These passes are designed to help the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, where I serve as pastor, to prepare for worship. Others are invited to come along for the ride, since we use the same appointed lessons as most Christians in North America and throughout the world. (See here.)The Lessons:
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41
General Comments:
1. While there are several themes shared by some of the lessons, one underlying theme informs them all: the utter reliability of God for those who trust God completely.
This isn't to say life with the God revealed on the pages of the Old and New Testaments is easy. In Psalm 23, David speaks of traveling through a dark valley, which can represent anything from despair over our mortality to a tangle with death itself. In the Gospel lesson, John 9:1-41, we read about the experience of a blind man given sight by Jesus, whose trust in Jesus earns him the condemnation of good religious folks. (He's even excommunicated, which is what the text is talking about when it says that the man was driven out. The word in the Greek of the New Testament is ekballo.)
Yet all four of the texts, in the face of life's realities, are filled with an affirmation of God's reliability. "I shall not want!" the psalmist declares. "Lord, I believe," the once-blind man says as he worships Jesus.
2. The theme of God's reliability is presented in a different way in the first lesson. Samuel, an Old Testament prophet and judge, had, at God's instigation, anointed Israel's first king, Saul. Saul's reign turned out badly. That's because Saul, as happens with many leaders, began depending on himself rather than on God. (He did this even when he defended his actions with pious explanations.) This made Samuel understandably depressed.
While Saul was still in power, some years before he died, God instructed Samuel to go to the town of Bethlehem, specifically to the home of a man named Jesse. Once Samuel was there, God said that He would reveal who Samuel should anoint to become Saul's successor. Seven of Jesse's sons were brought to Samuel. God told him not to anoint any of them, though apparently each looked like a king.
God told Samuel, "The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Finally, David shows up, the youngest of the lot. "The Lord said, 'Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.'” That's exactly what Samuel did.
David, who would go on to be both a great king and a notorious and repentant sinner, is described elsewhere in the Bible as "a man after God's own heart." And this--his dependence, his commitment to following God even when God told him things he didn't want to hear--was the source of David's greatness. David, apparently, didn't look like a king. The runt of Jesse's litter, his father hadn't even asked him to come to the feast that the town was preparing when the famous Samuel arrived in Bethlehem. Somebody had to take care of the sheep; inconsequential David was the choice. But the inconsequential shepherd boy would become the greatest king of Old Testament times, not because of anything intrinsic to him, but because of his utter reliance on God.
The blind man given sight by Jesus depended on Him, in spite of the rejection of his fellow Judeans, including even his own parents. This may have seemed like particularly subversive act because Jesus didn't look like a king. But through the eyes of faith, this man saw that Jesus was the King of kings!
3. David, the shepherd boy turned king anointed in our lesson from 1 Samuel, would later write Psalm 23. It begins, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want."
In the ancient near East, the term shephed was applied to kings. Here, the psalmist is saying that God is king. This would have been, and remains, a political statement, as is the blind man's impolitic confession of Jesus as the God worthy of his worship.
In this political season, when pols promise much and people get swept up in the excitement of supporting this or that candidate, it's good for us to remember that the Lord we meet in Jesus Christ is our only true shepherd, our only worthy king, the only One Who can lead us through the valley of death's shadows into the sunshine of eternity.
4. The motif of light and darkness also runs through three of these lessons.
Those who have Christ in their lives are light, according to our lesson from Ephesians. Because of the light of Christ in us, God gives the power to discern what is true and good, sometimes by showing us what is false and wrong, often in us.
God guides those who dare to follow trustingly through the valley of the shadow of death.
The once blind man was given the ability not only to see physically, but to see Christ as His one and only hope.
Just some thoughts. Please pray that our Catechism class goes well on Saturday and that we have a safe and fun experience with the Bible Bowl on Sunday afternoon.
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