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June 18, 2000 1 Samuel 17
There's something about human nature which likes a rousing and good fight. Not all battles are equally admired, however. Soccer hooligans fighting street battles in Belgium last week repelled even the most ardent football fans. We need our battles to have a higher cause, in part to justify the violence. Isn't that why wars are so much more compelling than rioting, and so much more deadly.Though, often it's hard to tell the difference because wars and civil rioting.The escalating fighting between Muslim and Christians in Indonesia has become so confusing for me that I can't make out who the heroes are? Maybe there are none. There certainly are many victims, however. A safe way to exercise our delight in combat is to play as spectators at ringside seats of make believe situations of single combat… With one person, the hero, substituting for us as he fights the evil one. That is why westerns and TV wrestling have world audiences. They give us violence and victory at no real costs. Another case in point is the popularity of the current Hollywood film, THE GLADIATORS. That story pits the Roman general Maximus against the heir apparent of the Roman Empire, Prince Commodius, in a l50 minute cinematic struggle to the death. While the general battle scenes are magnificently gory, the highest drama arises in the one-on-one combat and everyone knows that Maximus is the hero…he's the good guy and Commodius, despite his handsome looks and quirky charm, is the bad guy. How is it that most people can almost instinctively identify the good guy from the bad guy in one-on-one combat, whereas in big collective upheavals our comprehension grows clouded and confused? Perhaps because it's fairly easy to discern character when looking at only one person. And heroism has much to do with character, that is with the moral values and altruistic principles, which are the nobler side of our humanity, and which we recognize in the bearing of the mythical hero like Maximus. It's also the case that the hero usually has great odds against him and is set up to battle against the overwhelming forces of evil. Maximus perseveres and shows exemplary courage even though Commodius holds the high cards. The Old Testament has contributed a great many lusty, bloody battles and many prototype heroes. The story of David and Goliath comes out of that century and more when the tribes of Israel battled against the indigenous tribes of Canaan. In l Samuel l7 we have these battles royal reduced to single combat and everyone knows that the hero is young David, because he has honorable character and because the odds are so heavily against him. Let us look a bit more at this story of David. The story takes place in a valley with the Israeli army on one side and the Philistine army on the other. Between them is a pasture on which peaceful armies might play soccer but which is intended to be the pitch violent field of engagement between these two armies. The fighting has been postponed because a confident giant of a man from the Philistine army, Goliath, has challenged someone from the Israeli army to fight him. The story tells us that for forty days Goliath has maintained his insulting challenge to the Israelites. Whenever we read or hear the figure 40 in a Bible story we know that it means a long time. It rained on Noah 40 days and nights but no one had a calendar then; Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness but he did not have a Rolex. So Goliath had been goading the Israelis for a very long time. Finally a shepherd boy arrives in camp with lunch for his brothers, who are in the Israelite army, and some country cheese for King Saul. His name is David. David hears Goliath shouting his insults to Israel, and declares that he is not afraid of the big bully. His brothers tell him to keep quiet. King Saul learns of David's willingness to fight. The king tries to talk David out of it explaining, YOU ARE JUST A BOY AND THIS MAN HAS BEEN A WARRIOR SINCE YOUTH. THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN WIN. David reminds the king that as a guardian shepherd he has killed many lions and bears in the wilderness and is not afraid. After trying on and then wiggling out of the king's personal armor which is so big and heavy as to be a hindrance, David selects five stones from a nearby dry creek. He sallies forth to face Goliath and pulls a small stone from his bag. He carefully places it in his slingshot. Whirling the slingshot he lets go of the rock. It cracks the giant in the forehead. Goliath falls face down. He is stunned but not dead. David draws the giant's own sword and in classical victorious warrior fashion chops off the giant's head. The fight is over. The battle won by Israel. The Philistines flee. And David sheds his shepherd boy image and emerges to be the victorious warrior of his people for the next 50 years and through the ages. But David did not do it alone. God gave him a push. David said to Goliath when first approaching him: YOU COME TO ME WITH A SWORD AND SPEAR AND JAVELIN, BUT I COME TO YOU IN THE NAME OF THE LORD (plus, of course, a stone and a slingshot) l Samuel l7:45. David is our hero in this story because he meets the three standards for a moral hero: l) He has upright character; 2) He faces fearsome odds; and 3) He fights with and for his God. Are heroes scarce nowadays? Do we even need heroes today? Maybe we have outgrown them. Maybe we live in a post-heroic era when the attributes of heroism - duty, courage, independence of mind, sacrifice for others and duty to a higher ethic - are obsolete? We have plenty of victims still, but do they still need heroes as their champions? When I was a kid the first record I owned was not a musical hit (though I did buy "Slow Boat to China" early on) but the original Edward R. Murrow semi-documentary record " I Can Hear It Now" on which memorable voices of the first half of the last century were recorded. There were the voices of evil on it like Hitler; you didn't need to know German to identify his ranting and raving from Berlin as that of an evil Goliath. And there was the reassuring and stentorian voice of Winston Churchill rallying the hard pressed British people with his famous speech in which he said England would not surrender: I can hear it now! WE SHALL FIGHT ON THE BEACHES, WE SHALL FIGHT ON THE LANDING GROUNDS, WE SHALL FIGHT IN THE FIELDS AND IN THE STREETS, WE SHALL FIGHT IN THE HILLS; WE SHALL NEVER SURRENDER. We do not have voices of the heroic authority of a Churchill with us today. Maybe circumstances alter the need for heroes, or redefine who is heroic. In the now concluded primary campaign to determine the nominees of the two major parties for the next President of the US, there was only one traditional hero - Senator McCain who survived nearly five years of imprisonment in Hanoi. He did okay but many who admired his heroism did not vote for him in the primaries. Being a genuine hero in one context may not be enough for being the leader in other and more complex contexts. Now I beg your indulgence as I share with you a personal experience which I recollect as one of the few times when circumstances of my life offered me a chance to be a modest hero. When I was a senior at UCLA, I was the only non-fraternity member of a l3 member student council and I brought a motion before the body which in effect would require the 50 or so fraternities on campus to stop discriminating on ethnic and racial bases, or be forced to go off campus. It was not a popular move among the other l2 members who were all active in campus fraternities and sororities. Nor was it popular among the strongly entrenched fraternity system which ran student affairs. The national fraternity headquarters were alarmed and a number of ancient officers flew into Westwood to lobby their undergraduate members to defeat this dangerous initiative. I received several phone calls at my dorm threatening me with beatings and worse if I did not desist. Frankly, I was scared and being a hero was far from my intention . I was also prudent. I gathered some bodyguards from among my friends. I also counted votes carefully. I knew there was a solid six votes against me, but I knew five fraternity members could be appealed to in terms of morality. I lobbied them personally. Three were Jews, and as is usually the case with justice issues, Jews can be counted on to be more moral than Christians. But there were two Christians I went after - a Roman Catholic and a Methodist and I got my six votes. Then I knew the student body president, who had maintained strict neutrality in the days in which the issue was debated across campus, would break the tie in favor of forcing an end to gentile discrimination. Why? Though he was a frat man, he was a well trained Catholic. He went on to become a distinguished federal judge as did one of my Jewish allies. I've indulged your attention in my reverie so as to see if you agree with my findings: First, real heroes don't plan their heroism. In the classical crisis of physical heroism in war or when a building is burning, the hero just spontaneously acts without much forethought and certainly without any calculus along the psychology of "let's be a hero now." With more common situations where the challenge is more moral and social than physical, the heroic stance or gesture emerges, again not with forethought, but from the character and conscience already developed though quickened by new circumstances. Unlike physical heroes, however, moral heroes are more likely to act just because they have thought carefully about their beliefs and values. For the Christian there are certain things we must do and others we cannot do if we have give thought to our faith. Heroes need to be prudent, and try to protect themselves and their cause and look for allies. Heroes want to win if at all possible; there may be rare circumstances, when even after the calculations show you will lose, you decide to go down fighting willingly; but you need to believe you can win; otherwise, your aspiration is more in the direction of martydom which is a rarefied and highly unusual kind of heroism. I have asked your patience in this personal sharing not to advance personal credentials as a moral hero, but because I suggest that my experience are common dynamics when we enter into that terrain of risk taking where our character and courage may be tested. We do not set out to become heroes; circumstances present the challenge. We are afraid because prudent fear and courage go together in difficult situations. We look for allies, calculate the terrain for the battle with care, and plan to win even though the odds may not favor us. I realize that most of you can hardly imagine a political situation, much less a military obligation, in which you could be called to be heroic…to go to jail or risk your life must seem far fetched But do remember that nearby there are thousands of ordinary heroes who risk jail, beatings, and death for their faith. Hong Kong may not give much opportunity for Christians to be heroes, but China does. But, further, consider that everyone of you may be a candidate for becoming a hero because sooner or later everyone faces "fearful odds" in personal living. Some of you have already faced those fearful odds which have many ugly faces: debilitating illnesses, depression, broken relationships, divorce, false accusations, the death of someone you love, fear of your own death, and taking a stand for who you are and who you want to be in your lives. David is the reputed writer of about half of the psalms and it is in these poems we see the young hero maturing into the spiritual hero. As in our opening call to worship today, the faith of David abounds in the assurance that THE LORD IS A STRONGHOLD FOR THE OPPRESSED, A STRONGHOLD IN TIMES OF TROUBLE. David could be a hero because he knew his God was a protecting God. The bible is realistic, though not cynical regarding the human capacity for the heroic. The bible knows the odds often favor evil. And the bible knows how even heroes are human. David was a hero more than once over, but also more than once over he was sinful before God and his peers. There are other persons in the bible who were more pure and more dutiful than David and they perished. Most of the prophets and most of the disciples became heroes, but all unwittingly, and many also became martyrs but only after real struggles with their destinies. The bible tells as many stories of defeat for the faithful as triumph. The bible does not promise a bed of roses for the children of God. In our epistle of today, the apostle Paul gives a frightening list of vicissitudes by which he states the servants of God commend themselves: They include GREAT ENDURANCE IN AFFLICTIONS, HARDSHIPS, CALAMITIES, BEATINGS, IMPRISONMENT, RIOTS, LABORS, SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, HUNGER. It is not the absence of these that the bible talks about, but the assurance of endurance and fortitude and continuing holiness because of the power of God to help us face these fearful odds. Christians have one unique weapon of both defense and offense against the slings and arrows of outrageous wrong and seductive conformity. We have on our side the ultimate hero, Jesus. How does Jesus come to our assistance? Franklyn D. Roosevelt said THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF. Perhaps a Christian refinement might be THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FALSE FEAR. A genuine fear is one that raises up some real costs for us, possibly even injury or death if we take a stand. We treat such fear with care, consideration, and prudence. A fake fear is when we allow a shallow or secondary threat like a possible loss of status or of material gain to control us and destroy our character. The most dangerous fears are those which arise from opposition to the will of God because these are fed from the heart of darkness. As such they are both to be feared and fought because they would seize our souls from God's winsome influence. Proper resistance is not in reliance upon ourselves alone; we are not strong enough. We need to rely upon God. Our faith reminds us that should we face fearful odds, we have a fighting chance with God with us. With God, there is hope no matter how impossible the battle's odds seem. If we enter the fray in the spirit of the Christ, then win or lose, we do emerge victorious. The Latin poet Horatius has a verse which might have been dear to the hero Maximus of the film "The Gladiators.": Death comes soon or late. And how can a person die better Than facing fearful odds. For the ashes of his ancestors, And for the glory of God. That sentiment is okay with Christians as far as it goes. But we take the sentiment farther so that our admiration for heroes and our hope that we ourselves might be a bit braver can stretch to the faith and promise of Jesus who as he calmed the stormy seas which so frightened his first followers, said: WHY ARE YOU AFRAID? HAVE YOU STILL NO FAITH?"
Pastor Gene Preston
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The Rev. Gene R.Preston14th Floor, Blk 36, Lower Baguio Villa Tel : 25516161 Fax: 25512114E-mail : gpreston@netvigator.com |
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