Text 1 Samuel 16:1-13; John 9:1-41; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14

Theme Oh, Come On

Subject David anointed King

Occasion 4^th Sunday of Lent – 3/2/08 – Zion – Iowa City

Grace to you and peace from our living Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“Oh, come on”

It’s an interesting phrase that I sensed from reading the first lesson

As if God said it to Samuel

"How long will you grieve over Saul? …  Fill your horn … set out …  to Jesse … for I have … a king among his sons." (1 Sam. 16:1)

“Oh, come on” Samuel; there’s work to do

For Samuel there’s always been God’s work to do

His mother Hannah, gave him back to God

He lived in the Temple

Everyone knew that the Lord was with Samuel

He was the last of the judges

When the people wanted a King,

They came to Samuel

“Oh, come on” Samuel

He was the one to anoint Saul as King

Young Saul: not a man in all Israel as handsome as Saul

stood head and shoulders above everyone else (1 Sam. 9:2c)

The people feared Samuel would forget them after they had a king

“Oh, come on” – Sanuel’s faithful – not to worry

He pPrayed for and encouraged the people

He supported King Saul

Saul might have been tall but he wasn’t god-fearing

Once he ordered his troops not to eat until they had won the battle

But his son Jonathan hadn’t heard the order

So when Jon found some honey and tasted it

Saul would have killed him but the people cried out

“Oh, come on”

Jonathan was spared

Battles, pressure and power started to change Saul

He wasn’t well, 

wasn’t making good choices 

wasn’t faithful

That’s today’s reading

when God called Samuel back to find and anoint a new king

As always Samuel was obedient but not without first naming his anxiety to God

If Saul hears of it, he will kill me. (16:2b)

“Oh, come on” Samuel, remember who’s giving the orders

Not Saul – this is from God

“Oh, come on” then

When the elders met him on the edge of town, 

They were anxious

Samuel assured them he had come peaceably

“Oh, come on” I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; 

He got everybody ready and then

Come with me to the sacrifice. (16:5b)

At 1 Samuel 16:7 there is a very important paradigm shift

"Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

It’s not what’s on the outside

Most handsome, tallest guy around – well, it didn’t work for the Hebrews

Saul wasn’t obedient - though he seemed to be the pick-of-the-litter

  Must be something beyond appearances

“Oh, come on”

Really

Maybe you’ve discovered this too?

So Samuel looked at those Jesse boys

Eliab – nope

Abinidab – nope

Shammah – nope

7 sons of Jesse passed before Samuel 

Not one to be King

“This all you have Jesse?”

“Naw, the little one’s out with the sheep”

“Oh, come on”

"Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here."  (16:11c)

The little guy showed up:

Ruddy complected; beautiful eyes

He’s the one

This connects with the lengthy account I read from John 9

The blind see in ways we sighted ones cannot imagine

“Oh, come on”

I’ll start to show you

The images invite our deeper listening and reflection right away

he saw a man blind from his birth (Jn 9:1b)

The one named “light of the world” just a few verses earlier

sees one who’s lived in darkness all his life

To give him a fresh start

(Jesus) spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay (9:6)

Just like at creation when God formed people from the mud

Go wash in the pool

As if to say, “Get baptized”

And the man was healed of his blindness

“Oh, come on”

Really – we can believe it’s true

No need to unpack it – just surrender to it – let it be

Then the fun starts

The neighbors don’t recognize him

He insists: “Oh, come on” – I am he

"Then how were your eyes opened?" (9:10)

He tells them that he was obedient – did what he was told

“Oh, come on”

Really – just like that

Took him to the Pharisees

Up, wrong day?

“Oh, come on”

Check with his parents

They don’t know – ask him

“Oh, come on”

But back they go

Sinner or not; Jesus is the healer

I must tell you

There is revelation going on in this passage that you may not recognize

At the time God inspired the writing of Matthew,

The Romans had what they called “A Jewish Problem”
Christians were viewed by Rome as a Jewish sect

This good news is significant because in this narrative it is very cleaqr

One who follows Jesus is not a Jew

Jesus doesn’t obey Jewish law

Jews distant themselves from him and renounce his work

This could be good news for Christians

1 Samuel 16:1-13  

The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."  ² Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'  ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you."  ⁴ Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?"  ⁵ He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.  

⁶ When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed is now before the LORD."  ⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."  ⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."  ⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."  ¹⁰ Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any of these."  ¹¹ Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here."  ¹² He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one."  ¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

John 9:1-41  

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth.  ² And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  ³ Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.  ⁴ We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work.  ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  ⁶ As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay,  ⁷ saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.  ⁸ The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?"  ⁹ Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man."  ¹⁰ They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"  ¹¹ He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, `Go to Siloam and wash'; so I went and washed and received my sight."  ¹² They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."  

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.  ¹⁴ Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  ¹⁵ The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them.  ¹⁷ So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."  

¹⁸ The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight,  ¹⁹ and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"  ²⁰ His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;  ²¹ but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself."  ²² His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.  ²³ Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him."  

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner."  ²⁵ He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see."  ²⁶ They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"  ²⁷ He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?"  ²⁸ And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.  ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from."  ³⁰ The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.  ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.  ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind.  ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."  ³⁴ They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.  

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?"  ³⁶ He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"  ³⁷ Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you."  ³⁸ He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he worshiped him.  ³⁹ Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind."  ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, "Are we also blind?"  ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, `We see,' your guilt remains.

Ephesians 5:8-14  

⁸ for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light  ⁹ (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),  ¹⁰ and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  ¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  ¹² For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret;  ¹³ but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.  ¹⁴ Therefore it is said, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light."

Psalm 23 

The LORD is my shepherd, 

I shall not want;  

² he makes me lie down in green pastures. 

He leads me beside still waters;  ³ he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.  ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.  ⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows.  ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

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