November 19, 2006 Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost

See also: [2000]

 

1 Samuel 1:4-20
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Hebrews 19:11-14 (15-18) 19-25
Mark 13:1-8

Discussing the Text

The texts present us with a mixture of themes and ideas. The first two testify to the faith of a woman desiring a son, the second includes praise to God as a warrior deity, the third uses dramatic royal and priestly imagery to describe Jesus’ accomplishments for us, and the last one recalls the words of judgment spoken by Jesus over the Temple. The last two readings accord well with the theme of the final days, which tends to be a recurrent theme in the readings of the last Sundays in the church year. A common denominator in all the texts might be the concept of faith in God—faith that God will prevail over adversity by bringing a child, defeating the enemies, and winning for us access to God.

The Samuel Idyll is the term given by scholars to I Samuel 1-3, the romantic tale of the innocent boy Samuel, who becomes a prophet, even though he is surrounded by corrupt priests at Shiloh. Verses 4-20 set the stage by telling us of poor childless Hannah who desires a son and whose passionate piety is even mistaken for drunkenness at first by Eli, the priest. The story line of the childless mother or couple, who finally get a child, was a popular motif in Old Testament literature (Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Tamar in Genesis 38, and Manoah and his wife in Judges 13), perhaps because childlessness was a challenge that a number of women faced due to their subsistence diet in ancient Palestine. This common story plot line encouraged hope and trust in God.

I Samuel 2:1-10 is the Song of Hannah, a psalm or hymn which has been placed into the Samuel Idyll because it somewhat fits the themes of the narrative, especially with the reference to the barren woman having children in v. 7. In general, it is a Hymn of Praise that extols the military might of God, which does not really fit the narrative context that well in terms of plot. But in oral form the song probably went nicely with an oral rendition of the Samuel narrative in terms of sound and feeling.

The author of Hebrews presents us with some grand imagery of Christ assuming the role of the Great High Priest over all of creation by virtue of his sacrifice of himself on the cross. In 19:12 we encounter classic royal imagery taken from the ancient world. When a king symbolically sat on his throne at his coronation or at the annual renewal of his rule during the New Year’s festival, his prime minister would “stand” at his right hand. Everyone stands in the presence of the king. Because Jesus “sits” at the right hand of God, it means that he is equal to God. The expression that “his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet” refers to the Egyptian and perhaps Israelite custom of making a footstool for the king with the image of his current enemy upon it, indicating his hope for defeating that enemy. In 19:20 the reference to the curtain through which we pass alludes to the curtain between the Holy of Holies and the rest of the Temple sanctuary in Jerusalem. Jesus’ “flesh” or death breaks that symbolic curtain to allow us access to the Holy of Holies, or God, in the most dramatic fashion.

The Markan text recalls Jesus’ anticipation of the eventual destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in a war with Rome. Actually a number of Jesus’ contemporaries could have envisioned logically that such a war would come and the Jews would not fare well. But to say that the Temple would be destroyed would have been offensive to many Jews, since so many years of renovation had gone into the Temple edifice in the years prior to Jesus’ ministry. Herod the Great especially had invested tremendous effort in restoring the magnificence of the Temple. The gospels recall that this most likely was a chief charge raised against Jesus at his trial. When the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD after a long and dramatic Roman siege, it assured that the gospel writers would recall Jesus’ words on this matter.

Process Theology and the Texts

In all of these texts we observe that God is described as working through a process to bring about desired results. God works through the pregnancy of a hopeful woman to provide Israel with a great prophet. Also, imagery of that ancient age is used in the last three texts to describe how God acts for people to save them. God enters into the social and historical context by being portrayed with the imagery of that age to proclaim a timeless message of salvation. God is portrayed as a warrior in order to proclaim his care and concern for Israel in 1 Samuel 2. Jesus is portrayed as priest and king in order to proclaim his salvation won for us. Finally, Jesus speaks in the language of that age concerning the politics of that age in order to speak of the demise of Jerusalem. In all of these images God’s presence for people in the nitty-gritty matters of human life is stressed.

Preaching the Texts

The texts provide the preacher with several options. The two texts in Samuel romantically speak about a poor women without a child, and childlessness was considered a curse in those days. Hence, she rates as one of the marginal people of that era. But her faith in God inspires her, and despite ridicule she perseveres, until God finally grants her a son, who will be a great prophet. Her story can inspire those who face challenges in life, who feel as though they are “flat on their backs,” to persevere and put their trust in God who will work through the process of life to help them in their distress.

The last two texts sing the praise of Jesus in his accomplishments for us. The Hebrews text, in particular, is designed to be rather dramatic with its use of quoted hymnic material in verses 16-18 as well as the rather striking royal and priestly images. This is part of the usual set of themes connected to the end of the Pentecost season, which in general speak of the great actions of Jesus for Christians both in the past and the future. The preacher might speak about the blessings of our everyday life, which are really grand in comparison to what most people have experienced in their lives throughout most of our world and most of human history. This would be a way of dovetailing with themes connected to the celebration of Thanksgiving.

Finally, the preacher might focus upon the final three verses of the Hebrews text, which speak of how the Christian community should be held together with love and good deeds. It speaks of how Christians in a community should encourage each other and meet to together often in order to strength the psychological bonds that hold them together. Depending upon the dynamics of the individual parish, this might be a meaningful sermon.

Children and the Texts

You might consider working with the imagery of Hannah and her desire for a child in order to emphasize how much parents love their children and how special they are. This could lead to talk about how children might wish to show that love to their parents in return.

 

Robert K. Gnuse is Professor of Hebrew Scriptures at Loyola University in New Orleans. An ordained minister of the Lutheran Church, he received his doctorate from Vanderbilt University. He has published numerous articles and a dozen books on various topics in the Hebrew Scriptures and biblical theology, including most recently The Old Testament and Process Theology.

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