Enough Rope

This sermon was heard at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Shreveport, Louisiana on Sunday June 7, 2015.

1Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20
Mark 3:20-35

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

On my next birthday I am going to be 53 years old. To some of you I am old enough to be your grandfather. To others I am old enough to be your grandson. To my parents I am old enough to be me. Funny how that works out, isn’t it? What that age makes me is of an age that I love old cartoons, the ones I grew up watching in the 1960’s. In all honesty though, give me the ones that are just a little older than those. Give me the old Tex Avery MGM “Tom and Jerry” cartoons any day.

One gag that never got old in my seven year old head was any one of the half dozen Tom and Jerry cartoons that featured a bulldog named Spike. Spike was often tied up to his dog house and would chase Tom the Cat until he got snapped back when he reached the end of his rope. It was probably too violent and I probably laughed a bit too loud when Spike got snapped back.

On the other hand I was never comfortable with Tom teasing and taunting Spike and I would always be relieved when Tom got his. Spike would always find a way to trick Tom so the overconfident cat would get too close and Spike would be able to get Tom. Again it was probably too violent and I really did laugh too loud when Tom got what was coming to him. From a reformed theological point of view I was getting way too much amusement out of violent cartoon justice or instant cartoon karma and not looking nearly enough toward grace.

Our reading from Samuel comes at one of the hinges of history for the Hebrews, the moment when the people of Israel went from being ruled by Judges to being ruled by Kings. Two reasons were given for this change. The first is found in our reading and it’s every parent’s nightmare, Israel wanted a king because every other nation had one. The other reason is that the days of the Judges didn’t end well. The last verse of Judges reads, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” Let’s face it, when people, sin stained people do what is right in our own eyes, it doesn’t end well, the end of the book of Judges is just one fine example.

Unfortunately Kings are no less human than Judges and this isn’t starting on a good note either. Sure, Samuel’s kids aren’t the best, the elders of Israel say as much, but Samuel knows the people have a King. Samuel knows the people have the King of Kings and need no human king. Samuel knows this, and of course the Lord knows it too. And the Lord is gracious to Samuel telling him, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Obedient to the Lord, I can see Samuel shrugging his shoulders. He goes to the people and tells them what the king they want will do for them. He warns the people, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

The people had taken just enough rope and were warned that they will be snapped back like Spike at the end of his leash. So do the people head toward renewal? No. Do they seek the prophets? Sorry, not tonight. They want a king. They want somebody human to lead them, or as Tex Avery would put it, to put the rope around their neck, draw the line in the sand, and whatever else happens before they get snapped back like Spike.

The people tell Samuel what they want. The Lord tells Samuel it’s not his fault. The world rejects the Lord, not the man. Samuel warns the people and the books of the Kings and Chronicles show that what is warned comes to pass. When the people cry out in the days of the kings the Lord does not answer, not on that day. The Lord gives the people enough rope and the people run to the end of it.

Since this isn’t a cartoon my seven year old self has quit laughing.

Our reading from Mark’s gospel shows us the beginning of the day when the Lord answers the cries of the people. As usual, it features more people trying to do the work of the Lord. Just three chapters into Mark and Jesus has been accused of blasphemy and of other less heinous acts against the powers of the church. He has forgiven sin. He has healed on the Sabbath. He has taken fishermen, zealots, a Roman collaborator, and a pair of guys so loud they are known as the “Sons of Thunder.” He has taken a guy who will question him at every turn, and a doubter. It seems the only person flying under the radar is Judas. So maybe it’s no wonder that the people who have “known him all his life” would be a little concerned.

Seen as a man, seen as a carpenter named Jesus from a backwater in Nazareth, he looks like a guy thwarting conventional wisdom, the faith of a thousand years. He’s a man turning the faith on its very ear, seemingly without the authority to do so. From all reports his family might have thought he was nuttier than a fruitcake.

The family tries to bring him home. Maybe they think he’s tired, it’s time for a break. Exhaustion is a very real possibility. They try to get him to come home. Scripture isn’t quite as subtle. “He has gone out of his mind!” “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons!” Well, at least they give him credit for good work, eh?

But Jesus tells them, no. Satan can’t cast himself out. The kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, a house divided against itself cannot stand; and Jesus is talking about the kingdom of evil, the house of Satan. You can’t plunder the house of Satan without tying up the big man first. And then, boy, oh boy.

Jesus is doing the work of the Lord. The Lord has come, Emmanuel, God with us; he has come to set us free. Jesus is doing something new and all the people can do is try to tie the old ropes of the judges, the kings, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the temple elite into a lovely bow to snap this new prophet back into place. Snap him just like Spike.

If there is one thing though that we can see it’s this; first, the ropes that we use to tie up our lives will never be used to confine the Lord. The restrictions, the constrictions that we use to keep ourselves in line will never tie up the Lord. Not even our understanding of holy things like Sabbath will keep the Lord from doing what is needed even on the Sabbath. Earlier in chapter three this is shown as Jesus heals on the Sabbath and gets an earful for his trouble.

It’s not that Jesus doesn’t understand Sabbath, it’s more likely we don’t understand it. What Jesus knows as the Son of God is deeper than we can see in this mirror darkly. Regardless of the day, we tie ourselves to our kings and their rules when the King of Kings shows us the better way.

The other thing that is more important is that the Lord doesn’t use our ropes to let us hang ourselves. Now it’s true, the Lord allows the people of Israel to pick up enough rope to hang themselves and watches as they put themselves on the leash of a human king. The Lord has Samuel warn the people of what will happen if they stay the course and of course it does. The future of the Kings even comes to pass without the Lord jumping in the way. God doesn’t take a bullet for us to stop the kings. Crying for help in the days of the Kings the Lord does not answer, not on that day.

What the Lord doesn’t do is act vengefully. The Lord never says to the people, and allow me to quote a fine Catholic theologian, “If that’s the way that you want it, then that’s the way I want it more.”

The Lord loves the people enough to allow them to fail. The all-powerful Lord could whip the people into shape, but the all loving Lord suffers with the people as they seek their way until they find their way back. Yes, the Lord allows us enough rope, the Lord even allowed the Kings to enslave his own subjects with that rope, but the Lord will never hang us with it.

God is love. God loves us enough to let us be who we are. God loves us so much that the Lord never forgets that we belong to Christ even as we call him “possessed by the Lord of the Flies.” When people act like petulant seven year olds, a feat that is far worse at thirty-seven, forty-seven, and fifty-seven than it is at just-seven, God still loves. God even shows us that it is the human rulers who snap us back by the leashes we fashion, that is what causes the Spirit to mourn.

Sure it was funny then, and if I see those cartoons now I still might laugh. Tex Avery had a way of putting together cartoons—animators, artists, writers, and musicians—in ways that appeal to the funny bones of multiple generations. But Avery’s goal was always to amuse, to entertain. Thanks be to God our Lord doesn’t leave us to our own devices. Our hope is in the Lord who comes and is not offended by our foolish insult. Our hope is that the love of God never changes. Our hope is that we see that only God’s perfect love, not the ties that bind, are our salvation.

Amen.