Waiting Patiently Upon the Lord

A Sermon for the 4^th Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 6-24-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              1 Samuel 17:57-18:5,10-16; Psalm 133; Mark 4:35-41

Themes:         Jonathan and David, unity in the love of God, Jesus as Master

Title:               Waiting Patiently Upon the Lord

My dear sisters and brothers: we are continuing our journey through these chronicles of the kings of Israel. Last week we heard about the anointing of David as the new king of Israel, appointed to replace the failed reign of Saul, and we talked together about how David had the heart of a champion, the heart of a king.

Today we continue with more of the legends surrounding the rise of David as the greatest King in Hebrew history. But today, the text from the First Book of Samuel presents us with a very different lesson drawn from the story of David.

But first I need to ask you this question: Does anyone here like to watch movies? Yes…me too!

I’m sure that you can think of a hundred movies where the hero of the story goes out and conquers takes what is rightfully his! Like every single action movie ever made!

This is what our popular culture teaches: the strong man takes what is his, the strong man claims his rights, the strong man takes his own.

But this is the exact opposite of what we see in David’s rise to the throne. For in David, we see an attitude of patient waiting upon God.

These stories that we are reading are full of symbolic imagery.

We could have read today about David’s victory over Goliath. And you may remember that Saul had offered the use of his own armor and his own sword to young David who had the moxie to challenge Goliath in open combat. But Saul’s armor was too big for young David, and so instead he wore his own clothes into battle. And his weapon of choice was his trusty sling and 5 smooth stones picked out of the nearby streambed.

Now remember: in the age of kings, one of the primary symbols of royal power was the sword.

The one who wielded the sword of the king could wield the authority of the king. Even Saint Paul in the New Testament - a thousand years after the rise of King David - referred to this symbolism when he reminded the readers of his Letter to the Romans that “the [governing] authority does not bear the sword in vain” (Romans 13:4). The sword is the symbol of authority and power.

Saul had offered his own sword to David the young man, but he was not ready for it.

Instead, when he killed Goliath in the field with his sling, he used the sword of the great giant to cut off the giant’s head! In that battle, David was symbolically given power over the Philistines by the hand of God.

Notice the details, my friends: David did not take this authority by intrigue nor by skillful manipulation. The authors of this text are clear to stress that it was given to him by the desire of God.

And so David now returns to Saul with the head of Goliath, and the sword of Goliath, in his hands.

Can you imagine it? What a nasty, gruesome sight!

But there he stands, holding the symbolic power over the Philistines. He could have taken the throne right then and there! As the one who defeated the hated enemy of the people, he could have struck down Saul and taken the throne and all the gathered armies would have followed him!

But he did not. He waited, and what happens then but the power and position and privilege of the crown prince is given to him!

We are never told why Jonathan loved David. But the why does not matter; what matters to the story is the result.

Jonathan is the eldest son of Saul, and so he stands first in line to claim the throne after his father.

But, because of his love for David, he gives away his birthright. And now David stands as the rightful prince, the rightful heir to the throne, with all the symbols of princely power.

Can you see the message clearly being expressed?

The editors of this text are sending a clear message: David did not usurp the throne from Saul, and David did not usurp the position of Jonathan as the one in line for the throne.

It was given to him – yes, by the love of Jonathan, but it was given to David truly by the hand of God.

Unlike the heroes of our popular culture who take what is rightfully theirs, David is presented to us as the one who waited patiently upon the Lord, the one who had every opportunity to take the kingship away from Saul, and who did not.

Remember how the story is presented: as a young boy he was anointed to be the next king.

So he knew that God had called and appointed him to be king. And it would have been so easy for him to return with the head and the sword of Goliath and to take the throne! David had multiple opportunities to kill Saul and take the throne.

But David knew that God would let him know when the time was right.

I’ve talked with all of you about Abba Agathon who lived in the Egyptian desert in the 3^rd century. He was the monk who walked around with a stone in his mouth for 3 years until he had learned how to control his tongue! So you know what kind of serious man he was!

Once this Abba Agathon was out walking with his disciples, and one of his disciples found a small green pea on the road. And so he asked his elder, “Father, may I take it?”

The old Abba looked at him with astonishment and asked, “Was it you who put it there?”

“No”, the disciples replied.

“How then,” the elder Agathon continued, “can you take up something which you did not put down?”

(The Sayings of the Desert Fathers by Benedicta Ward, 1984: p. 22).

Now, this is quite obviously an extreme example. 

Surely, if you need food to eat – and especially in the desert! – and there is a spare pea lying in the road, surely you can take it and eat it!

But the point is not about that one little pea. The point for Abba Agathon – and for all of these ancient masters in the desert – was to change the instinctual responses of the human heart.

If you see something that you need or want lying on the ground, what is your natural response?

Is it not to take it, to grab it?  

But what is the state of mind of one who lives completely within a patient trust in God?

My first vivid encounter with this attitude came from our neighbor when we lived outside of Richmond, Virginia. Our neighbor was an American Indian medicine man – Barry Thunder Eagle Leno.

Barry took me under his wings during the 3 years that I was there in seminary.

Often, when we talked, Barry would mention in passing that he needed some thing or other, and then he would finish his sentence by saying, “but it’ll come when it’s time.” And that was his attitude.

He lived with this sense of patient trust that whatever was truly necessary would come to him when the time was right.

I remember being amazed by this perspective, and I remember even more wanting to emulate it! Wanting to live with that same kind of patient trust.   

The Bible tells us that this is how David lived, this is how David came to be the greatest King in the history of Israel.

Not by forcefully grabbing and taking that which was his by right.

But rather by patiently waiting upon God, waiting for God’s good timing.

What about you? Are you able to live with this same kind of attitude and perspective?

Can you live each day with this kind of patient trust in Christ, who – after all – is the Master over even the wind and the sea? 

May it always be so among us who have been anointed and called as kings and priests to serve God for ever and ever. Amen.