Monday, October 26, 2015

How Do You Respond to a Giant?

Homily By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA, 21 June 2015
Proper 7 Year B: 1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49; Psalm 9:9-20; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41
How do you react in a storm?
Our Gospel says: Leaving the crowd..., the disciples took Jesus with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. What's going on in the other boats? How do you react in a storm? How do you respond to a giant problem? David responds differently than Goliath expects.
Our scripture from Samuel today gives us larger-than-life details about David's encounter with this giant from Gath, one of the Bible's 2 cities of giants1. Goliath is described as 9- or 10-feet-tall2, his coat of armor weighs 130 pounds3. This story may remind you of stories you read in school about Trojan & Greek champions, Paris & Menelaus, Hector & Ajax.4
Goliath challenges the Israelites to send him a man to fight so that the men of both armies don't have to fight.5 [This brings to my mind our sending our top champions in sports to compete in the Olympics.] Goliath says: “Send me a man”. Israel sends him a boy. This story shows faith's triumph over physical strength.6
We see in our Gospel that physical strength is no match for the storm on the Sea of Galilee that panics Jesus' disciples even though that sea is well-known for abrupt changes & violent storms, as sources note7.
How many of you have experienced a storm in a boat? I vividly recall the rocky ride through the Strait of Gibraltar as our son Ashton & I returned by ferry from Morocco to Spain. Like the Sea of Galilee, the narrow strait [which handles 200 ships daily8] is known for its sudden changes in currents & quickly increasing winds.9 Our crew skillfully handled the challenge.
I do wonder why the disciples [at least 4 of them experienced fishermen10] panic in a boat on a lake known for its storms.... Unlike us, they have no life vests, no radar, no oceanic weather station to keep them informed. This storm is filling their boat with water as Jesus sleeps after his long teaching series.
The disciples trust Jesus to act. He speaks to the unruly weather like he does to demons11: “Peace. Be still!” In awe, the disciples ask: “Who is this that even the winds & the waves obey him?”
Answer: He is his Father's Son. In the beginning [Genesis 1], His Father sends a wind over the waters, setting their boundaries.
We often see the disciples' fear turn to awe.
How are people in the other boats handling the storm?
I think of 2 boats: one on the Flint River carries a passenger who relies on God. 2010 Bainbridge High valedictorian & recent Harvard graduate Erick Juarez is the son of migrant farm workers. You can read his inspiring story in the Post-Searchlight.12 The other boat is in Charleston, S.C. You can read & hear in the news about its passenger...a high school dropout who relies on weapons13 like Goliath.
We know today's Gospel tells us about exercising our faith in life's storms. It tells us: “Faith trusts God to achieve (God's) purpose, even through apparent destruction.”14
We see this faith active in David facing the well-armed Goliath. David says: “You come to me with sword, spear & javelin...I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts...the Lord does not save by sword & spear...” David's weapon is righteousness, the weapon Paul commends to the Corinthians.
The weapon of righteousness we see wielded mightily in the words of survivors & of families of the saints who died in last week's murderous attack during the Bible study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. 
Thanks to the leadership of Nelson Chapel AME Church here, we wielded the weapon of righteousness at our community prayer vigil Friday evening at Nelson Chapel.
What does that weapon look like? It looks like black & white Brothers & Sisters in Christ holding hands in small groups & praying for peace, praying for the victims, praying for the killer, praying for Jesus to still the storm so that God's love triumphs over fear & hatred.
God's love is active –
like yeast that makes bread dough rise.
Yeast left sealed in its envelope cannot make dough rise.
God's love is like that - waiting for us to respond.
God's love does not coerce.
 
When we respond at the acceptable time [now is the acceptable time as Paul tells us], the transforming power of God's love has its effect that transforms our storms from chaos to Peace.

Bibliography
Barclay, William. The Gospel of Mark. Revised Edition.Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1975.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Book That Breathes New Life. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2005.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. Second Ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2001.
Farmer, Shelby. “Former Bainbridge High School valedictorian graduates from Harvard”. Accessed: 20 June 2015.
The Four Translation New Testament. Minneapolis: World Wide Publications. New York: The Iversen Assocs. 1966.
Handy Dictionary of the Bible. Ed.: Merrill C. Tenney. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House. 1965.
Harper’s Bible Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988.
Harper’s Bible Dictionary. General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1971.
Holy Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Lectionary Page. http://www.lectionarypage.net/. Accessed: 3 June 2015.
Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Lectionary Page. http://www.lectionarypage.net/. Accessed: 3 June 2015.
Matthews, Victor H. Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. Inc. 2001.
The New American Bible for Catholics. South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Expanded Ed. Revised Stantard Version. Eds: Herbert G. May. Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University Press. 1977.


1 Harper’s Bible Dictionary. General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. P. 333.
2 Depending on commentary. See Bibliography.
3 Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. P. 593.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid. P. 592.
6 Ibid.
7 See: Barclay, William. The Gospel of Mark. P. 115. Harper’s Bible Dictionary. P. 330.
9 Ibid. Shard.
11 Ibid. Barclay. Gospel of Mark. P. 115.
12 Farmer, Shelby. “Former Bainbridge High School valedictorian graduates from Harvard”. Accessed: 20 June 2015.
http://www.thepostsearchlight.com/2015/06/19/former-bainbridge-high-school-valedictorian-graduates-from-harvard/
14 The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. P. 818
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