A Sermon
for the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 6-17-2012
Offered by
Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry
Texts: 1
Samuel 15:34-16:13; Psalm 20; Mark 4:26-34
Themes: Fathers’
Day, seeing the heart, silent growth
Title: The
Heart of a King
How do you see the heart of a king? How
do you see the heart of a champion?
If you know anything at all about the
world of sports, then you will know that certain people have “IT” and others do
not. And that “IT” is usually described as the will to succeed, the drive to
win, the refusal to lose. This invisible character trait can be summarized as
the heart of a champion.
In the world of basketball, Michael
Jordan had this heart. He had IT and everybody knew it!
You could see it in the way that he
played every single game with intensity and passion!
Many today are critical of the new
basketball star, LeBron James, because they do not think that he has this kind
of heart, not the way that Jordan had it.
But how do you see the heart of a champion?
How can one see the heart of a king?
If you stop and really think about this famous
episode of Samuel anointing the young boy David as the new king, you can begin
to see how incredibly odd it is!
An old man, sneaking off and moving behind
the back of the king, and choosing some random 10 year old boy – from an
obscure family – to serve as the next king?
Now, I am not particularly happy with
our current procedures for choosing leaders in our society.
I think that our current system favors
those who are dishonest, those with purely selfish interests, and I believe
that money has far too much influence upon who is elected, regardless of the
ideas or the character of the candidates.
But surely even our flawed process is
FAR superior to what we see here in this story!
Saul had failed. God had rejected him,
and God needed to pick a successor.
Somehow, God saw the heart of David and
God determined that David had the heart of a king!
How can you tell when a boy is so young,
perhaps only 10 years old?
Of course, WE cannot. But of course, God
can.
What we have given to us here is a
lesson. It’s not a model for how to choose leaders in society, but rather a
lesson for how we are to look at others.
We all know that our physical vision is
not entirely objective.
Isn’t it amazing that one day I can look
in the mirror and think to myself, “All right, you look pretty good!” And the
next day I can look in that same mirror and think, “Oh man, you look awful!”
What changes? Not my waistline. It
doesn’t change that quickly!
What changes is my perception. Mirrors do
not tell the truth. What we see in mirrors, what we see with our eyes, tends to
corresponds much more closely to how we FEEL rather than to reality!
Our gift of sight is often quite
subjective. And THIS is why God calls us to move beyond the surface, beyond the
range of normal sight.
“For the Lord does not see as mortals
see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
This divine vision is to be OUR vision.
This way of seeing is to be OUR way of seeing.
We all know that this is not easy! Let’s
be honest: who here might see, for instance, a young man covered with tattoos
and various body piercings and does not make an instant judgment of him?
But can you see his heart? We can tell
that such a person lacks wisdom – by placing so much emphasis upon his outward
appearance when what truly matters is inside.
But can we truly see the quality and the
character of his heart? Or do we even try?
I’ve shared this with you before, but it
bears repeating: God’s plan for us is that we learn to see each man as our
brother, and each woman as our sister.
Not because of what they look like on
the outside. Not because of their age or any external factor.
But simply because they are people for
whom Christ died.
Simply because they are human beings,
with beating hearts just like ours.
This is God’s plan, and it is very
slowly being worked into the mass of human society.
Just look at this parable of the mustard
seed.
This is the principle of how God works
in the world: there is a slow progression – a gradual growth and development – in the
fulfillment of God’s desires for the world.
We can see this principle at work in so
many different levels.
Consider in a brief overview how we have
conducted ourselves in civil society.
We began in simple tribal family groups,
with strong men in positions of power because of their personal strength and
wealth.
Then we progressed to kings who united
together a number of related tribes into larger social groups under their
authority.
After this, we progressed to democratic
nations, where only the right kind of men – men of position and means - could
cast a vote.
Now, we have reached a point where all
people, regardless of gender and race and tribe and language and class, are
entitled to a voice and a vote in society.
You can see this slow growth and
progress in God’ vision for humanity coming into fruition – God’s vision for a
world where the dignity of each human being is honored.
Consider also this slow growth and
development within the people of God.
Beginning with the tribe of Abraham and
his children, God began to set apart a special people.
This one tribe became a family of twelve
tribes with a clear ethnic delineation.
Over time, converts began to be
attracted to a life within the covenant with the Lord.
Of course, with the coming of Jesus and
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, people of all nations were
grafted into the family of Abraham.
But even then, there was much more to
do! Slavery still abounded, even within the church.
Racism continued to plague the church
for many centuries. In our own day, there are continued struggles over the
place of women and people of different orientations within the church.
God’s vision for diversity within the
kingdom has been slowing growing and spreading out it’s branches, providing
shade and refuge for more and more members of the human family.
After all, we know the vision! God’s
method has been explained to us.
“The Lord does not see as mortals
see…the Lord looks on the heart.”
And what is it about this mysterious heart anyway?
Do you know that there are now dozens of documented cases of persons receiving
a heart transplant who experience sudden personality changes which are related
to the donor?
Such as a middle-aged man who received a
heart transplant. Soon afterward he bought his first Harley-Davidson, and he
fell in love with riding. Later, when speaking with his doctor, he learned that
his heart donor had been a motorcyclist!
More and more scientific research is
documenting what the writers of these ancient biblical texts already knew! (see
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-home/research-center-home.html)
Within the human heart is where the
human soul resides, even within the muscle tissue itself.
So remember, my friends, that God sees
and knows your hearts!
At all times, God sees and knows us.
And let us remember
to look with the eyes of God, to see beyond the surface level, and to gaze into
the heart of those we meet, to consider their eternal worth and dignity, and to
love them as God does.
It is not easy, but this is our task and our special
calling in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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