Our LORD and Our God

1 Samuel 15:34—16:13   Mark 3:20-35

All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.”

Today’s first reading paints for us a picture that ought to be easy for us to understand.  For years, the tribes of Israel have lived under the guidance and leadership of the Judges, and because of this, the neighboring kingdoms have seen Israel as an easy target.  In truth, Israel is not without a King, God is their King, but the Israelites want something more of this world, a man who will stand up and be their king, gather armies, and, well, create a kingdom like their neighbors have, hopefully making them less of a target, and/or better able to respond in kind when they are attacked.

You know, this doesn’t sound all that unreasonable to us.  As materialistic as our world has become, we find it very difficult to imagine a conglomeration of tribal peoples governed by an assembly of Judges under the guidance and protection of – something or someone spiritual, a Person they call God.  And through whom does God speak to them? - through His prophet, Samuel.

And what is Samuel’s very first reaction to what he has been asked?  He takes it personally.  Granted, the request isn’t as well worded as it might have been, and it’s possible the Israelites actually see Samuel as to the one to blame for their not having an earthly king and kingdom, but, once again, as is so often the case, human ego initially gets in the way of Samuel hearing clearly what is happening.  God straightens him out.

Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”

What does one get when one rejects God?  Samuel gives them the word of God, a description of the king that they will get, and it is the description of someone truly terrible.  Do the people listen?  They do not – just as they have not listened since the Exodus - because they have an idea in their heads that makes sense to them, and even though God tells them the foolishness of it, they will not stand down.  They have chosen to pit their wills, their logic, their egos, against the will of God.  Saul will become their king – and they will suffer mightily for it.

The crowd came together again, so that Jesus and His disciples could not even eat. When His family heard it, they went out to restrain Him, for the people were saying, “He has gone out of His mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.” 

The scene in today’s Gospel, so different from other scenes painted for us in other Gospel stories, is unsettling – or it is certainly meant to be.  There is the crowd, a typical image in Mark’s Gospel, but this time it is not a crowd of people who are eager to see someone they hold in awe, someone from whom they expect holiness and the miraculous.  This crowd is hostile, so hostile in fact, Jesus’ own family comes out to try to “restrain” Him, to get Him to shut up.  … For people were saying, “He has gone out of His mind.”

Most translations use the word “people” – For people were saying - but in the original Greek, the word used can be translated “they”, they were saying, and thus the statement could mean the crowd or it could mean that Jesus’ own family is making an excuse for Him by claiming He has lost His mind. 

Whoever said it, in His hometown, Jesus is obviously distrusted and even despised.  And yet, we understand the scribes and the crowd.  Like the Pharisees in last week’s Gospel who, because they followed the rules believed they were right, the locals in Jesus’ hometown believe they have every reason to think Jesus is evil. 

Travelling from town to town away from His hometown, Jesus is an unknown Rabbi, possibly a prophet, performing miracles.  At home, He is Joseph’s son, the lad who everyone thought would become carpenter, but who has instead gone off to become - - - what? 

He’s not a traditional Rabbi, which would have been acceptable.  What Jesus is when He gets home is “local boy makes good doing amazing things outside of the rules and traditions of the faith”.  And so the question has arisen in the minds of those who have known Him from childhood - if He is acting outside the rules, as His preaching and actions clearly demonstrate, then where is His power coming from?

And the scribes, who have travelled a distance to be part of the crowd, provide the answer.  They are there to denounce Jesus, not just as a false Rabbi/teacher, but to align Jesus’ ministry and miracles with the works and power of Satan.  This is a fatal mistake, not just in worldly terms, but in eternal ones.

Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”  

How do we modern listeners fit into these ancient stories?

We can certainly understand why the Israelites wanted a king.  How awful to be attacked regularly by neighboring nations, and to have no organized government with which to mobilize troops and retaliate.  Even at this moment in time, we’re seeing what can happen when countries attack and retaliate, but like the Israelite of old no one today would consider depending on God for help.  The idea sounds, well, preposterous – and that’s how it sounded to the ancient Israelites.  Despite Samuel’s warnings from God, the people knew what they wanted and, much to their later sorrow, demanded it.

We live in a violent world, violence of war, domestic violence, violence against people who are different from us or violate our “rules, even violence to our planet.  To quote from the movie “Tomorrowland”, “You've got simultaneous epidemics of obesity and starvation. Explain that one!  Bees and butterflies start to disappear, the glaciers melt, algae blooms.  All around you the coal mine canaries are dropping dead and you won't take the hint!”

And the hint is – that like those ancient Israelites we have struck out on our own, following where greed and pride lead us, and we no longer depend on God.  “I can do this myself”, we think. God is invisible, but my iPhone is right here.  Which is it easier to depend on for help, information, guidance, directions?  Clearly it is the technology in my hand, and not “Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes”.  And, of course, that was part of the problem then and now – God’s invisibility.

But God understood the need we humans have, and that is one of the reasons He became incarnate.  God came down, and became one of us, so that He would not be forever invisible.

We like to think of Jesus as our friend and brother, as the kind man in the garden or with a lamb in His arms, but while we are meant to love and trust Him, we are also called to stand in awe and tremble before Him.  Without Him, we are lost. Mother Teresa once said that she had no imagination, so she always prayed to Jesus.  The unforgivable sin is to not believe, not acknowledge – Jesus is God.

To paraphrase Tomorrowland once more, “In every moment there's the possibility of a better life, a better future, a better world, but you people won't believe it.  And because you won't believe it you won't do what is necessary to make it a reality … You resign yourselves to this violent world for one reason, because it is easier, because it requires of you no faith, no sacrifice, no surrender, because it asks nothing of you today.”   

And what does God ask of us this day?  To acknowledge our Lord in His divinity, to put love above all earthly treasure, to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.

Let us pray:

Jesus Christ, our God, we adore You and thank You for all the graces You have given us. We offer You our waking and our sleeping and all the moments of our lives.  We place ourselves and all our loved ones, wherever they may be, in Your sacred care, beseeching You to give us the strength and courage we need to love and serve only You for all our days.   Amen.