Mutual Mystery

sermon by Carrie Eikler
1 Samuel 8:4-20, 11:14-15 and 12:19-25
Samuel Series: Part 3

If you were here last month, on Mother’s Day, you would have heard the scripture from the Psalms that was also uttered by Jesus at the moment of his death:  My Lord, my Lord why have you forsaken me?  And you would have seen Corey Anderson, our worship leader, pick up the text and before reading it start laughing because, as he put it “I just realized how appropriate this is for Mother’s Day.  How many mothers have felt like this?”  Not the most logical of thematic connections, comparing Jesus’ last words to Mother’s Day, but it sure was good for a laugh.  We got it.

Today is Father’s Day, and like Corey and that psalm, I didn’t make any immediate connection between the celebration in our society of father-figures with this text from 1 Samuel.  But as I sat with it more, I certainly resonated, both as a parent AND a child, with a bit of what was going on here.

This scripture, as commentators will note, is a shifting point in the life of Israel.  It is the transition of a people ruled by judges—a loosely connected community held together by the divinely inspired leaders-- to the creation of a strong centralized monarchy.  It wasn’t exactly like Braveheart turning into the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, but it was a shift in control, power, and loyalty. 

At the heart of this change is a gut-wrenching rejection of YHWH, the Lord..at least a rejection of the special relationship Israel had with YHWH up to this point,  Essentially God’s children are saying, we don’t need  you anymore, we want to strike out on our own, and we want someone else to guide us—a king.  And despite Samuel’s arguments,  YHWH basically sighs and says “let them have what they want.”

As you will likely have already read in the bulletin insert, a lot has happened between last Sunday’s story of Samuel being called to serve God and now.  Israel has been pillaged and the ark of the covenant—which essentially housed YHWH—was taken from them.  And while the ark was ultimately returned, Israel has lived in insecurity while nations around them have become strong under rules of kings.  And “the people ,”it says, “demand a king from Samuel.”

It should be said here, that it is questionable if “the people” really meant all the people of Israel.  It is likely that those who approached Samuel were influential individuals who stood to gain from a new institution—like powerful lobbyists with certain political and economic interests, the mighty one percent.  Which may be why Samuel was so wary to entertain such a conversation-really? the people want this?. 

 But it probably also had something to do with Samuel’s devotion to YHWH and the special relationship Israel has with YHWH—a relationship Samuel is trying to maintain.

You see—and this is something that long-time Brethren and Mennonites should understand—Israel saw itself as sort of a “peculiar people.”   Their relationship with the God of the covenant was different than the relationship other people had with their god.  That in turn, required a particular form of social and political power and arrangement.  Earthly kings were not part of the original equation between Israel and YHWH. 

According to Samuel, the cost of a monarch with its loyalties to a human leader would be great. Samuel is playing the card all parents and children know: “well if your friends jump off a cliff, would you do that to?” 

And with that, the paternal lecture beings: A king may bring some sort of security, but it will bring ruin to many.  There will be superrich and super poor.  Land will be confiscated.  Sons and daughters will be sold off in order to work the land in order to provide for this monarch.  In fact, the word for “take” is mentioned at least six times in only eight verses, and he even uses the dreaded word among the Israelites of “slave,” evoking imagery of their slavery in Egypt, which is not something done lightly.  Samuel says, shifting your loyalty from YHWH to a king is not what our family is about. And maybe, just maybe, YHWH will not answer your cries for help this time.  Are you ready for that?

And after listening to Samuel’s diatribe you can almost hear the crickets…(pause)

“Yeah ,OK, but we still want a king” (sigh.  Really?!)

Actually we can get all that can’t we?  We know what it means when security trumps faith. When the powerful wield their power against the interests of the rest of us.  When we look at the world and think about what we must prop up in order not to just survive, but compete. Yeah, I get this scenario.  It is an election year after all.

But what I don’t really get, what seems so crazy to me, is YHWH’s response.  He doesn’t come down saying “listen to Samuel, he knows what he’s talking about.” He doesn’t send plagues or famine upon his people just to remind them who really holds all the cards.  YHWH simply breathes a divine sigh and says to Samuel “Listen to them.  Go ahead and give them a king.”

Maybe it was some form of logical consequences from the divine parent—let them see what’s it’s like and decide if that was a good choice.  Maybe God is accepting an inevitable political reality, or he is looking past all this quarreling to the one king-David-who will really make a difference in their lives.  Or—and I like to entertain this possibility--maybe God was exhausted and just wanted his newspaper and nightcap at the end of the day and was waving them away with whatever they ask…just give them what they want, I’m just.  too.  tired.

As our old friend Walter Brueggeman reflects—the OT scholar we often come back to in our study—this narrative portrays a strange interaction between the three parties—those wanting a king, Samuel, and YHWH—but leaves the assessment of“ why”  YHWH does this to us.  The text itself doesn’t say.

When left to these mysterious reasons God does anything, we come up blank.  And I wonder if it goes the other way round.  When left to the mysterious reasons we, as God’s children, do anything we do…do the things that separate us from the loving source of our being…I wonder if God is not just a bit perplexed too. That’s what I see in this scripture—not so much humans trying to figure God out, but God trying to figure us out.

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In Newsweek a couple months ago I read an excerpt from a book by Buzz Bissinger called “Father’s Day: A Journey into the Mind and Heart of My Extraordinary Son.”  Here is an excerpt from that book.

My son Zach was born with brain damage that occurred during his birth. His brother Gerry-older by three minutes—is fine.  Zach is now 24, but his comprehension skill are roughly that of an 8- or 9-year-old. He can read, but he doesn’t understand many of the sentences.  He can’t add a hundred plus a hundred ,although he does know the result is “a lot.” …

As he grew out of childhood, I never knew how much Zach would understand. While his vocabulary expanded rapidly, his knowledge of what words meant did not keep pace.  When I tried to explain something abstract, I could sense him sifting through his hard drive with its millions of data points.  Bu tthe hard drive did not help him with concepts like preventative health or racism.  He knew who the president was but not Osama bin Laden.  He knew something terrible had happened on 9/11, but when the anniversary came, he called to wish me a “happy 9/11!”

Instead our relationship had been largely predicated on games.  He loved goofy hypotheticals: what would happen if he did something I told him he could not do?  When I kissed him good night, he invariably asked me if there was a certain word or name he could not say after I turned out the lights.

“What can’t I say?”
“You can’t say Rick Lyman.” [Who, after looking this person’s name up, is a cultural journalist for the NYTimes…unless he is speaking of another Rick Lyman]
“What happens if I say Rick Lyman?” [asks Zach]
“I will have to come back upstairs.”

 Dressed in his usual T-shirt and gym shorts, anticipating the tickling war we referred to as “cuddies,” he began to giggle.  I walked down the stairs and waited at the second floor landing.  He was plotting strategy.

“RICK!” he screamed.  (I said nothing.)
“RICK LY!!!” ( I said nothing.)
“RICK LYMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I ran back upstairs and banged open the door.  It was on.  I threw pillows at him.  He threw pillows at me.  I got a hold of him and tickled.  He kicked me in the head.  I chased him around the room, became exhausted and had to stop.  He seemed exhausted as well.  I rolled the top sheet over him, kissed him good night and went back downstairs.  From above I could hear a pulsating drum getting louder and louder.

 “Rick Lyman….RICK LYMAN!...RICKLYMAN!!!!”

He could have gone on forever.  at any time.  at any age. But when he turned 21, after nearly 15 straight years of doing it, I decided it had to stop.  I was ambivalent about giving it up, but I could not stand it anymore.  It only reaffirmed our frozenness.  Could we not move on to something else?

“Zach, you’re 21 now.  Not 6. This is what 6-year-olds do.  I can’t do it anymore.”
“Sorry, Dad.”
“There is nothing to be sorry about.  You’re just too old.  You’re 21. What happens when you are 21?”
“You’re not supposed to do things like that anymore.”
“That’s right.  Do you understand why?”
“I’m 21, I’m kinda too old for this now.”

I closed the door to his room.
 I stood right outside.
 I burst back through the door. 
“Just don’t say ‘good night.’”

It was on again.  I knew it was the one thing he loved about being with me.  I was scared of losing it.

As Buzz reflected on his relationship with Zach, he said, It is strange to love someone so much who is still so fundamentally mysterious.  “Strange” is a lousy word.  It is the most terrible pain of my life.  As much as I try to engage Zach, I also run from this challenge.  I run out of guilt.  I run because he was robbed and I feel I was robbed.  I run because of my shame.

 But whatever happens with Zach, I know I cannot think in terms of my best interests, even if I think they are also in his best interests.  Zach will be where and who he will be.  Because he needs to be.  Because he wants to be.  Because as famed physician Oliver Sacks said, all children, whatever the impairment, are propelled by the need to make themselves whole.  They may not get there, and they may need massive guidance, but they must forever try

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There’s not much I can say for sure about the God who created us.  But if there is anything that I am confident about is that God will be where and who he will be.  Which is no consolation for those of us looking for security, and stability, and grasping for some shred of control in our lives.   

Today’s story in Samuel reminds me of this liberating, but painful reality, that we, God's children, are propelled by the need to make ourselves whole. And that is not wholly discouraged by God.  We must forever try.  Those things may be successful, they may be disastrous, but…God is just outside the door waiting.  Just outside the door when we utter the words we are not to speak when the lights go out, when the wars rage, when the hungry cry out, when we despair.....just outside our door ready to burst through when we test the Sacred Presence. For in this, we are working to make ourselves whole.

It is strange to love someone so much who is still so fundamentally mysterious.