THEY ALMOST ALWAYS DISAPPOINT US—ALL BUT ONE

I Samuel 16:1-13

Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 2, 2008

Pastor William S. Waxenberg

Well, it’s an exciting time, isn’t it? I mean the primaries, especially the presidential primaries. (And, by the way, if you haven’t voted yet, be sure to do so on Tuesday. Here endeth the commercial.)

But the presidential primaries of 2008 are unique in so many ways. If he wins it all, John McCain will become the oldest president ever inaugurated. If Mike Huckabbe wins, he’ll be the first pastor to become president. If Barak Obama, the first president of African-American descent. If Hillary Clinton, the first woman.

And, regardless of who wins, this will be the first presidential contest since 1952 that either a sitting president or a sitting vice-president aren’t in the running.

Yes, it’s exciting in many ways.  More people are voting in this year’s presidential primaries than ever before.  And on Tuesday, we here in Texas have the opportunity to “seal the deal” for both the Republican and Democratic tickets.  Exciting indeed.

But here’s the thing: regardless of how excited we are, and even if our candidate-of-choice is nominated and then elected in November, at some point along the way, during the next four years, whoever is elected is going to disappoint us.  Many of the promises made now and until the election won’t be kept.  The decisions made will cause us to shake our heads.  The direction in which we’re lead may well break our hearts. 

George Bush, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, JFK, FDR—they all disappointed us in one way or another.  Even Abraham Lincoln.  While president he was vilified—and not just by the South but by many in the North who marched in the streets railing against his military draft.  And George Washington, revered as “the Father of our Country,” was reviled in his second term as president because of a treaty he negotiated with England known as the Jay Treaty.  Why, even former Continental soldiers who had served under Washington’s command called for him to be hung!  “Death to General Washington!” became their battle cry.

Oh, the psalmist of old was quite right.  “Put not your trust in princes,” he wrote (146:3).  They will, indeed, disappoint us.

Like Saul, the first king of Israel.  In today’s Old Testament reading, we hear the story of the prophet Samuel who’d been called by God to go and anoint a new king, someone of God’s own choosing. 

For you may remember that Saul wasn’t God’s choice.  After all, God was Israel’s king.  But that wasn’t good enough.  Israel wanted a “real” king, a human king.  “Everyone else has a king!” they cried.  “All the nations that surround us—they all have kings.  We want a king too!” So Samuel the prophet interceded with God.  And God said to Samuel, “The people want a king, do they?  Fine, we’ll give them a king, but tell them they’re not going to like it.” So Samuel told the people, “You want a king?  This is what a king will do for you: the king will take many of your sons and send them off to war.  He’ll take your sons left at home and send them out to work in his fields.  He’ll take your daughters and bring them into his palace to cook and bake.  And then he’ll take the best of your crops and your orchards and your livestock for himself.” But the people still cried out, “We want a king!” So Saul became their king (see I Samuel 8 and 9).  Which, of course, reminds us that we’d better watch out what we pray for!

And, sure enough, Saul disappointed the people and Saul disappointed God because he failed to do what God commanded of him.  And, finally, God had had enough.  “Go to Bethlehem,” God told Samuel.  “And find Jesse who has lots of sons.  One of these will be my chosen king.”

So Samuel went.  And he found Jesse, and Jesse, in turn, called his sons together.  Samuel sat there and looked at the first, Eliab by name, but no, this wasn’t God’s choice for his king.  And then Abinadab and Shammah passed by in front of Samuel.  And with each one, Samuel looked and prayed and assessed, but of the first three and the next four the one that God had chosen couldn’t be found.  Why?  Because as good looking as these lads appeared to be—strong, handsome—like George Clooney perhaps!—none of them fit with what God was looking for, because, we’re told, the Lord doesn’t see as you and I see.  No, the Lord isn’t impressed with outward appearances.  Rather, the Lord looks at the heart.

The heart.  That organ whose only function is to pump blood throughout our bodies.  But isn’t it interesting, that from biblical times until now—from what we would call a primitive world view that sees no more than a three-story universe to our sophisticated understanding of science and a universe without end—from biblical times until now, we still use the heart to speak about the center of life.  Both then and now, the heart is considered to be the seat of the emotions—glad hearts, sad hearts, courageous and fearful hearts.  Both then and now, the heart is understood as the place where our appetites for both good and evil reside.  Both then and now, the heart is the location of the will—a willing or unwilling heart, we say.  The heart speaks to God and God speaks to the heart.  In this morning’s Prayer of the Day we prayed:

…bring light into the darkness of our hearts….

And David is the one with a heart for God.  Hmmm, thinks Samuel, I’ve looked at all seven of Jesse’s sons.  And nothing.  “Do you have any more sons?” the prophet asks him.  And, a bit sheepish, old Jesse says, “Well, yes.  The youngest, the smallest of the bunch.  But he’s just a shepherd boy.  You don’t want to really see him, do you?” “Call him,” demands Samuel.  And when the shepherd boy is called home, and he enters into Jesse’s house, and stands in front of Samuel, Samuel knows.  “This is the one,” the Lord tells him.  And Samuel anoints him with oil, and David becomes king.

David!  And a good king.  Even a great king.  A political and military genius, able to rally together the disparate twelve tribes of Israel into one nation.  North and South brought together under a united monarchy.  David—the one who would even become “king par excellence” to the point where he would become the model for God’s future Messiah.  The Messiah, in fact, would be known as “Son of David.”

But, as you’ll remember, as great as he was, David too was a disappointment.  He disappointed God and he disappointed his people.  Too many wives, an affair with Bathsheba, the contract killing of Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband), the eventual conflict with his son Absalom….  By the end of his reign, David’s life had pretty much fallen apart.

Yes, they will all disappoint us, each and every one.  Saul, David, George, Abraham, Jimmy, Bill—and eventually Hillary or Barak or Mike or John. 

All but one.  For there is one who has come among us who hasn’t disappointed either God or mortals.  Why, he came into the world with God’s own heart beating in his chest from the moment of conception.  Recognized by angels and shepherds and Wise Men, he journeyed into the wilderness where John the Baptizer recognized the depth of this man’s heart, and cried out, “Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And then this man journeyed further into the wilderness to have his heart tested, more so than any other heart has ever been tested.  His heart would, in fact, become the battleground for a war between himself and Satan with nothing less than the entire created order at stake.  For should he lose, all would be lost for all eternity.  Should he win, all would be well.  And, when he came out of the wilderness and began his ministry, the meditations of his heart led him to declare:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he

has anointed me to bring good news to the

poor.  He as sent me to proclaim release to

the captives and recovery of sight to the

blind, to let the oppressed go free….

(Luke 4:18).

And his heart would be tested again and again as he confronted the Darkness by healing the sick, releasing those held captive by their sin, by challenging the religious powers of his day, and by being constantly misunderstood by those closest to his heart: his own disciples.

But this is God’s very own heart beating in this man’s chest.  It’s the heart of faith and faithfulness, the heart of compassion and self-giving love, the heart of obedience, which is why the apostle Paul includes this early Christian hymn in his letter to the Philippians.  “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” he wrote to them,

who, though he was in the form of God did not

regard equality with God as something to be

exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form

of a slave, being born in human likeness.  And

being found in human form, he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—even

death on the cross (2:5-8).

And God knew his own Son’s heart, beating, beating, beating in this man’s chest.  For that’s what God does—he looks at the heart: David’s Saul’s, yours, mine.  And Jesus’. 

Therefore God also highly exalted him and

gave him the name that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should

bend, in heaven and on earth, and under the

earth, and every tongue should confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the

Father (2:9-11.)

Well, there’s much excitement indeed about our 2008 presidential primaries.  As well there should be.  But don’t get too carried away.  For, truth be told, at some point, in some moment, we’ll be disappointed with whomever is nominated and then elected.  But then that’s only because the heart that beats in their chests is the same heart that beats in yours and mine.  A heart capable of incredible good.  A heart capable of incredible evil.  And everything in between.

In stark contrast, however, there’s another heart—the very heart of God—beating in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  And he doesn’t disappoint.  Ever.  Thanks be to God.

Amen.