Ordinary time week 4

Psalm: Psalm 9:9-20 or Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32
  or Psalm 133 
Old Testament: 1 Samuel 17 (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49
  or 1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16 or Job 38:1-11 
Gospel: Mark 4:35-41 
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

This week we have 2 interesting stories juxtaposed with each other. One the one hand, in our Old Testament reading we continue the story of David and the early monarchy in Israel. On the other hand, In the Gospel reading Jesus calms the storms while he and his disciples are on the Sea of Galilee. Let us look at each story and then see what they have in common.

I have been enjoying going through the story of Saul and David from 1 Samuel the last few weeks. This week is the story of David and Goliath, one no doubt we all know. To set the state, the Israelites and the Philistines are lined up for battle, and Goliath, knowing that he can take anyone in a one-on-one fight, decides to skip the whole battle thing and just do a mano-a-mano, winner takes all fight. This was actually a brilliant idea because Goliath could have beaten any of the Israelites, shown by the fact that no one would go fight him, and if no one did step up. than that leaves King Saul to either accept defeat and shame or to die trying. Twice the text says that all of Israel was afraid. But we know that when David showed up he wasn't scared. Just like he was able to kill the bear and the lion, he knew that he had the tools to kill Goliath. He also knew that Goliath was not just calling out and shaming Israel, he was also claiming power over the Lord. David knew that the Lord would be with him and he would be successful. Saul tried to dress David up in his armor, and we can picture the humorous scene that that entailed. But eventually David faced the enemy with just a staff, a sling, five stones, and the Lord. That was enough however and David slayed the giant and gained the respect of Israel.

We move from a battle scene with kings and giants to a calm seashore where Jesus teaches the crowd. After teaching them, Jesus and his disciples decided to take the boat to the other side. Jesus had actually been teaching from the boat because the crowd was too large and was pushing in on him. So presumable "going to the other side" was a means of retreat and also to be able to move on to minister to other crowds. But as they were traveling a wind and storm arose, something not uncommon on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples are terrified and rush to Jesus and ask "aren't you scared, don't you care that we are perishing?" As we know, Jesus gets up and calms the storm and then says to them, "Why are you afraid" Do you still have no faith?" To which they basically respond "no, we don't," because they didn't know yet who Jesus was.

So what do these stories have in common? I think there are at least 2 things. First the element of fear. The Israelites and the disciples both were afraid of what would happen. They saw no way out in their on strength. This naturally leads us to the second element, faith or trust. There was fear because there was a lack of faith in the Lord. The Israelites should have known that the Lord would save them if they turned to him. Perhaps we can give the disciples a little bit of a break since they were basically ignorant of who Jesus was and his power at that point, but still there was a lack of trust in Jesus' ability to save them. I guess a bonus third aspect is that the Lord does actually work to save. David trusted the Lord for victory and killed Goliath. And although there isn't really a Davidic figure in Mark, the disciples did know to turn to Jesus and question why he wasn't doing anything or working to help save them all.

Looking to where we in these stories, all to often we have to admit that we are like the Israelites and the disciples. We are afraid and don't know where to turn. Maybe we are like Saul and try to fix a problem with our own tools, much like how Saul tried to dress David in his armor. Our lack of trust leaves us on the sidelines hoping somebody else will raise their hand and take on Goliath. The call this week is to learn to trust the Lord a little bit more. God has shown himself to be more than trustful and capable to take care of us. Life has a way of throwing us curve-balls and hardships, but trust in the Lord can bring us through the worst storms and hardships.

Through the help of the Holy Spirit may we learn to trust the Lord even more and grow in our faith, to the glory of God the Father.

Grace and Peace.