The Bubble
Hannah and I like a TV show called
30 Rock. It’s about a woman named Liz Lemon who is the head writer on a show a
lot like Saturday Night Live. And in one of the episodes, she starts dating a
new guy who is absolutely gorgeous (He’s played by Jon Hamm, the man who stars
as the dapper advertising executive in Mad Men). So much so, in fact, that
every where he goes people bend over backwards to be nice to him. Police officers
rip up his parking tickets when they see his face. He never waits for a table
at a restaurant. He gave tennis lessons for years without ever learning to play
because women wanted to look at him so much they didn’t care.
After
a few dates Liz realizes that he lives in a bubble. He has no idea how bad he
is at tennis, no experience at waiting in lines, no clue that everyone without
as pretty of a face has to pay their own parking tickets. He even thinks he
speaks French because no one has ever corrected him.
And while it’s a bit of an
exaggeration, the bubble exists in the real world too. A beautiful face can
sometimes get you out of a speeding ticket, or into a club that would otherwise
be closed off. Tall men with deep voices are listened too more quickly than the
rest of us. Young married men have a much easier time finding jobs as pastors
than their single or older friends. We’re all quick to judge people by the way
they look, whether it’s assuming that someone with tattoos and a strange
haircut is dangerous, or that someone wearing a suit is trustworthy. We base
many of our decisions on factors of appearance, sometimes without even
realizing it. I doubt anyone would say that they choose who they vote for based
on height, but since 1904 more than 70% of our commanders and chief were taller
than the opposing candidate. And though height probably doesn’t affect business
acumen, a disproportionate amount of CEOs of major companies are over 6 feet
tall.
Leaders were judged by their
stature and appearance in Biblical times too. According to that standard, Saul
was judged a great king. The book of Samuel says that Saul was “a handsome
young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than
he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.” (1 Samuel 9:2) People saw
him and were inspired to follow. He had great success on the battlefield, and
because of it and the regard that people had for him, he tried to get away with
things he shouldn’t do. Like Liz Lemon’s boyfriend, Saul sort of lived in a
bubble. In one particular episode, Saul demonstrates that he’s not accustomed
to waiting on others. Rather than waiting until Samuel arrives he gives a burnt
offering himself. God is displeased that Saul puts his own interests first,
seeking to please his restless populace instead of his Lord. When Samuel
arrives he tells him that he has blown his chance. The Lord would have
established a line of kings of Israel under Saul, but because of his
disobedience, the Lord is taking new applications, seeking “a man after God’s
own heart.”
Even after this, Saul continues to
live in his bubble, doing what he wants because he is king, instead of what God
wants. Though God commanded him to destroy the livestock of the Amalekites, he
destroys only the weak and worthless, saving the choicest and the fattest of
the flocks, relenting to pressure from his army. When Samuel confronts him, he
says that he saved them to sacrifice to the Lord. For his disobedience, God
rejects Saul as King over Israel, and God even regrets that God made him king
in the first place.
So in our story for today, the Lord
sends Samuel to anoint for him a new King. “I have seen a king for myself among
the sons of Jesse,” God tells Samuel, and tells him to go to Bethlehem. Samuel
hesitates, for the feud between him and Saul was likely well-known, and he is
afraid that Saul might kill him should he find out. In a bitterly ironic
response, God gives Samuel the same lie that Saul told him, that he has is
going there to sacrifice to the Lord.
While some of the Bible can seem
formulaic and dry, or difficult to understand, the Samuel Saga is remarkably
well written and well-told. The story of Noah uses the word cubits far too many
times to qualify as good drama, but the fall of Saul and the rise of David are
such a great story that just a couple of years ago NBC turned it into a prime
time drama. And the little details like Samuel telling the same lie that Saul
told him are marks of a well-crafted story. In our story for today, not only
does God (through Samuel) spit back the lie that Saul had told him, but
everything is carefully told in terms of vision and with a focus on outward
appearances, emphasizing the contrast between the way God sees and the way
humans see.
Samuel has gone to Bethlehem, for the Lord has seen for
Godself a king among the sons of Jesse. Samuel invites Jesse and his sons to
the sacrifice that provides the pretense for his visit. When they arrive, Jesse
shows each of his sons to Samuel, and Samuel looks at each one. We see them through
Samuel’s human eyes, he is impressed by the what he sees.
Jesse’s first son comes before
Samuel. Samuel sees him and sees a great leader. He is tall, and handsome.
Samuel reaches for his horn of oil, but the Lord stills his hand. “Do not look
at his appearance or his height, because I have rejected him. The Lord does not
see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on
the heart.” Abinadab comes forward, and again Samuel sees a beautiful and tall
young man. The kind of man that armies would follow, constituents would listen
to, and elders would obey. Samuel’s hand is stilled again. The author draws
this out as long as possible. A third son, Shammah passes by. Again, God tells
Samuel that this is not the chosen one. Four more sons pass in front of Samuel
this way, and none of them are the Lord’s chosen. When all of the sons have
passed by and none of them have passed muster, Samuel must ask if there is
another son, and Jesse must send to the farm to bring David. David had been
shepherding the sheep, and when he arrives Samuel anoints him as king, shepherd
of all Israel.
The moral of the story is clear.
Perhaps as clear as any story in the Bible. “The Lord does not see as mortal
sees, but the Lord looks on the heart.” The emphasis on vision makes this
particularly hard to miss. Even David is described by his outward appearance,
as one who is “good to look at” with blue eyes and a ruddy complexion. But even
though he’s good to look at, he is not exactly king material. He still sits at
the kid’s table! He’s both young and small, not exactly the type to inspire
fear in the heart of the enemy, or loyalty in his soldiers. But the Lord has
chosen him among all the people to be the chosen king, to deliver the people of
Israel. The spirit of the Lord gripped him mightily from that day forward.
And from that day forward, David
lives in a bubble. David has ten times the success on the battlefield Saul
experienced. They used to sing, Saul has slain thousands, and David tens of
thousands. David unites Israel and Judah into one kingdom, and turns it from a
loose confederation of tribes into a nation. It is to David that Israel traces
its roots. Saul is a foil through which we can see how David, and Israel, and
their special relationship with God, are what matters.
But David’s bubble is a different
bubble from the one Saul inhabited. Saul was protected from disagreement by his
strength and his stature. David, on the other hand, is protected by the Spirit
of God. David’s bubble is his
relationship with God. David puts God at the center of his life. He is truly,
as Samuel prophesied, “a man after God’s own heart” When David experiences
tragedy, he turns to God. When David experiences joy, he turns to God. When
David sins, he turns to God. When David mourns, he turns to God.
David doesn’t worry about his
enemies, even though from the moment he is anointed he has many. He faces
Goliath armed with little but absolute trust in God. He doesn’t care about what
people think, only what God thinks.
When he dances before the Lord in victory and accidentally flashes a
bunch of people, his wife rebukes him, but he replies that his dance was for
the Lord. He lives in the bubble of being after God’s heart, of being in
relationship with God. Now the bubble does not protect David from all harm,
indeed the anointing that David receives often feels more like a target on his
back than a blessing, but David never forsakes the Lord, even as the Lord
punishes him.
This is what I love about David. He
is a particularly human individual. He has unprecedented success, he makes
terrible mistakes, he experiences the height of joy and the depth of despair,
and through it all he worries about nothing but what God thinks. I dream of
having a faith like David’s. I think his faith, in spite of his personal flaws,
blind spots and problems, is one that we should look to as an example. Put
yourself in the bubble of relationship with God. Let God be the only judge
through which you see your actions.
A few years ago my friend and I
were teaching Vacation Bible School in Washington Heights in New York, and our
lesson for the day was on the Gospel text for today, the parable of the mustard
seed. And so to show the students how this tiny little thing could grow up into
something great I started looking up pictures of mustard trees. To show how big
that they grow, and how birds and animals shelter beneath their branches.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any pictures, because mustard does not grow on
trees (again I expose my urban bias. I tell you things that anybody with any
sense already knows). And that the mustard seed that we eat is not the mustard
that Jesus was talking about.
The mustard that grew in the Holy
Land was the same mustard that grows out here in the fields. Yes, it’s THAT
mustard. The mustard that chokes out other vegetation, seems to grow anywhere
and everywhere, and just generally causes trouble. And don’t think that in
Jesus time it was any less of a problem. And so when Jesus tells us of this
tiny seed that grows enough to shelter animals and birds, he is radically
reenvisioning what it means to be the shoot that springs forth from the root of
Jesse. He is proclaiming a new reality, on in which God does not take the
strongest or the most stately, but stubborn, trouble causing problem people,
and uses them for mighty works.
This is what living in God’s Bubble
is about. It’s about not seeing as mortals see, but as God sees. It’s about
believing that a weed can grow so large that it will shelter animals beneath
its branches. It’s about trusting that a few stones will slay a giant. It’s
knowing that God takes sinful, weed-like, trouble causing folks and destines
them for great things. All we have to do is live in relationship with God. Put
our trust in God above all else. Seek God’s approval instead of the approval of
our colleagues. Seek the Holy Spirit instead of seeking to impress people.
Refuse to be ashamed when you do something to please God.
If you put yourself in God’s
Bubble, you will find that you can slay giants. If you put yourself in God’s
bubble, you will live a more full life. If you put yourself in God’s bubble,
you will grow such that you can shelter others beneath your branches. If you
put yourself in God’s bubble, you will find yourself gripped by the Holy
Spirit, empowered by the might and will of God, able to accomplish things that
you had not yet dreamed of.
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