The Psalm: Psalm 9:9-20
This is an excerpt from a longer psalm originally consisting of Psalms 9 and 10. It is both a hymn of thanksgiving for God's help(vss. 9-12); and an appeal for God's favour (vss. 13-14), and for judgment against wicked enemies (vss. 15-20).
The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion. Declare his deeds among the peoples. For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me, O Lord. See what I suffer from those who hate me; you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death, so that I may recount all your praises, and, in the gates of daughter Zion, rejoice in your deliverance. The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught. The Lord has made himself known, he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah The wicked shall depart to Sheol, all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever. Rise up, O Lord! Do not let mortals prevail; let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, O Lord; let the nations know that they are only human. Selah
The Old Testament Lesson: 1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49
Primarily a story about triumph against all odds, brought about by trust in God.
Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." And the Philistine said, "Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together." When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. David said to Saul, "Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth." But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God." David said, "The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine." So Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you!" Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them." So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field." But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand." When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
The Epistle Lesson: Corinthians 6:1-13
Paul had a continuing conflict with the Corinthians Christians. They did not always accept him and his preaching as he would have preferred. Despite extreme difficulties he reiterates his appeal that the Corinthians respond to the message of reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ and become witnesses for Christ in the world.
As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, "At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see--we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything. We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return--I speak as to children--open wide your hearts also.
The Gospel Lesson: Mark 4:35-41
The question about who Jesus really is comes to the fore in this brief story. The whole point of the story is that nothing could harm the disciples while he was with them.
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
"Chronos and Kairos"
It has been suggested that when archeologists dig up the remains of our current civilization it is very likely that they will write volumes on the discovery of an object of worship found virtually everywhere we lived, featured predominantly in almost every room, and worn symbolically in various fashion statements on the body. It will be something that was carried by young and old, rich and poor alike -- and though the form might change the function remained in tact. A circle, with twelve gradations, and at least two arms that rotated in order that we might always be able to watch time slip away. When we judged the situation we were presently going through to be wonderful we worried that it would end too quickly, and when we could barely endure the anguish and the pain we thought that every second would go on forever. But the hands always moved at the same pace, and the reality was that nothing could alter the flow of time which moved like a great river that no one could ever step into twice in exactly the same way.
Some have suggested that our problem has never been that we don't have enough time, but that we simply don't use the time we are given very well. We feel very uncomfortable just taking the time to do nothing but simply sit and ponder the wonder of life, and that is a great pity.
All visionaries were first dreamers. David the shepherd, had plenty of time alone in the fields with nothing to do but talk to God, play the harp and sharpen his skills with a sling shot. He had enough time with God to know God quite well and maybe that's why he had a different set of expectations about the challenges life can bring our way. He first came to the attention of Saul the King of Israel because the ruler suffered from violent headaches brought on by insecurity and David's harp playing was the only thing that brought him peace. Later when it seemed there was no hope of overcoming the Phillistine giant Goliath it was David's skill with a sling shot that brought him momentary release. Still the greater demon of Saul's own insecurity would rear it's ugly head again and the popularity David found as a result of his victory over Goliath led to an intense jealousy that would ultimately cost the King his life.
We always hear about David being a young boy when this incident took place, but if you examine the book of Samuel carefully, it is clear that he was at least 18 years old at the time -- the same age as many of the young men who just went off to war for this country. He was probably just as idealistic and untested as many of them were, and his own chapter in history was still largely unwritten.
We're told that David even cast off the heavy armor that had been provided for him because it was just too cumbersome, and this early version of the notion that "less is more" becomes a major teaching of this Old Testament tale that carries through to New Testament times. Consistently we find that God doesn't use even the best of conventional weapons but instead uses the "least" to defeat those who think they're the greatest. Such insight requires a different sense of "timing" in order to live well. It requires we choose our moments carefully and recognize that the small, insignificant act may hold the key to victory or defeat.
The Greeks called this insight a differentiation between chronos and kairos…ordinary time and God's time. They were the first to picture the old man with the long beard that we see on New Year's Eve as the embodiment of chronos, weathered with the effects of age and experience, and the cherub like infant filled with potential as kairos, everything just about to unfold. While having more respect for the aged and for tradition than we probably do today, they were also appreciative of the fact that those moments for radical change come suddenly and can just as quickly slip away; that one must be sensitive to a rare opportunity…or perhaps lose it forever.
In and of itself, such a realization is a kind of "crossing over" from conventional wisdom to a higher level of thought,--being always prepared to go from one side to the other so to speak.
It is a given that life itself is dangerous, but this way of thinking involves an intentional choosing to confront those dangers head on…to take risks despite any turmoil along the way. It's tackling the big things with faith knowing that life is sometimes like a storm that causes our hearts to fear but that fear too is just another part of life.
There is a wonderful song written by Tony Wood and Kevin Stokes and performed by Scott Krippayne on his CD Wild Imagination (Spring Hill Music Group). The chorus is: "Sometimes he calms the storm with a whispered "peace be still." He can settle any sea but it doesn't mean he will. Sometimes he holds us close and lets the wind and waves go wild. Sometimes he calms the storm and other times he calms his child."
In today's gospel the disciples encounter a storm on the waters while Jesus is fast asleep. Upon waking, Jesus bids the wind to cease, and speaks words of peace to his troubled disciples. It should be a rather familiar scene to us for it is one we repeat symbolically every week when within the faith community we too gather amid life's obstacles and hardships to hear words of comfort and promise, to greet one another with peace, and to celebrate Jesus' enduring presence among us at the Lord's table and in all the situations we find ourselves in. One of the earliest symbols of the Church was in fact a boat with a single sail…an image of a radical and fairly small faith community on a storm tossed sea. The storm rages and the boat is tossed about like a child's toy. The winds, perhaps the same winds from last week's gospel that "blow wheresoever they will" push the waves into the boat and it is about to be swamped with water. One is forced to wonder how long the disciples, many of them experienced fishermen, waited before giving into terror, but at some point it dawns on them that surely they will all drown.
Then comes the question: "Where is Jesus?" Their own efforts to bail out the boat are failing miserably, and having exhausted their own human resources they finally turn to him. He by contrast, sleeps through the storm and the cries of the disciples every bit as comfortably as a child who runs down the hall in the middle of the night in terror and jumps into his parents' bed where within minutes the comfort of sleep engulfs him despite the fact that the storm still rages on at whatever level it was first sensed.
On finding and rousing him, the question moves from where to what. "What will you do? Do something. Do anything!"
The wind is rebuked with a few words, "Peace! Be still!" and now it is Jesus who gets to ask the next questions: "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?"
The disciples answer with still another question: "Who is this?" they wonder aloud.
This business of faith seems to be filled with more questions than answers. Where, what, why and who; the question left for us is "When?" When is the time to respond with faith? When is that kairos moment that makes us a transformed people who have truly crossed over to a different way of thinking and living?
Now is the time, Paul advises the Corinthian community in our epistle for today (II Cor 6.2). Not later, not tomorrow, but now is the time. But the Corinthians weren't sure that Paul was right, he lacked the proper credentials and even though his words were filled with opportunity he just didn't have that look they were used to. Open wide your hearts to receive the one whom even the wind and sea obey.
Fear and fear alone can prevent us from dealing with what threatens us; and it can - in the end - permit the thing we fear to destroy us; not just our bodies, which will pass away in any case - but our hearts, and our minds, and even our very souls. That is what was happening at the time when the Philistines came to make war on Israel during the reign of King Saul.
The cry of terror in the midst of difficulty opens the way for grace. The cry itself changes the course of history.
Dorothee Soelle in her book Suffering, (Fortress Press, 1975) wrote:
The first step towards overcoming suffering is then to find a language that leads out of the uncomprehended suffering that makes one mute, a language of lament, of crying, of pain, a language that at least says what the situation is.
By giving voice to lament one can intercept and work on his suffering within the framework of communication. The hopelessness of certain forms of suffering ... can be endured where the pain can still be articulated.
The sufferer ... must find a way to express and identify his suffering ... If people cannot speak about their affliction they will be destroyed by it, or swallowed up by apathy. It is not important where they find the language
or what form it takes. But people's lives actually depend on being able to put their situation into words, or rather, learning to express themselves, which includes the nonverbal possibilities of _expression. Without the capacity to communicate with others there can be no change. To become speechless, to be totally without any relationship, that is death.
What is decisive is who the person's dialogue partner is. Christ or mammon, or his own vitality. "The result of prayer ... depends on whom he is speaking with, that is, in a Christian sense, who his 'God' is." If people experience their life as destined by fate, they are dealing with the mute God, and their prayer can only amount to resigning themselves to their lot." (Simone Weil)
By contrast, "Israel's history is shaped and interpreted as an experience of cry and rescue. Thus the form became for Israel a way of self-understanding in the world, a way of self-understanding not different from the theological and liturgical understandings of the Christian community. It is correct to see that the actions of Jesus are understood as God's mighty saving deeds in response to a cry of distress. A variety of voices "cry out" to him in distress: The blind, the demon-possessed, Peter. Each is introduced with the verb "cry out" (kraso) and each asks for compassion. Jesus' saving actions of feeding, healing, forgiving, cleansing, and raising are saving responses to situations of distress. Thus Jesus' kingship is presented as God's response to the world's lament, even as David's kingship is response to the Philistine crisis. The church's resurrection faith is the same as Israel's petition and praise, the sure conviction that he hears and sees and acts decisively. Yahweh is the one who is attentive and does respond." <Walter Brueggemann, From Hurt to Joy, From Death to Life>
Pastoral Prayer:
Our faith in your power and your providence, O God, is strengthened today in our reflection upon the experience of David in his encounter with the giant Goliath. You remind us that there is nothing in all creation that is more powerful than your word in all its two-edged glory. By it Jesus calmed the storm, by it he healed and made people whole - and by it we too are sustained from day to day and from minute to minute. Help us, O God, to cling to your living word - and to root ourselves in it - that we may be a people who overcome all the trials and tribulations that come upon us. We know how the strong can be defeated by the weak, of how the exalted and the mighty can be overcome by those who are humble and lowly - and we thank you for this. We pray O God for all those today who are oppressed, we pray for those who must contend with forces greater than they - grant them faith and in faith, grant them courage; act for them, and in them, to bring about their liberation. We pray today, O God for all those who live in fear and insecurity - for those who need encouragement, for those who need our help and the help of their neighbors and their communities if they are to know life in its fullness. Help us to live as the Church we were called to be for we ask it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Benediction:
Go in peace, love and care for one another in the name of Christ; - and may the love of God the Father rest upon you - may the grace and the mercy of Christ Jesus the Son dwell within you - and may God the Holy Spirit strengthen, comfort, and sustain you both now and forevermore. Amen