cannot recommend it enough.  If you have ever wondered about the Resurrection, heaven, or hell, this book is for you.  If you have ever wondered if God forbids dogs or cats in heaven, then this book is especially for you.  Open your minds and be prepared to explore what the Christian faith has actually taught, confessed, and believed since its earliest days.